Calories needed for weight loss?

ESinc1118

Hello, I'm having trouble nailing down exactly how many calories I need to shoot for for maximum weight loss..everything I read says something different, so I thought I'd ask you all for weight/height and what calorie levels you use to lose weight? Any advice is appreciated. For me, I'm 5,4" and 135ish pounds, looking to drop 10lvs. I've had success years ago on about 1200 cake a day with exercise but that's not working for me anymore.

malibu927

Set your goal to lose half a pound a week. Eat that amount plus a portion of your exercise calories. Log EVERYTHING as accurately as possible (correct entries, weighing on a food scale, recipe builder over homemade/generic entries).

I'm 5'6" and went from 248 to 185 eating between 1500-1900 net calories a day

kommodevaran

No wonder you are confused. The less you eat, the more you lose. But you shouldn't aim for maximum weight loss, but for optimal weight loss - as much fat loss as possible and as little muscle loss as possible, and there is no exact number of calories to eat, there's a continuum. The size of the calorie deficit you can sustain, and thus weight loss rate, depends on how much excess fat you have. 1200 calories would "work" for you, the question is whether you'll be able to stick to it, and it's not necessary, as in giving you any advantage. It's better to up your calories, and stick to it, than try to eat less, and be so hungry and miserable that you give up.