How do I find out how many calories I need to lose weight

tnachelle

Hello Everyone,

I'm trying to figure out how many calories I need to get to my goal weight. Does anyone know a good free tool to help me calculate my calorie intake? Most sites show you how much you need to maintain the current weight. But I need to know how much I need to lose weight not maintain. Thanking you in advance for your suggestions. Take care All.....

ashlee954

Ummmm, this site. Set up your goals. It will tell you.

hammod

A good rule of thumb is take the amount of calories you need to maintain and deduct 200 - 500 off that amount, but never go under 1200 calories.

crystal_sapphire

huh? where do you think you are?

tnachelle

Thanks you guys, I know this tool helps but I'm finding it's not giving me much weight loss per my input. Let me take a look at it again. Maybe I'm doing something incorrectly.

ashlee954

Thanks you guys, I know this tool helps but I'm finding it's not giving me much weight loss per my input. Let me take a look at it again. Maybe I'm doing something incorrectly.

Go to goals- change goals- and set it up to lose 1, 1.5, or 2 lbs per week. If you are not losing increase the amount per week you want to lose (MFP will only set you up to lose a max of 2 lbs/wk). If you are still not losing then you can do custom settings and adjust your calories even lower. Just make sure not to eat less than 1200 NET calories per week (1200+exercise calories), as your body needs at least this to maintain healthy functioning.

Sparksfly

It's really different for everyone. Some people can eat 1600 calories a day and lose while others need 1200. Some people can eat back their exercise cals and continue to lose, and some cannot.

All you can do is try different methods out and see what works with your body.

roxie0920

If you're small, like me, MFP won't let you set it up to lose more than .5 lbs per week. It doesn't automatically figure your exercise as weight loss, instead the site adds more calories on to your daily intake, which you are supposed to eat. At the end of the day when you finish your submission it will tell you "if every day were like today you would weight..." That's a good tool to go by. Many recommend eating back all the calories you've burned (for health reasons), but I suggests staggering it. Personally, If I burn more than 500 calories per day, I eat the calories above that. You don't want to upset your body and cause it to enter starvation mode, which will happen if you continually do not eat the calories you burn, or if you go below 1200 a day for an extended period of time. I don't suggest changing the guidelines without consulting a physician.