I have been doing the calorie thing for a year now and I have been a little stump on one question.

I don't totally agree with the calorie mathematics.

I have a thing that says.

weight number _____ X 10 = ______ calories then add ( + )
20% to that number if you are sedentary
30% to that number if you do light activity
40% to that number if you do moderate activity
50% to that number if you are very active

= _________ calories

Finely add 10% of that total (For digesting and absorbing nutrients.) to get your total daily allowance for the day.

= __________________ - 500 calories =____________________calories

This should allow you to lose a pound a week.

When I do this math on myself it has me on eating around 2,800 cal.
Which never works for me.

I believe eating around 1,500 cal. and no less then 1,200cal is what is working right now. So far I have lost weight doing this, but I am wondering by not following what the calorie mathamatics is am I putting my system into starving mode in the future? When I follow the mathematic system to calorie counting on how much calories you supose to eat (for your weight) and to lose one pound just doesn't work. As long as I only take in the range of 1,500 to 1,200 cal I have been doing fine (so far)

257/229/140

if it aint broke, dont fix it

I don't take those calculators too seriously. Tey tell me I should have less that 2000 a day and I doubt that would be good for me.
Also I am more muscular than most people my height and weight so I doub't my BMI is right either. They are a help but nothing devised by man is perfect. Adam made sure of that.

I have a friend who started her weight-loss journey around your weight and she went to a nutritionist. I believe she was put on a diet of around 1800 calories to begin with and it decreased as she lost.

The internet is full of calculators to figure out what level of calories you should be consuming. Also, calculators that figure out your basal metabolic rate (the amount of calories your body burns in a day just doing NOTHING). I would take that number and try not to eat much less than that or you're probably depriving your body of what it needs to just live!

Here is a site for a BMR calculator: http://w3.one.net/~jwclymer/calorie.html

I am 5'4" and currently 152 pounds. I believe my bmr is a little over 1400. That is my daily calorie goal as well, 1400.
I've heard anything under 1200 is unhealthy but I don't see how they can put just one number on it like that. I'm sure it has to depend on your current body weight and other factors as well!

If I were you, I'd probably add a few hundred more calories a day just to be sure you don't go into 'starvation mode' but I am surely agreeing that 2800 seems more than a little unreasonable! :-) Also, I've heard it said that fluctating the number of calories a day will help you keep out of 'starvation mode' as well.. 1600 one day.. 1200 the next.. back up to 1500 the next.. your body will not get worried by the 1200 because its not a regular thing Just another thought! :-)

Good luck with your loss .. and congrats on your progress so far!

Christine
195/152/130

Sorry about two posts but I had another thought as well!

Maybe that formula you have would work if, instead of plugging in your 'current weight' you plugged in your 'goal weight'..

140x10 = 1400
20% of 1400 = 280
1400+280 = 1680
10% of 1680 = 168
1680 + 168 = 1848

Sounds more reasonable to me that way

Christine

Silence: thank you. You just open my eyes to something I didn't realize My goal weight instead of the current weight. That makes since.

I do fluctatie between 1200 to 1600 cal per day. So maybe I won't ever have to worry about slamming my body into starvation mode.

andreaphilip3: okay. I won't fix it. I would like to understand it.

Cowgirl: Men, I don't understand them LOL, Can't fix them either.


257/225.5/140