Over 300lbs, how many calories are you eating?

When I started on this site, I was about 333 and I was given 2150 cals. I am at 306 and I get 2050. Some days I eat low and others I push right up to the goal. I have it set to lose 1 pound a week, but I typically lose 1.5ish. I set it for sedentary and log my exercise cals. I only eat my exercise calories back if I need to. I want to get to goal slowly because I am hoping my skin will shrink with me.

You must have selected that you were very active or something. I started at 302 and was told by MFP to eat 1800.

I eat and lose at 2400 the 'scary' part is that until I was tracking I had to have been eating close to 4000 calories a day to put on weight as I was, but not tracking I didn't and couldn't know that...

I was 315 and I ate 1400. It was below my BMR, but my doctor is the one who told me to eat that number. If you eat clean, 1400 goes a long way. I was never hungry.

An easy way to estimate is to take your body weight and multiply it by 13 to 15 for maintenance, 10 to 12 for a loss and 16 to 18 for a gain. From there you just fine tune as you need too. Your lifestyle and the amount you move, the amount of exercise will all effect your specific results as there's no set number that works for everyone.

I get between 1200-2200 a day, started at 450lbs and am currently 393, have a cheat day every other weekend though!



57lbs lost since 10/4/2012.

I eat and lose at 2400 the 'scary' part is that until I was tracking I had to have been eating close to 4000 calories a day to put on weight as I was, but not tracking I didn't and couldn't know that...

Before I made any changes to my diet I tracked for two weeks. That is the scary part. There was a bar around the corner from my office that I worked at, at the time. I figured just the Lunch I was having 3 times a week was north of 4500 calories. On top of that we'd go smoke a cigar afterwards. I'm surpised I was physicly able to the stuff I was doing....which wasn't much.

I started at 1820 when I was around 300lbs and that was to lose 2 lbs a week. I never ate quite that much, but I lost pretty steady.

A BMR of 2800 would put you at almost 500 lbs. Are you sure those aren't maintenance calories? I have a friend who is at 350 and her calorie goal is about 1700.

I'd encourage you to re-figure the calories!

I weigh 340 right now, was 354 when I started and MFP 375 at my heaviest. MFP calculation went from 1880 to 1810 but I never go over 18k, stay between 15-17k and I eat about 40-60% of exercise cals back, which I am planning to stop doing. I found that more activity equals more loss, I know I need to get as active as I was last year when I started my weightloss journey. Right now my profile is set to sedentary with 2 days a wk working out and 2lbs a wk weightloss. God bless and good luck to everyone! Please add me I need some ” fitness pals” on this journey!!!! Kudos to ALL!!!! ;-)

My nutritionist said 1510 for me but I dialed it back to 1490 after a month because I was feeling too full and / or not eating the food I had planned.

I am comfortably full eating the 1490 calories per day spread between three meals and 3 snacks per day. I lowered the carbs from what the plan stated because I have had success in the past with losing weight when I cut my carb intake. I eat well and I don't restrict or deny myself foods. I do stick closely to my planned meals each day and the calorie allotment.

I started at 447 with over 2400 calories -- now at 418 and at 2330 -- when you have this much body, it takes a lot of energy (kCals) to keep it working and moving -- anything less and you'd be starving -- so don't question the number -- you will lose weight -- and if you exercise, eat those too! You gotta fuel your movement.

I weigh in at 448 and am 67 years old I try to eat no more then 1800-2000 calories a day due to an accident I don't get a lot of exercise but I do walk the tread mill everyday, I don't know how to figure out how many calories I should be consuming. One program said 4300 calories a day and that just don't seem right . Anybody know the answer ?

When I first started I did calorie counting and was about at 2500/day and since I evenly spread it out throughout the day I lost weight.

I'm 6'2" and currently weight 168. After losing a lot of weight, I got this calorie counter to make sure I didn't lose too much more. I'm supposed to eat 2,460 just to maintain. I'm not even counting exercise (because I don't do nearly enough anyway). I've barely been able to make enough calories every day, and I'm constantly eating. After seeing what others have wrote here it confirmed what I had thought, its not how many calories, it's what those calories are. I started by just cutting out sodas and anything with added sugar (did not give up natural sugar like bananas at all). Then I cut out all processed foods....and then the big one...bread. Now I'm basically doing modified Paleo. The difference is that I eat more vegetables and a smaller amount of meat than they recommend (only one serving per day). Also, I drink Kefir for the good bacteria, eat some rice because Asians usually seem healthy, and some cheese, because I love it. My diet for the past week has been 39% carb 19% protein and 42% fat (mostly the good fats, avocados, nuts, etc. although my saturated fat is pretty normal - eggs, red meat once a week). I honestly don't know if this is the best way to be healthy, but it's something I"m trying and it's working for me. I"m slim, I have more energy, and my digestion doesn't feel like it's killing me like when I ate fast food, sodas, coffee, etc. Also I don't have a gut that hurts my ribcage anymore. I think everyone should eat a lot of healthy food, and never starve themselves.