Calculations are just all over the place.. help!

shayamador

Okay, I understand that calorie deficit's are required to lose weight- but it seems like every calculator I use gives me different maintenance numbers therefore I get different calorie goals.

I am currently 19 years old, 5'0 and 129 pounds. I exercise everyday and loose around 600-800 calories a day. I am right now at a calorie goal of 1430- does that seem right? Should I be eating less or more? Does anyone have a site online that they find worked for them in terms of giving you accurate maintenance numbers?

drczr

It really doesn't matter being exact with your initial calorie goal. Just follow one of the recommendations and then see how it goes. Then adjust it as you go along. If for example you are finding that at 1430, you are losing the weight that you want, then continue doing it. Then increase or decrease it depending on how slow or fast you want your weight loss to be. Trying to lose 1-2 lbs a week is reasonable. Trying to lose more will result in muscle loss which is is not good because this will slow down your metabolism.