1200/ 1500/ 1800/ 2200 Calories really how much do I count?

Enter your stats into MFP, use sedentary or light active and set your goal to 1.5 or 2 lbs/week. Eat that many, plus eat back what you burn from exercise.

siphonalpage wrote: »

I know that calorie counting is the best thing for me. However I am not sure how much I need to actually make my daily goal.
My doctor told me 1200 I have seen successful stories on 1200 a day
Then I have had personal success years ago on 1500 a day and crazy cardio sessions a day and weight training

then I am hearing because of my weight I need to eat 2200 a day!!!
It is all really confusing and then I got the my fitness pal suggestions..

which is it, which is the best
I am currently 5'3 in height 34 years old, active been hitting 10K steps a day easy and doing two workouts a day. and weight 256.4 right now

Also this book changed my life and taught me everything about working out and eating properly... my body changed remarkably in 4 months and I'm excited to see what keeps happening.

It's called Thinner, Leaner, Stronger and it's by Mike Matthews.

Thinner, Leaner, Stronger and it's by Mike Matthews. is he a doctor or have a degree that proves he knows what he's talking about? or is he just some guy that happen to find the right mix for HIM that helped him lose and keep weight off? I am not going to take advice from a man (since I am not one) or a person that can't show me he has accreditation or a degree in health/nutrition/fitness proving he has studied this.

vczK2t wrote: »

iifym website?????????? that sounds and looks the same as the "thinner, leaner, stronger" baloney.

IIFYM is another form of tracking, similar to calorie counting but a little more specific. Many people are very successful with this method. I wouldn't say it's "baloney"....

This all depends on your BMR( basal metabolic rate), which is the amount of calories your body needs just to keep it alive if you were in a coma. It's recommended that you never eat below your BMR as sustained periods of this will eventually put your body into starvation mode. This site's calculators are actually guilty of that. I only use this as a calorie tracker- not for my recommended calorie intake. Starvation mode will grind all fat loss to a halt and the body will preferentially begin to burn muscle mass to preserve itself and avoid burning fat stores, because it takes more calories to sustain muscle than fat, and you're not getting even your basic level of calories in. The less muscle mass, the less overall calories you will burn overall. You get it. Not a good idea.

So, for a 5'3 woman who is 34 and currently weighs 256.4 pounds, that puts your BMR at 1906 calories. Remember, that is just for basic body functions. Not for your active self that gets out of bed. Assuming your job is a desk job and the activity you get is from external gym workouts. I would count you as Moderately active, exercising 3-5 days a week. So you would multiply your activity level times your BMR. That would give you, as a moderately active person, and with your current stats, the caloric needs of 2954 calories. I know that seems like a lot of calories! The heavier you are the more energy it takes to move yourself around. Now, you can lose weight by eating under your BMR for a period of time (like those unhealthy 1200 calorie deficits) before your body decides to shut that down- but you will lose muscle mass and ultimately wreck your metabolism, making it difficult to sustain the weigh you've lost or will be losing. This is why most people balloon right back up again. The safe and recommended way is to not lose more than 2 lbs per week. A basic rule of thumb, until you get close to your goal weight, is to keep your calories at least 20% above your BMR to ensure staving off starvation mode. For you that would be 2287.2 calories.

How to get to that 2 lb weight loss? Take your caloric needs of 2954 and subtract 500 calories from there - giving you 2454 calories to eat through the day, you'll need to burn the other 500 calories through exercise, giving you a total of 1000 calorie deficit a day. Over the course of a week that is 7,000 calories. That is 2 lbs of safe fat loss with no muscle loss. It is true that you could lose more fat quickly by creating a larger deficit, but you will cause more harm in the long run then good. You'll need to adjust your BMR for every 10 to 15 pounds you lose.

Good luck on your fat loss journey. You might want to check out the podcast From Fat to Fit. It's off air now, but you can catch their previous podcasts. I have found it immensely helpful and filled with information that you may find interesting. Amazingly enough we've been duped into starving ourselves thin. Surprisingly, we can actually eat more calories than we were taught by mainstream media to lose fat. The fat loss industry is a billion dollar industry, after all. As long as you are eating clean, whole foods, you'll discover it might actually be hard to fit all that food in- and amazed when you're still able to lose fat with all the food.

vczK2t wrote: »

iifym website?????????? that sounds and looks the same as the "thinner, leaner, stronger" baloney.

I appreciate your skepticism, because that is a good thing. In this case IIFYM is definitely reputable, especially to get to an accurate TDEE.

Trying to lose weight is confusing. You will here of a new fad or way every day and so much wrong and right info out there you will get discouraged fast. When I first started I weighed 283 pounds and I am 5'5". I started out eating 1300-1500 a day. But I am a sahm and rarely exercised.

I had so many people telling me I wasn't eating enough. That I needed to try this and try that. What I am weary of is someone that swears this works for them they lost 50 pounds in two weeks and they used this and that product.

Diets are something you have to use trial and error with. I would use the guided setup that this site offers try it for a few weeks. If after 3 weeks you are losing more than two pounds a week, which is what is recommended then reevaluate. If you aren't losing do the same. The first week or so you will mostly lose water weight so it will seem like the weight is just falling off.