I'm confused about my calorie needs

Sectumsempra

Sectumsempra

New member
Help please!

I'm a 20 yo female, 5'9", 145 lbs. I'm trying to lose 10-15 lbs.
Now before you say "calm down, you're a healthy weight..." stop please. I'm sick of my thighs touching and fat sticking out of my jeans.

I've been to numerous web sites to find out how many calories I need to consume to lose weight. Some web sites' "needed calories" calculators say 1500, others 1300, and some even say 1000, which is unhealthy!!

Can anyone please tell me how many calories I need to consume? I exercise every day and burn 500 calories (or so my stationary bike tells me).

My current calculation is that I need to be eating 1414 calories, along with 500 calories burnt through exersising, to lose weight. It's odd.. It adds up to a total of like 900 calories... Can anyone help me please? I want to aim for 2lbs a week..

Thanks!
 
try a simple formula of about 12 calories per lb of body weight (saw this in a cop of a recent issue of eating well magazine but it's pretty much what i've been workking with successfully) and see how your body behaves... you might have to drop them down a little bit but not too low...

there's really no one size fits all formula you really have to experiment a little.
 
maleficent said:
try a simple formula of about 12 calories per lb of body weight (saw this in a cop of a recent issue of eating well magazine but it's pretty much what i've been workking with successfully) and see how your body behaves... you might have to drop them down a little bit but not too low...

there's really no one size fits all formula you really have to experiment a little.
Click to expand...

Ok mal, i'm confused. If you say to do 12 calories per lb of body weight does that mean 12*253.2 since that's what i weigh? cause if thats the cause its saying i need to eat 3,036 calories? that seems way to high for me. I am 5'1" 253.2 lbs medium/large built. So far i have lost 7.8 lbs but not sure if i am eating to low of a calorie range for me. can you help me figure out how much i should be eating to lose between 2-4 lbs a week.
thanks
 
They are all estimates.

If you're fat, you need more food (energy) to sustain that weight. People are so used to seeing 1500 calorie diets around here that I think that they believe it's the norm.

It's not.

If you are 250 lbs, chances are, unless you skewed your metabolic output with some dieting, your maintenance intake is around 3500 calories.

Does that mean it applies to all 250 lb people. Certainly not. It's just a ballpark. It might be 3000. Much lower than that I doubt... but ya never know.

If I were 250 lbs, I'd probably assume my maintenance intake to be around 3500 calories. Assuming I could tolerate the deficit, I'd probably diet using an intake of close to 40-50% of maintenance, so around 1900-2000 cals.

However, it is all really dependent on the individual. I handle hunger well. Others don't.

If you don't, I start from maintenance, being 3000-3500 and cut your intake by 20% or so. Do this every 2 weeks or so until you are experiencing the results you'd hoped for.
 
Steve said:
They are all estimates.

If you're fat, you need more food (energy) to sustain that weight. People are so used to seeing 1500 calorie diets around here that I think that they believe it's the norm.

It's not.

If you are 250 lbs, chances are, unless you skewed your metabolic output with some dieting, your maintenance intake is around 3500 calories.

Does that mean it applies to all 250 lb people. Certainly not. It's just a ballpark. It might be 3000. Much lower than that I doubt... but ya never know.

If I were 250 lbs, I'd probably assume my maintenance intake to be around 3500 calories. Assuming I could tolerate the deficit, I'd probably diet using an intake of close to 40-50% of maintenance, so around 1900-2000 cals.

However, it is all really dependent on the individual. I handle hunger well. Others don't.

If you don't, I start from maintenance, being 3000-3500 and cut your intake by 20% or so. Do this every 2 weeks or so until you are experiencing the results you'd hoped for.
Click to expand...


Ok thanks steve. I have been eating between 1500-2000 cals a day and am not experiencing any hunger pains at all. In fact yesterday I didn't even manage to eat the 1500 cals and wasn't hungry at all. so that's why i am so confused. I guess because i was proably eating about 2500 cals before starting to watch what i ate. and working out every night. Does this sound to low to you?i have been losing between 3. and 4.5 lbs a week so far but this is only week 2. I weigh in every monday.
 
Too low?

Probably not at the moment, especially if you aren't hungry.

However, as you lose more and more weight, chances are good that you'll have to modify your approach.

The harder you diet, the more quicker your body will adapt. These adaptations are the driving force behind the plateaus you hear everyone talk about.

However, on the flipside, the more fat that you carry, in general, the longer these adaptations will take to kick in.

Basically, if it's working, keep it up for a while and see where it takes ya. That rate of weight loss I wouldn't expect for the long haul though.
 
the estimates are all different because there is no one right number. My calorieking app which has worked really well for me says that to loose weight you need;

calories: 1361
carbs: 148.4 g
fat: 36.3 g
protein: 110.3 g (I find this vastly exaggerated though)
fiber: 25 g

In general i find calorie king tends to exaggerate..)

I think it just comes down to experimenting. try, say, 1500 for a few weeks (?) and if that works, great, if not, try 1300. I don't think you should have to go below that, you're right 1000 sounds unhealthy.
 
maleficent said:
keep eating like last night and you'll be a gainer buddy :)
Click to expand...

I also had some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and half a box of mike and ikes candy before I went to dinner last night.

Ahhh, the joys of bulking. :p

just cuz we live here doesn't make us losers ;)
Click to expand...

Yea I know.

Better than working.
 
'work'?

what's that? no really, I have forgotten. It's gonna be a shocker going to college in september.
 
I don't count calories myself but if I had to guess I consume around 1600-1800 clories during weight loss mode. I am 5'11" and now at 220. I still swear by weight training combind with cardio is the best weight losing program you can go with. Olyptical equipment and free weights are the best, but as long as you get them from somewhere...........
 
dysart147 said:
I don't count calories myself but if I had to guess I consume around 1600-1800 clories during weight loss mode. I am 5'11" and now at 220. I still swear by weight training combind with cardio is the best weight losing program you can go with. Olyptical equipment and free weights are the best, but as long as you get them from somewhere...........
Click to expand...

Won't get any arguments from me. It's what you'll see me saying repetitively around here.
 
maleficent said:
try a simple formula of about 12 calories per lb of body weight (saw this in a cop of a recent issue of eating well magazine but it's pretty much what i've been workking with successfully) and see how your body behaves... you might have to drop them down a little bit but not too low...

there's really no one size fits all formula you really have to experiment a little.
Click to expand...

The 12 calories per pound is Richard Simmon's formula. Some people may not like him, but he's definitely tried and true.
 
avedwards@gmail said:
The 12 calories per pound is Richard Simmon's formula. Some people may not like him, but he's definitely tried and true.
Click to expand...

Haha, Richard didn't invent that concept.

As old as he is, that number's been a around for quite a while.

But he did help a lot of people lose weight, so good for him! :)
 
I've heard all the different caloric levels, and been confused. So I am trying a different approach.

I am keeping my calories presently at the level required to maintain my goal weight. Since that's a good deal less calories than I presently need, I have a deficit.

It works out similarly to Steve's numbers above, I'm 252lbs, so to maintain my present weight would be about 3000 calories a day, to maintain me at 190lbs would take 2200 cals. So that's what I am eating. I'm losing weight at approximately 1-1/2 to 2 lbs a week.

The big benefit is that I am training myself to eat the amount that will maintain the weight forever.

When I plateau it's time to step up the activity level to shake loose.

David C
 
DCarr10760 said:
I've heard all the different caloric levels, and been confused. So I am trying a different approach.

I am keeping my calories presently at the level required to maintain my goal weight. Since that's a good deal less calories than I presently need, I have a deficit.

It works out similarly to Steve's numbers above, I'm 252lbs, so to maintain my present weight would be about 3000 calories a day, to maintain me at 190lbs would take 2200 cals. So that's what I am eating. I'm losing weight at approximately 1-1/2 to 2 lbs a week.

The big benefit is that I am training myself to eat the amount that will maintain the weight forever.

When I plateau it's time to step up the activity level to shake loose.

David C
Click to expand...

That's a really good approach. Thanks a lot! :)

tiay said:
the estimates are all different because there is no one right number. My calorieking app which has worked really well for me says that to loose weight you need;

calories: 1361
carbs: 148.4 g
fat: 36.3 g
protein: 110.3 g (I find this vastly exaggerated though)
fiber: 25 g

In general i find calorie king tends to exaggerate..)

I think it just comes down to experimenting. try, say, 1500 for a few weeks (?) and if that works, great, if not, try 1300. I don't think you should have to go below that, you're right 1000 sounds unhealthy.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this too!
Now is it 1361 calories TOTAL? Like, I lose 500 calories by exercising... Does that mean I can actually eat about 1800? Not that I will... no way.. ;)
 
yeah it's total, as in you can subtract the calories you burnt and therefore actually eat more.
though I dunno about burning 500 calories a day. I got a little calorie counter thing for my (non stationary) bike, and after 30 minutes it usually still only says 90... though I guess that isn't as accurate because it can't tell if i'm going up a hill, etc..
 
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