I was wondering if someone could please help me? I am having a heck of a time with calorie counting. Here is why, I am 5'8" and 310lbs. I can't for the life of me seem to lose weight via calorie counting. I have gone on several different websites that calculate how many calories you should eat in order to lose weight. The results vary from 1300-2800 calories per day. I started a food journal just to see what I was currently eating per day and it was about 2100-2300 per day. I shared this information with a friend of mine who seems to know a lot about losing weight and their response was I wasn't lossing weight because I was undereating by 500 calories per day and my metabolism was in starvation mode. They suggested that I do weight watchers instead because according to their calculations (based on the idea that a WW point is equal to about 50 calories) I would be eating about 2500 a day and then step down my calories in a healthier way. Problem is that I would much rather stick with calorie counting. Can anyone please tell me:
1) how to properly figure out how many calories I should be eating?
2) tell me how to step down my calories in a healthy way?
3)give me any other advice that might be helpful?
How long have you been counting? Are you exercising as well? How much water do you drink? How much fiber are you taking in? Eat salt? Do you eat 3 times a day or more often?
I use My Fitness Pal to track my calories and my sugar intake. I have been tracking sugar and just started counting calories. I also try to exercise about an hour a day. Personally, I would look at one tracker and just stick to it. I also don't track weight daily.....I do weigh every morning but you will notice that it can go up and down on a daily basis. For instance, I "gained" two pounds from yesterday to today. I was too tired to exercise last night and I didn't drink as much fiber water yesterday. Makes a difference. Plus I had Chinese food which has lost of salt. (water retention) As far as stepping down calories, I would look at what you consume daily, plus how much you exercise, and maybe reduce it by 100. Then each week reduce it down by 100 until you get to a point that you are not craving to eat (no belly growls). When you get to that point, step up your exercise a wee bit and I bet you will see a reduction.
Since you tracked to figure out how many calories you're currently eating, I would subtract 500 from that number (2200-500) and settle on 1700 calories/day for now. That would presumably set you up to lose 1lb per week (500*7days = 3500 calories = 1lb).
The best way for me is to sit down and plan out my meals. For example, 1700 calories can look like:
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner = 400 calories each, two 250 calorie snacks. You can always tweak it as you notice your hunger patterns. If you're hungrier in the evening, have a larger dinner and a smaller lunch or breakfast. If you're hungrier throughout the day, you can have three snacks that = 500 calories, etc.
I like to cook and freeze into portions with calories written on the containers so it's brainless for me. The day before, I write down what I'll be eating the entire next day, down to the amount for each of my snacks. Then, I pack anything I need for my work day so that I can just grab my food, make my quick breakfast, and go in the morning.
I am a calorie counter, too and like Munchy find that planning is the key. All meals are planned ahead of time, this really doesn't take long to do. In figuring how many calories to consume it helps if you know what your goal weight is.
I would also start at 1700 or 1800 calories. Give this a few weeks, see if you get results, and tweak it from there. There's no point in eating less calories than you have to in order to lose weight, so my philosophy is to always start higher.
Find out what works for you... there's no one right way to lose weight. Some people like their three main meals, others like to have 6 small meals or three small meals and some snacks, etc. I always like to be munching on something and I hate being hungry so I snack a lot on something high-protein and that works well for me. Just experiment and find something that works for your life. good luck!
2300 calories is pretty low for your weight, which could mean a couple things (either or both).
1. Research has shown that the very act of monitoring/recording what they eat tends to reduce the amount of food people eat. So your actual maintenance calorie level may be higher than 2300 calories.
2. You could have underlying metabolic issues that are reducing your metabolic rate. Diabetes, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, low-thyroid or other endocrine issues.
I'd recommend seeing your doctor and asking to have testing to rule out these health issues.
I do have borderline diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and borderline low-thyroid (low enough to be on the low side, but not quite low enough to medicate), and when I started, I was having trouble losing weight even on 1800 calories if the calories were from high-carb foods. My doctor recommend that I try low-carb, but warned not to go too low (but admitting he didn't know what would be too low).
So I had to experiment with carb levels. I did find that I lose more weight and more consistently on low-carb, but I can't go so low that I get light-headed (because of the diabetes and meds I'm on for the diabetes).
Know the correct portion sizes and eat from every category every day. You will get multiple choices from each category per day depending on how many calories you eat.
Buy the book The Protein Counter 2nd edition
By Annette B. Natow, Ph.D., R.D. and Jo-Ann Heslin, M.A., R.D. On page 17, it will tell you how to figure out everything you need to know. The book is also a great Calorie counter book that cover many foods.
Find out how many calories you're eating to maintain your current weight and reduce that number by 500 to 1,000 calories and that's how many calories you should eat to lose weight.
Assuming you have no medical issues... hypothyroid, insulin resistance, etc....
Keep a food log with NO CHANGES for 1-2 weeks. Just writing it down. You say this is 2300 ish.
Subtract -500 from THAT. That gives you 1800 ish.
Now you could consider your split. Standard american is 50% carb, 20% protein and 30% fat with 10% of that fat being saturated fat.
If you suspect you may be IR, you might try a 40-30-30 split just to crank the carbs down a little bit and try to get most of your carbs from produce rather than grains.
When you lose 10% of your weight, then step down another 10% in calories.
Sometimes when you starting point is high, online calculators don't really help much.
You're much better off getting your diet information from reputable websites and books than not.
From this Book
The Protein Counter 2nd edition
By Annette B. Natow, Ph.D., R.D.
and Jo-Ann Heslin, M.A., R.D.
To determine how many calories you need each day. Once you have figured your target weight, you can use this weight to get a good estimate of the amount of calories you need each day.
If your not very active, you'll need 12 calories a pound of your target weight
If you get at least 1/2 hour of activity a day, you'll need 15 calories a pound of your target weight.
If you do daily vigorous exercise, you'll need 18 or more calories a pound of your target weight.
For example, if you get at least 1/2 hour of activity a day and weigh 150 pounds:
150 pounds x 15 calories a pound = 2250 calories per day
Using the recommendations of 10-20% protein calories, 50-55% carbohydrate calories, and 30-35% fat calories, each day you should be eating:
your calories per day x 20% protein = protein calories each day.
2250 calories per day x 20% = 450 protein calories each day
your calories per day x 50% carbohydrate = carbohydrate calories each day.
2250 calories per day x 50% = 1125 carbohydrate calories each day
your calories per day x 30% fat = fat calories each day.
2250 calories per day x 30% = 675 fat calories
450 protein calories + 1125 carbohydrate calories + 675 fat calories = 2250 calories each day.
Whether you want to simply track your protein intake for the day or set up a complete eating plan that includes protein, fat, and carbohydrates, "The Protein Counter" (book) is the best guide you can use.
can someone please help me?
