new to fitday.
 

Hi, i am new to fitday, it's almost oone week. I am not new to the weight battle. I have cut my calorie intake to about 1200 cal. I have been so hungry and craving fast food so much this week that it is almost unbearable. I have not encountered this before during other attempts. I want to push through for a couple of weeks at this calorie count. I am working out almost every day, at what I'd say is a moderate level. (jogging, boxing, weights, walking.) Should I increase my calorie count a little or stay the course?

Keat,

I felt the same way at first, but I am very open with my caloric intake as long as it prevents me from binge eating. For example I say I'll keep a balance between 1200 and 1400. This way on days I feel I need to eat a little more to prevent me from eating I have that open window for an additional healthy snack. If you're feeling too hungry though, then maybe you should consider upping your caloric intake just a little, maybe to 1400 until you adjust.

Before I cut my calories I was easily eating about 2500-3000 a day. Sad. But I cut it to 1500 first, then brought it down to 1200-1400 where most days I stayed around 1400, and then last week I was able to bring it down to 1200. Give your stomach time to shrink too. A sudden drop can cause extreme hunger when you're not use to eating such a smaller amount of food. Record what you eat, count calories, and find that point where you're not hungry but you're not full either. Just pleasantly satisfied enough to stop eating more. It took me practice, but now my efforts are paying off, and I'm even able to eat a grilled chicken salad and be full for several hours. Before a salad would have been an appitizer to an appitizer before a meal lol

When you feel that pleasant confort level for a day or so, you can look at the amount of calories you had eaten, and have your reference on where to begin. ;)

Keat,

IMO fast food has an addictive element to it, or at least our bodies think so. It is super hard to give up the junk because the body craves it. However for me, this feeling goes away if I stay the course.

Does eating a healthy snack satisfy the hunger but not the cravings? If so, resist and you will get over this hump.

Good luck!

Basal Metabolic Rate
 

Isn't Basal Metabolic Rate the number of calories you use in a day based on your height and weight at normal activity level such as sedentary? Then you adjust it by counting calories burned for exercise or activities, which are added to your Basal Metabolic Rate after subtracting the Basal Metabolic Rate calories already added in? (the activities record does this automatically when you add life style activities)
So if you are going to lose weight don't you have to get below your Basal Metabolic Rate?

You've got it just right, until the last line :).

You only need to get below your total daily burn rate including exercise and any adjustments to your basal metabolic rate. I don't personally think it hurts to go lower if you are still getting enough calories to not go hungry and to satisfy your nutritional needs.

Regards,
Michael