how many calories should I eat to loose weight?

Im 140, and i want to become 125 pounds. I have been trying to loose weight for months now, eating around 1300 calories a day, eating very healthy, and I work out everyday. but nothing seems to be happening, I actually have been gaining more fat. any suggestions?

Stop Excusing Yourself From Losing Weight and Lose Weight

Recommended Answer:
Hi,

Medically there''s little doubt that excess weight is responsible for or a contributor to a huge number of ailments - many deadly. That makes it important to keep your weight under control.

There''s only one way to lose weight - and that''s to take in less calories than you use. If you do that you WILL shed those unwanted pounds. You don''t even have to exercise, although a suitable exercise program will both help you drop your weight and provide other health benefits too.

But be careful. You must continue to eat the right foods if your health and vitality are not to suffer due to your nutritional requirements not being satisfied.

Eating too little will not help at all. Your body will go into “starvation mode”. In the first place it will certainly have an effect on your health more generally and secondly your metabolism will adjust and lay on every possible ounce of fat out of what you do eat. That’s in part why crash diets don’t work. As soon as you relent on the diet your changed metabolism keeps piling on the fat and you’re soon right back where you started!

There''s a good article that sets out the basics very clearly on www.fitnessweightwellness.com. There''s also a short email series - and there''s no charge for it.

Good luck.

• 10 x your body weight from calories
  live from more vegetables
  more salmon, chicken, fruits, whole wheat bread, nuts, eggs
• How tall are you? 140 pounds doesn''t sound excessively heavy unless you are quite short.
  http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmicalc.htm
  
  I suspect you aren''t getting enough calories, so conversely to what you might expect your metabolism has probably just dropped its rate to compensate for not having enough calories coming in, especially with the workout on top. That will also probably leave you feeling tired and/or cold.
  
  Rather than eating 1300 a day, try the fast diet where you eat even less 2-3 days a week, but normally the rest of the time. That helps to keep your metabolic rate up.
  
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fast-Diet-Intermittent-Fasting-Healthy/dp/1780721676/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359988448&sr=1-1
  
  With the fast diet, your metabolism is fooled into staying high by the normal eating days (when you exercise most), but the weight comes off on the fasting days when women should eat just 500 calories and just 600 for men.
• Although 1300 calories is far too low, you should have still lost some weight by eating that little every day. Either you''re not counting calories correctly or you have a medical condition. Go to your doctor and get your thyroid checked. If it turns out it isn''t your thyroid, you should raise your calories for a month or so to repair your damaged metabolism, you can''t lower calories any further.