How many calories do you eat a day?

hawkilady · January 2010

I know some of you know a thing or two about nutrition... and I thought I did but I'm sorta questioning some conflicting advice. I also know this isnt the right board but I thought I would ask here anyway.

My plan is to lose 10 pounds by March... I'm down 2 since January 2nd. My goal is to make it to the gym 4-5 times per week - so far so good and I'm doing a mix of weight training and cardio. (By the way, I could care less about the number if my pants fit like they did at my wedding...)

Anyway, SparkPeople tells me I can eat 1500 calories a day, Lose it says 1100, my mom (who has lost 30 pounds but is now really underweight and barely eats anything besides salmon or oatmeal) says cut back to 1000 and my sister (who has lost 10 pounds and looks really good since March of 2009) tells me 1200.

I'm assuming that the right answer is somewhere in the middle of all this. What do you do?

luckycooky · January 2010

I always thought you wanted to stay above 1200 because anything less and you will lack the energy it takes to burn off the calories. I would say 1200-1500 as long as they are good (not sugary or fatty) calories

sarajoy12345 · January 2010

My MIL only eats 1000-1200 calories/day and it is SUPER annoying. She can hardly eat and talks about it constantly. I do NOT think it seems like enough calories to not feel deprived.

I think with the amount of heavy exercising you are doing, you should still be able to lose weight by eating 1300-1500 calories, if you are tracking carefully and correctly. I am not a nutrition expert by any means though.

kaleyandjason · January 2010

My mom has lost 50 lbs since July 18th of last year. She was very overweight and diabetic. She walks several miles everyday and watches what she eats. She says to eat between 1200 and 1500 depending on how much you want to lose and how active you are. If you go below that it makes it hard to function.

Philly6*6*09 · January 2010

Everyone is different.

A 1300 calorie diet is a very very low calorie diet. Anyone on a long term diet like this needs to be monitored by a physican.

The basal metabolic rate is the basic amount of calories your body would need if you laid in bed all day. You need a certain amount of calories to do things like keep your heart beating, your lungs breathing, your eyelids blinking, etc.

You can find a BMR calculator based on age, height, and current body weight by googling 'Basal Metabolic Rate'. If you put in your goal weight, you can see what your BMR would be at that weight.

Junebug060609 · January 2010

The right answer is going to depend on two things:

1) How much you weigh. We each need a bottom line number of calories. The higher your weight, the higher the bottom line is.

2) Your level of activity. The more active you are, the more your body will need fuel.

FWIW, in my experience with WW it comes out to 1200-1500 depending on my weight at a given time. If you've been hovering at the same weight for a while, you'd probably be alright if you aimed to drop 500 calories from your daily count, be it by diet or exersize (or both). 500/day=1lb a week...which is a pretty safe rate to get your weight down.

My current answer is probably around 1300-1400

Kellybeth124 · January 2010

How many calories do I eat per day? Simple answer: TOO MANY. Tongue Tied

mamie329 · January 2010

Do not eat under 1200! Anything under that your body goes into starvation mode because it hangs on to everything not knowing when you'll feed it again. I used to have a great calorie needs calculator bookmarked, but I lost it. This one seems decent - http://health.msn.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-calculator.aspx

I did calorie counting strictly for two years and lost 35 lbs with no excercise. I still average between 1300-1500 which has allowed me to maintain (the past 6 months not included) my original weight loss.

Also like JB said, calorie dipping is good to trick your body. One day eat 1300. The next day 1450. The next 1270.

Junebug060609 · January 2010

mamie329:

Do not eat under 1200! Anything under that your body goes into starvation mode because it hangs on to everything not knowing when you'll feed it again. I used to have a great calorie needs calculator bookmarked, but I lost it. This one seems decent - http://health.msn.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-calculator.aspx

I did calorie counting strictly for two years and lost 35 lbs with no excercise. I still average between 1300-1500 which has allowed me to maintain (the past 6 months not included) my original weight loss.

Also like JB said, calorie dipping is good to trick your body. One day eat 1300. The next day 1450. The next 1270.

I'm telling myself thats what I did when I splurged a little this past weekend Embarrassed

Leigha12 · January 2010

I probably eat close to 2000 calories a day, maybe more on days I exercise. I honestly wouldn't recommend dipping below 1500 if you're exercising. People need calories and (good) fat to have energy. I wonder if Samantha may have some insight...she's a trainer, right? Trainers tend to have nutrition education.

keb270 · January 2010

I calculated my BMI and came out to around 1300-1400 a day. I try to maintain this and have lost weight doing so. I also go to the gym and eat a bit more on these days if I want to. NEVER go under 1200 calories. Your body needs to much to function and will start to store the calories as fat if you go under. HTH

angelfire0412 · January 2010

I know I should be below 1300, but I am so not even close to that. I love me some food!!!

chrissyvcm · January 2010

You shouldn't ever go below 1200, as most other posters have said, it's very unhealthy. The normal female should be eating between 1300-1500, maybe a little more if you're REALLY active. If you're fueling yourself with the right kind of carbohydrates, you shouldn't be getting much higher than 1500, even if you're active. The ADA will tell you that 2,000 is ideal, but unless you're an athlete training for something (or are blessed with a really high metabolism), most people will gain weight on that many cals.

beckcour · January 2010

Try thedailyplate.com. It's got a great calorie counter on it. You put in your height and weight, if you want to lose, gain, etc., and it'll tell you how many calories to eat per day. I try to stay around 1,500/day and that should allow me to lose 1 lb per week.

samantha7806 · January 2010

i'm late jumping in here. someone previously said dipping 500 calories/day off what you normally eat and you will lose one pound. it's true that 3500 calories = 1 lb. so....if you want to lose 1 lb/week, you need to burn the 500 calories/day. if you are aiming for a 1/2 lb a week, then aim to burn off an additional 250 calories/day and so on.

when i'm training and teaching 2 boot camp classes/day - i eat in the upwards of 1800 calories. I wear the Body Media GoWear fit (www.bodymedia.com) and that helps me track how much I'm burning vs how much I'm eating - because I tend to have to make myself eat just to get more calories in.

For example - yesterday throughout the entire day, I burned 2094 calories. I consumed 1325 calories...so that's a deficit of 769. But, it was one of those crazy days where I was gone allll day long and I just flat out didn't get to eat more than that.

I'm rambling. In summary - if I'm not teaching six classes/week + working out, I consume 1300 - 1500 calories.

hawkilady · January 2010

Thanks everybody for your input... I knew my mother was wrong - she doesnt have a very healthy viewpoint on exercise and eating and has always been that way. I think I need to invest in a BodyBugg type thing... would make this much easier to personalize. But for now, I calculated my BMR and it came to 1450 so with exercise I think I will shoot for around 1300 calories a day to try to lose 1 pound per week. So much easier to gain weight than to lose it

How many calories do you eat a day?

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