how many calories should i eat each day to loose 1.5-2 pounds a week?

Question

I am female 5' 3 inches and currently weigh 150 pounds I want to weigh 125 pounds by August 15th. How many calories should I be eating each day. I get only a little exercise each day because I have a desk job. Thanks

Answer 1

rachael,

August 15th? You're not getting married then, are you? Perhaps going to Hawaii?

Each pound of weight is really close to 3500 calories. So if you want to lose 2 pounds a week (that's losing weight at a fairly rapid clip, you know), you'd have to have a calorie deficit of 7000 calories, or eating 1000 calories a day less than you are now, assuming that you follow the usual American diet of about 2000 calories a day.

1000 calories a day is not much. You'll feel hungry, tired, and grumpy, you'll think about food all the time, and sometimes your will will break and you'll binge.

Obviously, I don't recommend 1000 calories a day unless you are really, really determined. Obsessive, even.

Instead, resign yourself to either
1. a slower rate of weight loss, or
2. Adding jogging/running to your daily schedule.

If you do 2, you'll be able to lose weight at the rate you'd like to, if you jogged or ran about an hour a day, which would be about 5 or 6 miles, which would be 500 or 600 calories burned, AND ate a 1300-1400 calorie a day diet. A mile jogged is about 100 calories burned.

As you can see, losing weight is a lot less fun and a lot more work than putting it on is.

Now, if you do both 1 and 2, that is, eat less and exercise a lot more, or exercise a lot more and eat less, you can make your goal...if you do not cheat. Ever.

Good luck on that. We almost never get through a diet without cheating.

However, I would encourage you to try. Don't worry about doing it perfectly--as a wise man once said to me, "If anything's worth doing, it's worth doing badly." Start on something. Go to the CRON menu website (Calorie Restriction with Optimum Nutrition):

http://www.walford.com/cronmeals1.htm

which will show you how to eat 1500 calories a day. This is a little more than you're aiming for, but it will give you a true idea of what you're facing.

You can cut down from there.

What you'll basically need to do is to use the Rule of Ten: ten times the weight in pounds you want to weigh is the number of calories each day that you will need to eat. This will help you lose weight slowly, but surely, and without binging.

You can go faster than that if you want to, and you might want to every couple of days.

But what you're thinking about doing is pretty hard, because it's a big change which will require a big decision. Make it, however, and keep to it, and you'll be glad you did.

Answer 2

You need to create a defecit of 6,000 calories for the week to lose 2 pounds. A little agressive since you aren't seriously overweight. The heavier you are, the easier it is to burn calories.

1 lb = 3,000 calories

I guessed at your age (30), so this might be off a bit, but if you were to lay in bed all day, your body would use about 1400 calories a day. So in a week, you burn 9,800 calories (1400 x 7). I like to leave off the hundred or so calories burned at your desk for wiggle room.

If you consume 900 calories per day, you will have a defecit 500 per day, multiplied by 7 is 3500 calories in a week - 1.25 pounds.

The easiest way to boost these numbers way up is to get into a cardio routine. With a daily exercise plan, you have your choice of speeding up the weight loss or allowing yourself to consume extra calories every day.

Dont forget that you'll drop immediate water weight when restricting calories, drinking more water and exercising, too - that's good for about 3-5 pounds right off the top.

Answer 3

In general, a low calorie diet is considered to be about 1200 calories a day. I can tell you that this is the level that both Kirstie Alley and Valerie Bertinelli were/are at with their Jenny Craig diets.

The real key is to be burning more calories than you take in. If you could figure out how many calories you're burning in a day, you could better know how many you'd need to burn.

Answer 4

I've tried many diets and couldn't make anything work. Since having my first child, I've been carrying around an extra 30 pounds. This diet just made sense and showed me that everything I was doing before was wrong and a waste of my time.

The plan was so refreshing and so simple to follow. I did everything plan said and lost 23 pounds in the first three weeks. I'm now starting the diet again to lose 7 more pounds. This plan has changed my life.

Get started today!

Answer 5

I would say to consume about 1500 calories per day because most of that will get burned off just by your normal breathing and sleeping patterns (if you get a good amount of sleep at night). Remember that sleep burns more calories than sitting in front of the television... And when you're at your desk, try to do little mini-workouts like flexing different muscles for about 10 seconds several times a day. However, to really get the results you want, you're going to have to start taking walks or swimming when you go home at night. Try to get a buddy to go with you for a little moral boost!

Answer 6

Two pounds is 7000 calories. That's a lot to cut out of a diet that may have been as little as double that amount. Despite all the books, there's no way to tell what your individual caloric requirements are from afar, but you can probably figure a decent estimate if you're honest with yourself and maybe keep a diet diary.

Answer 7

You should prob have between 1200-1500 calories a day. Try weight watchers. Good luck!

Answer 8

go to www.myfooddiary.com

you should be between 1200 and 1400 cal a day but you need to work out too. Go in the am or on your lunch hour. You can burn 400 in 30 mintues

Answer 9

A friend once did a carb diet of 1600 carbs daily and lost about 5 pounds the first week

Answer 10

1200 calorie diet should work out good for you =try a bit more exercises after work