CC geniuses, help a sister out pleaaase!

So, because I didn't really pay attention to the amount of calories I was eating before I started watching what I eat, I have no idea how many calories I was consuming a day. I want to lose about 10 pounds overall and I think I probably weigh something like 154 or a little less (haven't weighed myself in a whiiiile!) and want to get to 145 (am 5'7-5'8).

 I am not super active at the moment but probably walk around 30 min a day and take stairs when I can. I'd like to lose the 10 pounds over a max of 2 months.

CC says I burn about 1800 calories a day (i put in sedentary), how accurate is that??..cos I feel like that's alot of burning for a "sedentary" person AND means I can eat 1300 calories a day and still lose a pound a week?..sounds too good to be true.

So if i go with a 1200-1300 calories/day diet, is it almost certain I'll lose the pound a week or is that when u have a lot to lose that the weight drops easily?

NOTHING IS CERTAIN when it comes to weight loss, those calculators are estimators based on averages and your body composition and metabolism will vary slightly from what they predict. regardless of how much weight you have to lose, an actualy deficit of 500 calories will yield a one pound loss per week, the problem is that people sometimes overestimate their burn or underestimate their caloric intake so the calculation is off. 1200-1300 calories a week is definitely low enough to lose a pound a week seeing as your BMR is probably around 1500 and getting up to eat, use the restroom, do your hair, etc. all takes calories so 1800 a day is not that unbelievable as far as your daily burn goes. I would stick to 1300 for a few weeks and monitor my loss if i were you, if you lose on that amount don't change it. if you find that you are losing a little less than a pound per week then go down to 1200 but NEVER below that. the loss isn't worth it if it requires restricting to less than 1200, but i am almost certain that you will see results without taking extreme measures. i hope this helps :)

I'd aim to eat 1500 calories a day, if I were you.  You're lightly active not sedentary so if your sedentary burn is 1800 cals/day, your lightly active burn will be ~2000 cals/day.  Also, your BMR is about 1500 cals/day so that's a really good place to start.  It'll give you a daily deficit of 500 cals which means you should average a pound of weight lost per week.

Be aware that our bodies rarely lose weight in the nice linear predictable fashion we'd like them to.  If you go for a week or two without seeing a change on the scale and you've double checked that you're really only eating 1500 cals/day, have patience.  You'll likely see a sudden drop soon after.  This is particularly true for women as we tend to retain water at certain times of the month.  Similarly, if you drop 2 pounds a week early on, that doesn't necessarily mean you're undereating so you don't need to change what you're doing.  It's likely partly due to losing water weight (especially if you cut down on salty/sugary foods when you cut calories).

I hope that's helpful.  Good luck!

I agree, I'd aim for around 1500. I've been reserching diets and they all seem to say aim there. The best way i seem to find to stick to that no of cals is approx 250 cals breakfast, 350 cals lunch, 450 cals Dinner, 100 cals milk for drink ect. and the rest in healthy, or at least fairly heathly snacks.

Also try to make sure most the things you eat have less than 5% fat per 100g.

And weigh yourself. weekly it really helps to watch how your doin.

I have a Wii fit and that weighs me daily, keeps you on track. and if you are putting on weight you can stop sooner rather than later.

hope that helped and good luck.

I've just started and I'm trying to hit that 500 cals deficit.

I'm 5'1" and 134lbs, I'm 24. It also says that my daily burn at sedentry is about 1800kcals.

I wanted to check this out so went on some other website for details on how many calories we burn sitting, sleeping, getting ready etc. I added up the different amount of cals per hour and it did work out at about 1800 - 1900.

I've got a heart rate monitor. I'm tempted to wear it non stop during a very sedentry day and see the cals add up.

I usually count anything extra - doing shopping, walking into town, gym sessions as extra.

I've been finding that on the days I visit the gym I need to eat much more than 1500kcal. It explains alot why I've passed out and gone funny in the gym before. Clearly not been eating enough!

Good luck with your counting.

Original Post by nutella85:

I've got a heart rate monitor. I'm tempted to wear it non stop during a very sedentry day and see the cals add up.

I've been tempted to do the same but, when I looked into it, found it wouldn't work.  Heart rate monitors aren't very good at measuring/predicting calorie burn when your heart rate is low - just when it's high.  Unless you have a bodybugg (or the recent cheaper equivalent whose name I forget), you won't get a meaningful number.

Besides, after a month or two of losing weight, you'll know what your typical burn is just based on how much weight you've lost and how much you've eaten.  e.g. If you eat 1400 cals on average and lose 8 pounds in 8 weeks, you know your typical daily burn is about 1900 cals/day (since a 1 pound/week loss = 500 cals/day deficit).

Thank you all so much, wonderful answers!

i went and bought a scale today and man i was spot on! 154lbs...

i'm now on 1200-1300 cals, i'll see if i see any drop by next week. I dont know why am worried 1500 might be too much.

am assuming 1200-1300 can't lead to starvation mode since it's just the lowest a woman should go without it having damaging effects, right?

You're tall, so 1800 sounds right. Your body needs more calories to keep it running because being taller also means having more mass to keep moving. I'm only 5'2 and I burn 1600 sedentary, and around 1900 when lightly active. I've found that if I stick to calorie counts numbers I lose weight (like if I exercise every day to burn around 300 calories and eat 1800 calories, I lose weight).

Also, 1200 is the average, like because I'm 5'2 I can eat 1200 calories and not go into starvation mode, but being so tall, you need more, you should probably stick to the 1500.