How many calories to aim for?

[sparkle789]

My TDEE is 1836. I don’t know how many calories I should be eating, I’ve seen a lot of talk about 1200 is that sustainable long term? Also is it better to do smaller drops to give myself somewhere to go if plateau?
I’m 12.9 and ideally want to lose 1 1/2 to 2 stone.
I’ve already lost a stone but I wasn’t calorie counting just trying to be more mindful of what I was eating.
Thanks

Hi I think it does depend how quickly you want to lose.

You need a deficit of 3500 calories to burn 1lb so to lose a lb per week you’d need to eat 1336 per day and 836 to lose 2lb per week which doesn’t seem sustainable at all!

The above info is for if you’re not doing any additional activity. If you could burn 250 calories per day through exercise you can add that back onto your calories available to eat. Just if you find that easier. Lots of people don’t like to eat back exercise calories.

My fitness pal is brilliant for this. It will calculate based on current weight, target weight and then create a daily target. I use Fitbit app now as better tracks steps as well but MFP really helped me

1200 is too low to sustain. I would aim for 1400 and aim to exercise several times a week but don't add any calories for the exercise.