calories alert
 

Happy halloween!

I have been spying around here for a couple of weeks now, and so far I'm impressed on the support everyone gives to each other. The last "fitness" forum that I belonged there was a lot of fighting and rude behavior, so this is a pleasant change.

I have noticed that some of you are unrealistic in what you think your calorie intake should be. I would like to share what I learned about calorie needs for your body.

Your body needs so many calories just to keep alive. And more depending on your activity level. The american heart assoc. Recommends the following-

Multiply your current weight (or goal weight) by 10 this is the base
Calories you need to stay alive at that weight

Activity level is as follows

Weight times 3 if you are not active
Weight times 5 if you are moderatly active
Weight times 8 if you are very active (1 hour or more exercise a day)

You add your base calories and activity calories and that is the total you need daily.

I hope others will find this as useful as I do.
Here's to our health!

Can you explain further please (for dummies like me). Example I weigh 160 so would that be 10 times 160 - 1600. Don't get the activity part? Do you add or what. Thanks. Look fwd to your reply.

Thanks for the information, that actually comes out pretty close to what I've discovered is break even for me to maintain my current weight. However I'm still trying to lose, so what would be the recommendation for that?

I believe what is meant by the activity level is.. if you are 160.. 1600 cal a day.. and you are not active.. (160 x 3 = 480) you would need to drop 480 calories a day to lose one pound. At least thats how I am understanding it.

I was reading it, if you weight 150 x 10 = 1,500 + (5 x 160 my life is nuts)= 2,250 to maintain, which I agree with. But I'm not trying to maintain, I'm trying to lose.

Non active people (those that usually spend their spare time in front of the tv) are non active. For those exercise about 30 mins a day 5 to 6 days a week are
Consdered moderatly active. For those that exercise for an hour a day 5 to 6 days a week are considered very active. This is just a guideline you will probably have to adjust some for you. I have been setting each milestone at 10 lb marks. I started at 207 lbs and my activity level was moderate so my total calories to eat was 3000 a day. When I reached 200 I set my goal at 190 lbs so I dropped my calories to 2850. Which was only 150 calories a day that I cut (much easier to do, but weight came off slower). I am currently at 192, and have been for over a month, so I either need to exercise more (where would I finf the time?) Or go to my next goal 180 lbs. 180 x 10 is 1800, 180 x 5 is 900; 1800 + 900 is 2700. 2700 is what I need to eat to be 180 lbs.

To help lessen the confussion you could do the following equations

Weight times 13 if not active
Weight times 15 if moderatly active
Weight times 18 if very active

Comes out the same. I hope I have answered questions. Let me know if there are more.

:ave a happy, healthy day!

This is a good way to figure out where to start, but to clarify:

If you weigh 150 and want to stay at 150, and aren't active, then calculate your daily calorie requirement at 150 x 13

If you weigh 150 but want to lose 10 lbs, and aren't active, then calculate your daily calorie requirement as 140 x 13 (what you would need to maintain the weight you want to be)

Ok. So I guess maybe I am just blonde, well sort of;) but I think this topic has really confused me!

I currently weigh 215, and currently I try to keep my calories less than 1500 per day. My goal weight is 140. So if I am not active then I should eat 1820 per day. Is this correct?

How do you calculate activity in this? I usually exercise 30-60 minutes every day.

Gmantych, your calculations are correct; however if you are exercising 30 to 60 min a day you would be considered a moderatly active person. The 1500 calories are not enough. Keeping up with that activity for a 140 lbs the calorie intake should be 2100 a day.

If you find hard to limit your calories, it is because your body is telling you it is to much to fast. Try cutting calories in smaller amounts.

calorie balance
 

I'm glad you brought this up. I'm confused on the default value of the Calorie Balance on Fitday. If I use your formula, I come up with about 2400 calories per day. Fitday is stating 2800.

Does anyone know if Fitday's requirements actually adjust based on your weight entries? For example, if I lost 20lbs over the next few months, the Calorie Balance would decrease as well.

I know weight watchers plans ratchet you down as you lose. I wasn't sure if Fitday does the same thing.

Thanks

I am currently finishing my Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) and we had to take a Nurtirition course and in order to lose 1 pound of fat you have to either cut out (calorie reduction) or increase activity level (which burns more calories) so that your total calorie deficit has to be: 3,500 calories!

So in summary: 1 pound of fat = 3,500 calories!

That is why weight loss is slow moving and in order to lose weight in a healthy manner that will stay off, they say you should only lose an average of 2 pounds a week. (Which is a deficit of 7,000 calories a week).

But as the orginal poster stated you do burn calories just by being alive/awake and breathing (called your Basal Metabolic Rate) and its based on your weight/activity level.

Here is a step-by-step of the calculations: 163 x 10 = 1630 Activity level: 163 x 5 = 815. 1630 + 815 = 2445. Total: 2445 calories to maintain current weight. So if I decrease my daliy caloric intake to 1500 calories that is a difference of 945 calories
(2445 - 1500 = 945). And if I manage to maintain the 1500 calories everyday that is 945 x 7 = 6615.... Which equals almost 2 pounds of weight loss!

I hope this helps you understand the weight loss process!

It does change your calorie requirements, as long as you keep up the weight entry. Also I've found FitDay's calories are too high unless I add sleep to the activity log. When I log sleep, it's fairly accurate.

I recently heard to multiply your goal weight by ten to find a basic calorie goal for weight loss. If you exercise, divide the number of calories burned by two and add that number to your calorie intake. For example, I'l like to weigh 120, so that would be 1200 calories, then say I burn 600, I add 300 and come up with 1500 calories for that day. Just something I picked up, I don't know how valid it is.