how many calories per day- please give advice

kbrhelker23

does anyone have a reliable website where i can calculate how many calories i should eat a day to loose weight, right now mfp has it set at 1200 cal a day, but i think that was a number i put in not what mfp suggested and i dont know how to gat an accurate amount, when i looked on other sites off of google, they are saying 1500 calories a day...
i am 23 years old weight 172 and am 5ft 1in.. i would like to lose 30 pounds within 3-4 months.
also i dont understand something, assume i were supposed to consume 1500 cal per day, now i should eat at a deficit i have seen on many posts on here, so should i only eat 1000 cal a day, and workout or should i eat 1500 cal and burn 500 a day? OR should i be eating 2000 cal and burning 500 to equal the 1500?
advice would be very helpful, i think i am doing this whole thing wrong, because i am eating 1200 cal a day, working out about 5 days a week now for over a month and eating pretty clean, and im only gaining...

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

shivles

I use this one http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

Marrhet

Well if you eat under 1200 calories you can risk putting your body into starvation mode, (warns the MFP app). I would try finding a site that gives you the BMR and TDEE

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

This will help you make a more informed decision on how many calories to intake.

JennyJoy1437

http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced

This is my favorite!

kbrhelker23

thank you all, well i tried a few of them... my fitness pal calculator claims 1475 calories a day. so i will up my profile amt or however i would do it... this sounds so high to me! so what happens if i only eat like 1300 cal per day? would i have a better chance loosing weight by eating all those calories or eating the latter (1300?) ... also if you could explain deficit to me i would greatly appreciate it. should i eat the whole 1475 and burn 500 a day through exercise, or should i eat 500 less than 1475 and then exercise? its all confusing. everyone on here seems to have so much knowledge.

kbrhelker23

nvm i seen the post that explains it all. thank you!!