Calories consumed
 

I read (in more than 1 place) that you should consume 12 calories per pound to lose weight. So logically as you lose, the calories you consume are reduced. (like weight wacher's points, the less you weigh the fewer points you're allowed) Being very over weight I'd be consuming slightly over 3,000 calories. That seems like a lot. I'm barely getting in 1,600 a day as I'm eating a lot of fruits/veggies. Does anyone have an EDUCATED response to this? Could someone really lose weight eating that much?

calorie allowance
 

Yes your right that does seem a bit much, but people who are overweight do have a higher metabolism and do require more calories.
I dont have an exact number for you but what I do personally is I dont worry about calories at all, I only eat when I feel physical hunger not when the clock tells me to and I make sure that my meal is low in fat and has all or the essential nutrients that I need, try basing your meals around fruits and vegetables as the are low in calories an you can fill yourself up on them and not have to worry.

I think the answer is that for sedentary people 12 calories/pound is about maintenance. For athletes it's a starvation diet. You have to guess how many calories you need and then over time increase or decrease according to results.
I read somewhere that one reason that people didn't lose weight despite counting calories is that EVERYONE underestimates and usually by huge amounts - 30% wasn't unusual.

OOH, 3,000 is way to many calories. You should be consuming around 1722 calories per day. Your calories should consist of 10-15% protien, 55-60 %carb and no more than 30% fats. This will give you a good healty weight loss. Keep up the exercise... good job.

I think that 12 cal is for maintenance I am 326 and was told that 3100 would maintain me at my current weight that I should cut 500 cal a day for every pound/week I wanted to lose so for 2 lbs/wk 2100 cal/day for 3 lbs/wk 1600 cal/day

I spoke with an "educated" nutritionist about this very topic, even brought up the 300 pound woman angle, and this is what she told me...I am paraphrasing here.

No adult person, unless they are super athletes should eat more than 2000 per day. If you are making healthy choices in your eating, you should actually have a difficult time reaching 2000 calories. It is only eating the high fat, high calorie, high sugar foods that will make reaching 2000 calories easy. If you fill your diet full of veggies, fruits, whole grain products, low fat proteins, nuts, beans and low fat dairy products, you will be very satifisfied and be challenged to meet 2000 calories.

There is her advice in a nutshell. She also gave me crap for eating too few calories!! She says I should eat 1600, when I am eating between 1200 - 1400!! She says I am going to become exhausted both mentally and physically if I don't up my calorie intake AND my body will start burning muscle mass to make up for the deficit!!

I don't know what to make of that.

Hi, Good thread, I have been wondering about this too. I think everyone's metabolism is unique and dependant on a wide range of different factors, from thyroid function to genetics. So it is hard to generalize. But I think what everyone posted are good guidelines. Makes sense about what Kathie said about consuming too few calories too. Stiking a balance is difficult. I am depending on the base metabolism calculation, and maintaining a calorie deficit of 500-1000/day. (although I did bump the base metabolism down a bit, to be sure). I am aiming for a loss of 2 lb/week, and have lost 1 lb/week in my first two week; this is without vigorous exercise, just walking.

Bmr
 

I've been reading about BMR and I'm wondering how true it is.

I've been doing a 1200 calorie per day diet and according to my BMR I should be doing around 1675.

I've read if you eat too few calories you can actually gain weight because your body's metabolism won't work effectively.

I've made the mistake of weighing myself every day and I'm driving myself crazy. I've been fluctuating every day like crazy.

I'm working out for about a half hour 5-6 days/wk.

I'm trying to figure out what I should be eating on a daily basis to lose weight... it's seriously so hard to figure out.

Kelley... I also have a hard time. I weigh myself WAY TO MUCH! haha I have decided to only weigh myself one time a week... (Fridays). That way if u lose 4 lbs in a week then that's all u know. U won't pay attention to how few or how many pounds u drop (or gain) in any given day! Plus keep in mind the muscle weighs more then fat... so if your working out that much your gonna be gaining muscle and losing fat.

wer almost exactly in at the same place. I started out like 228 tho, mesg me anytime...

Im no expert but I try to follow the "Biggest Loser" rules and tips etc. After all, they should know what they´re doing! :p If you don´t want to buy any of the books (which I highly recommend though) you can take a look at this page for some guidelines:
'The Biggest Loser' Diet

If you want to lose weight in a more normal way so to speak you should eat around 2280 kcal a day. If you want to lose weight biggest loser style you should eat about 1950 kcal a day (and also exercise 4-6 hours a day!!!:D)

Good Luck :)

Daily weigh-ins can be discouraging. YO-YOing drives everyone crazy.

Many years ago I read ...Weigh-in weekly and measure weekly. That has worked much better for me.

Well, I don't buy into the whole no adult should eat more than 2000 calories thing, but this last part about your caloric intake looks like good advice, Kathie.

Your body doesn't just burn muscle mass when it doesn't get enough fuel - it takes from your organs and bones, too! Your brain only runs on glucose - or ketone bodies as fuel (if it's forced to.) Ketone bodies are formed when your body is metabolizing protein for fuel because there aren't sufficient carbohydrate sources available. That protein will either come from your food or your body (or both.) It places stress on your body and is counter-productive to the stoked metabolism that will help you meet your goals.

If you're starting an exercise program, you might want to add a bit more (even if it's just a small apple sliced up and smeared with some lowfat peanut butter - an hour before you exercise.)

What is your occupation?
 

If you're working in a strenuously active type of field, 3000 calories might be perfectly reasonable. Someone in the building trades, for example, would need more calories than an investment banker to get him through the day. That said, if the investment banker is otherwise very physically active outside of working hours - 3000 might be good for him, too.

Your height, weight, muscularity, usual activity level - all come into play when educated (I liked that you used that word) calorie level recommendations are made.

I don't think that's correct. That means I should be eating 1800 for "maintenance" which would put me right back gaining weight again. Maintenance for me is 1400-1500, at 150 lbs. Something off about that equation.

I spent the last year at abobut 1500-1800, working out religiously with weights and cardio for 30 - 120 minutes almost every day, and didn't lose an ounce. Cut my cals back recently to 1200-1400, and I'm losing abot a half pound a week.

There are a lot of factors at work.

Kathie;
I found this post, & it struck a chord, as well as someone else had posted the Biggest Loser diet. It appears that for my weight I should have between 1540-18000 calories a day !!! Wow! That seems like alot, but it does make my 950-1050 seem really low. So I'll spend some time trying to find a healthy balance that works, praying that I don't gain. Maybe I'll try for 1200-1500, & see what happens.

Well I am now eating closer to 1400 calories a day, the 1200 was just too low for the long term, and I stopped losing weight on the 1200 too! So this week will tell me whether the higher calories is a better plan.

confused about amount of calories I should be eating
 

I am so glad I stumbled upon this posting. I am so confused too. I have used this site and another and each is telling me something different. I have not been able to lose a pound in over two months! I exercise 5-6 days a week, for 30-50 minutes a day. I have been using the Biggest Loser dvd's, kickboxing dvd's, and the 30 Day Shred. I consume between 1200-1400 calories a day. NO loss. Can't figure it out. I am 5'4 and 182 pounds. :(

What I like about fitday is that we can track exactly what we are eating over time and then see if we are losing at that calorie rate. As for me (female 253lbs .. 5'3") I want to eat as many calories as I can and still lose weight. I don't want to train my body to function on super-low calories. I started at 1800 calories/day and began to lose weight.
I say, focus less on what "experts" tell us is the correct amout of calories and focus more on being precise in tracking our own input/output of calories and adjusting accordingly. I bought a super-precise digital food scale ($30 Target) and weigh things to the gram. I've lost 12-lbs in 6 weeks, a very healthy rate. I exercise 200-300 calories a day.

Keep up all that great exercise. I'm sure you are losing fat and gaining muscle which is keeping your numbers on the scale even. Don't be discouraged. Focus on how you feel and how clothes fit better.

Here's a website I found useful:

Calorie Calculator - Daily Caloric Needs

twisniewskikozak, maybe try to mix up your activity and your calories. The body doesn't like when things get predictable; it adjusts. The website above gives you a place to put in info; maybe your calories are too low, or read about the zig zag calories and see if it's something you might want to try.

Maybe change to walking, biking, jogging, something besides the dvd's, just to mix it up a little for the stubborn old metabolism?

Good luck!

Cassie

Glad this thread is here - I've been tracking myself for this week so far, and I'm amazed at what the site tells me that I should be having each day (according to the bar, 4,842 calories. Yeeek!) In a typical day, I'm ratcheting up only 2100 or so, and that's just going off of last night's. There was pizza, and I ended up having more than I wanted to, but I recorded every slice and I still came up short (2100). I'm 6'3" and my last weigh in November was 422 (I haven't been back since, and I only started tracking this week, exercising last week and this week). I feel a little low on energy around 3-5pm, but that's always been the case for me. I've figured out that if I add a half can of refried (low or no fat) beans right around that time, I can make it to 7-8 pm for dinner without any issues.

I've never been really active, and I like "the good stuff" (as in, healthy) so that'll help me in the long term. To say this will be easy is only fooling myself, just trying to keep it as real as I can.

Edit - if I use the calculator at that site that cjohnson728 posted (I have had it BM'd for a while actually!) it shows I need to be at 4082 a day, or 3378 for extreme loss. Ugh. I can see how folks are confused, so am I.

That <in bold> is my understanding of the number of calories needed for maintenance - 10 calories per pound, so a person weighing 150 lbs should maintain that weight on 1500 calories.

This is not directed at you, sunrosa:

I can't help but think some of the people who are saying they aren't losing any weight on 1000 calories and 15 hours of exercise per day are miscalculating their calories.

sault_girl: I hadn't come across that kind of measurement before, thanks. I did some more research on it and the numbers you give are for women, at least according to the sites I saw. A few that I read that didn't seem to "pull from each other" says that men are 12-14 calories per pound, per day, so that would rocket me up to over 5000 calories a day to keep myself balanced at my current weight.

Yuck.

Can't wait to talk to my doctor about this some more, but any numbers are good numbers - I can show her how serious I am, and we can work on it together.

2 years ago I went on this diet that I am on again. I counted calories and didnt go over 1200 a day. I lost 100 pounds in 1 year!! I have started counting calories again and not going over 1200 per day, I have noticed that my clothes are fitting bigger but have not weighed myself yet as it is not time. I want to give myself about 2 weeks before weighing in again. I like to see bigger numbers lossed than I do smaller. Good luck to you all in your weight loss journey. You can do anything that you put your mind to ;)

Woooot! I'm in a similar boat - I'm still a looong way off, but there's a great deal of room in my jeans, even accounting for the stretch factor. I wear 58/38's and they normally take a week to become comfortable, but I'm down to about 3 days after washing them where they are loose again.

The biggest sign that something is going the right way for me is that my fiance can reach all the way around me now when she hugs me. Tickles both of us pink. :)

It helps that I know a guy who was in a similar boat as I was, and now... he's... incredible. I know that if I hit any real road blocks, I can rely on him.

Kelley, on 1200 calories a day you would be losing more weight than on 1675, but you would probably be losing some muscle.

If you eat too few calories, you do lose weight, just not as much as you'd expect. Basically, there isn't much point in reducing calories below 1000. But still, your body has to run on something, and the less calories you eat, the more it will take from your body. If your calorie intake is severely restricted, your body will take energy from anywhere in your body, including fat, muscles, and organs.

Anyway, if you're only eating 1200 calories a day and not losing weight, I would get a thyroid test. Get your doctor to order blood tests for all the thyroid hormones (not just TSH). Also, get a blood glucose test. If your blood glucose levels are high, you might find it hard to lose weight, and it can lead to type 2 diabetes.

Keep in mind that the BMR is just an approximation. Metabolism is very much genetically determined. It also reduces with age. A slower metabolism is actually an evolutionary advantage - it means your body uses energy more efficiently.

Also, combining intense cardio with weight training is the best way to speed up your metabolism. On top of the energy you use during the exercise, you burn more for the rest of the day as well. Increased muscle mass also raises metabolism. Combined cardio and weights also has the best effect on blood sugar and insulin levels. Insulin resistance causes more insulin to be secreted, making it very hard to lose weight. Exercise + calorie reduction will decrease your insulin levels.

Back Again
 

About 4 years ago I lost 35 pounds on fit day. I was amazed how my eating habits changed and once I started loosing it kept coming off....well, I got off the program, too many happy hours and retirement parties and it started sneaking up on me. Almost 20 pounds, so here I am, back and ready to eat less and move more....lets go gang.

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