[fray]

I use Livestrong to calculate my calories and have had it set to 1.5 lbs a week for some time. This has given me about 1385 calories to work with on a daily basis and has led to an actual weight loss of about 1.5 lbs every two weeks.

For the past couple of weeks my weight loss has slowed even further and I have been hungrier. I changed my weight loss goal on Livestrong to 1 pound a week and it upped my calories to 1585.

I have done this for two days and already my weight is up two pounds. While I know that it is not possible to gain two pounds from 1585 calories, it also doesn't inspire confidence in me to continue eating that much.

I checked some other calculators set to a 1 pound loss a week and these all had me eating around 1235-1350 or so. How can Livestrong be such a huge difference? I even have my activity set to sedentary.

Does 1585 seem like way too much to anyone? I weigh around 151-153, am 5'6", and 27.

[ddc]

I use a simple formula: goal weight x 10=daily calories to get to that goal weight.

Might work for you, might not. I think it's a good generalization, though.

[RienQueNny]

I use a simple formula: goal weight x 10=daily calories to get to that goal weight.

Wow, impressive! That would be the calorie range I have to keep in for me to lose weight... anything over 1300 and I maintain... so this makes sense. For me anyhow. Thanks for the tip!

[ncuneo]

Hard to say, I weigh barely less than you and I lose at an average of 1750 cals per day. That said I'm very active and I zig zag my cals. So we are all so different. What kind of exercise are you doing?

[thesame7lbs]

Originally Posted by ddc

I use a simple formula: goal weight x 10=daily calories to get to that goal weight.

Might work for you, might not. I think it's a good generalization, though.

Yow! I would have clawed my own eyes out at 1220 calories a day!

I am 5'6", 38 years old, and I lost on 1700-1800 calories/day with lots of exercise.

I didn't use livestrong while I was losing but I'm using it now in maintenance. I think it WAY overestimates the calories burned during exercise.

[fray]

Well, like I said, my activity level is set at sedentary. I'm not very active. I do agree that livestrong way overestimates activity calories - sitting in class is on there, for instance. These are the sorts of things that should already be built into your activity level.

I'm not sure about the weight goal x 10 - my concern with that is that if someone started at 250 and wanted to get to 120, that would have them eating 1200 calories through their whole weight loss!

[benchmarkman]

As you lose weight you burn less calories because your body need less calories. So that means after some many pounds you have to reduce the amount of calories you are eating to contiune losing at the same pace.

[ncuneo]

As you lose weight you burn less calories because your body need less calories. So that means after some many pounds you have to reduce the amount of calories you are eating to contiune losing at the same pace.

In this case I probably agree, since the op isn't doing much exercise. However, in some cases where people increase their activity as they lose, they actually need to increase their cals to continue losing. When I started counting at 187lbs I started at 1300, as my exercise duration and intensity increased I had to increase my cals to 1500, 1650 and the now to where I an today.

I think your best course of action here would be to start trying to incorporate some kind of exercise into your program. It docent have to be extreme, walking will do fine. My moto is that it's better to burn the fat than to starve. My second word of advice would be to take a look at the kinds of foods your eating. If you truly aren't very active but are still hungry and not losing my money is on the types of foods you're eating. Try to make sure you're getting lots of whole foods and lots of veggies and healthy fats to help wig fullness.

[fray]

I eat 7-8 servings of vegetables a day, 1-2 servings of fruit, regular healthy fats and lean proteins for at least one meal per day. I eat whole grains. I eat almost twice my daily recommendation of fiber. I drink 8+ glasses of water a day. I am not too worried about the healthfulness of my diet

I should also clarify that livestrong decreases your calories for you automatically as you lose weight, so I haven't been eating the same amount of calories for the past twenty pounds.

Increasing my exercise is not an option for me for reasons I would rather not go into. I am still gaining weight on a daily basis from increasing to this amount of calories, so it looks like it was too much for me and my very low metabolism.

[SilverLife]

Fray, I'm sending you lots of good thoughts.

You can calculate your own calories and compare them to what your food diary shows. Protein is 4 calories per gram. Carbohydrates are 4 calories per gram. Fat is 9 calories per gram.

The online food diary I use shows lower daily totals than what they are.

I am 5' 7" and over 50. From the end of April to the end of June, I went from 157 to 142 pounds by eating less, counting calories and exercising as much I could. I really pushed it to get to 138. I had to eat an average of 1150 calories per day. I did calorie cycling, unintentionally. If I went over 1350, I'd be a pound higher the next day. I got so I felt weak, tired, and, finally got stuck at 138. I was very tired of dieting.

I knew I had to find something that would help me feel better. Even with all the great support here at 3fc, I needed something that would improve my health and well-being. At that point, I decided to try counting carbs, in addition to calories. I kept them at around 90 per day and it didn't solve the problem.

Then, I decided to look into a real plan. I went low carb:mod protein: high fat and have lost four pounds in the last week, with a daily calorie average of 1589! I've been able to let go of pushing myself so hard at exercising and just enjoy my gardening, walking, Callanetics, rebounding, yoga, etc. Those take approx. 2 hours a day. They help me feel better, but I no longer feel as though they are the crux of losing weight. A younger person, or any person more athletic, would find my exercise to be not much of anything, except the Callanetics.

If it interests you, the links in my signature give thorough explanations of how that all works, and why.

My health has improved. I feel better, and I'm getting to my goals.

Don't know if any of this will be of help to you, but I thought I'd post it, just in case.

I wish you much success!

[dancinginpaint]

Ncuneo, how did you know it was time to up your cal count? Did you just feel it in the amount of energy you had or was it just obvious with the amount of exercise you were doing? Sorry, I am knew here and still learning.