cutting calories?

Question

i read that to lose 1-2 lbs. of fat a week you need to burn and cut a total of 3500 calories a week.well i kept a log of my calorie intake, and it was around 1500-1600 a day. im also walking (pushing a doube stroller) 4 miles a day.
so my question is, how do i know how many calories I"M supposed to cut, is this 3500 a week based on the usda's 2000 calorie diet? does anyone understand what im trying to ask? how do i figure my caloric needs, in order to determine how many i need to cut?

Answer 1

no, it is not from the usda's 2000 calorie diet. it is from the number of calories that you should be consuming for weight maintenance. try this calorie calculator http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calorie-calculator/NU00598. it will tell you for your height and weight how many calories you need to maintain your weight at current exercise levels. now from that number, you need to cut the 3500 calories a week.

for many women, especially shorter/less active women, a 2000 calorie diet is easily 250 calories too many per day. my "maintenance" calories according to the calorie calculator is about 1750. so for good weight loss, i should cut to about 1300 calories or so a day, as well as add some exercise in to the mix. if you are taller and/or heavier than me, you may calculate that 2000 is good for weight maintenance, and then a number of about 1600 calories would be appropriate for you.

i don't really recommend dropping a full 500 calories per day from your suggested calorie maintenance for your CURRENT exercise level if you are already exercising more, but rather from your PREVIOUS exercise level. because that 3500 calorie number is from both cutting and burning cals, so you don't want to CUT 500 per day and then BURN a few hundred extra each day, because that would be more like a deficit of 800 calories!

each person is always a bit different, though. make sure you are eating filling and nutritious foods with fiber, such as fruits, veggies, and whole grains. DO NOT go below 1200 calories, because you will be making your body think it needs to save the calories you consume, a sort of "starvation" mode.

ps to help you count calories, nutritiondata.com is a really good website for fresh foods, while thedailyplate.com is good for prepared foods.

Answer 2

From the source below:

Should you have a weekly goal for calories burned? To lose one pound of fat, you must incur a deficit of 3500 calories (combination of restricting intake and exercise). The mortality studies performed using Harvard alumni have indicated that a weekly caloric expenditure of 1500-2000 calories is best for longevity. Another recommended goal is to burn 300-500 calories per workout. Also keep in mind that if you are exercising at a low to moderate intensity, such as a walking program, you will see better results if you increase the duration of your workouts into the 40-60 minute range.

I suggest that you get on a nutrition program that you will live with, not a crash diet by dropping 500 calories a day. That seldom works. You need to figure out now many calories a day it takes to maintain your desired weight.

Here is a site to input your data:

http://www.caloriecontrol.org/calcalcs.html

Answer 3

Cut back to around 1100 calories per day, make sure these are good calories and not fat galories. Eat a lot of fiber (at least 5 gram per 100 calories) and whole wheat things. You should drop at least 2 pounds a week no problem. I dropped between 60-70 pounds this way over a year ago and have kept them off. I ate about 200 calories for breakfast, 200 calories for lunch, 40 calorie yogart snack, 500 calorie dinner, then fresh fruit for snack. It's do able.

Answer 4

Try 1200 calories a day. Combined with your walks should have you seeing 1 to 2 pound a week weight loss if you stick to the plan. As long as you're sweating during you walk you should be in good shape..good luck

Answer 5

you need to eat 500 less calories a day for 7 days. that will equal to 3500 calories.

Answer 6

Not sure if this will help or not, but it can tell you about how many calories that you are burning from all the exercise that you are doing.

All the best to you!!

Answer 7

every time you get hungry or it is your time to eat drink a big glass of water @12 oz this will cause you to eat less stay full and lose weight (along with your lower cal. intake)