How many calories should I eat?
 

okay so im a female, 21 years old im about 5'3, and weigh 177 however im guessing most of the heavy weight is muscle because i look at other woman who are just 160 and my height and look very very overweight, anyways besides the point i am overweight and need to loose ! fit day says 1600 calories a day but i feel thats too much ! i just started dieting but have no idea what im doing lol, and tips on good foods to eat specific brands and such would be reallly helpful and a estimate on how many calories i should be consuming, also when at the gym i do only weight training (benching,squats ect..)

Welcome!

I'm sure you will find a lot of basic stuff on here if you look around. To get you started, I would recommend just to start tracking your food. Get a good scale and measure everything for a week or so.

First of all, it sounds like you are athletic/muscular and may in fact need to lose little weight to be healthy. How did you determine you are 'overweight'? Don't just go on BMI or other sort of height/weight chart. Ideally you should get your body composition (lean to fat percentage) measured. That will give you a much better indication what you need to lose. There are different options for getting this done depending on where you are...but you sound like a great example where weight alone is not telling the whole story.

The amount of calories/day you should aim for depends on how much you are burning and how fast you want to lose weight. In general, the larger the difference between what you are burning and consuming, the faster you will loss weight (or gain weight, as the case may be).

As far as what foods/brands, what seems to be working for me is pretty simple. Avoid processed and fast foods. Avoid sugar/corn syrup/white flour/white rice. Eat fresh, 'real' foods whenever possible. Make sure to get enough Protein daily (for me it's 100-120g minimum). Drink lots of water (64oz at a minimum...lots of people here do more). I don't worry all that much about carbs...by avoiding sugar, white bread, white rice I find this more or less takes care of itself. I also like to always make sure I'm getting enough fiber...I notice when I am low on fiber I feel more hungry.

Good Luck!

Calorie intake
 

Hi i am new today and was wondering how i find out how many calories i should consume in a day . it doesnt tell me on my home screen

A lot of the weight loss process is trial and error. I too am short, muscular and overweight, and one thing I've found is that the composition of the calories is as important for weight loss as the actual number of calories. I can actually eat a few more calories if I keep my protein intake above 25%, especially if I consume a good amount of protein after a workout when my body can use it effectively. Another thing I would suggest is that you add cardio to your workout schedule. Lifting weights is all fine, well and good, but it flat out doesn't burn calories like a good cardio workout. There are some really good workout videos that bring up the heart rate doing calisthenics, so if running or swimming isn't your thing you might try that.

Also given your height and weight I agree that 1,600 calories might be on the high side for weight loss, but it won't hurt to try it. If not you might add "sleeping" to your activities and see where that lands your intake. Many of us find that it corrects the deficit equation and makes the calculations more accurate.

Fitday will calculate how many calories you burn each day. This is also known as your Base Metabolic Rate (BMR). Make sure you fill out the Height, Weight, Age part of your profile. You can also customize the number if you find (like me) that it is inaccurate, but I will explain how to customize after I explain where to see your BMR. The easiest place to see you BMR is on your ACTIVITY tab. On the last line of your Activities list (even if you haven't added any) is and entry for 'Lifestyle', the next column shows your selected activity level and here is an option to customize your entry. The 4th column under Calories burned is your BMR.

If you use the WEIGHT GOAL tab and set a weight goal FITDAY will calculate the calorie deficit needed and show you the amount of calories you can eat to achieve that deficit. (Look at the Calorie restriction and Calorie Balance tabs under your weight goal.) The weight goal tool also makes it easy to see if your goal is reasonable. If your time frame is too short the calorie deficit will be too high and the amount of calories to consume unreasonably low.

Customizing your BMR number:
Go to your ACTIVITIES tab, on the last line click the 'customize' link. This take you to a screen where you can choose between the Mifflin or Harris-Benedict calculations or a custom number (this is helpful if you have a BMR from another web-site or trainer you would like to use). Be aware that if you choose the custom number FITDAY will add a varying amount to it based on your activity level selection. So you may need to play with the custom number a little.

Most people find that if they use the Mifflin equation and enter their sleep as an activity it is very close to reality. (Some don't add sleep and are fine).

Hope this helps with the 'How much should I eat' questions.

Very much so, Ron. As usual you give a superb answer. And thank you to the others helping out on this thread.

From now on if this question comes up in a new thread, they should just be merged into this one. That way the person will find their answer, and nobody has taken time to 'reinvent the wheel'. ;)

This thread is also a referenced thread in the FAQ's thread, below.

Take your current weight and multiply by 11. This should give you enough of a deficit to lose a pound a week or more. You don't want to go too low with calories because then your body will hold onto fat. This is a simple way to calculate.

That sounds reasonable. Just now I did the calculation, and it works out to about the lower limit of calories if I were trying to lose weight (but I'm not, I'm maintaining now).

Where did you get this from? Do you have a reference?

I believe if you take your current weight and multiply it by 12 then that is how many calories it takes to maintain your weight. So multiplying it by 11 and eating that many calories would give you a weight loss.

I read this about a week ago on Yahoo which said the author was from Men's Health Magazine

Thanks :)

Ashley...
 

I have a sneaking suspicion that you may be African American? For some reason, BMI calculations don't work as well for African Americans; I suspect that in general they may have greater diversity in the weight that nature "intends" them to carry.

Would you have the same sneaking suspicion that I too am African American (which clearly by my avatar, I'm not) just because I too fit into the same mold as the original poster? I'm an inch or so taller, and still a bit heavier, but I too can carry more weight yet look "less fat" than someone else of the same height and weight. It has nothing to do with race, but BODY TYPE. Anyone, no matter their racial background, who is more muscular than the "norm" is going to weigh more and have a higher BMI than someone who isn't. :rolleyes:I swear....

:D

http://images.cheezburger.com/comple...2012804591.jpg

The number of calories you need each day depends on your activity levels and your body size. Your diet is the key factor that affects your weight and health.
How many calories should i eat
The first thing you need to do for lose weight is determinate the calories that you need a day.
The second is begin cut down the extra calories means change your diet and make exercises for burn these extra calories.
You need cut down 500 calories a day to lose 1 pound a week or 1,000 calories a day to lose 2 pounds a week (1 and 2 pounds a week is considered safe rate to lose weight).
Hope this help

Make sure you don't go below 1200... but 1200-1400 is good for weight loss, but make sure if you do a heavy workout you eat extra calories in that day.

Calories?

http://www.fitday.com/fitness/forums...n.html#post276

Hey there, 1600 calories is probably appropriate for your metabolism, especially if you have a significant amount of muscle already. If you're trying to lose weight you could integrate some cardio at the gym because that would definately help boost your calorie burn. Just never, ever, eat less than 1200 calories a day, it will put your body into starvation mode and you'll either lose the important fat feeding your organs or your muscles will start to atrophe. I've heard of calorie restricting underneath 1200, but I can't imagine actually getting around the body's natural defenses. Btw, i'm 23 5'5 and 145 lbs and I eat around 1300 a day.

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Reference How Many Calories Should I Eat a Day to Lose Weight

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