Obesity Discussion Forums

[maryfway]

I'm new to this website, and wanted to introduce myself, and at the same time ask a few question.

I started my new lifestyle this week, and although I've tried losing weight before, I am truly motivated this time. I found a link to "Fit Day" on the forums, and have been keeping track of the the calories I eat.

My question is, how many calories should I actually be eating daily in order to lose about 1-2 pounds per week? I measure 5'1". Also, I am mostly sedentary, I'm a fairly busy student, but have dedicated myself to workout at least three times per week for about half an hour.

Thanks!

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by maryfway

I'm new to this website, and wanted to introduce myself, and at the same time ask a few question.

I started my new lifestyle this week, and although I've tried losing weight before, I am truly motivated this time. I found a link to "Fit Day" on the forums, and have been keeping track of the the calories I eat.

My question is, how many calories should I actually be eating daily in order to lose about 1-2 pounds per week? I measure 5'1". Also, I am mostly sedentary, I'm a fairly busy student, but have dedicated myself to workout at least three times per week for about half an hour.

Thanks!

I can tell you exactly what you need to do, but I have to know how old you are first....and I'm assuming you're female?

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by ccwilloe

i have been wondering how many calories my body burns up doing my normal things as well.

i think you can figure it out over the course of a month as follows:

take three initial weights the same time of the day for 3 consecutive days and average them

count your calories (account for everything you take in) for one month

at the end of the month, take your weight the same time of the day for 3 consecutive days and average them.

take the difference between the initial and final weights and multiply this number by 3500. this gives you the number of calories of fat you have burned up over a month. then divide this number by the number of days in the month. this gives you average calories of fat burned per day.

next, add up all of the food calories and divide this number by the number of days in the month as well. this gives you the average number of calories you consume every day.


to maintain your weight, add the two numbers together. this is your body's metabolism daily calorie requirement to maintain it's weight.

example:

you found you consumed 45,000 calories over one month of 30 days. this is 1500 calories a day.

you also dropped 10 pounds over this month. that's 35,000 calories of fat burned.

to maintain your weight, you'd need 80,000 calories over the month or 2666 calories a day. this is your body's metabolism to maintain itself with no weight gain or loss.


good luck with your diet. i am new here as well and have quite a ways to go.

oh, the reason i took 3 days of weights at the beginning and end of the month is to try to average out your initial and final weights taking into account body water content. you'll fins that your body might vary in weight a few pounds each day and this is because of the amount of water you are retaining - which is probably not constant.

There's a much easier way to try to figure it out using the calculation for the basal metabolic rate.

[maryfway]

Originally Posted by Obesity Discussion

I can tell you exactly what you need to do, but I have to know how old you are first....and I'm assuming you're female?

Hey! I'm a women yep, and I'm 21. Thank you.

[Mollymouser]

Hello Mary ... welcome!!!!

By now you have probably found the answer, but to lose 1 pound a week, you need to eat 500 calories less per day than your body burns through just living and exercise. (500x7=3500 calories (one pound)). To lose 2 pounds per week, you need to eat 1000 calories per day less than your body burns. Many people choose to get those calorie deficits through a combination of eating fewer calories, and increasing exercise. (For me, I like to have exercise handle 200-300 calories of my deficit, so I can eat more veggies!)

You can do this ..... good luck!!!!

=^..^= MOLLY

[maryfway]

Thanks Molly,
I have been looking online, however, I am still unsure about the amount of calories that my body burns. I've found someplace that says around 2200 for a girl with my stats (21, 5'1", sedentary), so then I should be eating around 1700, or a bit more but with a combination of exercise. Am I getting this right?

[Mollymouser]

According to the website I used to look up your stats (Calorie-count dot com), you burn 2100 per day at your age, weight and activity level .... so you would want to reduce that by 500 per day (down to 1600) for a 1 pound per week loss ... which is a respectable, healthy rate of loss. You could speed things up a bit by eating 1600 calories and exercising another 200-300 calories a day .... which would give you a higher calorie deficit.

So your 1700 is definitely in the ballpark, but my recommendation would be 1600 ... but you need to do what works for you. (I am on 1500 calories per day and do just fine!)

MOLLY

[maryfway]

Originally Posted by Mollymouser

According to the website I used to look up your stats (Calorie-count dot com), you burn 2100 per day at your age, weight and activity level .... so you would want to reduce that by 500 per day (down to 1600) for a 1 pound per week loss ... which is a respectable, healthy rate of loss. You could speed things up a bit by eating 1600 calories and exercising another 200-300 calories a day .... which would give you a higher calorie deficit.

So your 1700 is definitely in the ballpark, but my recommendation would be 1600 ... but you need to do what works for you. (I am on 1500 calories per day and do just fine!)

MOLLY

thanks again. that's the info I was looking for really. right now I'm new at counting calories, so for the first couple of weeks I'm happy with staying under 1800 or so since thats still a deficit, and eventually I will pick it up on healthy recipes, and stuff. I do exercise a bit, mostly DDR (the video game with the dance pad).

[William Wallace]

Originally Posted by Mollymouser

According to the website I used to look up your stats (Calorie-count dot com), you burn 2100 per day at your age, weight and activity level .... so you would want to reduce that by 500 per day (down to 1600) for a 1 pound per week loss ... which is a respectable, healthy rate of loss. You could speed things up a bit by eating 1600 calories and exercising another 200-300 calories a day .... which would give you a higher calorie deficit.

So your 1700 is definitely in the ballpark, but my recommendation would be 1600 ... but you need to do what works for you. (I am on 1500 calories per day and do just fine!)

MOLLY

Yep, I got something similar, about 2150 calories a day for her....
About 1650ish calories a day for 1lb a week of weight loss, 1400ish calories a day for 1.5lbs a week, and 1150 calories a day for 2lbs of weight loss a week.

[Obesity Discussion]

Hello there and welcome!! Looks like you've been taken care of great!