Calories in a day

SFergie1974

How many calories do you eat in a day to lose?

IAmTheGlue

Use the goal calculator. You put your own stats in like height, weight and activity levels. The app will calculate the calories you personally need to lose weight.

callyhockey

I shoot for 1800-2000 to maintain a 1-2 pound loss per week

JustRamona

I hit a brick wall in August. Actually gained 0.1 pounds since August 1st. First time since I began on March 1, 2021. In total, I have lost 163 pounds, so I had a lot to lose. Also, my BMR is 1342 with moderate exercise, for someone who now weighs in at 167 and is 5' 4". Took .25" off my waist though - must be some muscle and weight shift. I am targeting 1200 calories a day per the app I could shave a few calories off - but I'm going to wait and see how it goes in September

willboywonder

I'm right around 1350 daily. That helped me to lose 1-2 pounds per week. At my ideal weight, I still stay there, and the weight fluctuates up or down a pound or two. But I generally stay around my same weight.

OnTheRoad24

I set mine at 1800/day. I don't mind going over a bit but try not to more than once or twice a week and very rarely two days in a row. Also, I try not to use any 'exercise adder' calories...

Lietchi

SFergie1974 wrote: »

How many calories do you eat in a day to lose?

If you mean 'you' as specifically me: I lost weight eating 1700-2100 calories a day (depending on my activity/exercise level). I'm a 5ft5 woman.

If you mean 'you' as a generic you, use MFP's goal settings to get an appropriate goal for your personal stats.
How much someone else eats isn't particularly relevant. Even with identical stats, actual calorie needs can still vary.

mjcavey

I have several different targets depending on whether it is a workout day or rest day.

AnnPT77

Use the MFP profile recommendation + exercise calories, or the results from a decent TDEE calculator like this one:

https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

Don't try to lose more than 0.5%-1% of current weight per week, with a bias toward the lower end of that, especially if not health-threateningly obese, or if you have a highly stressful life in other ways.

At least that'll start you out around the population average for people like you. Other people's experience can be anywhere on the bell curve for their age, current weight, height, weight loss rate target, daily life activity level, exercise level, etc. It has zero applicability to you, except by total random chance.

After 4-6 weeks (whole menstrual cycles if that applies), compare your average weekly loss rate to your loss rate goal, and adjust intake if needed, using the assumption that 500 calories per day is about one pound of gain/loss per week.

Me: At age 59, female, 5'5", starting at 183 pounds (just over the line into class 1 obese), severely hypothyroid but medicated, I lost most of 50+ pounds in just under a year at 1400-1600 calories plus all carefully estimated exercise calories, so a total of 1600-2000 calories most days.

Now age 66, and weighing 125-130 pounds, I'm mostly maintaining, but will lose very slowly at 1850+exercise if I don't have an indulgent meal/day now and then as I normally plan to do. Most days, with 1850 as the base goal, I'm eating 2000-2500 calories, and would lose maybe a pound a month or a bit more if I didn't include those indulgences sometimes.

Hungry_Annie

Im currently at 2700ish calories. I lose slowly eating that much, which I'm fine with because I love eating. I have more energy to power through workouts, and I'm just much happier.

Lietchi

quote removed by staff

Nothing 'lol' about starving yourself. And that rate of loss is too fast unless you weigh over 300lbs.

paul65k1

Personally, I believe it is a combination of Calories and Sugar/Carbohydrates. I have been able to go from 253 lbs to 209 in a little over 4 months by keeping my caloric intake initially at 1400 a day for the first 2 months then moving up to 1600 since then.

Most importantly I target my Carbs at or below 100 and sugar at or below 12 per day. I also only eat between the hours of noon and 6 PM. These last items even more than caloric intake are what work best for me to burn off the stored energy in my body (fat).

My doctor told me that my numbers have never been better and where he had me on 6-month check-up/blood work he now has me moved to annual check-ups.

According to the charts I still have 10 lbs to go to get to a healthy BMI but at 63 years old I'm just taking it a little easier now and trying for about a pound a week.

Sand_TIger

It varies a lot. I have to stay under around 1450 to lose anything. I have a very small frame and am not very tall so any extra weight I carry is still very obvious, because even as a woman most of my weight is around my midsection, not up top. Agreed with what AnnPT77 says, those are important words to pay attention to.

mjglantz

I started out at 2,000/day knowing I'd been eating well over that amount and I wanted something do-able; this was at least 500 cals/day less than I'd been eating. As I lost weight I eventually got to 1,600. Now I'm maintaining at 2,000/day. When I started I weighed about 225 and was 5'8" and 61 years old. Much, much more active now and weight around142 and 72 years old.

azuki84

i maintain 2700, i play around with this number. 5'4'' 130lb, 11%bf. i want 135lb EOY

phayden116

I just began my weight loss surgery and started at 338 a week ago. I am on a rapid weight loss plan as I have a hip replacement coming in December and wanted to be at least under 300 or more for a better recovery time. I am on a 1,000 calorie a day intake, high protein, low carbs, low sugar. So far this is working for me; I am not taking any appetite suppressants at this point. I clocked in at 329 today, so 9 pounds but much is likely water which again I am fine with. I FEEL better. My ideal, blue sky weight is 150 but one step/day at a time. I didn't get to 300+ lbs in day so its going to take a little time to get back down and maintain.

wunderkindking

During loss I ate between 2000 and 1500, depending on where I was in the process/how much I weighed at the time.

I've been maintaining within a couple of pounds of 125lbs for about a year. I'm 5'5. My maintenance calories MOST of the year are about 2000 - if averaged over a week because I am just not that rigid; I have high days and low days. During winter it'll probably drop to more like 1800, if last year is accurate.

happysquidmuffin

I am 5’3” and moderately active. I average over 11K steps a day lately. I jog in the morning about 3x/week. I’m F, 35, and am an omnivore but don’t eat a lot of meat. Currently about 139-140 lb. Goal weight 125. I can eat about 1,800 net calories on average and still be losing weight.