How much calories to lose weight?

C

childgoddess

New member
Hey There

I'm a 20 yr old female who weights about 220 lbs and is 5'6. My desired weight goal is to be 160 lbs in the one year from eatting a healthly diet, exercise and other healthly factors as well. I'm wondering what would be a good calorie intake for me would be when it comes to losing one pound a week. I do light activity like brisk walk about three times a week for about 30 minutes. I do a low impact cardio once a week for about almost a hour. I was thinking of consuming 1800 calories a day to lose weight and do light exercise 3-5 times a week for 30-45 mins. Does this sound healthy and safe?
 
I would think at your weight, with the exercise you are stating, that you are going to lose more than a pound a week at 1800. I mean 2000 with doing nothing is going to get you weight loss right now.
 
so you want to lose 60lbs in 52 weeks, a little over 1lb/week. 1lb of fat is 3500 calories, so that is how much you'd have to cut in order to lose 1lb a week, technically. 1-2lbs a week is considered safe, although starting at your current weight, you might be able to drop more than that each week for a while.

I'd go to the link Steve posted, calculate both your personal BMR and your maintenance calories using the Harris Benedict Equation, and go from there. You can subtract 500-1000 calories from your maintenance number (that would be 1-2 lbs a week). This will help you figure out your personal calorie range, but it is up to you to eat the proper calories so that your body is well nourished throughout your weight loss. It is the difference between feeling sluggish or feeling great. Good luck to you :)
 
I would say that after a little need to reduce calories to the recommended rate. It's even better to eat healthy food. That feeling would be a good diet and will not be suffering.
 
I think loosing weight without exercise is not possible and I also do exercise daily from brisk walk to cycling, all these give me boost to maintain my routine and the techniques you are using is quite satisfying and you would definitely achieve desirable results within few weeks. Mostly people use different techniques in order to achieve the significant results.
 
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kashifpk said:
I think loosing weight without exercise is not possible
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Why on Earth would you believe that. Losing weight is simply a function of creating a negative energy balance - more calories out than in or less calories in than out... however you want to look at it.

Though I highly suggest exercise, to say losing weight without exercise is impossible is sort of silly. All you'd have to do is eat less calories than your body needs.
 
Hi Childgoddess,

I noticed you wrote this December 24th. Have you been experimenting with the 1800 calories that you planned? If so, what have your results been? Although there are good ways to estimate your starting calories, it's important to reevaluate often and change your calorie goal to match your changing metabolism.

I would guess that you'd probably need to up your calories to fuel your fat-burning machine. I'd be interested in hearing about your progress so far.
 
My progess

So far, i have lost 7 lbs already since December 24. I have been being light with my exercise. I have stoped worrying about the calorie stuff because it just too overwhelming. I'm just gonna eat according to the Canadian Food Guide and try to get 30- 45 mins of cardio ateast 3 x a week or even everday would be better.
 
childgoddess said:
Hey There

I'm a 20 yr old female who weights about 220 lbs and is 5'6. My desired weight goal is to be 160 lbs in the one year from eatting a healthly diet, exercise and other healthly factors as well. I'm wondering what would be a good calorie intake for me would be when it comes to losing one pound a week. I do light activity like brisk walk about three times a week for about 30 minutes. I do a low impact cardio once a week for about almost a hour. I was thinking of consuming 1800 calories a day to lose weight and do light exercise 3-5 times a week for 30-45 mins. Does this sound healthy and safe?
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non-active women 1000-1200
active women 1200-1500
these are only suggested calories for weight loss. (taken from my calorie king book)
 
Good for you! I'm happy that what you're doing is working well for you :) You can't go wrong with clean, healthy eating and exercise. That is what humans are meant to do!

Just don't lose sight on these important puzzle pieces: keep tabs on not eating too few calories, and make sure you switch up your workouts when you find yourself getting too used to whatever routine you're doing. Your body will adapt over time to the calories you're taking in as well as the the effort you put out in your workouts. When you get more comfortable, you could always add weights to your routine, or even switch it out completely for a while. OR do resistance cardio training as a 2-for-1 deal. ANYTHING to keep you from losing interest or getting burned out. Nothing will burn you out more than stalling. Always keep your body guessing so you'll be on the best track to continuous weight loss.

I wish you the best! You're doing great!
 
Calories to lose weight

It takes burning approximately 3500 calories to lose 1 pound of fat. You're going to lose fat and/or general weight by creating a calorie deficit. What that means in short is that you must burn more calories than you eat. The type of calories you eat are also important, so look into nutrition on the Internet, in books or on this site. There's a lot of info. Point is, either by diet alone, exercise alone or a combo of the two (which is the best way), you need to remove 3500 calories from your system to lose a pound of fat.

Never starve yourself, however. If you find that you're always hungry on your new diet, change it around until you're not. Also, try not to eat 'comfort foods' and not to eat later in the evening. This is where most people get hit with extra pounds. This is particularly harsh if you find that you often feel a little down as night comes on. I do sometimes, and you'll find that you really want to munch on something to feel better. That puts fat on you, which doesn't make you feel better. It makes you feel more like eating comfort food, which keeps the bad cycle rolling.
 
Ironwil said:
It takes burning approximately 3500 calories to lose 1 pound of fat.
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That's false.

The energy density of one pound of fat is, in fact, roughly 3500 kcal.

But establishing a 3500 kcal deficit won't ensure a loss of 1 pound of fat simply due to the fact that more than fat is lost while being in a deficit - muscle, connective tissue, glycogen, etc. which all have varying energy densities.
 
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