Just gone on to a calorie counter to see how many calories I should be eating a day in order to lose weight, aiming to lose 2 pounds a week. Now its telling me, for how much I weigh now, that I should be eating 2440 cals a day!!! Now, I'm not one of these people who complains about being fat and not knowing why blah blah blah, but I don't eat that many cals a day, no way! I try to keep an eye on what I eat and I'm in an annoying habit of checking the cal content of everything (even looked up a jacket spud on the the internet ) so I know I don't ever go over 2000 cals a day, so why is it saying I should eat that, surely I would gain more weight????

I'm so confuzzled

Thats weird I should be eating 1550 a day to lose 2lbs

thats the amount of calories to maintain that weight. it should have what calorie intake you should be consuming to lose weight also

Thats the figure above, the amount to maintain the weight was even higher!!

Does it give you a fat intake too - to maintain / lose? x

No it doesn't x

Only thing I can think of is if it takes exercise into account as well as height / bmi and thinks you need more energy to work off the weight effectively
I'd stick to what you know, keep a food diary and see if that + exercise is working - and if not, try more calories

which site was it? i'll check mine

Nutracheck.co.uk

Here mine

Calories needed to maintain weight
2676

Calories to lose 2lb per week
1676

Burn 200 calories per day by excersise

To maintain my weight I'd have to eat 3440 a day, I'm really not eating that it's crazy!! And I don't lie about what I eat either I don't see the point in deluding myself lol x

That is really a lot lol. Maybe you could follow it for a day LOL!!

I'm just gonna stick to 1600 cals a day and see how I go lol xx

ok...so you need a certain amount of calories for if you were literally laying in bed all day sleeping...that is your BMR....they then add on an amount for your 'lifestyle' so the more sedantary you are, the fewer it adds on....so for me it's about 2000ish for a sedantary lifestyle...BUT...the heavier you are, the more calories you burn doing general stuff

e.g...i would burn(at 155lbs) 100cals for 10mins fast walking...but for someone that is about 200lbs, the number would pretty much double

so you need to eat enough to keep your BMR and your general day to day stuff(walking up stairs etc)...AND you need to be eating enough to keep your metabolism high

so that does seem a fair whack but try it for a week or two and tweak it a bit...or use MFP!(place you got the ticker from) that site is well accurate and really good!

Mines similar to maras, ive put moderate work and moderate lifestyle

To maintain is 2671 and to lose 2lb per week is 1671 from food and 200 through exercise. Says if i do this i should lose 20% of my weight by march 2011

Which is spooky cos after a brief sojourn in the maternity unit in march 2010 thats gonna be about accurate

Have you rechecked your nums

I've done what Kenty said and followed the weight on the place where I got my ticker from it seems a bit better, 2200 cals a day, did a food dairy yesterday and only got to 1800, but at work I eat much so thats probably why xxx

i tried the colorie counting diet before. i got a bit naughty with it and lived on 500 calories a day, that worked for me but i dont advise it!!