How many calories do you girls eat a day? I can range from 1200-1400 calories a day, but I try to eat about 1200 calories a day. I really don't know if this is enough for me, because some days I feel hungry, and some days I'm fine. I don't know how much I lost because I haven't weighed myself for the past three weeks. I'm thinking about not weighing myself until June. Hopefully by then I'll drop 10 pounds.

I have heard that a rough estimate is 12 cals per pound maintains weight assuming very little activity. So you decrease that by 500 a day, and with no exercise you lose a pound a week. One thousand would decrease your weight by 2 pounds a week. So, you could be eating too little. I'm sure you've heard that 1200 is the absolute lowest you should go without stalling your metabolism. I personally find 1200 very difficult to maintain 1200 cals a day with exercise. It's just too low, for me anyway. I tend to stick between 1200 - 1600 with calorie cycling.

Personally, I currently eat between 1800-1900/day, and I currently weigh about 60 pounds less than you do. When I started keeping track of calories at 282 pounds I ate about 2000/day. I lose 1-2 pounds/week on average, but also get regular exercise.

Larger people need to eat more to fuel their bodies -- the amount of energy you burn doing nothing all day (your Basal Metabolic Rate) may be upwards of 1800 or 1900 calories, and then you also burn calories in your daily life (e.g., brushing your teeth and driving to work)... even if you are relatively sedentary that may be 700 more calories [note: these numbers are estimates].

In my opinion, at your weight you can eat a LOT more calories and safely lose weight. There are many downsides to eating too few calories-- one of which is it is very difficult to get in the nutrients you need, another being that you may be more likely to lose muscle mass...

Why not try increasing your calories and see what happens?

You didn't say what kinds of food you eat or whether you exercise, but I do believe that most people who have a lot to lose CAN lose on more calories than you're eating.

One thing I did to help was to use nutridiary -- it only provides estimates, but they have worked out to be reasonable for me. The things about tracking my food that seemed overwhelming got a lot easier when I used it as a tool...

Okay, let's see what the others have to say...

That estimate is in line with the numbers I was kind of flinging around there... So, by that estimate, motivation86 could eat 2200 calories a day and lose 2 pounds a week!

Actually, that sounds like a place to start.

Wow, 2200 seems a lot. Last year my doctor gave me a diet plan and recommended me to eat 1200 calories a day with exercise, I've done that, but it feels like my weight loss is slowing down, but like I said before some days I'm hungry and some days I'm fine, but I don’t want to loose muscle mass, and I don’t want it to damage my weight loss, but 2200 seems so much, I mean struggle with food now, and I don’t know how I can add 1000 calories, but I will, try.

To get a more scientific measurement of your Resting or Basal Metabolic Rate, you may want to get a MedGem test done. To do this you may want to contact your local university's wellness center and they should be able to direct you to get one done. I had one done and although it's a bit expensive ($50) I think the test is an awesome way to actually tell how many calories fuel your body at rest. It's really helped me decide what my calorie limit should be. It is a key ingredient to any weight loss plan and is it extremely accurate.

Good luck!

Oh I forgot to mention - if you decide to have a MedGem test done, you should have one done for every 10 lbs lost. Your metabolic rate changes that often.

chaoskitty - do you know where you can find out locations for having the medgem test done? It seems like I used to have a website, but can no longer find it or track it down on google.

Another problem may be the quality of your food. From lots of practice, I can cram alot of nutrition into 13 or 1400 cals. You may be hungry because you're not eating enough protein or fibre.
Are you weak or tired? Do you have the energy to do the things you have to do and do some extra activities too?

If you're uncomfortable with the 2200, you could always start out with a range of say 1800 - 2200 and eat the 2200 only on designated higher cal days. Keep in mind that as much knowledge as doctors have, their training in nutrition is very limited or non-existent. It's getting better, but doctors who have been in practice for several years most often have little to no nutrition training. The book I'm reading (calorie queens - I feel like I should be getting a portion of the profit as much as I mention it!) was written by a formally morbidly obese woman married to a doctor who reviewed the book for her before publication. She's where I got the 12 cals per pound and in talking about the low cal diets she says you're basically trying to fuel a 100 pound body on that amount of calories. So it's no wonder you're hungry, lack energy get grouchy etc. on that amount of calories. It's no where near enough for the average person. And like Wyllen said, that's assuming you do nothing but sit all day. The more active you are the more your calorie expenditure goes up.

Just a word of caution. My high weight in the past was 215. For a close to a year I exercised and ate 1200 cals a day with a higher day on Saturday. I got down to the 130's before losing my hair and having no energy got the best of me. Needless to say by my ticker, I started this time around at an even higher weight. It took no time at all for me to gain it all back, and I'm sure it's because I completely killed my metabolism. I'm losing steadily on 1600-1800 calories right now, with about 45 minutes to an hour of exercise. But best of all, I have tons of energy and don't feel like I'm on a diet that I need to escape from. Just stuff to think about.

Another way to look at it is to track what you'd normally eat in a day if you weren't trying to lose weight - it's usually pretty surprising how much you can down in 24 hours! It depends on your age, but you'd need at least 2800 calories to maintain at your current weight with a sedentary lifestyle. So anything below this would contribute to a weight loss, and the 2200 a day that wyllen suggested should equal about 1-2 pounds a week, which is healthy. Once you lose 15 or 20, you can re-assess and maybe decreases by a couple hundred more. Doing it gradually like that means you won't shock your body, so it won't think it's being starved, which can mess up your metabolism and cause your body to use the wrong things for energy, like muscle, while it stores fat for survival. Hope this helps a little!

I started weighing in at 272 and was losing weight on about 1600-1800 per day. I actually was losing close to 3 pounds a week on that calorie level which is a little too fast. Yes, the weight came off initially but I didn't feel great and after a couple months sent my metabolism so far down that I hit a plateau for 2 whole months! I finally got off the plateau by adding in more calories.

It's probably safer to start slowly, see how the weight comes off and adjust from there as needed. You really don't want to lose muscle and slow your metabolism. As you get smaller though, you will have to adjust your calories downward somewhat to keep the weight coming off at the same rate.

Good luck with your journey!

Hi Happydaisy! I sent you a PM that may help you!

best - kitty

blast - here is the MedGem website at our university (not sure how helpful it will be, but here it is anyway...OSU MedGem)

At your current weight of 277 pounds, 1200 a day is definitely NOT enough. You should be eating roughly around 1800 a day at this point. When your weight loss slows down to only about 1/2 pound a week or less, then you can drop the calorie level down a bit to about 1600-1700 a day, and so on. 1200 is a pretty low number for every day, and if you start at that level now, you have nowhere to drop it down healthfully to if you hit 190, 180, 170, 160, etc. and your weight loss slows.

The higher your current weight, the more you should be consuming on your low calorie plan-because a larger body uses more calories per day doing everyday activities. (It takes much more effort for a 250 pound woman to walk a mile than it does for a 150 pound woman.)