how many calories can i consume a day and not gain weight

[BABBLES]

II would like to be able to maintain a certain weight...how many calories should one eat not to gain a pound...

[Mczoo59]

That would depend on a lot of things:

- your age
- your height/weight
- your level of activity

There are lots of programs that will let you input your details and help you calculate how many calories you will need to maintain your weight.

[bmolson]

The way I understand it is if you take your current weight and multiply it times 10, that is what your body needs just to maintain with no activity whatsoever. (full time couch potato). The more you move, the more you can consume and not gain or lose weight.  If you weigh 180, it would take 1800 just to survive. The tricky part is figuring out how much you can consume above that x10 number.  If anyone has a better or different answer, please respond so I can learn too.

[bflogal13]

go to sparkpeople.com. It's has 2 verisions free or you can pay 3.99 for an extended version. It's a great website and it works with fitbit. It also has an app that you can download on you phone. Everything that's  entered  in either website show's on both. It will tell you how many calories, fats, carbs, protein you can have daily based your current weight and your goal weight. I also need to watch other things like cholestrol and sodium intake and this site allows you to monitor those also. I did weight watchers on line for many years and my bloodwork was still bad because I couldn't see a breakdown of what I was eating. I am shocked at some of the sodium levels in foods. I am more aware of the food that I put in my body and feel great. Check out the website i think you'll love it!     

[SteveH]

I think the simple answer is: if you eat the number of calories that fitbit says you burn then you will maintain your weight. Eat more you gain weight, eat less you lose weight.

For every 3500 calories you eat more than you burn, you gain a pound.

[Mary]

What Steve said.  What's the use of wearing a Fitbit if you're running around the internet looking for formulas that do what it does better.

[JenniLacey]

Everyone's different. We all burn an entirely different amount of calories based on our gender, age, height, weight, activity level, lean body mass and how much we exercise. It is impossible to answer your question. Even with all that information it's still an estimate and the amount of calories your burn changes on any given day, week or month. Although you may be able to determine a rough estimate for how many calories you burn (your fitbit should help you, not sure why you're asking us when you have all that information from your fitbit account), personal experimentation is the only way to know how much to eat to maintain your weight... you will gain and lose while trying to figure it out.

There is no way to prevent yourself from gaining a pound or two. Everyone's weight goes up and down, it's not a static number. Weight fluctuations are normal and are caused by things like fluid retention, food in the digestive track, hormones, exercise, etc. You should look at your weight as a range of 10 lbs. If you climb 5 lbs above your goal weight, eat a little less. If you drop 5 lbs below your goal weight, eat a bit more.