How much (or little) do I need to be eating?

After reading the other thread, it got me thinking about how much I really should be eating...so, with that said:

 

Okay, I am a bit confused, but I'm looking for some help.

 I am 160 lbs, 5'8'', and 21 years old. I want to get down to around 125.

It says I burn 1860 calories per day under "my account", but when I clicked on tools to figure out how much I was expending, it said 1900 - 40 cals difference, so no biggie. When I diet (I am starting again), I aim for eating 1200 calories per day. When I did this a while back, I did lose some weight, but maybe I was not eating enough? I will be going to the gym 5x per week, staying at 80% of my max heart rate for 30 mins on the elliptical machine, and do some strength training 3x per week. For now, I am sedentary, but on Monday, when I start, I will not be...so this is where it gets confusing for me.

That said, how much do you think I should be eating (or not eating) to lose 2 lbs per week?

The numbers, when I do the calculations just don't seem right to me, so I was wondering if someone else could help me out!

Thank you!

Well, I'll tell you what has worked for me. I am a college student so I leave my gage on sedentary all the time and then add any extra calories that I expend from walking or gym visits on top of that. That way I don't have to worry about having an inactive day every now and again. As far as how much to eat, I set my calorie goal for the day at the BMR for my current weight. That way I know the minimum I need to eat in order to keep from going into starvation mode. Then once I am done eating the minimum calories I subtract the calories I have eaten from my burn meter total for the day (with all the activities added in) in order to find out what my deficit is for the day. If it is over 1000 I will eat a little more or have an alcoholic drink to manage the deficit (it should never be over 1000). This plan has made a big difference for me. It allows me a little more flexibility and I've lost 15lbs so far this way. I hope that helps.

Thank you very much! That did help quite a bit!

 

So, hypothetically lets take this situation and see if I am on the right track:

 

I set my target cals at 1860 per day. Say I work out at the gym and burn 300 calories. I subtract the cals I burned from the cals I ate, and I end up with 1560. BUT, that is only a 300 calorie deficit. Anyway, to lose weight, it should be 500 for 1 lb per week, and 1000 for 2 lbs per week. Okay. Got it.

Am on the right track here, or totally off?

I'm 5"8 but older than you and not intending to do as much exercise, and my lowest figure to eat is worked on my BMR 1447 but my BMR x1.2 is 1734 so I just eat anywhere between the two but never below the lowest.

One more thing. In order to lose 2 lbs per week you need to have a 1000 calorie deficit per day. I have found this nearly impossible to maintain all the time. I try to average at about a 700 calorie deficit with a few 1000 calorie days a week. That puts me at about 1.5 lbs per week. Which I am happy with. Try to remember that it's not all about loosing the weight fast. It's about loosing it, keeping it off and living a healthy, happy, fun filled life.

Good luck!

How do you burn the extra couple hundred calories every few days? At the gym, or just by factoring in the activities you do like walking, or standing, etc?

 

I was eating 1200 cals on a diet before, and I lost some weight, so I wasn't starving...but I think this plan sounds a bit more realistic. Well, anyway...the calorie count website says I need to eat 1400 cals to reach my goal...but maybe it's possible even with eating more?

Hi, you and I have virtually the same stats and the same goal so if you're interested in having a buddy then please add me - I've been struggling to find someone with similar stats!

I'm 21

5'8''

154 pounds now

126 goal weight.

I'm just finishing my senior year at the university of St. Andrews in Scotland!

Hope to hear from you,

Kate.