How many calories a day would i need for weight loss?

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xbabeykayx
xbabeykayx Posts: 78
in Health and Weight Loss
Can someone help me find out how many calories i would need to eat a day to lose 1lbs-2lbs a week. I am 146lbs, 5 foot 3 and excercise 3 times a week

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  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
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    Google BMR and calculate your basal metabolic rate, then use the activity mulitplier websites ususally supply to calculate how many cals you should be intaking to maintain your current weight..from there subtract 500 cals a day. There, thats how many you should be eating to lose weight. Dont forget to exercise and burn cals too!
  • xbabeykayx
    xbabeykayx Posts: 78
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    ohh okay thankyou :) and the calories i burn from excercise would i need to eat them ?
  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
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    No..dont eat them. A calorie deficit of 3500 is needed to lose one lb. So the cals you burn are just pluses and good!
  • jwstew007
    jwstew007 Posts: 67
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    Well... Haven't you set up your goal/profile.. it should give a rough estimate...

    But if you want to calculate your BMR then there are several formulas around the web you can find... even the tools on this site.
  • bzmom
    bzmom Posts: 1,332 Member
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    Hi I am 5'4" and 146lbs now. I have been eating 1400 calories and sometimes I eat my exercise calories and sometimes I dont. That has been working for me untill I starting doing exercise with a resistance band and small 2 lb weights (gaining muscle Im presuming) Plus I dont think all the sodium intake I have been getting lately has helped. :wink:
  • reese66
    reese66 Posts: 2,920 Member
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    To eat or not to eat, the topic of many heated debates. Search topics and you will get many posts on that very thing. I try to usually eat at least half and it works for me, but personally I believe you should eat them.
  • katmarsc
    katmarsc Posts: 118 Member
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    Hi I am 5'4" and 146lbs now. I have been eating 1400 calories and sometimes I eat my exercise calories and sometimes I dont. That has been working for me untill I starting doing exercise with a resistance band and small 2 lb weights (gaining muscle Im presuming) Plus I dont think all the sodium intake I have been getting lately has helped. :wink:

    Hi, have you always eaten 1400, I mean prior to weighing 146, what was the calorie goal when weighing more than 146? How long have you been at this?
  • GiGi76
    GiGi76 Posts: 876 Member
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    No..dont eat them. A calorie deficit of 3500 is needed to lose one lb. So the cals you burn are just pluses and good!

    I would suggest you eat at least half your calories back.... this is why so many dont lose weight.... when you dont take in enough calories your metabolism slows down!!! Trust me when i say you need to eat at least half of your workout calories back!!! But also invest in a good HRM so you know how many calories you are really burning!!!
  • bzmom
    bzmom Posts: 1,332 Member
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    I am usually pretty good staying in the green except for protein and Fiber but Im not worried about those. When I first started MFP I was on a 1200 calorie goal. However, I never exercised if I did I would start hardcore doing it the first 4 days of a week and then get tired and just drop it all together. However I attempted to stay at the 1200 calorie goal even though once in a while I would go over it. (confusing my body) After loosing about 25lbs I began exercising I can only do the 3-4 times a week depending since I work full time. I uped my calories in January and started doing zumba wii and I continued to loose. Now that I started doing the Brazil Butt Lift workout I kinda stalled however I totally believe it has to do with muscle gain due to starting to use resistance bands and weights plus for the past 4 days (I think) I have been over on my sodium and that is not good. I started MFP and attempting to lose weight in the last week of May 2010. Hope that helps! :smile:

    Hi I am 5'4" and 146lbs now. I have been eating 1400 calories and sometimes I eat my exercise calories and sometimes I dont. That has been working for me untill I starting doing exercise with a resistance band and small 2 lb weights (gaining muscle Im presuming) Plus I dont think all the sodium intake I have been getting lately has helped. :wink:

    Hi, have you always eaten 1400, I mean prior to weighing 146, what was the calorie goal when weighing more than 146? How long have you been at this?
  • kevanos
    kevanos Posts: 304 Member
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    use this calculator to fing to total daily energy expenditure: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    yours is just under 2000 calories for 3 days of exercise per week.

    subtract 500-1000 calories to create a calorie deficit that will result in weight loss of 1-2 lbs/week. You shouldn`t consume less than 1200 calories/day.

    I would reccomend eating about 1400 calories and try to exercise 4 days a week.
  • TimarieS
    TimarieS Posts: 49 Member
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    you absolutely need to eat back the calories you burn, otherwise your body will go into starvation mode, 1200 a day is the starting point for an adult, you have to eat that much, and then whatever you burn working out! You may lose weight if you eat less, if you naturally have a really good metabolism, otherwise your metabolism will slow making you lose less, or if you do lose it the minute you start eating a normal amount you will gain it all back... i don't know all the ins and outs of the scientific reasoning (i'm a math person, but not science), but this info was given to me not to long ago when i wasn't losing, by a University of Michigan dietitian who is running a weight loss contest that i am in, and since i've been eating more, though some days i struggle to eat back all of my cals, i have been losing more weight!

    1 -2 lbs a week is a very healthy goal, and should be fairly easy to achieve, just make sure you are healthy in doing it, whats the point to losing the weight if you are just going to gain it right back?
  • lessertess
    lessertess Posts: 855 Member
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    MFP can will calculate all of this for you when you set up your goals. After you've done that I would suggest you read these links.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10665-newbies-please-read-me-2nd-edition
  • 123456654321
    123456654321 Posts: 1,311 Member
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    It depends on how active you are. During your exercises, what do you do and how long do you do it? Are you in any sports? Do you have an active job or are you more sedentary during your down time? Your activity level is going to change your calorie intake quite a bit. At your age it could be anywhere from about 1,475-2,335 depending on how active you are.
  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
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    i didnt eat mine back..i am 118 lbs. 5'2"

    i eat back now because i am trying to build muscle.
    the whole starvation mode is a tricky thing. unless you are burning 1000 cals a day your body wont go into starvation mode. and everyones body is different..you'll just have to figure out what is best for you. my BMR is around 1800, when i was cutting I ate 1300 and whatever i burned i burned. I didnt eat them back. Of course i only burned 300-400 cals each workout. yes people will tell you differently about this whole eat back thing. the thing is to find your own zone. and you can only do it through experimenting. i know what works for me, and its to not eat them back. i am small, and to burn fat I HAVE to ramp up the exercise. I eat my 1300 cals each day since its technically already in a cal deficit from my bmr of 1800. but whatever i burn i leave alone. I eat plenty to fuel my fire.

    but i'm bulking now, so i am eating more protien and cals. i have to if i want to build my muscles.
  • GiGi76
    GiGi76 Posts: 876 Member
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    Well Im 121lbs and im 5'3" and now Im about 18%body fat and i always ate at least half if not all mine back!!! Im not saying you will go into starvation if you dont eat back your exercise calories, but there is a certain number of net calories that your body needs to function properly and if you go below that you are putting unneeded stress on your bodies organs!!! So if you eat 1200calories a day and you burn 400 calories your net at this point is 800calories you should not go below 1000net calories a day!!! That being said the healthy way to lose weight and keep it off is slow and steady; but if you want to drop it fast by all means feel free to sacrifice you health!!! If you want to be smart about it Do Not try to lose more than 2lbs a week and eat back at least some of your exercise calories to at least get you to the 1000net calories for each day and your heart, kidneys, liver and other organs will Thank you!!!! Now if you fall below this ever once in a while its not going to hurt you but if you do it repeatedly or it becomes a habit then you are going to cause damage to these organs.... you may not see or feel the effects now but you will later in life!!!


    http://www.apinchofhealth.com/resources/lowcarb/VLCD-Research.html

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