I need help figuring out my cal intake cal burn

Ok i weigh 187 my target cal intake is 1450 a day. I have been keeping below that. I walk 3 miles everyday and do 30 of either Pilate's, hip hop abs, or my bender ball. What am i doing wrong do i need to intake more calories or burn more calories? How many calories do i need to burn a day. I dont understand the ratio. Can someone help explain that to me. I am worried if i eat to many calories and burn to few i will gain, and if i eat to few and burn to many my metabolism will slow. i dont want that. And is it healthy to lose 40lbs in 6 mths?Someone please help, thank you!!:(

I'll do my best to help! First, a pound of fat equals 3500 calories, so your goal should be to create a calorie deficit of 3500-7000 calories every week to lose one or two pounds. That means you need to calculate what you burn in a day and subtract 500-1000 calories. You can definitely lose 40 pounds in 6 months--that's a rate of 1.5 pounds per week, or a 750 calorie deficit every day.

You can calculate how much your daily exercise burns using the activity tools, or you can set your activity level to light or moderate and subtract 750 from that. I'm guessing that 1450 is too low, and you've actually been eating less than that.

It's a bit counterintuitive, but you really have to eat enough to lose weight. It's possible that since you've been under-eating your calorie goal, you've signaled to your body that there's a food shortage and your body is therefore slowing your metabolism to adjust. If you create a deficit of around 500-800 calories a day, your body will happily burn fat and you'll lose weight. Good luck!

Also, you should check out this website: http://www.phord.com/cc/

You can enter your information and it will give you lots of info about how much you burn, how much to eat, etc. It's great!

THANK YOU SO MUCH

sometimes its hard to find good advice on the internet, but what you said actually makes sense. Thanks again. i will look at this site and post my results if you wanna look back with further suggestions!!

Happy to help! 

the results are that i need to eat 1600 and burn 2600 boy was i way off. The only problem i am having is determining just how many cals i burn a day? But i am on the right track and will figure it out. Things are a lot easier to understand now!

The phord.com site that cosmo gave you tells you how much you burn in a day. Go back and read it through.

i did read it through i dont understand what you mean? i burn 2600 cals a day just living and need to cut that by 500-1000 cals right no more because thats not healthy. I thought i had the calculations right. In order to create a deficit i need to maintain an intake of 1600-2100 cals and continue exercising. Right!?

Original Post by lmosher85:

The only problem i am having is determining just how many cals i burn a day? 

You said you were having trouble determining how many calories you burn in a day, but you seem to understand it fine.  I guess I'm confused what you were asking in that post.

And, yes - I'd say 2100 to start, and go from there.