Little confused about calories

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starryphoenix
starryphoenix Posts: 381 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I live a pretty sedentry lifestyle. I am 5'3 and weigh 200 lbs, the thing on here recommends I eat only 1200 calories in order to lose weight. Is this really correct? I changed it to 1500, but not sure. I want to choose the right amount of calories, once I do that I will have no problem staying on it. How do I know the correct amount of calories I should be eating? I am aiming for 2 to 3 pounds of weight loss per week. I do power yoga, and I'm going to start jogging for an hour every other day soon.

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  • jennyann117
    jennyann117 Posts: 34 Member
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    Do a search on the forums for TDEE & BMR and the in place of a road map...I've been doing this and have lost about 1.5 per week when I track and follow consistently. Good luck!!
  • 55in13
    55in13 Posts: 1,091 Member
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    To lose that much per week, it is probably about right. I am a male, but I have been doing 1200 calories a day since the beginning of the year and lost 2 pounds per week. I have been running and not eating it back also. It will work. So will 1500, but not as quick. But if you find it easier to do 1500 and will stick with it, then that is better. There is no single right answer, but I don't think 1200 is a wrong answer (some on this forum do and this gets debated a lot).
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    Really depends on you.

    I started counting calories at 218lbs on March 13. Yesterday (didn't weigh today) I was 191.2lbs (my most recent low was 190.6). I average at about 2lbs per week loss.

    I'm 5'4"
    I eat anywhere from 1500 - 2500 calories a day (depending on activity level from fitbit).


    April 10 to June 4:
    2gyajrb.jpg

    Solid blueish grey line = total calorie intake (goal + exercise)
    Rainbow line = weight
    blue purple line = fitbit estimated calorie burn for the day
  • siciliansun
    siciliansun Posts: 1
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    I hope this is helpful I took it out of a book:

    First we need to take a look at what your BMR is. That's short for basal metabolic rate, which simply means the number of calories you burn while resting in a 24 hour period. Your BMR is the number of calories you would need to eat to maintain your current weight. So let's try it!

    A woman weighing 200 pounds would multiply her weight by a range of 15 to 16 to get her BMR. 200 X15 to 16= 3000 to 3200

    Now that we know what you need to maintain, let take a look at what you need to lose weight! Your current weight X 12 to 13.
    200 x 12 = 2400 to 2600

    So to lose weight, you need to eat 2400 to 2600 calories a day. If I were you, I would eat 2000 calories per day. It would give you faster results and it still gives you plenty of calories to work with.
  • jzammetti
    jzammetti Posts: 1,956 Member
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    I hope this is helpful I took it out of a book:

    First we need to take a look at what your BMR is. That's short for basal metabolic rate, which simply means the number of calories you burn while resting in a 24 hour period. Your BMR is the number of calories you would need to eat to maintain your current weight. So let's try it!

    A woman weighing 200 pounds would multiply her weight by a range of 15 to 16 to get her BMR. 200 X15 to 16= 3000 to 3200

    Now that we know what you need to maintain, let take a look at what you need to lose weight! Your current weight X 12 to 13.
    200 x 12 = 2400 to 2600

    So to lose weight, you need to eat 2400 to 2600 calories a day. If I were you, I would eat 2000 calories per day. It would give you faster results and it still gives you plenty of calories to work with.

    ^^ That is NOT BMR. That may be an estimate of TDEE, however (emphasis on MAY BE).

    When I started I was nearly your height (5' 2.5") and weighed 197 pounds. I did not know about BMR or TDEE at the time. But I did eventually figure out that 1700 calories per day worked wonderfully for me for a long time. Now, I am way more active so I eat 2000 calories per day to lose the last few pounds.

    I agree with a previous poster who said you should look for the In Place of a Roadmap thread.

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