Weight-Loss How many calories?

Weight-Loss
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Ashleyyy

New member
I'm not sure how many calories I should be consuming in a day. The trainer at the gym gave me a list of foods that are best for me to eat but wont say anything about how many calories I should eat so I'm really clueless. I'm 5'5, 225 lbs and I'm trying to get down to around 140 lbs. Sorry if this is dumb but I'm really new to the weight loss thing!
 
Hi Ashleyyy,

You can find the Your calories Count by The Given Formula as I am Not good with maths. You have to take the pain to find it.

The Harris-Benedict equation for BMR:

* For men: (13.75 x w) + (5 x h) - (6.76 x a) + 66
* For women: (9.56 x w) + (1.85 x h) - (4.68 x a) + 655

The Mufflin equation for BMR:

* For men: (10 x w) + (6.25 x h) - (5 x a) + 5
* For women: (10 x w) + (6.25 x h) - (5 x a) - 161

caloric needs

If you are sedentary : BMR x 20 percent
 
divyaahuja52 said:
caloric needs

If you are sedentary : BMR x 20 percent
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No. To get the calories needed to maintain your current weight, you multiply your BMR by 1.2 (not 0.2) But then to lose weight you would have to subtract calories from that, say 500 calories per day if you want to lose 1 pound per week.
 
Hmm...I have tried both formulas, just out of curiousity.

The first one gives me 3905 as BMR, the other 3028.

900 calorie gap, plus I don't think I would be losing anything on 2500 or even 2000. Quite confusing.
 
You might think you won't, but you will. When you are larger, your body needs more calories to maintain. Heck, I need somewhere around 3900 calories or something like that. Weight loss will happen. Try it, you will be surprised.
 
I've never used any of those formulas myself. My advice: Pick a number between 1500 and 2000. Try that for a couple of weeks, weighing yourself daily. If you are getting ravenously hungry, eat a little more. If you are not losing fast enough, eat a little less.
 
Yet another way of finding it out is 10-12 x your weight, so around 2250 calories which sounds about right.

Remember when you lose weight you'll have to recalculate it though, so when you get down to 180lbs for example then it'd be 1800 calories.
 
Jericho - I already lost over 100 lbs, by sticking between 1500 and 1700 cals. It seems to be working, that's why it baffled me when I came up with so much more. It might be working, it just seems a lot, that's all.
 
The key is also that everyone is different. There is no hardfast number which is why listening to your body is important. You will see differences with small changes. Sometimes, I think we focus too much on the math. I know I do.
 
I've never used any of those formulas myself. My advice: Pick a number between 1500 and 2000.
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Seriously?

The HB Equation is pretty much the standard - it's what most of the "quick" solutions (and most internet calorie estimation sites) use as the base calculations.

Saying to pick a number between 1500 and 2000 doesn't take into account any differences in weight and caloric need. It's like saying that an SUV and a subcompact should get the same MPH - which is just silly.

Someone who is heavier needs more calories to simply sustain their weight. Someone who is lighter needs fewer.

San - just as an aside, the calculation is based on metric numbers, not lbs and inches. I wasn't sure if you were aware of that. When I put your figures (I checked out your diary) into the calculation, I get a BMR of 2122 and a maintenance (given moderate activity) of 2971.

The easiest way to figure your calories for weight loss (w/out having to do the whole equation) is to take a figure of 10-12 calories per pound of current body weight. So if you weigh 225, then you should eat somewhere between 2250 and 2700 calories to lose at a safe and reasonable weight. Most women skew more towards the 10 calories per pound and most men skew more towards the 12 calories per pound (just as an average) but really it's about picking a number, eating that way for a couple of weeks and seeing where it goes. If you aren't seeing results, drop a couple hundred calories and see where you go from there.
 
KaraCooks said:
Seriously?

The HB Equation is pretty much the standard - it's what most of the "quick" solutions (and most internet calorie estimation sites) use as the base calculations.

Saying to pick a number between 1500 and 2000 doesn't take into account any differences in weight and caloric need. It's like saying that an SUV and a subcompact should get the same MPH - which is just silly.
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I didn't say pick a number and stick with it. What you do is try it and see how it works. It's what you have to do anyway if you try the cookbook approach and find it doesn't fit your particular metabolism, or if you tend to have some systematic error in calorie counting (most people do).
 
What you do is try it and see how it works.
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Well sure, but limiting it to between 1500 and 2000 doesn't take into consideration the needs of heavier people. Someone who is 300+ lbs shouldn't drop down to 2000 calories unless they want to lose a lot of muscle mass.

Someone who is 300 lbs (as an example) should start off around 2700-3500 calories. Start in the middle of that range and see where it gets you.

Someone who is 130 lbs isn't going to lose much at all on 1500 calories and will have to probably start around 1300 to lose.

Giving a fixed number range is counter productive. Giving a range based on weight is a much better way to go.
 
KaraCooks said:
Well sure, but limiting it to between 1500 and 2000 doesn't take into consideration the needs of heavier people. Someone who is 300+ lbs shouldn't drop down to 2000 calories unless they want to lose a lot of muscle mass.

Someone who is 300 lbs (as an example) should start off around 2700-3500 calories. Start in the middle of that range and see where it gets you.

Someone who is 130 lbs isn't going to lose much at all on 1500 calories and will have to probably start around 1300 to lose.

Giving a fixed number range is counter productive. Giving a range based on weight is a much better way to go.
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Well, the 1500 to 2000 was just a SWAG intended for Ashley's situation. Even there, it's just a starting point. Nothing says you can't go higher or lower. So, actually, yeah, that would work for everybody.

In the worst case, you will either get hungry as hell, and eat more right away, or you will find you are not losing and it will take an extra week or two to find the right number. Whereas, if you crunch a number, and it doesn't work, but you still think the number must be right because it came out of a calculator, then it might take somebody even longer to sort things out.
 
formulas are always guesses. don't rely on them.

the best way is to do a 24 hour recall. You write down everything you eat or drink over a 24 hour period. You then enter this into a free calorie counting website like calorieking.com. You'll then know how many calories you are eating each day. Simply subtract 500 calories for this number to lose weight at a steady rate.
 
formulas are always guesses. don't rely on them.
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I disagree. They are not "guesses" ... they are based on basic information that is standard for the majority of the population.

Does that mean the numbers are carved in stone? No. We are all different and we all have different needs. The numbers from forumlas give you a starting point, rather than having you pick a number from thin air.

Are the numbers you get from a formula a baseline/range/starting point? Yes.
Are the "always guesses"? Not in the least.
 
if one person is 150lbs, male, lean and active they will get the same 'calorie requirement' of another person who is 150lbs, female, inactive - because they used something like Bodyweight x 20 or similar.
but there requirements may be 1000 calories or more different. not trying to argue, just saying that when used by people who aren't 'knowledgable' (for lack of a better word) with using formulas, they are guesses
 
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