How did you personally set your daily calorie intake?
I know that this will be different for everyone but I am really wondering how each of you determined this. Did you go to a doctor? Did you use an online tool like daily plate?
My biggest problem with dieting is counting in anyway shape or form and although I have lost weight I always gain weight back when I do lose. THis time I want to avoid that and I also want to try and understand how this whole counting calorie thing works. I mean I understand it but I guess I wanted to also know how can I make it easier for myself. It just seems like so much. I know Im going on im sorry but anyways how did you all come up with your daily calorie intake amount?
BTW daily plate said I should be consuming about 1800 a day.
For me, I used trial and error. Right now I am losing eating on average around 1350 calories per day. A few months ago I tried 1800 and 1600 and 1500 but 1350 seems to be what is working for me at this moment. When/If it stops working, I will tweak my plan some more
Last edited by Onederchic; 09-21-2009 at 04:07 PM.
When I started counting calories, I used FitDay's calculator which is based on weight and activity level and goal. Now I'm doing Weight Watchers which uses points rather than calories, but is also based on weight and activity level.
1800 is a good start for you. With that many calories you can eat well and shouldn't have to be hungry. The rest of your calorie deficit you can create with exercise and activity. The easiest way to find out how many calories you should be eating is to pick a number and stick with it for a month. If you loose on average 1-2 lbs a week, then keep that number. If however you don't loose that, you can drop your calories 200 calories daily and then try again for another month. If you're too hungry then raise your calories by 200 and go another month.
Each person is going to be different, but by doing a personal trial and error (and giving your plan time to work (1 week isn't enough time)) you should be able to find what works for you and what you can stick with.
I eat approx 1600 to 1700 calories daily, and loose faithfully (as long as I'm true to my plan).
I just put my information into my phone and it told me my BMR. And I subtracted 1000 calories per day to aim for a 2 lb per week loss. So, i am eating 1500 calories. Although, I usually lose 3 lbs per week. You just have to find what works for you, without going hungry.
One approach is to determine how many calories you will need at your goal weight and then when you reach your goal nothing has to change. Most of us are too impatient for that of course.
I found over a long period of time that I usually gain if I eat over 2200 calories; so that's my upper limit. I'm older so I use fewer calories and I can't run, or walk that much. I swim and it helps. I also drink green tea which believe it or not, seems to boost my metabolism.
Right now I'm eating around 1400-1500 a day. According to the math that should translate into 1lb a week, but usually it's a little more because of the exercise. And I lose faster when I eat fewer simple carbs.
I know that counting calories can be a pain. What I do is to bring up CalorieKing and then keep it in the tray when I go to Lotus 123 to do my food menu. It has almost every food you can think of. Doing a menu ahead of time with the calorie count for each item works best for me as I don't have to decide what to eat. For me that's dangerous.
I met with a nutritionist who specialized in weight loss. She told me 1200 calories and I almost fainted, but I'm 48 and perimenopausal, a time when most people find it harder to lose weight.
1200 is working fine for me-- I leave myself a little wiggle room so that I
I love the idea of planning ahead, but I'm not much of a planner in general, so instead of planning, I have developed a go-to list of foods and I tend to eat the same thing over and over again.
That might not work for everyone, but it seems to work for me. Also, I rarely eat out so I don't face that temptation.
I'm going for a lb a week, so I just subtract 500 cals a day from my BMR and that gives me the cal intake I need daily to lose 3500 cals a week (i.e. 1lb). That gives me around 1800 cals a day, give or take a few, because I do go to the gym roughly 2 to 3 times a week....
I use The Daily Plate (Livestrong.com). They give me a little over 1300, but I try and keep it between 1300 & 1800 depending on my activity for the day. If I have a high day one day, the next will be low. I also keep my carbs (or try to) below 150.
I'm going for a lb a week, so I just subtract 500 cals a day from my BMR and that gives me the cal intake I need daily to lose 3500 cals a week (i.e. 1lb). That gives me around 1800 cals a day, give or take a few, because I do go to the gym roughly 2 to 3 times a week....
I think you must mean you subtracted 500 calories from your total daily calorie expenditure? Your BMR is only your basal metabolic rate, and you burn much more than that in a day. I only clarify so someone new doesn't subtract 500 from their BMR and end up on 900 calories a day.
I did, SusanB -- well, for 3 days before I started cutting my calories. I intended to do it longer but was eager to start. I was eating 2300-2700 those three days last summer.
I confess that while I did have 1,000 cals = 2 lbs/week in mind, I just sort of ... slashed my calories to all heck at first. Immediately began eating 930-1050 when I started. I know, I know ... I adopt a militant personality like that.
I have only gone up from there (of course; can't really go down!) I currently eat an official average of around 1141.
However, I still have not gotten a food scale and I estimate (all apples are counted as 80 cals, all slices of my homemade Friday night pizzas counted as 300 cals ...) I've come to guess that I am really eating in the 1300s or so and truth be told, my relative inexactness is part of why I keep my intake so low.
For me, the most important thing is to be consistent.
How did you personally set your daily calorie intake?
