How many calories to lose weight?

[star1765]

Can someone explain to me how you figure out how many calories to eat to lose weight and how you incorporate your workout with this. I have about 10 lbs to lose. I'm having a hard time getting them off even with excercise. I don't even think I'm eating half the calories I should be. Could this be a problem?

[ca2ga2000]

You must expend 3500 calories to lose 1 lb. of "fat." Of course, at the beginning, you can lose faster, as you are usually losing "water weight." or retained water.

 

If you are eating too little, your body can go into starvation mode, and yes, that can cause you to not lose weight as well.

 

Visit a nutrition website or visit your doctor for specific needs and advice.

[TeresaJenkins]

Can someone explain to me how you figure out how many calories to eat to lose weight and how you incorporate your workout with this. I have about 10 lbs to lose. I'm having a hard time getting them off even with excercise. I don't even think I'm eating half the calories I should be. Could this be a problem?

 

Try this site:

http://www.leancuisine.com/Tools/CalculateMyBMI.aspx

 

It told me what to do. Good luck!

[redsol1]

I'm not a real big fan of the BMI. I find it's not accurate because it only takes into account height and weight, not the amount of body fat. According to the lean cuisine site i'm in the overweight catagory at 5'-11" and 185lbs with 15% body fat.

 

You'd be better off to go to a gym or your doctor and have a body fat annalysis done. That will tell you what your body fat % is as well as your lean body mass. Becuse fat is metabolicaly inactive (it doesn't burn callories) all your diet calculations should be done off of your lean body mass. There are a couple of formulas to figure what your daily calories should be. Let me know and i'll send you a spredsheet that helps you calculate them.

 

All this being said what ca2ga2000 is true. you can eat too little and send your body into starvation mode. generaly you shouldn't eat less than %85 of you calculated maintence calorie load (the amount of calories you need to eat to stay where you are).

 

Hope this helps,

 

 

La'

Redsol1

[star1765]

thank so much for the information, I just signed up for personal training starting next week and I believe that does include the fat anaylisis. I have lost 15 pounds in 2 1/2 months slowly, just by eating right and using my treadmill and freeweights. I will be 40 this year and have found it very fusturating to shed this weight. I am a athletic built and always find it unrealistic to go by the chart of what I should weigh also. Thanks again for some great information! I like to know I'm on the right track.

[VABeach]

There is also one other very important thing to consider, as you loose weight, the number of calories you need to eat to continue to loose weight goes down. This causes many people to hit a platue without realizing what they are doing wrong. I don't have any charts in front of me, so please realize these are ambiguous numbers just used for demonstration purposes, but here is the general principle:

 

A female weighing 200 pounds needs to eat, say, 3000 calories a day to maintain her weight, and 2500 to loose. She does this for a month and gets down to 180 and "hits a wall". That's because she's still eating 2500 calories a day but she's no longer a 200 pound woman. She's now a 180 pound female. A 180 pound female needs to eat, say, 2500 calories per day to maintain and 2200 to loose. She's not loosing anymore because she's maintaining. She now needs to drop down to 2200 calories, until she gets down to about 160, then she'll hit another wall. That's because a 160 pound woman needs to eat 2000 calories per day to loose, and 2200 to maintian. If you want to continue to loose, you have to stay in loose mode for whatever weight you are today. That will change as your weight changes. Once she gets down to her goal weight of, say, 130 pounds, well a 130 pound woman needs to eat 1700 calories a day to maintain her weight, and 1500 to loose - FOREVER!!! If you get all the way down there and go back to eating 3000 calories a day, well, 3000 calories a day is what it takes to maintain the weight for a 200 pound female.~

 

Again, these aren't accurate numbers. They vary depending on age, weight, sex, body fat percentage, activity, health, etc. but you get the picture.

 

Where most people get hung up is, if they eat less than what they are "used" to eating, they feel like they are "dieting". That just isn't so. From my example, if you loose the weight, you'll have to adjust to a new life of eating 1700 calories a day instead of the 3000 you were used to. Althought this may "feel" like dieting, it's not. Dieting would be eating 1500 calories a day, the 1700 is "maintaining". You have to change the way you think.

 

You need a good chart and refer to it regularly. You can do it!!! You'll be so glad you did!:D

[jeniroosen]

There are a couple of formulas to figure what your daily calories should be. Let me know and i'll send you a spredsheet that helps you calculate them.

La'

Redsol1

 

Hey Redsol!,

I'm interested in your spreadsheet. I'm a gym rat. (Just got home from kickboxing) and have a body fat percentage of 22.3%. Trying to get down into the teens and maybe even compete in fitness (we'll see when the time comes). I track everything that goes in my mouth with fitday.com but would like to see your stuff too!

Jeni

jeni roosen @ cinci. rr. com (remove the spaces)

[redsol1]

Hey Redsol!,

I'm interested in your spreadsheet. I'm a gym rat. (Just got home from kickboxing) and have a body fat percentage of 22.3%. Trying to get down into the teens and maybe even compete in fitness (we'll see when the time comes). I track everything that goes in my mouth with fitday.com but would like to see your stuff too!

Jeni

jeni roosen @ cinci. rr. com (remove the spaces)

 

on it's way to you!

 

la'

Redsol1

[gjules]

I am new to this site, but had to jump in here! I signed up with a personal trainer at the end of February. At that time I was 5'5", 178# with a BMI (per my trainer) of 42.6. Since then I have dropped (at least) 7 pounds (I weigh in again next week) and decreased my BMI to 38!:p I have also increased my lean pounds and decreased my fat pounds. My trainer put me on 1,398 calories.:eek: I thought this would be like starving, but surprisingly enough, some days I have trouble eating that many calories, but I figure I balance that on the weekends when we eat out a lot! My goal is not to 'lose weight'. I don't care so much about the pounds, but I want a leaner, fitter body. Basically, I want to get healthier...lowering my cholesterol would be GREAT! I use weight machines, free weights and for cardio either the Elliptical Cross Trainer, stationary bike or a stair stepper (ICK!) I am absolutely determined to stick with this! I am 45 years old and if I don't, I see a future of heart problems and diabetes, both of which run in my family. I also have Rheumatoid arthritis and am hoping to prevent future joint damage by acting NOW! Plus, it's easy to get addicted to exercise! I don't drink coffee or smoke, so I guess I need some kind of addiction!!!

[Tinkerbell7]

Hello all,

I will be cruisin' in about 8wks. Is it realistic to loose 15lbs? I am slightly overweight for my BMI and this would put me at a healthy weight. Any advice would be great. Thanks :)

 

Paula