How many calories should I eat a day?

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Hi all! I've been doing my weightloss and fitness journey for almost 3 years.. I've lost about 100 lbs.. I just feel stalled right now.. I am about 220.. I want to lose another 60-80 lbs..I am trying to work on a 20 lb smaller goal at the moment.. Is 16-1700 calories a day too much to eat to lose 2-3 lbs a week? I have just felt stalled for awhile not seeing new results. Any advice would be appreciated!

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  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    Have you put your stats into MFP?
  • jayinatlanta
    jayinatlanta Posts: 3 Member
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    Congrats on your prior weight loss, that's great. I agree with strong_curves that the website or app will do a lot of the work for you, but maybe the most important question would be how active you are already. The second most important thing is that it may not be realistic to lose 2 pounds per week unless you're extremely active and I would guess on a lower calorie goal than you provided.

    I'm a guy who has an exercise and nutrition coach through my job, exercise daily 30-40 minutes, they've set me a 1900 calorie goal, and it is definitely working. However, I have noticed minor fluctuations if I use the "net calories" MFP provides, i.e. eating more total than 1900 when I work out more. In my opinion, that's not good practice because my coaches gave me the goals for a reason, so my final advice would be to really stick to the calorie goal regardless of whether you're over-active on a certain day.
  • blossomingbutterfly
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    Depends on your stats. I'm currently at 211.8 lbs and eating between 1600-1750 cals a day and losing still. But see what works for you.
  • booksandchocolate12
    booksandchocolate12 Posts: 1,741 Member
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    Hmm. I'm not sure. If only there were some sort of app, or website, where you could put in your info and it would tell you how many calories to consume in order to lose weight at a certain rate. Wait a minute! :wink:
  • allyangelrose
    allyangelrose Posts: 4 Member
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    Yeah I guess I will just keep tracking the next few months and hope this works. I go to the gym 5 days a week at least and am working out alot most days. Trying to do two rest days as well.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,012 Member
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    OP, you WON'T keep losing 2-3 lbs per week. When you started out with a lot of weight to lose, that rate of loss was realistic. But as you get smaller, you can't keep up that big a deficit and still eat enough to fuel your body, so your rate of loss will slow down. With 80 lbs left, averaging 1-2 lbs per week is more realistic, and eventually you will be losing more like a half lb - a lb per week.

    If you plug your stats into MFP, it will give you a good idea of what your calorie goal should be, then you can log your exercise and eat back half those calories as well.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    You don't have enough to lose to get away with 3lbs a week. 1-1.5lbs should be your goal
  • allyangelrose
    allyangelrose Posts: 4 Member
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    Ok thanks maybe that is why i'm losing so much slower now. I want to get to the 160's/170's.. :)
  • leahcollett1
    leahcollett1 Posts: 807 Member
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    im 213lbs and i never lose 2lbs a week now. i have another 2.5 stone to go to goal. im eating 1600 a day
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
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    once I got under 200 the 2 lbs/ week stopped cold turkey. I still lose consistently, but very VERY rarely with 2 lbs/week
  • acidosaur
    acidosaur Posts: 295 Member
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    Hmm. I'm not sure. If only there were some sort of app, or website, where you could put in your info and it would tell you how many calories to consume in order to lose weight at a certain rate. Wait a minute! :wink:

    lol