? about BMR
 

I have been counting calories for about 12 days now and it is going well.

The basics of losing weight is to burn more calories than you eat, Right? Well does that include the #of Calories burned in general everyday or does it just include the Calories that we burn doing exercise.

Am I understanding the BMR right? It is the number of calories you burn per day if you are not doing anything? And it is the number of cals. you need to eat in order to maintain current weight???

My aim is to eat 1300 calories per day, but I am eating more like 800. my BMR is 1614 then I burn approximately 750 calories exercising. so my cal deficit is about 1564. Am I figuring that out right?? (1614+750) - 800

That is about the toughest question going!
It might be best to figure backwards. Have you lost weight in those 12 days? How much?

I have lost about 4 pounds, I am trying to wait until monday to get on the scale.

Ok so theoretically ... scientifically ... in a perfect world :) 4 lbs is 14,000 calories. Divided by your 12 days is 1166. Which would/should/could indicate and average deficit of 1166 calories per day.
How much have you been eating?

I eat anywhere from 700-1000 calories per day.

Here is my theory, you will lose weight a little faster if you up your calories. Yes, you are losing now, but your body is going to go into starvation mode if you are exercising that much and only eating 800 calories a day your weight loss will stop. I would suggest slowing upping your calories to 1200-1500 per day. You will lose weight faster, more healthier, and you will have more energy.

I want to get my calories up, I need to find something more for a breakfast High in protein. I am thinking protein shakes. I have never been a breakfast eater. In an average day my meals are filling so I don't even think about eating more.
I usually eat:
Lunch
3 eggs
2 toast (on oat bread)
1 apple

Dinner:
ckn breast (usually baked or boiled with onion)
carrots
grapes

80 oz of water

Today though I added Orange Juice in the Morning, I am going looking for a good protein shake for the morning. I know that will up my calories, but whenever I have eaten breakfast (before I was dieting) I felt hungry all day. I am hoping a protein shake or smoothie will help me keep the hunger down (even if it is all in my head...) I also make sure that I take a multi-vitamin.

Definetly up your calories. I can speak from recent experience (plateaued for 4 weeks on less than 800 calories) It really works! I lost 6 lbs in the last 3 weeks and one of thoose weeks I totally fell off the wagon. I have a protein shake recipe I just love...So does my 14 year old son for some crazy reason, prolly cuz it tastes like a choc shake.

Ice (7 large cubes)
1/2 C skim milk (if your watching carbs use lite Soy milk)
1/2 C FF Cott Cheese
3 Tb Splenda (or packets)
2 Tb Dutch Co co (dutch makes a huge difference in taste)
1 tsp Vanilla ext.
1 scoop protein powder of your choice (I use a whey vanilla from GnC or Berry)
1 scoop tasteless fiber (optional)

I have to shake the blender a bit as it is thick but I don't like runny shakes.

thanks I will definately try it! I forgot to add that I try to have a banana for a night time snack, but I don't always remember to eat it.

OMG, you are NOT eating enough!!! No wonder you are plateaued, your body is hungery. For a shake, if you don't feel like making one, there is a brand called Advantage. They have regular and low carb shakes. The low carb one is only 110 calories and has 10-15 grams of protein in it. Great way to get that protein in the morning. I was never a breakfast eater either but I knew I needed to eat breakfast if I wanted to lose weight and be healthy. My morning shake has become my obsession. I used to have to have at least 2 cups of coffee before I could speak in the morning. Now I have a shake immediately and I don't drink caffeine at all. It's not that I gave it up, its just that the shake replaced it. Now that I am finished with the caffeine withdrawels (that sucked), the shake gives me the energy I need to get going in the morning. I do still enjoy my coffee and diet coke, but I can't remember the last time I had any...hmmm. I used to drink at least a pot of coffee in the morning and at least a 2 ltr of Diet Coke the rest of the day. I am amazed. I better go get a diet coke quick!!! It has been a while. Good luck to you, I hope this helps.

Advantage??? Are they good flavor? I love the slimfast shakes, but I am not sure of the protein count. But I want a higher protein breakfast.
Thanks for the advice.

They taste great!! I am on my way out the door, just wanted to leave you a message in case you had the urge to run out shopping at this exact moment.

i would stay away from the orange JUICE - actually any juice. even though it's good for you, it's wasted cals and eating an orange will give you the same nutrition, but fewer cals. you don't want to take in empty cals, like what's in juice and junk. go whole fruit if you are dying for the juice. just a suggestion!
i agree with the girls. 800-1000 is WAY too little for you to be eating. up that by a few hundred cals.
it is really important to eat a good, high protein breakfast every morning b/c you feel full longer during the day. a really delicious cereal is the kashi golean crunch with some skim milk. it's high protein (more than your avg cereal) and it also has high fiber, which will add to your full factor and keep your digestive system regular. i also like the kashi golean waffles (high protein and fiber) with either some natural peanut butter (very high protein) or some sugar free preserves on them. they are so yummy and i am always full in the morning until lunch time. hope this helps! good luck
gabrielbeth

I have alot of difficulty with breakfast also. I'm usually not hungry in the am, and like jcatron423 said, when I do eat breakfast it makes me hungry all day, and I end up eating WAY more. I can skip it and not miss it at all. I've even tried using the slim fast low carb shakes in the morning, so I'm not so sure that it's the whole "carbs beget carbs" thing going on. Why is that? Is it really that bad for weight loss not to eat breakfast?

Breakfast makes you hungry because it's firing up your metabolism for the day.

When you go to sleep at night your body slows right down including your metabolism and it needs to be stoked up upon waking to get it into gear and do its thing efficiently. If you don't then you wont burn energy as quickly which means your body holds onto more and more fat eventually slowing or stalling weight loss and being very counter-productive.

If you're hungry from eating breakfast you may not be eating enough or maybe not the right things. It is also helpful to "graze" through the day on smaller meals of say around 300 calories or so.

My break down tends to this

Breakfast - 300
Snack - 200
Lunch - 300
Snack - 100
Dinner - 400
Snack - 150

Total = 1450 or there abouts.

Some days I have more since my range is 1400-1800.

Liv

Oi! I'm way behind here.
OK so with my figuring and your 1000 cals of food .... you probably use around 2000 cals a day. Simply put, you need to eat less than that.
I absolutely agree that 700 cals per day is not enough. It's really hard to get a healthy array of nutrients into you at that amount.

I try for higher protein breakfasts, too..lately I have been mixing 1/2 c lowfat cottage cheese with 1/2 nonfat plain yogurt and 1 T sugar free fruit jam. It looks nasty but it tastes good! It comes out to like 150 cals, 19g protein. Or when I have no time at all like this morning...I always have Zone bars on hand. 210 calories, 16 g protein....too much processed food isn't good...but a Zone bar beats drive thru breakfast!

I agree with the others - going below 1200 cals a day is not a healthy plan. Add some peanut butter and avocados and nuts to bulk up your cals even if you aren't "hungry"....(I can't say as I have ever had this problem..:o) We want you to be healthy!

Thanks for everyones input! I think I got my diet on the right track I had a protein shake for breakfast this morning, and I am going to add in an orange between my breakfast and lunch. I think that my total # of calories for today has been in the 1200's. I felt like I was eating all day.
Another questions then, What percent should your Carb/Protein/Fat be?

Oh honey, you are going to get many different answers to that question.
My best advice is to get your calories under control first. Try for a few good days at your chosen calorie level and then see where you're at.
Let's see what the others say.

I am just a bit of an over-acheiver. I want to do it the right way and hope the weight stays off. I am going for 2 pounds a week. (I would like instant gratification but I know that it is a long term commitment). My main concern right now is calorie counting. I think I have gotten pretty good at it with help of my food diary. I don't feel hungry and my focus isn't on food all day. All week I have eaten the same thing So this week (21-27)I am adding the protein shake with extra fiber plus I am adding in broccoli and an orange.
I don't want to go above 1300 calories so I just have to figure out which foods do the best for me.

Doing what works and feels comfortable to you is very important. Smart choice! I think you're going to be just fine!

The main reason I am shooting for 1200-1300 calories is because I was only eating approx 1600 calories before when I was maintaining my weight at 187 (I was at that weight since I had my son 10 months ago). My biggest problem was making the wrong choices in food. Now, I am eating healthier, eggs, chicken, fruits and veggies (and now) a protein shake for breakfast. I am trying to stay away from the red meats, saturated fat and sugar. Counting calories helps me keep tabs.
I had Gestational Diabetes both times I was pregnant and the nutritionist who I saw was big on Carbs and calories. She said that 1200-1300 calories a day is okay as long as you are making healthier food choices. I am starting week 3 of my diet, I lost 3 pounds in the first week and 2 pounds last week. My goal is 2 pounds a week, If I start loosing more than that I will definately increase my calories.
When I plateau I will try something new. Probably not exercise wise but I may switch my meals around (that worked for a friend of mine), or I may try Zig-Zaging my calories, which I have read works for some people. I don't know really.

Different people process different ratios better - I aim for 40% of my cals from carbs, 30% each from fats and protein....I think South Beach uses the same ratios...I got it after taking a survey in Jillian Michael's book "Winning by Losing". I think keeping your fats around or below 30% is pretty standard...the rest is what makes you feel good when you work out. I find the higher protein level keeps me feeling energetic. Maybe play around with it and see what works for you?