Obesity Discussion Forums

[limichelle23]

Can somebody help me count calories?

I weight in at 270 and need to start

I don't know how

much thanks


Lisa

[Audrey]

First of all you need to determine what your BMR is (basic metabolic rate).

I like this website:

BMR Calculator

That will tell you based on your height, weight, age and sex how many calories you burn living a sedentary lifestyle (no real exercise to speak of).

So based on this amount, and how many calories you burn with exercise, and how much weight you want to loose per week, you want to cut a certain amount of calories out.

My BMR is 1470, so when I was cutting I would take it down to 1000-1200, plus exercise. But it all depends on how much weight you want to loose in what time period, and how much exercise you're getting. When I would cut my calories like that, I was loosing about 5 lbs a month.

OD is way better at this than me, he does all the math and can even tell you how many grams of carbs, fat and protein you should eat. I'm sure he'll show up here to help

[Obesity Discussion]

Yep, like Audrey said you need to figure out how many calories you burn a day on average. First you take your BMR and then apply a multiplication factor to it that varies based on your average weekly physical activity levels. That new number is how many calories a day on average your body burns. After you get that number, you'll then want to figure out how many pounds a week you want to lose. If you want to 1lb a week, you should be eating on average about 500 calories a day less than what your body burns. If you want to lose 2lbs a week, you should be eating on average 1000 calories less a day than your body burns, etc.

If you want, we can also help you calculate all this....like Audrey said we just need to know your age, sex, height, weight, and how often/long you exercise a week.

[ZeroTX]

The BMR that came up for me seemed.... high.. Can you verify that I'm doing this right? I'm 32 yrs old, male, 348lbs, 6' 0" (or maybe 6' 1"), and I am exercising 2-3 days per week for 1 hour (30 minutes cardio, 20-25 weights).

Thanks,

Michael

[Audrey]

Originally Posted by ZeroTX

The BMR that came up for me seemed.... high.. Can you verify that I'm doing this right? I'm 32 yrs old, male, 348lbs, 6' 0" (or maybe 6' 1"), and I am exercising 2-3 days per week for 1 hour (30 minutes cardio, 20-25 weights).

Thanks,

Michael

The more you weigh, the more calories you'll burn in a given day.

Did you know that 1 lb on muscle will burn an additional 50 calories per day?

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by ZeroTX

The BMR that came up for me seemed.... high.. Can you verify that I'm doing this right? I'm 32 yrs old, male, 348lbs, 6' 0" (or maybe 6' 1"), and I am exercising 2-3 days per week for 1 hour (30 minutes cardio, 20-25 weights).

Thanks,

Michael

Going by my calculations, based on your weekly exercise routine, you're burning about 4025 calories a day on average.

So if you cut your average daily calorie intake to about 3000 calories a day you should be able to lose a solid 2lbs a week!

[ZeroTX]

I guess that does sort of add up, now that I think about it. I used to do WeightWatchers, and on their plan I'm at ~3500+ calories a day (rough guess using the points system).

Thanks!

I'm off to the gym right now.

-Michael