Hi all...

I am wondering what calorie equation yall use to find out how many calories you should be eating? It seems the ones on the internet yeild a TOO high number.

Thanks!

Not the most helpful answer I'm sure, but I would say see what number keeps popping up and take that as a starting point. Try it for a couple of weeks and see if your weight changes.
I've read somewhere on here that you can times your weight by 10 and use that as a starting point - but to be honest I think it's going to be different for everyone!

A really important piece of advice I think is to not start too low. If you start at 1200 calories, then you can't really eat any less and may stall. Though there is debate on the "starvation mode" topic, and I don't have much of an opinion right now on that, I think that it's best to start at a higher number if you can lose weight at a higher number.

I'm a similar weight to you right now, though I am shorter, and I currently eat between 1350-1700 depending on the day, how much I've exercised, how much I've eaten in the previous days.

Try this one: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cal...ulator/NU00598

One reason those those calorie calculators seem high is that people routinely underestimate their calories. I think there are two main reasons for this:

1. Inaccurate information/inaccurate measuring. Measuring cups are wildly inaccurate, and nutrition labels can be up to 20% off.

2. Not properly considering cheats. If someone eats 1200/calories a day except they have a nice meal out once a week, IME they usually still consider themselves to be eating 1200/calories a day. But that one meal could easily be 1400 calories (I mean, that's a cheeseburger and only half the fries), and that adds 200/calories a day to their daily average. So they aren't eating 1200/calories a day, they are eating 1400/calories a day.

Calorie calculators assume that none of that is happening--that your calorie counts are 100% accurate. So they seem really high.

In any case, as long as you are being consistent, it doesn't matter if you are accurate. Pick a number on the high side* and stick to it religiously for 3 weeks--if you go over at all, make sure you go under on other days to even it out (this is where on line counting is a godsend). If you lose weight at about 1% of your body weight a week and you don't feel ravenously hungry at the end, you're at a good point. If you aren't losing at that rate or if you are too hungry to think, adjust your calories down or up, accordingly.

*I suggest starting high because hey, if you can lose weight at a higher level, why suffer at a lower one?