How Many Calories for Quick Weight Loss?

If you are trying to lose weight quickly, you may be wondering how many calories you should be eating. If you don't have enough calories, you can send your body into starvation mode which slows down your metabolism and can defeat your weight loss efforts. On the other hand, eating too many calories will also sabotage your goals for losing extra pounds in a hurry.

Factors

• Women in general don't need to eat as many calories as men. Also, people who exercise vigorously on a regular basis need to eat more than those who don't. For the average woman, 1500 calories a day is a good goal while 2000 calories is generally a healthy number for men. You can calculate the number of calories that is right for you by using the Harris-Benedict basal metabolic rate system.

Basal Metabolic Rate

• Your basal metabolic rate is the number of calories a day you need to maintain a certain weight. So let's say you are a 40-year-old, inactive woman who is exactly five feet tall, and you want to weigh 105 pounds. To calculate the number of calories you need to eat, you would multiply 105 by 4.3 for a total of 451.5. You then multiply your height in inches which is 60 inches in this example by 4.7 to get 282. Add these two totals (451.5 + 282 = 733.5). To this total and add 655 (733.5 + 655 = 1388.5). The next step is to multiply your age in years (40 in this example) by 4.7. Take the resulting number (188) and subtract it from your previous total of 1388.5 to get 1200.5. Since you are not active, you would multiply 1200.5 by a factor of 1.2 to get 1440.6. So to lose weight quickly and safely, you would want to eat about 1400 calories a day.

  If you are a man, your calculations are different. In this example you are a moderately active, 30-year-old man who is 6 feet tall and wants to weigh 175 pounds. You would multiply 175 (your goal weight) by 6.3 to get 1102.5. Then multiply your height in inches (72) times 12.9 to equal 928.8. Add 66 to these two numbers (66 + 1102.5 + 928.8 = 2097.3). Next multiply your age in years (30) by 4.7 to get 141. Then subtract 141 from 2097.3 to get 1956.3. For an active individual, you would use an activity multiplier of 1.55. So 1956.3 x 1.55 = 3032. To lose weight, then, you should eat about 3,000 calories a day.

Caution

• If you are extremely overweight, don't reduce your intake more than 1000 calories below the number of what it would take you to maintain your current weight. If you do, you could invoke the starvation response that would signal your body to hold onto extra fat reserves rather than burning them. You are better off gradually lowering your daily caloric intake, since a sudden drop (over 500 calories) can cause your metabolism to slow down-- ot something that is beneficial for effective weight loss.