GameGal

If at 1500, you feel full/satisfied... and you are showing some weight loss, then its probably perfect for you. If after a couple weeks and you dont see inches or weight lost, then I might go up by 100 or 200 calories and see what happens. Eventually, you will need to lower them by 100 each plateau but to start, you generally need more than normal.
I wish I had known this when I started at 1200 a day.. I should have/could have started at 1800 but now I would gain weight by doing that.

almeeker

I'm very proud of you for taking some initiative in the kitchen, who knows maybe you'll end up being the next television chef on the Food Network? I'm also jealous as all get out that you've lived 23+ years without being chained to the stove. I've been teaching my girls to cook and we also read labels together and talk about nutrition. My own mother has some grasp of nutrition, but she's primarily a "feeder", and given free reign can pack 2-3 pounds/daily on pretty much anyone. But I can't be too bitter towards her, since she's also the one that taught me everything I know about gardening.

On gardening I don't know where you live, so I'll give you a rundown of what works well in my neck of the woods. You may want to check with your local greenhouses for specific veggies that do well in your climate. For veggies that are easiest to grow I would suggest beets, radishes, zucchini, bush beans and carrots, I plant all of those from seed and usually get a decent crop. On the beans there are 2 different varieties, bush and pole, the bush beans grow upright and look like a short hedge, the pole beans are a vine and need something to grow up like a fence or a tee-pee. For carrots I like the variety "sweet treat", they take about 70 days from plant to plate, but they are soooo yummy it's worth the wait. Potatoes are also quite simple, any potato growing an eye can grow a pile of taters if you just plant it in the ground. I do some of my gardening with starter plants that I buy at a local greenhouse, the easiest ones are cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are all frost hardy, so you can plant them early or late (or both) and get nice produce. Tomatoes and peppers are tender (not frost tolerant), so you have to plant them after the last frost of the year. Herbs are also fun to grow, and some even grow quite well indoors, rosemary, thyme, basil and sage are great little house plants. Dill is easy to grow outside, but doesn't do well in a pot because it needs a long tap root and will get stunted in a pot. Sorry I got to running on and on here, but I could scribble about gardening for hours on end.

almeeker

I think when you set up a "Weight Goal" on this site it will give you a run down of how many calories you need. The only thing I would worry about with too few calories is that you're meeting your body's nutritional needs. Check out the nutrition graph and make sure you are getting the RDA on your nutrients. The other thing you might want to be aware of is that at 1,499 calories your body will eventually even out and hit a plateau, and it will take either dropping your calories or adding in more exercise to get past it. So you need to ask yourself a question about weather or not you can comfortably drop below that or not. I've been struggling with that issue myself, when I started this journey I was typically at 1,350-1,550/day and now that I'm leaner and more muscular 1,500 is just not enough, but I've hit a plateau and will need to get down to 1,300ish again to continue moving the dial towards goal. So I'm really wishing that I had started out at 1,800 and could drop down to 1,600 now. Live and learn.

nru1286

Thanks, Pam and Almeeker. I don't think I'm too concerned at this point at my calories, as I am fully by the end of the day and hovering between 1300-1500 on most days (sometimes more).

almeeker, I'm in the SE Pennsylvania region, so it's pretty moderate here climate-wise. I may start a few things come the early spring; I even have a little square patch in my backyard that would be optimal for my own garden space. Now I'm really excited! There really is something to say for growing your own food.

I'm in a pretty good mood today. Very excited about recording a piece of music that I wrote with my cousin tomorrow. Usually I wouldn't be able to do so after a long day at work, but I feel so much more energetic now that I feel I can do anything. That is, until I crash around 9:30.

Oh, and how about opinions on vitamin supplements? I started with Centrum Women's today to help supplement what I was not getting with certain vitamins where diet would not help me; I am desperately in need of Vitamin E on a daily basis, and sunflower seeds are just not my thing. And boiled greens squick me out. Why can't there be vitamin E laden fresh greens? I could eat fresh spinach all day long... *sigh*

auntmayo09

thanks i think walking will do best for me right now i have the sketcher shape ups anyone seem to know if they actually work or not..i dont got the best place to walk as of now but i will surely find a place!!!thanks for the replies you guys are awesome

brandismom1990

GRRRRR --- lost an entire post and I KNOW BETTER. ALways type in word, then cut and paste, right?

Oh well -- it is exercise time, so I'll just say "HI" been missing for a few days, but not off track and am down to 220.4!!!

BBL --

Welcome newer than me newbies!

Ang

GameGal

OK I had said I would post again about me when I had something more positive to say since I was thrown for a loop and had to change some meds and stop others and the result was an 8 lb gain <sigh>, and I was so discouraged.

While I dont have a complete solution to the issues as of yet, we ( my doc and I ) have part of it figured out and so I was able to re-lose those 8 lbs. Hopefully I am back in the right direction again!

The one thing I am proud of is: other than one day ( last saturday ) in spite of the gains etc ( it was mostly water weight)... I stuck to my 'diet'. I did however blow it out of the water Saturday when my GF said .. "Lets go to Country Buffet!!" I am not a CB person. The food is not good and depending on what day you go, the choices are horrible. Such was the case on Saturday. My choices were 1) Fish ( I am deathly allergic to fish). 2) Hot Dog ( wheres my green smilie when i need it??) 3) dried out/ hours old stuff to make tacos with... no thanks! I didnt recognize any of the 'sides' except fries and mac n cheese that looked like it came out of a chef boyardee can. ewwwww. Sooooooooo, I looked at the deserts and while I typically do NOT like deserts, they DID have bread pudding! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it, but its rare to find it anywhere and a pain in the butt to make. So I had enough for <whispers> 4 ppl... And since the damage was done.. I spent the rest of that day pigging out on anything I wanted.

Best news is, I got up on Sunday and got back on track and went for a long walk.

Anyway, I am back in the game!

WTG to all who have lost lbs a/o inches! Welcome to the newbies.

almeeker

This was me on Sunday. I ended the day at 3,000 calories. The sad part is I was doing really well through breakfast and lunch, and then there was this bag of caramel corn that I bought for the kids.... And then it was gone. And then, to make matters worse our youngest woke me up at 2:00am, she wet the bed, so I had to change sheets and do laundry in the middle of the night, so getting up at 5:00am to workout, flat out wasn't possible. But I've behaved my face really well the last two days and put in 2 workouts today, so I should have a loss to post by Friday morning.

almeeker

SE Pennsylvania should be fairly comparable to MI climate. We're farther north, but have the warming effects of the lakes, so those suggestions I made should work in your region, well at least to some extent, local soil conditions also play into the mix, here in MI we can grow some serious zucchini, but have less luck with sweet potatoes and lima beans. I'm chuckling over your "crash at 9:30", I always say that at 9:15pm, I'm feeling every minute of my 40+ years and I'M DONE!

I take One a Day for Women. The only reason is because I need the higher iron content it offers, and it closely matched the pre-natal vitamins I took for most of the 7-8 years I spent pregnant and/or nursing. My body was used to that formula and I didn't have any trouble switching over to the OAD after I decided we were definitely DONE having babies. Have you considered taking a vitamin E capsule? I take it in the winter to help with my dry skin.

zootnarf

I swam today....IN THE RAIN!! That should count for double the calories burned, right?

Though I'm tired when I get home from work, I'm always glad when I get out there and swim. It doesn't hurt to have the hot tub as a reward when I am done!

Now, I just need to keep it up! I get more grumpy about exercising as the week goes on, and I get more tired. Gotta get out there and do it!