Hi guys I stumbled across this information and I thought I would post it for everyone.

Quick Estimate of Calorie Needs
Here is a very rough and ready guide to calculating your calorie needs. Just be careful to maintain your daily calorie intake above 1000 calories, minimum.

Women
To Maintain Weight - Multiply your weight (in pounds) by 12
This is a rough estimate of daily calories needed to maintain weight.

To Lose Weight - Deduct 500 calories from this figure
This gives you a rough estimate of the daily calories needed for you to lose about 1 pound per week.

Men
To Maintain Weight - Multiply your weight (in pounds) by 14
This is a rough estimate of daily calories needed to maintain weight.

To Lose Weight - Deduct 500 calories from this figure
This gives you a rough estimate of the daily calories you need to lose about 1 pound per week.

Thanks for the info!!

Wow! According to this I can eat 2500 to maintain and 2000 to lose weight. Nice.

Ocire I do believe that those numbers are to lose 1lb per week. Which is a super healthy way to lose but some people rather lose a little more.

for each additional pound you want to lose, subtract another 500 calories from your daily diet or burn 500 calories a day in exercise...

Basically a pound of fat is 3500 calories/7 days a week... so you have to either not consume them, or burn them through exercise... or better yet, a combination of both!

But everything i have read has said that 2-2.5 lbs per week is a great pace to lose... and you definately DO NOT want to cut more than 1000 calories from your diet a day... you need that to survive!

Amomono

Wow I never thought of a pound of fat in terms of calories. And I never would have guessed that many calories makes up a pound. No wonder it is so hard to lose weight.

really awesome info. Very helpful.

12 x 178 = 2136 to maintain
2136 - 500 = 1636 to loose 1 lb a week
I wanna loose more. lol

Please keep in mind that this is a gross estimate, and in my opinion is very much on the low side. It says that 1440 is what I would need to maintain. I actually maintain around 2400. If I ate 1440 my metabolism would go way down and my health would suffer. So often people have a tendancy to undereat when trying to lose weight and suffer int he end. Each person's calorie intake needs are VERY unique and can't be figured out by a mathmatical equation. As someone who does nutrition plans for people, their weight is only one of a LOT of factors that I take in to consideration before recommending a calorie range for someone. So, if you chose to use a mathmatical equation to figure your calories listen very carefully to your body! It will signal you if you're not eating the right amount. Just my thoughts.

Sarah

I'm a little concerned here, I am loosing weight, and according to this calculation I need 3080 calories to maintain!!

(male, 220lb).

I am eating about 2,000-2,300 a day and exercising about 500 calories worth a day, so on some days I am on a deficit of 1,500!

Is this too much?

My concern is because once you start eating healthy foods, 2,000 is a lot to take in, and seems like enough to stop my body starving itself, but a deficit of 1,500 might be too much no?

Great post but I don't think it is 100% the best way to find your calorie intake for weight loss. Many factors are not included in this post like body fat percentage, exercise, and methods of burning fat. If you would like to know exactually how many calories you need than post it and I will explain but for now just go with this. Time body weight by 10-12 for weight loss, 13-14 for maintance, and 15-17 for building muscle.

***SORRY. YOUR LINK HAS BEEN DISABLED***

James,

I've been your size, and it's my experience that being negative 1000-1500 calories is very viable for a larger man eating a good diet.

I recently worked really hard (1000+ calorie workouts), and ate really well for a week, and based on the results, I was over 3500 negative per day!

Remember, part of enjoying Summer is the fresh fruits and veggies!

Best of Luck!