How many calories should I eat?

For those that love details and math, you can swim in your weekly food journal for hours adding up all the calories consumed in foods and drinks, and calories expended in activities like exercise. But it all starts with the question of how many calories do you need to maintain your current weight?

There are lots of factors that go into a very complex formula including age, gender, height, weight, etc...An easy estimate to determine the number of calories that a person should be consuming, is to multiply the current body weight by 12 (the magic number) which would give a fair calculation of the number of calories needed per day. Example ~ 150 pound person x 12 = approximately 1,800 calories/day.

Weight-loss is a lifestyle change, and studies tell us that by shedding 1 to 2 pounds per week, is a healthy way to get to your goal and stay there forever or at least a long while. One pound = 3,500 calories. So if you are working towards losing ONE pound per week, subtract 500 calories per day, or subtract 1,000 calories a day to shed TWO pounds per week. This can be done by either eating that many calories less and/or burning more calories through exercise. It's your choice!