So after everything I've read over the past few years about eating healthy, exercising, ect I STILL do NOT know how many stinkin calories I should be consuming!! I read something different in practically EVERY magazine or online article. I don't even know how many calories my body burns just sitting there so how am I supposed to know where to even begin?! It would cost $55 to get that test done here at my schools gym and I'm sorry but I do not have money for something like that. I'm 5'8 about 150 and wanting to get down to 140. I read awhile ago that if you eat 10 times the weight you WANT to be at you'll lose weight. So I wanna be 140, 140 x 10=1400 That's what I've been going by most days. I haven't been starving myself by any means. Eating lots of protein, fiber, fruits, veggies ect. Well now today I see in Women's Health mag that if I eat 11 x my current weight I will eat enought calories but still lose 1 pound a week. So 11 x 150= 1650 or basically 1700. So that's a 300 calorie difference. I have no idea if I'm not eating enough or what....maybe I am starving myself, I don't know! And I don't know about trying to calorie cycle...my stomach feels fat all the time still, I can't imagine eating MORE than I do now. ugh This is such a pain :-(
http://home.fuse.net/clymer/bmi/ will give you a formula for determining your basal metabolism rate (BMR), which is an estimate of what your body burns if your are just sitting there.
You are not going to trigger starvation mode with 1400 calories. That is usually a concern if a person is eating less than 1200 caolires. If you are doing weight training and aerobic exercise, you probably could lose weight with 1600. If you are losing weight OK and feel fine at 1400, IMHO there is no need to change what is working.
Yeah I've done numerous BMR calculators on various websites and they all tell me something different which is why I don't trust them. I think I would trust the actual test they make you do but darn it all I just don't want to spend the money! lol
Relax. Breathe. Ahhh. Good. Thing is, no one or nothing, no calculator, no test (spending money NOT necessary) doctor, nutritionist, dietician, someone who's "been there done that", genie or psychic reader can tell you the exact amount of calories that will work specifically for you. They are all just guesstimates. You my dear will have to figure that one out on your own through experimentation and trial and error. You do that by picking a number, sticking to it faithfully for 2 - 3 weeks and see what results you get. Then you can make adjustments as need be.
I think 1400 calories would be a great place to begin.
Last edited by rockinrobin; 09-26-2009 at 08:06 PM.
I don't see how goal weight x 10 could work. I mean if I am 160 or 360 and I want to weight 150 I should eat 1500? I don't think so.
Like others have said, you have to start somewhere and see what works for you. And even what works for you will change as you lose weight and your body adjusts.
My advice? Stop worrying about the formulas and calculators, and focus on learning about your own body and how it works. Good luck!
Yeah I only follow the goal weight times 10 because 1400 just sounds kind of good for me. But if I was shorter and wanted to weigh 110 well then I'd be under 1200 which isn't good. So yeah it doesn't work for everybody. Just gonna stick with my 1400 and hope I lose a few more pounds :-)
Yeah I only follow the goal weight times 10 because 1400 just sounds kind of good for me. But if I was shorter and wanted to weigh 110 well then I'd be under 1200 which isn't good. So yeah it doesn't work for everybody. Just gonna stick with my 1400 and hope I lose a few more pounds :-)
Not only will it not "work" for the shorter folks, but what about the ones who are starting out at higher weights that have the same exact goal? For instance, you've got 2 people, both 5'4", both have a goal weight of 130 lbs. So that would be 1300 calories. But one is 295 pounds and one is 165 lbs. Well it might be okay for that 165 pound person, but what about that 295 pound person?
Why don't you just take the experimental "feel" approach. Reduce your calorie intake by cutting out sweets, softdrinks, and reduce your meal portion size. If you start losing weight great. If not reduce more. If you lose too much increase a little. Once you are happy where you are at count how many calories you are eating and stick with that. That is truly about the only way to find out specific needs for you.
Why don't you just take the experimental "feel" approach. Reduce your calorie intake by cutting out sweets, softdrinks, and reduce your meal portion size. If you start losing weight great. If not reduce more. If you lose too much increase a little. Once you are happy where you are at count how many calories you are eating and stick with that. That is truly about the only way to find out specific needs for you.
I for one can't go by what I "feel", especially when I first started out. I "felt" like I always wanted to eat. For many of us, just watching ourselves, cutting out the sweets, reducing portion size, eating only healthy, is just not enough. Too "open ended". We need more "guidelines" so to speak. Something to put the brakes on overeating, built in accountability and FORCED portion control. That is what calorie counting did/does for me. And I personally needed it from the very beginning because THAT is what taught me what I "should" *feel* like. So I personally think it's EASIER and WISER to pick one of those "guesstimates" and work from there.
Last edited by rockinrobin; 09-27-2009 at 08:29 AM.
See Amanda I just used your BMR calculator and it came out to 1513.25. Then for my daily caloric needs I picked moderately active so I used 1.55 times my BMR. So that things telling me I need 2345.54 calories a day to maintain my current my weight! There aint no way I'd eat that much!
calorie confusion
