Confused about calories...

[laurenmay]

Basically I'm just confused about how many calories I should consume daily to lose weight.. I've done various calorie calculators online, all giving very different results and I know the general rule of thumb tends to be 1200 minimum for women, but I'm just sceptical as to if this number will work for me.

I've been listening to fat2fit radio podcast in work today, and they give a link to their website that has calculators to determine your BMR and how many calories you should then consume.. Their motto is to eat like the thinner person you want to become, so you don't start at a high number then gradually decrease but start at a number that you'll stick at forever through losing the weight and when you're maintaining... My current weight is 206lbs, and my goal weight is 130lbs, so it gave me a calorie allowance of something like 1900 per day being lightly active..

That just seems a bit high to me? I have a lot of weight to lose and whereas I don't want a quick fix and don't expect it to vanish overnight - I also don't want it to take forever and I'm worrying that it might on a calorie allowance as high as 1900?

In the past I've consumed 800 calories a day, exercised regularly and allowed myself two cheat days a week where I wouldn't count calories & would basically eat what I wanted (within reason).. I know this is unhealthy, and not sustainable forever as if it were then I wouldn't be back here trying to lose weight again! But it has worked for me twice in the past when I've tried to lose weight and allowed me to shrink down to 133lbs both times very quickly..

I was wondering if I were to follow this method again, but this time include a multivitamin daily and ensure my 800 calories come from healthy whole foods, with the two cheat days a week, would it be that bad an idea? Especially if when at goal I gradually introduced more calories until I was at a healthy amount and maintaining?

Or should I follow the BMR calculator and consume 1900 a day?

Advice please!!!

 

[BerryBerry]

Hmm I would go somewhere in between the two to be honest. I think anywhere between 1200-1500 is a good starting point.

I like the 'eat like the thinner person you want to become motto' because it is promoting a healthy and sustainable approach. The slower/more consistently the weight comes off I think its all the more likely you will keep it off.

I think 800 over 5 days of the week is probably too low and by having "cheat days" you open yourself up to the possibility of going OTT and binging and also if you get your calorie count correct you don't need to have cheat days because the vast majority of the time you will be able to factor in treats here and there. I am personally more strict with my calorie logging in the week because the working week is more regimental and then on the weekends I don't stress too much- however I don't consider the weekend "cheat days" where I have carte blanche over everything and make sure I eat mindfully.

Some people here look at their calories on a weekly rather than daily basis- maybe this would suit you better if you like to have the freedom of a couple of higher calorie days.

 

[laurenmay]

Hmm I would go somewhere in between the two to be honest. I think anywhere between 1200-1500 is a good starting point.

I like the 'eat like the thinner person you want to become motto' because it is promoting a healthy and sustainable approach. The slower/more consistently the weight comes off I think its all the more likely you will keep it off.

I think 800 over 5 days of the week is probably too low and by having "cheat days" you open yourself up to the possibility of going OTT and binging and also if you get your calorie count correct you don't need to have cheat days because the vast majority of the time you will be able to factor in treats here and there. I am personally more strict with my calorie logging in the week because the working week is more regimental and then on the weekends I don't stress too much- however I don't consider the weekend "cheat days" where I have carte blanche over everything and make sure I eat mindfully.

Some people here look at their calories on a weekly rather than daily basis- maybe this would suit you better if you like to have the freedom of a couple of higher calorie days.

I'm not too concerned about having high calorie days, the only reason I did so before when I ate 800 calories most days was to shake my metabolism up a bit and prevent my body going into starvation mode...

I think you're right with the 1200-1500 range, I was considering somewhere between the two myself and would be too worried to eat 1900! I think eating that high an amount would be a very slow weight loss -- it's probably the healthiest and most sensible way but I really need to see results in order to keep myself on track!

Do you think that I should eat 1200 on normal days but then 1500 on days where I have intense gym workouts? Or just strive for 1500 calories everyday and so long as I fall between 1200 and 1500 I should be ok?

 

[BerryBerry]

Ah ok - yeah to be honest I still don't understand the whole "starvation mode" thing it seems so confusing.

I definitely think your suggestion is the most sensible approach, perhaps for the time being strive for 1500 as that gives you leeway to reduce down as your near goal should you need to. I have found that it if you keep plugging away at a sustainable level (I currently have my MFP set to 1350) the weight does come off slowly but surely and once you get past the 3 week mark- it honestly becomes second nature not a conscious effort.

At first I was struggling to hit my calories especially when I was exercising like mad- but I find nuts are a good way to add heathily where necessary. I absolutely LOVE the 'Eat Natural' bars and often have one of those if I am sub 200 or so calories.

What kind of things are you doing at the gym?

 

[laurenmay]

Ah ok - yeah to be honest I still don't understand the whole "starvation mode" thing it seems so confusing.

I definitely think your suggestion is the most sensible approach, perhaps for the time being strive for 1500 as that gives you leeway to reduce down as your near goal should you need to. I have found that it if you keep plugging away at a sustainable level (I currently have my MFP set to 1350) the weight does come off slowly but surely and once you get past the 3 week mark- it honestly becomes second nature not a conscious effort.

At first I was struggling to hit my calories especially when I was exercising like mad- but I find nuts are a good way to add heathily where necessary. I absolutely LOVE the 'Eat Natural' bars and often have one of those if I am sub 200 or so calories.

What kind of things are you doing at the gym?

It's confusing to me too! There's so much conflicting evidence out there concerning calories and diets etc that it baffles me!

I have quite a lot to lose, just over 70lbs, so I'm hoping and praying that while the weight loss should be steady that it won't be too slow because I do have the weight there to lose! My mum is a bit overweight and has been counting calories the past 5 weeks and has lost just over a stone and a half -- but she's been consuming 1200 a day and I'd worry that if I ate that number I'd have nowhere to drop down too if I did plateau!

I've got snack packs of almonds in the house which I'll munch on as a snack if I need to hit my calorie goal I've never tried the natural bars though, they're so pricey!

At the gym I always do strength and weight training and cardio too.. Need to focus on more HIT cardio and interval training though to help fat burn

 

[BerryBerry]

Wow thats brill for your mum- good motivation/inspiration.

I reckon aim for 1400-1500 pretty strict for 2 weeks to see what results you get. I think if you stay above 1200 and below 1600 you can't really go much wrong. Especially if you snack on almonds and use majority of your calories on healthy proteins, slow release carbs and heaps of fruit and veg!

Get obsessed by MFP for 2 weeks, and be 100% honest and accurate on your food diary here and I reckon you will see results and be hooked! Gym routine sounds fab. I will keep an eye on your diary & be rooting for you- good luck!

 

[Stitchy]

If you're using MFP, you could always go by what that says for the amount you want to lose per week, and then make sure that you're eating at least some of your exercise calories back (maybe half or so?)

 

[laurenmay]

Wow thats brill for your mum- good motivation/inspiration.

I reckon aim for 1400-1500 pretty strict for 2 weeks to see what results you get. I think if you stay above 1200 and below 1600 you can't really go much wrong. Especially if you snack on almonds and use majority of your calories on healthy proteins, slow release carbs and heaps of fruit and veg!

Get obsessed by MFP for 2 weeks, and be 100% honest and accurate on your food diary here and I reckon you will see results and be hooked! Gym routine sounds fab. I will keep an eye on your diary & be rooting for you- good luck!

Yeah it is inspiring she doesn't exercise but is fairly active in her job cause she cleans houses, so I think that's why she eats the minimum of 1200..

I admit that my head was convincing me to basically starve myself last night, by eating 800 calories a day and then when I'm at goal refeeding following an eating disorder recovery plan -- now I don't know what the hell I was thinking! I've researched a lot & even with slow gradual refeeds it's not guaranteed the weight won't all pile back on, so what's the point in that? I don't know what tempted me to do it, sheer desperation I think.

BUT I haven't given anything a real shot, and really think I should eat between 1200-1600 calories for a week, exercise and see how I get on. I could surprise myself and lose a good few lbs! I just need to be patient & DO IT.. I just worked out that if I lose the healthy 2lbs per week, then it'll take me 40 weeks to get to my goal of 126lbs and I'll be there by June 2013. Which is great by me - as long as I'm slim, fit and healthy by next summer then I'm more than happy

 

[Skinny Sia]

Yeah it is inspiring she doesn't exercise but is fairly active in her job cause she cleans houses, so I think that's why she eats the minimum of 1200..

I admit that my head was convincing me to basically starve myself last night, by eating 800 calories a day and then when I'm at goal refeeding following an eating disorder recovery plan -- now I don't know what the hell I was thinking! I've researched a lot & even with slow gradual refeeds it's not guaranteed the weight won't all pile back on, so what's the point in that? I don't know what tempted me to do it, sheer desperation I think.

BUT I haven't given anything a real shot, and really think I should eat between 1200-1600 calories for a week, exercise and see how I get on. I could surprise myself and lose a good few lbs! I just need to be patient & DO IT.. I just worked out that if I lose the healthy 2lbs per week, then it'll take me 40 weeks to get to my goal of 126lbs and I'll be there by June 2013. Which is great by me - as long as I'm slim, fit and healthy by next summer then I'm more than happy

Hello! Thought I'd come on here and support. Let me know when u get ur diary doll. Remember u can totally do it! Believe in urself ok xxxxxxx

 

[Uwe]

It's confusing to me too! There's so much conflicting evidence out there concerning calories and diets etc that it baffles me!

You're not alone.
And this is why I'm convinced that everyone needs to find what is working for them personally.
Whether it's calories, or certain foods that make people gain weight - there is so much "evidence" out there that there might as well be none.