New to CC - best way to calculate how many calories please?

[sunflowerandivy]

Hiya,
Having done SW and WW a million times I need a new plan and calorie counting seems sensible but how do I work out how many I'm allowed please? Any tips for a newbie?

I use the my fitness pal app when I'm calorie counting. If you plug in weight, height etc ans how active you are, and how much you want to lose a week then it will tell you how many calories to consume.

You can also track your calories on the app. If you have a fitness watch you can connect it to the app and it should adjust your daily calories based on activity as well. I ask like that you can scan the bar code of what you're eating and it has the calories and nutritional values.

Mfp is good for this but just make sure you aim for something sustainable rather than the fastest route possible. Also you should never add your calories back in. Whatever your tracker says will be wildly inaccurate and you'll likely pull yourself out of a calorie deficit by allowing yourself more calories based on how much activity you've done. I'd suggest following ESG fitness on Instagram and she breaks down how to lose body fat in very straightforward terms. Good luck!

@Skala123 only just seen this. I add my calories back as I do quite a bit of running and if I didn't give myself extra I wouldn't be able to run (eg I can't do a 15 mile trail run and eat 1600 calories a day). And you can adjust the amount that mfp gives you for exercise calories (I select "very active" so only get extra calories if I've done a longish run).

Nothing wrong with adjusting for exercise as long as you realise that weight loss is mainly eating less.

Mfp and very strict weighing and measuring of food.
Count every single thing...
Don't add back too many exercise calories and don't overestimate how active you are.
When I first used it I was shocked as I'd describe myself as having an active lifestyle but according to mfp criteria I was pretty sedentary.
It does work though if you don't cheat

@thirstyformore ..I add back on big run days as really couldn't do marathon training without extra food.
But on days when I do a class or weights I don't.
But agree if you are running 15km trail runs you do need a few more calories

Yes of course if you're running for over an hour I would eat more! I'm just not sure it's the best advice to give someone who is just starting out as PP said most people totally over estimate how many calories they burn and fitness trackers are notoriously inaccurate for this

I use MFP and its brilliant.
It says I can have 1400 a day but if I go for a walk (even if its uphill or a few hours) I don't add the calories back on.
I usually come in around 1250

15 mile runs are obviously different!

tdeecalculator.net/

I put my details in this Total Daily Energy Expenditure calculator . I always tick the box that says Sedentary (office job), even though I try to be more active than that.

I go by the calories that say my basic metabolic rate. These are the calories I essentially burn just by breathing and being alive. These are calories I would burn even if I was laying in bed in a coma.
So hoping that this will ensure that I'll be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.

You don't really want to be going below the basic metabolic rate number of calories.

At the moment, I'm on 1647 calories a day, and I can adjust as I lose weight, eventually getting to a point where I can work out my maintenance calories. I've never got to that stage in my adult life, but here I am trying again.

I'm also aiming to walk 12k steps a day.

Good luck!