How many calories am I suppose to have a day?

Question

I'm 5'7 about 170. I'm thinking of losing 5 more, but for my body build, I don't need to go any lower. Exercise 4-5 times a week on cardio and weights. Thanks in advance for your help. At first I was trying to stay at 1200, but I want to make sure that's ok and I'm not doing anything I'm not suppose to.

Answer 1

i wouldn't go below 1500 but it depends on you.. if your only eating 1500 calories but your not that hungry then you could go lower.  

Answer 2

Your entering an area of Fuzzy Math.

You can figure out roughly what your BMR is by many different calculators online.

Once you get that, you need to figure out your normal activity and add it to your BMR.

Then finally, add your exercise calories.

1200 is NOT a good number as your body needs MORE calories than that to keep from going into starvation mode.

If you are not eating enough calories based on your current weight and activity level, you will end up burning muscle instead of fat (your ultimate goal).  Burning muscle hurts you cause you will lower your metabolism and burn less calories in a day!  It takes work for your body to keep muscle (repairing it and building it), so it is the first to go if your body thinks its not getting enough calories!

Try going to www.myfitnesspal.com the forum on there has excellent advice and the whole program does a really good in helping you be away of how many calories your putting in and how many you should be burning off!

Answer 3

i take alot of meds that put on weight. i talked to a dietician to help me take off the weight that my meds put on me. i was told that the trick is to eat six small meals a day. but that they should not equal what the normal person eats at three regular meals. lots of fruits and vegetable, fish. nothing fried. just grilled or steamed. i have gone from 288 down to 239 and still losing. i wish you the best. also don't think of it as diet. think of it as a new eating habit.

Answer 4

a normal diet is supposed to be about 1800-2000 calories