One of the most popular questions I get as an online weight loss coach is “How Many Calories Should I Eat To Lose Weight?”
In this post, I’ll help you easily figure out how many calories you need for weight loss.
CALORIE BASICS
Your body needs calories in order to function and carry out your daily activities. Calories give you energy. The energy comes from the foods that we eat in forms of protein, carbs and fat.
- When the calories we eat match the calories we need, we maintain our body weight.
- When the calories we eat go higher than what we need, we gain weight.
- When the calories we eat are lower than what our body needs to maintain…we then lose weight (or should lose weight).
Calculating Your Calories To lose Weight
So how do you calculate your calories to lose weight?
- Take your current body weight
- Multiply it by 10
- That is your starting point.
**Now, I DO wanna mention that each of us are definitely different…so you have to see what works for you.
What I mean by this, is this number may work for the majority of you, but for some, you’ll feel like you’ll need to shave a bit more off of the total calories.
Also, factors like activity levels throughout the day will play a role in how much you need. You’ll burn more calories by adding activities like working out, running etc. So the amount of calories you need to just maintain will be higher than if you didn’t have that in your weekly routine.
Let’s do an Example:
Current Weight: 150 lbs.
150 lbs x 10 = 1500 calories
You’ll need to take in 1500 calories in order to lose weight.
From those 1500 calories, you would divide up those calories for each of your meals and snacks throughout the day.
As you lose weight…. you’ll need to revisit the amount you need just to maintain.
DO NOT go under 1200 calories or extreme cutting your calories. Your body will hate you for it and it’s only a matter of time until you get stuck.
Sure, it may work at first but it’s setting you up for a whole host of problems. You could even start wrecking your metabolism and then it turns into a vicious, vicious cycle and a lot of hard work to get out of.
An alternative to the above method:
- Track your calories for a few days to see what your daily total calories are.
- Review your daily calories & if there is a weight drop.
- If you’ve been gaining weight you know that you’ve been taking in too much. If you’ve been the same weight you take that amount and subtract it by 300. That should get the scale moving.
Tracking Methods
You can track your calories by jotting down what you eat in a day…including the times you ate as well as how much you ate (use a measuring cup to be precise).
You then can look it up online to see what the calories are in each food.
An easier way is to download an app like myfitnesspal which is a free calorie counter and enter in your info and track your daily eating.
You’d be surprised at the number of people I talk to that THINK they are eating a certain amount of calories a day and being way off. What you track you attract.
Weigh Yourself & Measure
Track your progress by weighing each week and make adjustments when needed. If you are seeing the scale go down, then awesome!
If you are staying the same you need to take a look at lowering the calories and possibly changing the quality of your foods (and/or portions).
Final Tips:
Easy ways to drop 300 calories from your eating:
Swap out the sugary drinks…which includes soda, fancy calorie loaded coffees, juices and vitamin water.
Drink water with tea bags, lemon water, or sparkling water that almost makes you think you are drinking soda pop. Almost.
Swap out crappy food with quality. You know what they are ladies. If you are popping pizzas, and binge eating on cookies I’m sure you can find a way to cut your portions or cut it out completely.
Final thoughts:
While it’s exciting to lose weight…you shouldn’t be starving yourself or feeling hungry. Be sure to add high-quality foods and vegetables to your day and fiber to help fill you up.
Lastly, Share this post if you found this video useful. Comment below and let me know if you need help how you calculate your calories or if you have any questions.
Be sure to check out my FREE GUIDE BELOW if you’re stuck losing weight. I’d love to have you on board and be part of my b.a.b tribe.
