How Many Calories to Lose Weight!

I am interested to hear what people say girl, thanks! Love the tee heee part :laugh:

Well, not sure what's right or what's wrong... I only know what my coach is telling me. This is what she says:

I am 144lbs, 5'4", 35 years young :happy:

allowed 1200 calories give or take 50 per day (eating 6 meals a day)

Exercise: Weight training 4 times per week (day 1: biceps, chest, abs; day 2: glutes, quads and abs; day 3 calves, hamstrings and abs; day 4 triceps and back). Two days no weights, just 30 min. cardio, 2 days on weight days do 20-24 min. of cardio.

I burn probably about 200-600 calories on weight training days and 200 on cardio only days...

I am on my third week... I'll let you know if it works! So far clothes have been fitting better and feeling a lot less jiggly :bigsmile:

To lose a pound a week, a 150-pound person needs to create a 500-calorie deficit from 1,800 calories by either exercising or eating less. Keep in mind this is an approximate scale. Body type and fitness level play a part. It's recommended that the more overweight you are, the bigger the deficit you try and create (meaning: eat less). Just don't go below 1,200 cals /day. As you get into shape, you'll need to eat more to fuel your extra muscle.

YOUR DAILY CALORIE INTAKE TO LOSE 1 LB. PER WEEK:
add a zero to your body weight 150+0=1,500
add 20% for extra daily activity +300
Daily calories a day =1,800
Subtract 500 calories a day -500
By eating 500 calories less
(or by burning 500 calories) =1,300

I hope this helps I copied it from a GUIDEBOOK (Turbo results)

See I am so confused!!! :grumble: If you eat your exercise calories then there is no deficit so where does the weight loss happen? I have been consuming 1850/1900 calories based on what my BMR tells me which is 1900. I burn at least 700 calories daily. So am I supposed to eat 2600 calories!?! :noway: I ask cause I am about to do this because I haven't lost weight in 2 weeks and everyone is telling me to eat up my calories. What to do...:huh:

To lose a pound a week, a 150-pound person needs to create a 500-calorie deficit from 1,800 calories by either exercising or eating less. Keep in mind this is an approximate scale. Body type and fitness level play a part. It's recommended that the more overweight you are, the bigger the deficit you try and create (meaning: eat less). Just don't go below 1,200 cals /day. As you get into shape, you'll need to eat more to fuel your extra muscle.

YOUR DAILY CALORIE INTAKE TO LOSE 1 LB. PER WEEK:
add a zero to your body weight 150+0=1,500
add 20% for extra daily activity +300
Daily calories a day =1,800
Subtract 500 calories a day -500
By eating 500 calories less
(or by burning 500 calories) =1,300

I hope this helps I copied it from a GUIDEBOOK (Turbo results)

Finally an equation that makes sense to me. Thank you girl!!! I now know that if I burn 700 I need to eat at least 2000 calories and if I burn more even more. Thanks!!!!

I started wearing a Bodybugg about 9 months ago and it's been tremendous feedback. When I hit my first plateau (prior to getting the 'bugg'), I was eating around 1800 calories/day because I was doing considerable exercise. When I started wearing the Bodybugg, I learned that my daily average calorie burn (my BMR + lifestyle activity + exercise calories) was in the 2800-3100/day range. Clearly, I wasn't eating enough AT ALL. I bumped my calorie intake to around 2200-2300 (depending on the calorie burn for the day) and plateau busted.

I've lighted my exercise load since then, and my average daily burn is in the 2400-2700/day range (though is right around 2000/day on a rest day). I have my food diary set at 2000 calories/day. Oftentimes I'll zig zag calories, staying at a 700 calorie/day deficit, and after 3 or 4 days, eat really close to maintenance, then go back into deficit.

It's true...you need to burn 3500 calories to burn one pound. However, if you're calorie deficit is too large, you're doing more harm than good and causing your body to send out SOS signals telling your body to, "Slow down the metabolism! She's trying to starve us!"

61lb in just under 3 months...!! wow..well done..Ive lost 13lb in three weeks i lost 12 in the first week and then seemed to stop...im not quitting tho im keeping up the healthy eating and the excercise so hopefully it will keep coming off...........

I'm sure this Topic will interest many people so here we go:

How many of you think that burning all your calories worked out will make you lose weight? Burning or eating? Eating? I think it depends. Works for me.
How many of you think that you should eat more calories after a heavy work out to lose weight? If you have calories left, then sure.
How many of you think you should eat double your worked out calories to lose weight? Nope.
How many of you think you think any of this is true? Hmmm. I'm skeptical.

What are truly the facts?

If your BMR is 1500 and your daily exercise is about 40% of that then we have a number of 2100-2300.
You are burning 800 calories during your workouts this means you are left with 1300. You are on target right? Or wrong? No. You should be eating much more.

Someone just told me that to lose weight you have to burn all the calories you've eaten. Could this be true? Is the math wrong? YES, it's wrong. You would die if you did that.

I calculated my BMR and my daily work outs.... On the high impact days where i burn 1100+ I have realized i need to up my calorie intake by 200-300, so I need to consume 1450-1550 on that day. On the light exercise days of 400-800 or no work out I can keep my calorie intake at 1200-1300.

When are you starving you body? When you don't get enough nutrients, whether it be from eating crappy food, not eating enough food, or simply working out too hard and not replenishing.

As I understand it:

If your BMR is 1500 and your daily exercise is about 40% of that then we have a number of 2100-2300.
You are burning 800 calories during your workouts this means you are left with 1300. You are on target right? Or wrong?

Probably. Depends on lifestyle (sedentary, activity, etc). I think most people typically do it another way though and calculate how much they need to eat to lose if they DON'T exercise and then eat the exercise calories back. That's what I do, just so I don't eat 1800 or more calories on a rest day. That and you want to be sure to not aim for more than a 2 lb a week loss or you could see some real issues with energy. Your BMR is just what your body would burn if you were in bed all day. If your BMR is 1500, you could still have an extremely physically demanding job that burns tons of calories daily. Typically you don't want to aim for more than a 1000 calorie deficit from your daily needs, which is BMR PLUS lifestyle.

Someone just told me that to lose weight you have to burn all the calories you've eaten. Could this be true? Is the math wrong?

Technically, I think this is right and I think what the person meant is right, I'm just not sure anyone is understanding what this person meant exactly. To lose weight calories in needs to be less than calories out.

For example, my BMR is around 1670. Plus sedentary lifestyle burning (desk job) according to MFP my daily caloric allowance to MAINTAIN my weight is 2030. So, for a 1 lb a week loss, you would subtract 500 calories and eat 1530.

So you are technically burning all of the calories you eat. That DOES NOT mean that if you work out and burn 800 calories you can only eat 800 or less. Cuz, yeh, that would definitely result in end game pretty quick. When thinking of the amount of calories you burn, you have to keep in mind everything you do other than work out - including live.

I calculated my BMR and my daily work outs.... On the high impact days where i burn 1100+ I have realized i need to up my calorie intake by 200-300, so I need to consume 1450-1550 on that day. On the light exercise days of 400-800 or no work out I can keep my calorie intake at 1200-1300.

When are you starving you body?

There are a lot of arguments, but assuming we're going by the standard 1200 rule, the circumstances you posted would be the equivalent of starving your body.

Under the MFP rule of below 1200 is starvation mode, you have to consume 1200 calories NET each day. So you'd take your total calories and subtract the exercise. So on your high impact days you sound like you're eating 350-450 calories. And on light exercise days 900 at most and 400 at worst. Far below the 1200.

I hope I got all the quotes right!

See I am so confused!!! :grumble: If you eat your exercise calories then there is no deficit so where does the weight loss happen? I have been consuming 1850/1900 calories based on what my BMR tells me which is 1900. I burn at least 700 calories daily. So am I supposed to eat 2600 calories!?! :noway: I ask cause I am about to do this because I haven't lost weight in 2 weeks and everyone is telling me to eat up my calories. What to do...:huh:

This is where I get confused. I get the basic principle, but I just don't get the "eat your exercise calories" part. I tend to eat only a little on a light work out day, more if its a really heavy cardio/weight training day (1.5 hours+ working out).

I think there is something in the formula of MFP to already cut the 3500 cals from your daily calories you eat, but, if you don't eat all of your exercise calories, doesn't this just help on the loss front.

I'm glad I'm not the only one confused.

I've been using my gofitwear (similar to a bodybugg) and if I track all the calories I've eaten for the week and all the calories my armband tells me I've burned for the week and as long as there is a 3500 calorie deficit I loose a lb. Its almost crazy how how spot on it is. Last week I only had a 2400 calorie deficit and I only lost .6 a lb. So if you can figure out how much your burning everyday the math is easy. I'm 5'7 and 146 lbs and my on on average I burn about 2200 a day at my desk job and on more active days like say shopping I can burn up to 2900 just walking around. So just dont underestimate your calories burned.

Most people who do NOT eat their exercise calories and still lose weight are either overestimating their calories burned and/or underestimating the calories they're taking in.

MFP is set up to work a certain way, which is eating at a specific deficit, ranging from 1000 calories a day for 2 pound weight loss per week to 250 calories for 1/2 pound. The idea is to maintain that deficit exactly, not increase it by working out. Thus, MFP adds your exercise calories to your goals. Seriously, you need fuel!!

So why exercise? Well, you certainly don't HAVE to, but it gives you extra calories to eat (!!!) and builds endurance and strength. Some studies show that a person's metabolism is faster for a period after cardio (although I've also read that this isn't true.../shrug).


Also, not eating enough can most certainly stall your weight loss. Just ask me.

To lose a pound a week, a 150-pound person needs to create a 500-calorie deficit from 1,800 calories by either exercising or eating less. Keep in mind this is an approximate scale. Body type and fitness level play a part. It's recommended that the more overweight you are, the bigger the deficit you try and create (meaning: eat less). Just don't go below 1,200 cals /day. As you get into shape, you'll need to eat more to fuel your extra muscle.

YOUR DAILY CALORIE INTAKE TO LOSE 1 LB. PER WEEK:
add a zero to your body weight 150+0=1,500
add 20% for extra daily activity +300
Daily calories a day =1,800
Subtract 500 calories a day -500
By eating 500 calories less
(or by burning 500 calories) =1,300

I hope this helps I copied it from a GUIDEBOOK (Turbo results)

OK, now I am really confused. By this formula (and others I've checked on other sites), I should be eating over 2,200 calories a day to lose two pounds a week. (And this doesn't even take into consideration exercise calories!) I usually eat between 1300-1600. I have lost nothing in three weeks! Should I eat more? If so, why does MFP have my calorie goal set so low? I am scared to eat that much, but I am not losing. Argh! This is so frustrating.

That formula puts my maintenance at around 2000 less my 500 deficit = 1500 ... exactly what my goals are set for here on MFP