For people who want to watch their weight

[ldg]

"Diets" always talk about how to cut calories or burn calories. But what I've never known is - how many calories should I be eating to BE at my "ideal" weight? And how many calories do different exercises burn?

Found a great site.

Here's a calculator: Enter the weight you WANT to be, and the rest of the info, and it will tell you how many calories a day will be that weight (obviously you need to eat less to lose more faster): http://www.fitwatch.com/qkcalc/tdcn.html

And each decade after 30 you need 10% less calories (this includes that, but what a bummer!)

And here's a calculator for how you're burning calories: http://www.fitwatch.com/qkcalc/activitycalc.html

Laurie

 

[strange_wings]

No wonder I have problems gaining weight. If that calculator is near correct I need to be eating around 2185 calories. I average out around 1600 or less on most days.

I used it for the opposite of what you intended, I'm underweight and need to gain about 4-5lbs.

 

[mews2much]

That thing was wrong for me.
I was told by the dr to eat 1200 calories a day.
Jenny Craig said the same thing and I lost 15 pounds so far.
When i tried 1600 calories a day I gained 7 pounds.
This thing is telling me 1875.
There is no way I can eat that much.

 

[emrldsky]

I think what's interesting about these things is that it doesn't differentiate between the TYPES of calories you should or shouldn't eat. Some people are just fine eating low-fat foods, even if they are high in carbs. Others can't do that.

At my age (26), my weight, and with my health issues, low-carb and high protein is the ideal life-long diet for me. If I had continued with the amount of carbs I had been eating, even if I was under 1600 calories a day, I would see myself in 20 years with diabetes. My Dr. put me on this "diet", I didn't pick it up on my own.

I'd say, if you really want to lose weight and lose it effectively, seek out a doctor's advice.

 

[ldg]

That's a really good point.

And to address the issue of losing weight, obviously the less calories you eat than your "target" weight the faster you lose the weight.

And I'm assuming the assumptions about how many calories you burn daily in calculating that number have a lot to do with definitions of "lightly active," "moderately active" and "very active." For me, the difference was 200+ calories at each.

Laurie