...do you find you have to alter it the longer you are dieting, or are you able to maintain the same losses at the same calorie count?

Just curious. I didn't know if my body could acclamate to a lower calorie level and then I would be forced to lower it even further to see continued results.

Thanks!

Kara

Well it kind of depends. Me personally, I started out weighing 287 lbs and now I'm 134. So yes, I started out at a higher calorie count and slowly decreased it as I went along.

At your weight, it's a whole other matter. You are way smaller and there's only so low you can go. At this point you might want to think about adding in some exercise. That's one way you could avoid lowering your calories too much. Currently how many calories are you consuming? Are you exercising? This will help us answer your question better.

Oooh, sorry for being so non-specific! That wasn't sarcastic. I really am sorry!

The past month or so I've been going from 128 to 125 and back again. I've been following the South Beach principles since the beginning of June, but without any portion control I found myself kind of stuck in this three pound rut. I decided to start tracking my calories to see if I could get back on the losing track, and I found I was eating well over 2000 a day with a high percentage being from fat - all good fats like olive oil and nuts, but they all added up.

Since last Friday I've been staying right around 1500, give or take 50 calories. I run five miles twice a week and take an hour and a half yoga class once a week, which I run to (about two miles). We also don't have a car here, so I walk about four miles a day, sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less, with my three kids (two in a stroller and my five year old walks). I'm pretty active. I've been trying out the exercise ball for some core strength but haven't really gotten a routine of any sorts down. I'm trying to lose this jiggliness in my middle. It seems all my body fat migrated to my middle section, from under my chest to my rear, since my pregnancies! What's the deal with that?

So, anyway, I've been eating 1500 calories a day, trying to keep an equal balance between carbs (mainly from veggies, a smattering of fruit, and one or two whole grains a day), fats (all good fats), and protein (I'm a vegetarian so I eat soy, beans, nuts, etc. for protein). I haven't really lost anything yet, but I just started my period on Sunday so I'm hoping that when it's over I'll see a whoosh from all this good work I've been putting in this week!

At 1500 calories a day I'm going to bed hungry. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't wrecking my metabolism by choosing a number that's too low.

Here's what I ate today, just as an example of what my 1500 calories looks like:

Breakfast - two egg whites scrambled with salt and pepper and a quarter cup of Pace chunky salsa

Snack - one Polly-O cheddar and mozzarella string cheese

Lunch - 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese with a teaspoon of Equal, a sprinkle of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 1/4 cup of walnuts

Snack - 10 baby carrots and 2 tablespoons of hummus

Dinner - Veggie antipasto (broiled asparagus, sweet peppers, mushrooms, and zucchini topped with chives, parsley, parmesan, olive oil, balsalmic vinegar, salt, and pepper) and soy "steak" strips and 16 ounces of skim milk

Dessert - sliced strawberries with fat free Cool Whip

I ran three miles today and walked four miles also.

Thanks for any help, and by golly, great work on your loss!

Kara

Hi Kara,

I think your original question might be too individual-specific to get a true answer. In my case, I dropped from about 185 to 145 on 1200-1300 a day without ever changing my calories--though I did increase my exercise as I got fitter. I lost very steadily during that time and never plateaued. I regained about 15 pounds this past winter and lost it again on 1800 a day, again without plateauing. Your experience might be similar or it might be more like Robin's.

More generally though, I don't think you should be hungry at 1500 a day. I see lots of protein and cheese in your food yesterday, but if I were you I'd add more veggies to your lunch. Ricotta and walnuts sounds delicious but not very filling. A big salad with spinach or another hearty green might help you to feel fuller longer during the day.

With all the exercise and general activity you're doing, 1500 a day should be a nice losing number for you. Stick with it and tinker with your eating so that you feel satisfied. Good luck!

I'm sorry to hear that you're hungry on 1500 calories. That's rough. I would try switching up what I was eating like Baffled said, add in some more filling veggies to the mix. And you would be better off with low fat cheese, although I'm not sure if that's what you're already eating. Hopefully that will help you. You might also need some time to adjust to the new calorie allotment. Maybe in 2 -3 weeks you won't feel quite as hungry.

If you continue to lose on 1500 calories then there's no reason to take it down from there. But if on the other hand after a couple of months you hit a stall, you just may have to drop them. There's really no way to know for sure until it happens - or better yet - doesn't . We're all such individuals, so therefore everyones experiences are different.

Even though it was what I wanted to hear...in the back of my head I knew there was no magical number or formula that would work for everyone. Thanks for the support, ladies! I will try playing around with the kinds of foods I use to make up the 1500 calories and seeing where that gets me. What kind of window do you give your body for showing a loss? One week? Two weeks? A month?

My fear is falling into a trap of lowering my metabolism. What causes that? I hear about that happening to people on "diets" and it's the last thing I wanted to cause by trying to eat better.

I've just never been on an official diet plan before so I've got all these questions.

Thanks again!

Kara

Oh, and cheese. Dear. We have very limited options here, so what I can get is what I can get. I did read that under 6 g of fat a serving is considered low fat. Is that true? Even the regular cheeses I can get are under 6 g of fat a serving.

Kara

Oh gosh, I just see now that you're from South Korea. Wow. I bet that does give you limited options on many things.

I personally would rather do other things with my calories then eat cheese. It's a personal choice though. I would much rather eat a big salad and a small can of tuna lets's say then some cheese. Or a fat free yogurt with some Fiber One cereal mixed into it. Cheese just doesn't satisfy me enough to use up my calories on it, it doesn't fill me at all. But again, that's just me and my tastes. You have to make this work for you, choosing foods that you like best and satisfy you. The better you like the foods that you are eating, the better you will stick with your plan, therefore making it more likely you will lose the weight.

There are a lot of mixed opinions about starvation mode. It's one that I personally don't buy into and therefore I don't ever worry about it. Ever. Many others would disagree with me. Please take a look at this article on the topic: http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/a...d=35501&sc=801

I would give something a try for 2 weeks or so to see if it "works" or not. After that time and no loss - I'd start tweaking things a bit.

I think you're doing quite well for a beginner or even for not a beginner. This is a process and you will learn more as you go on. A lot of this stuff is trial and error. Keep experimenting and find what works for you. You're definitely on the right track and I have no doubt you'll figure it all out.

Good luck and please feel free to ask any and all questions that you may have.

Hi, I'm new here. I was following the Fat Smash Diet, but the more I read about losing weight, the more I realized the key to weightloss is simply to utilize more calories than we take in. So I decided to simplify!

That being said, in the past three weeks I have been counting calories. I eat an average of 1200 per day. What I've done to avoid slowing my metabolism is to vary my calories daily over the week to reach that average...

Mon 1000
Tue 1400
Wed 1200
Thu 1000
Fri 1500
Sat 1000
Sun 1300

Total Weekly Calories: 8400 Divided by 7 days: 1200

This has worked out very well for me. I've lost twelve pounds over the last three weeks. Some was water weight of course, but I walk/jog two miles a day or do an aerobics DVD for exercise daily and the loss has been pretty consistent.

At your weight and activity level you'll probably need more calories. I got the 1200 calories number from the Mayo Clinic website. It seems low, but eating 1500 and 1400 on two of the days keeps everything moving!

Good luck to you!

Robin, thank you for the link!

Happily, I really like your idea of varying the caloric intake each day. That is intriguing to me! I think I may try that out just to shake things up a bit if this flat 1500 deal doesn't work out for me.

Thank you again for your help, ladies!

Kara