Hello to all I have never been a daily calorie counter, but I do pretty much eat the same thing daily (except on the weekends when I tend to stray -- need to rope that in a little...actually, a lot), so I tallied everything up a while ago and want to see what you think. There are so many different "proper calorie intake" sites that I don't know what to believe! I don't really know how many calories I should be eating in order to lose weight. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Here are some stats:

I am 5'8" and 196 right now. I try to work out (cardio) 4-5 days a week for at least 30 minutes. Here is what I eat daily for 1,815 calories:

Breakfast = 520 calories
1 cup Kashi Go Lean cereal (200 cal)
1/2 cup 2% milk (65 calories...could be 1%, but...yucky for me)
Multi-grain English muffin (130 calories)
1 tbsp all-natural peanut butter (85 calories)
1 tbsp all-natural raspberry jelly (45 calories)

Lunch = 450ish depending on the Lean Cuisine
Lean Cuisine lunch (320 calories)
Baked Cheetos (130 calories)

Dinner = 455 calories
Baked chicken (385 calories)
Veggies (70 calories)

Snacks during the day = 390 calories
Snack bar (140 calories)
Clementine (35 calories)
Graham grackers w/2 tbsp all-natural peanut butter (215 calories)

What do you guys think about the calories? Too much? Too little?

Well, the only way to know is to ask: how quickly are you losing? Those calculators are all over the place and really are guesstimates! The best way to figure out how many calories you should be eating to lose are to track the calories and see what happens!

I agree with HEATHER; go ahead and try the 1800 calories for a few weeks and see what happens -- I think that's a good place to start. You will lose more in the first month and then after that, it will slow down a bit -- it all depends on how active you are on a daily basis. If you are a moderately active person (meaning you walk a bit, do house cleaning, maybe work, plus your planned exercises), you should lose something on that amount.

Try it for a while and keep track of what you eat each day so you can look back and tweak it later on. Weigh yourself once a week; same day; same time; same way ... come back and let us know how it's going; and/or just keep tabs in this thread.

Trying to add it all up myself was tough lol I would try a website like sparkpeople.com (which I use and love) or there are others as well. You put in all your info & how much fitness you are doing and it gives you a calorie range. I find it really helpful.

When I was around 195 I was working out about the same & am an inch shorter then you but was doing 1700 as my way high range and trying to stay around 1400-1600 a day.

So 1800ish might be a good place to start. Could definitely try that for a couple weeks and see.

Are you losing weight? Try it at where you are but if you feel you are stalling then you could chisel it down...

It's those not-so-good weekends that will kill you, especially if weekends start Friday night. It's pretty easy to eat 2500 each weekend day, and that would put your average at more like 2100 than 1800.

Checking on freedieting.com, it looks like you should be losing OK on that amount. But, your results may vary, as many have already said. I agree with Shmead that eating lots on the weekend can raise your average and cause a stall, so you might want to adjust things accordingly somewhere. But congratulations so far!

Jay

I am your height and could not lose on 1800, even with heavy exercise.
I do WW now and eat about 1400 per day, and am losing consistently. However, I'm eating very nutrient dense foods so I'm rarely hungry and my body is using what I eat effectively.

Pick one or the other for breakfast - cereal or the english muffin. (My favorite is oatmeal with canned pumpkin.)

Lose the lean cuisine and baked chips - little nutrition and wasted calories. Make your own lunches with chicken breasts or thighs, whole grains (1/2 cup) and lots of veggies drizzled with a tsp of olive oil. Much easier to control the foods, and I think they are way more filling than those tiny meals.

If you beef up lunch with better foods, you might not need that snack bar (again, it's not real food. You'd be better of with a yogurt if you are really hungry.)

For me, I'd trim about 400 calories off the day and then track my "off track" weekends to see how much I'm actually eating those days (and fix it.)

I'm really just starting this week to wrangle in my weekend foods and really track them, so I'll know in a few weeks if this calorie amount is allowing me to lose weight.

I might actually get some skim milk, though, to help out with calorie reduction, and Kashi Go Lean has another cereal that has about 80 calories less, so I might do that as well.

Thanks for the food advice. I love my cereal and muffin combo and it really ties me over for quite a while, so I might reduce to skim milk, and Kashi has another type of cereal that has 80 calories less than the one I am currently eating, so that would help.

I know that Lean Cuisines and my baked Cheetos aren't the best, but I love them so much! I would be tempted to eat chicken for lunch if I wasn't already eating it for dinner...there's only so much chicken I can eat. I might try messing around with it, though, to see if I can come up with some good and different ways to eat it.

It's fine to love baked Cheetos, but if you want things to change things have to change. They can be a sometimes treat, not a daily habit.

You can also have tofu, pork, shrimp, beef, etc.

I don't think the lean cuisine is "wasted calories". It may not be the best choice in the world, but it's better than a lot of options. Aside from the sodium, they are a reasonable option if you don't have a lot of time to prepare things or whatever. You definitely need to be picky about which ones, but just because it's a lean cuisine doesn't mean it's wasted calories. When I get frozen meals, I pick ones that are high in protein and not pasta-heavy. Lean Cuisine mac & cheese is still mac & cheese.

I agree and I am careful which ones I pick. I look at the calories, fat, and sodium contents. I never do anything creamy or cheesy, and they work for me when I am at work b/c it's quick and easy. They are a reasonable option for me and work for me so far.

I'd say it looks good: if you can keep the cheetos to those little packs, you're fine. Not everyone can. (*cough*me*cough*). 90% of your calories are good cals. My weight loss amount is about 1800 cals a day too.

Sounds like a good plan to me - as others have said, it all depends on how your weight loss goes. I would probably lose slowly on 1800, but hey maybe slowly is the way to go anyways! And I agree that lean cuisines aren't wasted calories - of course there's better choices, but I eat them regularly and haven't had any problems losing. Also I love those baked cheetos too - I do them as a snack here and there. Good luck and keep us posted on how you're doing!