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I want to lose weight. Not to fast but not to slow either. I want to know how many calories my body needs to maintain physical functions and how much to cut back to lose weight. I am 5’7 1/2 and 33 year old female. I have looked online but there are so many sites and so much conflicting info. I want to cut back enough to lose at least 2 pounds to 3 a week. But I dont even know what amount of calories to consume.

Answers:

Answer 1:

Cat, this is basically a numbers game. Let me help you out.

First, I’m assuming that when you say you want to “lose weight” you actually mean you want to lose body fat. Weight is generally a bad gauge of body composition — there are very lean women who weigh 130 pounds, and “skinny fat” girls who weigh 100 pounds with a higher ratio of fat-to-lean muscle. Keep this in mind as you move forward.

Second, 3 pounds a week is probably a little too aggressive. I would aim for 1-2 pounds of fat loss per week. To lose a pound of body fat a week you need to create a calorie-deficeit of around 3500 calories below the amount of calories you need to eat each day just to maintain your current weight. If you wanted to lose 2 pounds, you would need to cut out 7000 calories.

For the purposes of getting you started, let’s assume 1 pound of fat loss a week and go from there. Continue reading How many calories to lose weight ? →