I am 5’5 and a 22 year old woman. I’m on a weight loss journey so I can be healthy. I go to the gym for 4 days a week/rest 3 days. I exercise for 40 minutes. I eat healthy about 95% of the time. When I eat somewhat unhealthy it’s usually like a salad from zaxbys. My calories based on the online calculators say I should eat 2,200-2,500 calories to lose weight. I try to eat only 2000 a day will I lose weight ?
n2mama
You may, because weight loss is about calories in versus calories burned. If you are burning more than 2000 calories a day, then yes, you will lose weight if you eat 2000 calories a day. But there are a few things to keep in mind. First, 2000 calories a day is considered the maintenance caloric intake for most adults. That’s because most normal daily activities burn around 2000 calories a day. Make sure you are estimating both your food calories taken in and your exercise calories burned correctly. Many people underestimate their calories in and overestimate their calories burned and then wonder why they don’t lose weight. On average, you might burn 200 calories in a thirty minute cardio session (depends on a lot of factors, like your specific activity, intensity, your weight, etc), so working out on your schedule might burn an extra 1000 calories per week. Given that there are approximately 3500 calories in a pound, if you’re eating 2000 calories a day and burning an extra 1000 calories a week, you might lose about a pound a month.
As for calories in, make sure you are counting all of them, including not only what you eat, but also what you drink. If you drink anything other than water or black coffee, you probably have calories being consumed there. Also, keep in mind that salads sound healthy, but can be loaded with sneaky calories in terms of toppings and dressing. Depending on your salad from Zaxbys, you could be at almost half your daily caloric intake right there. And don’t fall into the trap of thinking you only ate half, so it’s half the calories, because many people will eat half in volume, but more than half in calories due to toppings and goodies that tend to be eaten first. If your goal is to lose weight, you probably want to target 1500 calories a day rather than 2000.