How does Calorie Counting work...?
 

*I posted this in support, but now realized I should have posted it here! Sorry!! I'm a newb! :p *

Hi all! I'm new here. My first week, and I noticed a lot of people mention calories intake. Now I have never been one to count calories...even though I know that's what produces fat. But I've lost weight before, 30-45 lbs (when I was around 19/20 yrs old) with out doing it. All I did was watch my carb intake. Basically Atkins. Calories weren't even an issue.

Has anyone else experienced this? OR can someone explain how that happened? Is there basic rules to counting calories? How quickly to you see weight loss?

Now that I'm 24 I have that weight back, and then some, but I noticed it's HARDER to get back to Atkins. I noticed personally, I do better with plans that are drawn out in crayon for me, although I do get bored. BUT If calorie counting really does work, maybe I can try that and not really feel like I'm DIEting. hehehe.

Right now I am doing the 6 WBMO. Kinda. LOL. I do modify it a little to fit my lifestyle.

Thanks for your wisdom!!

???'s about Calories, Fat Grams, etc
 

I too was wondering about the calories. On CalorieKing it said to maintain my weight (which I don't want to do) I would eat 2041 calories a day/ 14,287 a week. So I'm assuming that to lose 2 lbs a week I would need to cut 7000 calories out of that - which would be 7287 a week - divide that by 7 and it would be 1612.4 calories a day. Does this sound right or just confusing?? :dizzy:
Also, how many fat grams would you need to eat a day and how many carbs??
Thanks and sorry for so many questions
CC

without knowing your weight, and your individual metabolic rate, no one can tell for sure how many calories you should be consuming for weight loss.
You could start between 1400-1600 a day. Try it for a week. See if you've lost. If so, keep it up. ;) It's kind of a hit-or-miss at the very beginning bc you don't want to go too low either but you still want to lose :)
I would not overly worry myself with fat and carb grams. As long as most of your carbs are coming from fruits, veggies, and a few whole grains, your level should be fine. I would avoid sugar at first at least, becasue of several reasons but it's harder to have one serving of sugar ..lol And I only have 2 servings of starch a day. lunch I will have a pita bread, or 2/3 c whole wheat pasta, or 2/3c rice.
breakfast I will have a bit of cereal or a piece of whole wheat toast. No starches at supper. Of course, with calorie counting there is so much flexibility that theoretically you can do whatever you want as long as youre within your calories. I just know for me, that if I have starch at supper, I am likely to crave big time after supper.
With fats, the problem is, youre getting very little volume for the calories. From a purely satiety aspect, fats get you full fast. But if you are a volume eater...I would go very very easy on the fats at first. Plus its very easy to overdo them. I suggest making yourself measure fats. Don't just pour the oil into the skillet. Measure a tsp. of it, becasue you may have just inadvertantly added 500 calories to your supper.. measure the margarine etc. make the fats count.
For example, now I never cook my chicken in oil. I don't put oil in the pan..I dip a paper towel against the bottle and rub the excess on the skillet (practically completely nil) and then after they get golden on the outside I lift them up and put water in the pan so they don't stick. You can add chicken bouillon for flavor. If I want the mouth feel of the oil, after the chicken is done cooking is when I'll add my 1tsp of sesame oil so then I can actuakly enjoy the rich taste instead of having the oil disappear into the meat..

Nuts are yummy but measure out your 1400 cals in nuts and you could probably eat that in a sitting (I know I could)..so watch the nuts, oil and cheese at first, they add up so fast. Since you are going to be eating fewer calories, its more important to have the volume , esp at first.

To lose weight your body needs to use more calories than you are putting into it. Regardless of the types of diets that work for people it all boils down to this. For example, if you lose counting points you are eating less calories (although not technically counting the calories themselves), if you lose on a low-carb diet you are limiting the foods you can have and are (most likely) unknowingly eating less calories, the same is true for all weight loss, it's all about eating less. I realize that there is more science behind all these different diets, but the fact remains that you need to eat less (calories) in order to lose.

Now in regards to just calorie counting all that really matters is that you eat less calories than you are using. If your goal was to eat 1600 calories per day, you could eat 1600 calories of junk and still lose. Personally, this wouldn't be my recommendation because you'd probably feel terrible doing so. Plus, healthy food tend to have fewer calories for a larger volume of food, so you don't feel hungry constantly.

Most of us on here use some sort of online food diary (fitday, calorie king, the daily plate, etc.) You don't have to use an online one though, you can buy a journal and a book with calorie counts in it instead. Regardless of which you choose, you'll want to track what you are eating. Sometimes it's easier to just write down everything you eat for a week or two, just to get an idea of how much you are eating (it'll probably surprise you.) Then once you decide on a calorie level you can start adjusting accordingly. You'll probably want to measure or weigh your food for accuracy, at least until you can eye ball portions.

Online calculators will give you a rough estimate of what you should be eating to maintain. One pound of fat is approx. equal to 3500 calories. If you want to lose 1lb a week then subtract 500 calories per day from your maintenance calories (1000 if you want to lose 2lbs.) This will give you a starting point. Everyone's body is different though, so you may need to play with it. Some people can eat more and lose, some have to eat less.

Most people will tell you to try not to lose faster than 1-2lbs per week. The thought is that you'll lose muscle and not fat if you lose to fast (I haven't seen the research on this, but I think slower is probably better in the long run anyway.) You will also hear that you should not go below 1200 calories. It's very difficult to get enough nutrients from your diet if you eat less than 1200 calories per day.

As far as how fat grams and carbs, well, that's up to you. The only thing you need to be careful of it going to low on your fats. If you don't get at least some (preferably good) fats in your diet you may have problems with dry skin and brittle hair. My skin had started to dry out when I started losing weight and now I take a fish oil supplement (which has taken care of the problem.)

Like I said, everyone's body is different and you have to find out what works for you.

Myself, I eat between 1400-1500 calories per day and I walk 5-8 miles a week. I try to eat whole foods. I eat lots of fruit, veggies, and whole grain products (ww high fiber bread, ww tortillas, cornmeal, brown rice, quinoa, bulgur, etc.) I aim for over 35 grams of fiber daily and I drink LOTS of water. If you decided to keep your fiber intake high make sure you drink a lot of water! I also, leave room for wine and chocolate on occasion (it doesn't have to be drudgery!)

I like calorie counting because of the flexibility. If I want to go out and splurge, I can adjust my calories the next few days to compensate. You can eat what you like and still lose weight!

Wow this is a long post. Sorry! I hope it helps.

I've never tried CalorieKing, but thedailyplate.com has been awesome for me counting calories and planning meals in advance. It has a good recommended intake tool for various weights and daily activity levels - and you can adjust for how many pounds you want to lose a week (one or two) or maintenance.

4thebigday, if you lost weight on Atkins, you were also restricting calories. It is scientifically impossible to lose weight without increasing calorie expenditure (through exercise, primarily) or reducing calorie intake. All diets are just a way of getting you to reduce calories.

Personally, I prefer counting calories directly because it give me much more control. I know exactly what I'm eating. I can eat ANYTHING I want as long as it's in my calorie limit. I can control how much weight I lose by changing calorie level.

Basic rules for calorie counting:
1) Figure out how many calories you eat without dieting. The most accurate way to do this is to just not diet for a week and record everything (and I mean EVERYTHING!) you eat. You can use a website like FitDay.com to calculate calories, or you could do it by hand with a calorie book. You want to figure out the AVERAGE calories you are eating each day. If you don't want to do that, use a calculator on a website that estimates how many calories you've been eating. There are many out there, but here is one: http://www.calorie-count.com/calorie...ies-burned.php Keep in mind that all of these calculators are just an estimate and will be less accurate than just tracking what you were eating.

2) Decide what is a good rate to lose at for you. For most people, I'd say to aim for losing 1 lb a week. For bigger people, they may be able to sustain 1-1/2 to 2 lb a week.

3) Figure out how many calories you will need to reduce your diet by to reach that goal. For 1 lb a week (1 lb = 3500 calories) you need to reduce diet by 500 calories a day. For 1-1/2 lb, reduce by 750 a day. For 2 lb, 1000 calories. You then have to evaluate if your goal is reasonable. For example, if you've been eating 2000 calories a day, reducing by 1000 may not be reasonable.

4) Decide if you want to increase exercise to burn some of those calories. For example, if you decide to burn 200 calories a day in exercise, you can reduce diet by only 550 a day and still lose 1-1/2 lb.

5) Calculate your new calorie level. Take your average daily intake calculated in step 2 and reduce it by the calorie level you need to achieve your goal.

6) Use some method to track your diet and ensure you are meeting your new calorie goal.

You have been given some good advice here. All diets restrict calories , no matter what they call it. Calorie counting costs nothiing, it is flexible,easy, it takes some planning but that is not hard to do.You need something with calorie counts , you can get that online or you can get a book so you can use it 24/7 I have a book from calorie king it has a lot of information including calories at fast foods and restaurants.
I like the book as I can carry it with me and can use it when I am not online.Others prefer online, many use fitday but there are several others as well.Calorie counting will serve you well when you are at goal and trying to maintain.

You need to recalculate. 7287 divided by 7 comes to 1041 calories a day rather than 1612. That's kind of low for daily calorie intake (it is for me, anyway). I mean, I do go that low (even lower, sometimes) on about two days out of the week, but I make up for it by eating a higher number of calories the next day (I zigzag calories). Why not settle on a happy medium and aim for losing 1.5 lbs. a week? To do that, you'd need to cut out 750 calories a day (from your maintenance number), which would be 9037 a week. Divide that by 7 and you get 1291 a day.

We have a Sticky about the general concepts of calorie counting.

Thanks Everyone! lots of great information here! I will check out that sticky!

zenor and cupcake:

thank you so much!!!!!! Just by mentioning the daily plate in your posts I decided to check it out, and may I say it is 1000000% better than fitday!! It rocks!! entering stuff is so easy and hassle free, and counts are there that I couldnt even find on the restaurant's website...becasue of the daily plate, I can tell you I ate 1276 calories today, 123 g sugars!! (from a several snacks of fresh cherries)