Hi!
Hello! To answer your questions, the amount of calories you need to maintain your weight is based on your height, weight, age, level of activity, and other factors. Some online calculators will give you a fairly good idea of how many calories you need. Here are links to a couple...
Anyway, if you cut about 500 calories a day from the number needed to maintain your weight, you should lose about a pound a week. If you cut about 1000 calories a day from your maintenance number, you should lose about 2 pounds a week. Healthy weight loss that you can maintain for life is about 1 to 2 1/2 pounds a week.
YES, it DOES matter if you eat too little. You can enter a situation where you are killing muscle, not burning fat. You don't want that. Your heart is one big muscle. You probably don't want saggy, floppy skin, either. Losing slowly will help you to avoid this condition! Finally, you don't want to try to make changes that you can't stick with, because you will set yourself up to fail.
I started working on weight loss on May 11. I'm down at least 12 pounds so far - maybe more because my weigh day is not until Friday. Yeah, 2 pounds a week sounds slow, but I started needing to lose 100 pounds just like you, and in 6 weeks, I only need to lose 88 - or less! 2 pounds a week will take 100 pounds off you in less than a year! So, aim for that. Eat healthy things that you enjoy, try to keep your calories about 1200 less than your maintenance level, and set out to exercise (go for a walk) at least 3 or 4 days a week for at least half an hour. You will see success!!!
