Can anyone please help??

CaztheMermaid
CaztheMermaid Posts: 15
in Fitness and Exercise
hey guys, I'm terrible at maths and need to know a few bits and bobs...

So I'm 27 years old, 5'2 and weigh 179.2lb/12.11 stone

I want to burn around 2lbs a week sooooooooooooo...

how many calories do I need to burn a day and how many can I eat a day?? :)

I usually use my exercise bike and go for walks to burn calories, I struggle most with the food side of losing weight, not that I eat too much, i just never know what to eat. so any advice on that would be awesome too. I'm thinking if I know how many calories I can have per day i can make a strict menu for myself...

anyway, any help will be appreciated and feel free to add me as a friend :D

Replies

  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    you should first start off by determining what your maintenance calories are before jumping into the deep end. eat at what you think is your maintenance calories for a few weeks. if you maintain your weight then you know what the base number is to subtract from.
  • CaztheMermaid
    CaztheMermaid Posts: 15
    what are maintenance calories??
  • Cyclink
    Cyclink Posts: 517 Member
    Before we can talk about how much you should eat, we need to know how much (and how hard) you ride your bike and walk.

    Losing 2 pounds a week means about 1000 calorie deficit without going below Basal Metabolic Rate (which is barely enough calories to keep you alive and healthy if you did nothing but sleep 24 hours a day).

    Your BMR is going to be around 1600 calories per day, so that will be the bare minimum to eat, but you will probably need more. If you exercise enough to burn a 1000 calories, you will need more in order to fuel it. That is a lot to burn every day.
  • CaztheMermaid
    CaztheMermaid Posts: 15
    I used to burn 1000 calories on the exercise bike a day so am going to aim for that again, at that time i was only eating 1200 worth of calories a day and found myself dizzy with headaches and not losing much weight... so this time i need to know the right amount of calories to eat for that much loss
  • Cyclink
    Cyclink Posts: 517 Member
    OK, so here's some quick math:

    Burning:
    BMR: 1600 / day
    Calories from exercise: 1000 / day
    Daily life activities: 200 / day (walking to your car, getting food, getting ready for work, cleaning, etc))
    Total 2800 calories burnt

    Intake:
    2800 (burned)
    1000 (two pounds a week goal ((3500 calories per pound of fat * 2 pounds / 7 days))
    1800 calorie intake

    So basically, you were eating 1200 when you should have been eating 1800 and, as long as you burned 1000 calories a day in exercise, getting good results. That explains the dizziness and headaches.

    Personally, I think two pounds a week is a bit much. 1% of your body weight is a safe maximum and 2 pounds is a bit over that.
  • Cyclink
    Cyclink Posts: 517 Member
    what are maintenance calories??

    The number of calories that you are eating at a time when you are staying at the same weight. (note: this may not be the same as you are eating when you hit a plateau in weight loss)
  • CaztheMermaid
    CaztheMermaid Posts: 15
    oh wow, I really was under eating!! thank you so much for working that out for me, it'll be so much easier to have goals per day when I know what figures to aim for.

    I thought 2lb a week was normal for weight loss? hmm maybe i'll rethink that!

    thanks again!

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