I've been reading posts on here and everyone's numbers seem to be very different. So I was just wondering you guys figured out how many calories you should be eating to lose weight? I use livestrong, but are there any better ones? Or livestrong is telling me the correct amount?
Everyone has different numbers because there are so many variables that go into figuring out how many calories to eat. Age, weight, height, activity level, etc. I don't know what Livestrong told you- but usually anything that asks you to enter in all of those factors is probably right. They are all likely using the same formula so I think it would be safe to trust them to start with. Sparkpeople gives me a range between 1380 and 1500, but i stay on the low end of that, because I have a very sedentary lifestyle, aside from my workout. This is another calculator I have seen people use- and I think it also gives you a way to zigzag your calories! http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
Start high and see if it works: if you can lose 1-2 lbs a week on 1500 calories, you might well lose the exact same on 1300 calories (I do). So it's worth it to find out if you can get away with a higher number--life is much better!
No calculator "tells you the correct amount." They are all just a starting point to use to try to figure out your individual calorie needs. Try the amount livestrong suggests for 2-3 weeks (usually, the first week on any new healthy way of eating will have a good loss, but it's not necessarily reflective of how well it works for you longer term). Track your weight for those weeks and see how you feel eating that amount of calories. Are you mostly satisfied and not hungry all the time? Do you have enough energy to do all the activities you want to do? Are you losing weight at a pace that works for you? If the answer to all of those is yes, then you have found an amount of calories that is working well for you. If any of those is no, then you need to change things - try 100 calories more or less and try that for a couple of weeks and see how it goes.
It's all going to be trial and error, and it's also something you'll need to keep reassessing periodically.
I've noticed that livestrong gives a higher number than a lot of places - but it really works for a lot of people, too. Start with what they're telling you, and see how you lose. If you aren't losing fast enough, drop it a bit and see what happens. It really is trial and error.
I've been using the tools at http://www.fitwatch.com, which I subscribe to as well to track my food and build recipes, etc., and I am using the "extreme fat loss" column on the zigzag calculator that's available in several places on the web -- just google it, it all seems to be the same tool.
I've been losing 5 lbs per month this way. The zigzagging helped tremendously when I started to plateau. I figured out it was for real when, after a week an a half of taking my calories down to maintainence minus 500, and limiting carbs to 40% of my diet, my body freaked out and I binged on 3250 calories in one day... and promptly lost 3 pounds.
Then I started paying attention to zigzagging, and took my calories back up to maintainence minus 15%, and let go of the minus 500 and carb restriction ideas. My body is way happy again, and still losing steadily. :-)
I like fitday.com. I've been using it for about a month now. It was very easy to set up, and is easy to use. It gives me my calorie count for the day, compares it against what I've eaten, and shows nutrient reports. It helped me find out that I am not getting near enough of a few important vitamins and minerals in my diet that I thought I was.
As you can see there are so many calculators out there to choose from. I like freedieting, even though yes, their numbers seem high. I personally lose very well with them though and I am usually satisfied and not hungry. I also feel like I am doing a good thing for my body and my metabolism by using the highest number possible to still lose weight. This also gives me room to move should I require less cals as I get smaller, but honestly I would rather stay at this calorie level and watch my weight loss slow down than eat 1200-1400 cals a day (that is just not enough for me). I want this experience to mimic life and maintenance as much as possible because I personally am not dieting, I'm changing my lifestyle. Good luck!
Best estimate..
