How many calories should I eat to lose 1-2 lbs a week?

Question

I'm 21 years old , female, moderately active, workout 2-3x a week, 5'1 and 96 lbs. Before anyone says anything, my doctor said it was ok to lose weight.

Answer 1

Cala,

Google "basal metabolic rate" and use the BMR calculators to see how many calories/day you need just to live, breathe, blink etc. Any activity, such as weightlifting, will add to that number.

Then make sure you have a slight calorie deficit each day and you will lose weight. One pound of fat is 3500 calories, so if you have a 400 calorie/day deficit you will lose 7x400=2800 calories/week, or a little less than 1 pound. This doesnt sound like much, but if you lose it slowly its much less likely to come back. Anymore than a 20% calorie deficit and you risk starting to lose muscle and a metabolic slowdown.

If you want to work backwards, then 3500/7=500, so this means you need about a 500 calorie deficit/day to lose 1 pound of fat (not muscle or water!) per week.

Do not confuse weight loss with fat loss. Anyone can lose 2lbs/week if they eat some ridiculously low number of calories like 800/day, and your bodyweight can fluctuate by 1-2lbs/day based on how well/poorly hydrated you are.

I suggest you check what your bodyfat % is? This is the only real way to check fat loss, unless its enough to be visible. At 5'1" 96lbs I would guess your bodyfat % is in the healthy range. Anything less than 20% is considered "lean" for women, and the very "ripped" female bodybuilders are in the 9-12% range.

Check out http://burn-fat-feed-the-muscle.blogspot... for more. I highly recommend Tom Venuto's ebook "Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle" if you want to do this right.

Answer 2

loosing weight based on calories is something that depends on the food that you are eating, if you are eating 200 calories in a salad and chicken, or 200 calories in a candy bar, you will gain more weight by eating the candy bars. the daily amount i eat is 1300. I have been loosing roughly 4 pounds a week, but i excersise 5 days a week though, I would recommend 1500 calories, and continue working out, just don't try and get too skinny, you already sound pretty small!

Answer 3

What? 5'1" and 96 lbs.? Your doctor is wrong. Check the chart--you are already 10 lbs. TOO THIN for your height:
http://www.healthchecksystems.com/heightweightchart.htm

Not all doctors are right about everything. They can and do make mistakes. And he made one if he said that. If you think you need to lose weight, then you have an eating disorder.

Answer 4

find calorie/fitness calculator on the net, enter all your stats and it will tell you how many calories you need a day to maintain, take off 300-400cal off that number and thats how much you need to lose.
eat 5-6 small meals a day (eat every 2-3 hours)
5-8 servings of fruit and veggies a day
8 glasses of water
have complex carbs for breakfast - they give you energy
have lean meat (protein) for dinner - repairs muscle
cardio exercise 4-6 times a week for 30-50min, light weight training
dont consume foods that are made of white flour (white bread, cakes, past etc.), sugar loaded foods (cookies, icecream, candy etc) and nothing fried, oily.
ofcourse you can spoil yourself once in a while with a little treat:)

Answer 5

i think you are a great size. in no way should you use weight, but hey, everyone has their own preferences. 3500 calories = 1 pound, so it depends on how many calories you take in each day.

Answer 6

It's up to you, just remember 3500= 1 pound.

Answer 7

First of all you don't need to lose anymore weight for your age. You are 96LBS!!...That is light as it is!!...It's great that you work-out, I work-out myself. I wouldn't lose anymore if I were you...You are good as it is or gain more!...