how many calories should I eat daily if I want to lose weight?

Question

I'm 15 and 5'3"

right now I am about 150 but some of its muscle because I dont look it.. and I'm going to be exercising about 1 hour everyday

Thanks for all the answers.. my new years resolution is to lose weight and get healthier.. People in my family have high cholestral and things like that so I want to get healthy now.

Answer 1

well at your age...about 1200 calories, and exercise for a half hour.

Answer 2

well first you need to just eat like you regularly would for a day and count the calories you've been taking in. (the average female that does moderate exercise a couple times a week usually should get around 2,000). So say you take in 2,000, depending on how much weight you need to lose i would probably cut down to 1,000 or 1,500. Or if you take in 2,500, then only take in 2,000. Gradually you will become less hungry and you can cut out another 100 or so calories at a time. But make sure you stay active and keep up your metabolism. Diets aren't a good idea because once you lose the weight you'll just revert back to your old habits and gain all the weight back. Maintaining a healthy weight has to be a lifestyle, not just something you do when you feel you're getting a bit heavy. Get involved in sports (swimming is excellent for toning), jog a couple times a week, ride your bike, whatever you can do to stay active. Its very simple if you take the time to do it the right way. I'm not saying you need to religiously count calories and jog 5 miles a day but simple things like drinking a glass of water instead of that coke you wanted, or maybe not eating a second helping at dinner, and even walking places instead of catching a ride can make all the difference in the world! GOOD LUCK!

Answer 3

Take whatever you are eating now and cut out about 250-500 calories and you'll lose about a pound every week or so, at a relatively slow but healthier weight. Beware the crash diets, or Anorexic diets like trying to subsist on a grapefruit a day. You might lose a ton of weight, but your metabolism lowers greatly as well, and if you stop it, the weight comes back much faster than you lost it. That's why cut out 250-500 calories or so from whatever your normal intake is and increase exercise to avoid metabolic decline and once you reach your target weight increase caloric intake a bit for stabilization. However, weight loss isn't as good an indicator as measuring waistline and hips and thighs with tape measure. A decrease in your waistline and thighs is a better indicator of losing fat than less weight on the scale alone. Diuretics can cause an almost immediate 10 lb weight loss, but ALL of that is mere water loss and will be regained rapidly in a few days.

It's real easy to lose weight and you need no dietary suplements [None of which work], no expensive diets, no money spent whatsoever. Lower caloric intake by about 1/4 and increase exercise slowly at first and then increase to moderate exercize, but low intensity like dance aerobics or just do it yourself with your friends to Britney Spears CDs and watch the weight drop!

Anorexic diets can kill you and Bulimic practices can rot your teeth out and can rupture your stomach. Bad habits to get into, and hard to escape.

Answer 4

1200 to 1400 is a good number for weight loss at your age and size. Just don't expect immediate results. Most people get disappointed when they don't see a change immediately and that is the biggest reason why they fail. I'm speaking from experience. I tried every diet I came across and I always ended up quitting because I felt it wasn't worth the effort when I would be trying so hard and still was not losing, then I spoke to a doctor that told me if I stick to a calorie counting diet I would lose weight but it wouldn't start to work until I was on it for at least 10 days and then I would see a steady loss and he was right.

Answer 5

Well, that depends on how many calories you are eating now. You don't want to go on a drastic, crazy diet and set yourself up for yo-yoing the rest of your life.
Write down everything you eat normally for 3 days then find 250 "empty calories" that you can cut out. Next add an hours worth of walking into your life each day, it doesn't have to be all at once, 15 minute segments will work.
That should get you down a pound per week and set you up for healthy habits for the rest of your life.

Lela Simon
ACE certified Personal Trainer
www.hellthraiser.com

Answer 6

This depends on how much you already weigh and how many calories you consume, but at 5'3, you could reduce your caloric intake to 1200 for a short amount of time and lose weight. Make sure though if you are exercising that you eat more than this; if you do not eat enough, your body turns all your calories into fat because it thinks that you are starving.

Answer 7

You need at least 1200 calories for normal activity. If you want to lose weight do some exercise - walk at least 30 minutes a day, ride a bike, play some sport. Raise your metabolic rate and eat normally. You are 15 and still growing, don't mess with what your body needs in order to grow properly.

Answer 8

Age doesn't matter. It depends how much you weigh already, and how much you want to weigh (and maybe how fast you want to lose it). For me, something between 1,000 and 1,500 works (Last time I dieted, I was 5'0", 140 pounds, and wanted to weigh 120-125 pounds). I'll take a guess that you're probably right around my goal weight right now, and you don't need to lose any weight...but if I'm wrong, keep those numbers in mind. If I'm correct, please ignore whoever is telling you that you need to lose weight. You will meet people who like you for who you are, and who don't think you're fat (Trust me, you can still be quite a bit overweight, and as long as you're not involved in mass media, people will consider you healthy. I know--I'm afraid to say I gained back more weight than I had lost upon entering college, and now by standards of body mass index, I'm definitely overweight, almost obese. And for whatever reason, people don't think I'm fat).

Answer 9

Short answer is "less than your body is using that day."

Little longer reply is that for every 3500 that you eat less than what your body is using you will lose one pound. Since you only need 2000 a day (typical) that means you can not lose a whole pound every day. Most people who want to lost rapidly without killing themselves in the process aim for about 1000-12000 calories eaten per day and make sure they also do exercises to burn extra calories. If you stick with that without cheating you can lose a couple of pounds a week.

Answer 10

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Answer 11

If you are 15 you shouldn't worry about your weight unless you are seriously obese, as your weight will naturally fluctuate until you are at least 20.
If you are seriously obese, go and ask a Doctor.
Good luck.

Edit. You are still growing at 15, DO NOT REDUCE YOUR CALORIE INTAKE AS SOME HAVE SUGGESTED.
More exercise will help you burn off calories, but on no account reduce your calorie intake. Eat more healthily, yes.