How do I find out how many calories I need to burn

Posts: 33,346
2/8/12 1:18 P

You have less than 10lbs to lose. You should do whatever level of exercise you feel you can manage for life. That may change as you get fitter and more into it, but right now, don't "exercise to lose weight", just "exercise to be fit and healthy".

Then, given your exercise level, Spark will work out for you what you need to eat to lose weight.

I would very strongly recommend to you that you set your goal date to be nearly six months ahead. Unfortunately, while we'd all love to lose the last 10lbs at 2lb/week and have it gone in just over a month, weight loss slows down the closer we are to goal. So half a pound a week is much more realistic, which means if there is 10 to go, that's 20 weeks.

Basically, since you're so close, you should be aiming fo rmaintenance less about 200 calories per day. If you don't look at being almost maintenance now, you'll struggle to figure out exactly what an appropriate maintenance level is for you personally when you do need to get there. It's also not a healthy idea to flip from say 1200 calories a day this week while you're losing the last half pound, to 2200 calories a day next week when you're "at maintenance". You need to ease into it as the last few pounds come off.

Posts: 12,545
2/8/12 8:16 A

There are two sides to the weight loss equation: how much you eat, and how much you burn, and one can't be considered without the other.

There is no fixed number of calories you should burn. Instead Spark asks you to nominate an amount of exercise that you can sustainably work out each week, and keep up for the long term. This might be 20 minutes every day, or it might be 30 minutes 3 times per week. It's probably a good idea to be realistic about this number - going from 0 to saying you are going to work out 2 hours per day is probably something that is not going to stick in the long term.

Spark does this through your Exercise Goals (accessible from the LH side of the Start page), and then turns the number of minutes per week into an expected number of calories for someone your size, and combines this with your weight loss goals to come up with an intake recommendation as well.

M@L

SparkPoints: (113,397)
Fitness Minutes: (118,564)
Posts: 7,660
2/8/12 8:10 A

I don't know if SP is going to give you a calorie burn goal. From what I know, it's up to you to decide based on your activity level and ability. Thus said, you can change it as you get fitter.

Posts: 1
2/8/12 7:59 A

How do I find out how many calories I need to burn in order to meet my goal?