I'm so confused on the total daily calories I should be consuming to loose weight. I'm 47 and 5ft 4inch and I weigh 16 st. ?

[Healthybmi4me]

Any advice would be so much appreciated. the nhs site says 1400 then it says 1600 I want to loose 2lbs a week and not be on a very low cal diet. Confused.com

[GoogleMe]

From memory, I would think the calorie limit suggestion variations could be about gender with 1400 being their very general suggestion for women. It is worth bearing in mind that it is predicated on you actually doing the suggested level of exercise.... and that you'll be sticking to the target. I choose to have 1200 as mine because of the times when the exercise won't happen or I'll consume more than 1400 calories, if that makes sense?

Concerned's offering you a different programme BTW

[gingernut49]

I did the 5:2 Diet so that's different, but the calories given are general on the NHS site, so it's best to work out your actual requirements. You can do that here thefastdiet.co.uk/how-many-...

I counted calories using the free MyFitnessPal app which was brilliant, as was the 5:2 Diet of course!

[Hidden]

Hi Janeyrob,

Generally the daily figures for a sensible and safe weight loss are 1400 for females and 1900 for males. They are generalised "one-size-fits-all" type figures, but actually are not a bad starting place. I would recommend against going below those on a regular basis by more that a couple of hundred calories.

Do, please, remember there's more to a healthy diet than just the calories in it.

The 5:2 types of diet basically do much the same thing usually but work on a weekly calorie intake rather than a daily one. So whilst they would involve two very low calorie days in the week, those are surrounded by other higher calorie intake days.

Having an odd very low calorie day isn't too problematic, though it will leave some people with a headache and feeling lethargic and possibly faint, but staying on a very low calorie diet has some significant risks attached to it.

Good luck with your weight loss journey.

[GRUMPYA]

Hi

try the bmi calculator on the nhs website and pick the lower end of the range it givesyou for a personalised target and you just review it every few weeks as you lose weight.

The 1400 target is pretty useless as it's far too low for big younger women and far toolow for tiny post menopausal women.

Once you have an accurate personal target just stick with it and after the first 2 weeks when you might lose quickly you should lose about 8 lbs a month.

[FatbellyGutbucket]

TBH, although I'm quite pedantic about keeping a close eye on my weight (I check it daily) I do not track calories. The closest I get to doing that is to look at the labels on foodstuffs - especially, but not exclusively, treats - I have any suspicions about.

I regard calorie counting every last bean as unnatural - and not how I want to continue once I've reached my final goal.

I'm working on changing my body's expectations (e.g. I've become accustomed, over years, to never feeling genuinely hungry, and expecting a portion that's far too big at every meal), I'm also changing my attitude towards eating (e.g. treats are no longer treats if I'm loading up on them at every opportunity).

As with everyone trying to lose weight there has been setbacks along the way but my plan seems to be working so far. I can't claim success, yet, because I'm still obese. It is going in the right direction, though.