My friend's friend is a nutritionist. She told her that she would never recommend anyone go below 1800 calories a day... but I keep reading about people going on 1500 calorie diets and lower. :/ I don't think I could handle eating less than 1800. But is that necessary?
to make sure I understood her correctly. She said that her friend never puts anyone on a diet of less than 1800 calories - no exceptions for age, height, health concerns. She also ALWAYS includes exercise (which may be part of why it's high). She says that anything lower can still cause a long-term change in metabolism even though it's not below 1200... meaning that it would take a while to be able to get your metabolism fast again.
That said, this isn't coming from the horses mouth. This is the horses friend's mouth . I'm sure some of you see nutritionists yourselves and each professional must have different opinions! I just thought since some of you were wondering if I got that right - I would let you know! If I ever happen to meet the nutritionist, I will ask her more about it and write in!
As for me, I'm finding 1800 to be a bit of a struggle (I am staying just under 1800 - no less than 1750 or so). I believe that I am losing weight too, cool - hope I can keep eating only 1800! It's interesting how different everyone's bodies are - and how much they change. Like I know probably when I turn 30 and as I get older, I may have to dip down even lower to maintain or lose because my metabolism will change!
Anyway, that's all I have to say for now! Hope everyone is doing well with your diets and the Holidays!!
Hi
I am late adding in but for the height thing... YES i am sure it does change the cals you need!
I am 5 11 and fit day says i need.... 2300-2600 to maintain before excercise (that is with me being moderately active... ie.. home maker with kids)
and if you add in the excercise maintence for me is 2600-2900 a day!
but i am currently on on about 1200-1500 your body adapts over time to a set amount and you no longer get hungry! at first it was tough though.
Now i am slowly increasing weekly until i find a spot in which i maintain.
Yes lower cal intake and your body learns to cope with that, if you start going back up too quickly you can regain weight even though you are still eating less than you normally would (thus the reason i am increasing slowly!)
Maybe the nutritionist is correct in the thinking, as now i am stuck eating what i think is too little, and i am scared to go up for fear of weight gain! yes i lost the weight quickly but now i have to take my time, getting back to a normal diet. Maybe by staying in a reasonable diet(1800), i would not have this problem???? but would have taken longer to lose the weight??
Good grief, if I ate 1800 calories a day, I'd start putting back on all this weight I've lost.
Your calorie needs depend on several things - your current weight, your height, your sex, your age and your activity level. All of those factors make a difference. The calorie needs for one person may not be the right calorie needs for another.
I have a theory here too. For new dieters who are starting out, a higher calorie intake ( as long as you are exercising) is probably a good idea. For girls who have been going with low calories for some months, who's bodies are not use to this, its probably a bad idea for them. Simply cause eg. 1200 cals is what their bodies are used to.
For me, I'm going with higher cals cause I'm planning on working out pretty hard each day, and my metabolism is already low. So exercise and higher cals will hopefully bring it up.
I'm nearly the last person to ask about nutrition - I know a bunch, but hardly enough... My thoughts on this are the same as yours Kathy! For someone who is new to dieting, by all means take your time lowering your calories. If you lose at 1900 - stick with that. It's probably healthier to go down slowly.
Also - the height thing. I wonder what the nutritionist has to say about that. I am 5'8'' - not super tall, but taller than average. If were to eat 1200 calories, maybe that would be WAY to low for me... I dunno. But someone who is 5'2'' - could they really lose at 1800?? All of the calorie calculators tell me that with my current amount of exercise (light), I should lose at 2000 - 2100. Maybe they are right? If I had slowed down and tried 2100 to begin with instead of jumping right down to 1800, maybe I would have lost!
Thank you for your input Ice! One thing I want to say about you being stuck at 1200... the friend of the horse went down to 1000 calories to get "in the best shape of my life" for her wedding. Of course, she lost about 10 pounds and ended up plateauing for a long time. Her friend told her about the 1800-cal thing and she raised her calorie intake. She said that she gained all 10 pounds back in the first month, but after a year of eating more, the 10 pounds came off without even lowering her calorie intake at all (she thinks her metabolism sped back up or something). She is 5'5'' or so, by the way and extremely active. She runs outside and uses a treadmill a lot - I don't know exactly how much. So based on that story... if you keep doing what you're doing and slowly going up on your calories - I think it may work out for you - that you won't gain and will be able to maintain at a higher intake.
ALL guesses - I am no expert - don't even have much experience under my belt. Just thought I'd mention that in case this message comes off like I'm a know-it-all
I just wanted to add my $0.02! I am getting back into calorie counting and I am at my highest weight right now, about 143 on a 5'2.5 frame. I can maintain this weight eating loads - way more than 1800. I am going to start at 1800 and take this slow. In the past when I was much younger I just wanted fast weight loss and I think put myself in a starvation mode where I ended up gaining all this weight from undereating too much. I have been about 140 lbs for years, not moving much from it. I believe I have normalized my metabolism over these years and hence the reason I can probably lose on 1800 calories. I don't want to jepordize this and eat 1200 because I know then it will be a tough time maintaining because the body adapts.
So for me, personally, I am going to start much higher than considered average and go slowly. It took a long time for me to come to this realization!
Another thing to think about regarding hunger is the quality of the calories we're eating. I weigh a lot more than most of you (I think), and I'm eating about 1900/day on average (started at around 2000). One thing I have found is that some foods fill you up better than others (a well known fact, but an amazing find for me!).
I never ever thought that fruit could help me feel full, but it does -- especially fruit with a lot of fiber! So, if I eat the foods that make me feel full (which are not necessarily high in calories), I need fewer calories to be full.
Okay, now I'm confused...on average, I eat 1500-1600 calories a day. I think that's normal for a 14-year-old girl. But then someone said to multiply your weight by 10 to see how much your body burns without help? 110 x 10 = 1100. So that means I have to exercise more, not counting walking all over school and exercising in gym.
I am lowering it to 1300 then, starting the day after tomorrow (tomorrow is my cousin's wedding...pfft I am not lowering calorie count tomorrow, too busy). Is that unhealthy?
BTW, I think I heard this somewhere, does thinking more burn calories? I know it sounds stupid, but I would like to know.
Yeah, but to my knowledge it's done nothing for my weight loss, lol.
Or maybe it has, who knows. I've just never heard that one before.
3,500 Cal burned= 1# of Fat. Mental activity is a major reason your BMR is so much higher when you are awake and at rest.
Maybe you need to "think harder". I have heard that puzzling out chess problems takes alot of ATP, and that some grandmasters do a lot of cardio to help their stamina for chess matches.
Okay, now I'm confused...on average, I eat 1500-1600 calories a day. I think that's normal for a 14-year-old girl. But then someone said to multiply your weight by 10 to see how much your body burns without help? 110 x 10 = 1100. So that means I have to exercise more, not counting walking all over school and exercising in gym.
I am lowering it to 1300 then, starting the day after tomorrow (tomorrow is my cousin's wedding...pfft I am not lowering calorie count tomorrow, too busy). Is that unhealthy?
If you're maintaining at 1500-1600 calories, why would you want to drop down to 1300?
. I'm sure some of you see nutritionists yourselves and each professional must have different opinions! I just thought since some of you were wondering if I got that right - I would let you know! If I ever happen to meet the nutritionist, I will ask her more about it and write in!
to get "in the best shape of my life" for her wedding. Of course, she lost about 10 pounds and ended up plateauing for a long time. Her friend told her about the 1800-cal thing and she raised her calorie intake. She said that she gained all 10 pounds back in the first month, but after a year of eating more, the 10 pounds came off without even lowering her calorie intake at all (she thinks her metabolism sped back up or something). She is 5'5'' or so, by the way and extremely active. She runs outside and uses a treadmill a lot - I don't know exactly how much. So based on that story... if you keep doing what you're doing and slowly going up on your calories - I think it may work out for you - that you won't gain and will be able to maintain at a higher intake.
