Hi! A Newbie with a Question.
 

Hi All:D

I have been reading this wonderful forum for a while and I really feel psychologically ready to get down to some serious weight loss. Since I have a long way to go, I am focusing on 10 lb increments.
I would very much appreciate some advice on the numbers of calories that I should take in. My stats are 37, female and 324 lbs. I sit down most of the day except for housework and riding my recumbent bike for 20-30 min 5x a week. So far, I have been eating around 1600 calories and I lost a lot in the first week but I know that must of been a lot a water since the scale was going down 2 lbs daily.
I have used some online calculators that state that I should be eating like 2500 cals a day which seems like way too much for me.
I guess I need to experiment to find that optimal number.
Thanks in advance:)

Pennie

You probably will need to experiment some, to be honest. I'd suggest 2200-2500 a day for a few weeks and see how you do - you need to make sure you are eating enough so your body doesn't think you're going to starve. The calculators I use gave me a BMR for you (assuming you're 5'6" cause that's how tall I am so I assume everyone is the same as me! ha!) at ~2200. With that, 2500 wouldn't be a far off estimate, considering you aren't laying in bed 24 hours a day. If it ends up being too high, you can go down 100-200 calories for a few weeks and see how that works for you.

I use The Daily Plate to track my calories in and out. You may want to try it, or FitDay which seems very popular also. I've never been your weight, so I have no personal experience to share - maybe someone else can chime in with their own numbers.

Hi, Pennie! I'm a newbie, too!~

The FAQ's on the forum say that for your weight range, you should start with 2,000 calories a day for a week and see how you do ... if you lose 1-3 pounds, then stick with it. If you gain, then decrease 100 calories the next week.

That's my newbie interpretation. :o)

Here's the post:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/calo...ease-read.html


Nice to have another newbie on board!!!

Hi! :wave: I am new to the CC forum too, although not new to weight loss efforts (by any means!). I weigh 266 and arbitrarily decided to start with 1600 cals/day. We'll see how it goes.

Good luck, and see you around here!

Hi, Judy! Welcome! Know just what you mean about not being new to weight loss efforts. I'm hoping that by sticking with basics - calorie counting - I will finally be successful in getting this weight off and maintaining.

Everyone here is so nice and welcoming and it's great to have found such a supportive forum!:)

Thanks for your responses. I am going to try for 2000 calories a day and see where that gets me. The idea that I should eat no more than 1200 was drilled into my head when I was a kid so 2000 seems like a huge amount to lose on but I am becoming more aware of the science behind it.
The strange thing is that when I am bingeing on junk food then 2000 cals is nothing. However, 2000 is a lot of healthy food and it is a bit of a challenge to eat it all. Plus I am trying to cut out sugar which makes me super hungry.

Pennie

If I can make a suggestion... when I started counting calories, it didn't work because I set my goal too ambitious (low). A day was fine, a week was okay, then suddenly one day I ate half a box of Zingers! :) I never felt hungry exactly, but I guess I was over-depriving myself. With a higher calorie goal (2000) I might not lose as fast, but I can eat a little treat sometimes without it getting out of control, and I can focus on making those 2000 *healthy* calories.

Good luck! You can do it!