If you were to lay in bed all day and do nothing, your body would still need calories to function. The amount of calories burned doing nothing is referred to as your Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR. There are a TON of calculators online to determine your BMR, but none are 100% accurate. You would need to get a metabolism test with your doctor to determine your true BMR. Your body also burns even MORE calories doing your day to day activities. Playing on the computer, going to the grocery store, etc.

Your maintenance calories are the calories your body would need to maintain your current weight, taking into account your activity level. In order to lose 1 lb per week you need to burn approximately 3500 calories LESS than your maintenance calories, which equals out to 500 calories less per day.

So say your maintenance calories are 2500/day. In order to lose 1 lb per week you need to eat 2000 calories a day. That's not even including exercise!

I would much rather eat as much as possible and still lose weight than starve myself and risk binging and giving up.

Have you tried some form of working out? I find after a good workout I am not hungry even if I was before hand.

FreeSpirit Thanks so much! Im starting to understand now.


FannyMae Yea i have tried workouts and for now, they are too hard for me to do. But im hoping soon (as the weight starts to come off) that i can re start them.

I think you may be mistaking low-calorie for healthy, and I think you're also probably underestimating the healthfulness of foods you do like.

No food is healthy or unhealthy in a vaccuum. There's nothing "healthy" about chicken if that's all you're eating. Your favorite foods may not be unhealthy, if you are budgeting them into your calorie allowance, and eating a variety of foods. Nutrition and healthfulness of food comes from variety not from some magic quality that they either have or do not have. No food is healthy by itself, it's only in the greater context of everything else you're eating. Your "old" diet may actually have been healthier than the one you're following now (except for the excess of calories). Eating smaller portions of the foods you do like, could be healthier than the diet you're describing now.

Which is healthier chicken breast or peanut butter?

It's a trick question, because it depends on what else you're eating.

The diet you describe isn't healthy, because there's not enough variety there. It's very likely that your diet would actually be improved, that is made more healthy by including some of the foods you think of as unhealthy.

You do not have to eat boiled chicken and eggwhites, as your only proteins there are a lot of other healthy protein sources. Super-low calorie doesn't necessarily mean healthy. The healthiest food is a wide variety, not just the lowest calorie foods you can find.

You don't have to boil your chicken, you can simmer it in salsa or spaghetti sauce or many other delicious simmering sauces that are low calorie. Half ketchup and half diet coke makes quite a nice barbecue sauce (and isn't as high in sugar/calories as bottled bbq sauce). Honey mustard dressing or italian dressing make nice marindades for meats (even if they're full calorie, they're often not too bad). For "oven fried" chicken, you can marinate chicken pieces in light ranch dressing and then dip in crushed cereal, bread crumbs, or dry mashed potato flakes and bake in the oven at 375 degrees until cooked through. You can eat beef and pork too, if you choose your cuts carefully.
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You can eat the egg yolks (if you like them) the protein in the yolk is said to be a higher quality than the whites alone. You don't want to eat six eggs a day, but eating whole eggs a couple days a week isn't necessarily unhealthy. Fat (if you don't overdo it) is a healthy part of your diet and can help you stay full longer. You can't and don't need to remove every trace of fat from your diet (it wouldn't be healthy).

Nuts and nut butters are high calorie, but they're not unhealthy, you just have to be careful with portions.

Adding a little butter or small amounts of sauces to vegetables isn't a horrible thing, if it helps you eat more veggies (just make sure ot account for the calories). You can slowly cut back on the fat until you like veggies naked, or nearly so.

To lose weight you don't have to eat only (or even primarily) the lowest calorie foods possible - you just have to be eating fewer calories than you were before.

You don't even have to change the foods you're eating, you can cut back on quantity and make more changes later.

Just as a test, what are some of your favorite foods that you think are unhealthy? I bet they're either not as unhealthy as you think - or they can be made healthier with some minor changes.


If you don't understand calories and nutrition very well, you might want to consider exchange plan dieting (the structure helps balance your diet to some degree). If you can get a consultation with a dietitian, I think you'd find it helpful.

A lot of people fail at diets because they think they can only eat plain baked or boiled chicken breast and lettuce. They think that if it tastes good, it can't be healthy. It's those assumptions that make weight loss more difficult and more unpleasant that it has to be.

So what do you say, throw out a few of your favorite foods, and I bet some of us can give you ideas on making healthier versions of what you like (if they aren't fine just the way they are - it's quite possible you just have to cut back on portions).

I am so glad I found this site!!! kaplods, you are wonderful. You ALL are wonderful. But to answer your question, I like everything that most people consider fattening... Fried Chicken (really almost every kind of chicken) Potatoes in every way, Im not that big on ground beef, but I like tacos, I hate all veggies and most fruits. Most of the time, I would just eat fast food chicken meals everyday...

I guess Im just so tired of being fat, that I didnt realize my new choices were just as unhealthy but in a different way. (I just posted my pics in the 3rd round forum so you can see just how fat i am)

I did find many recipes on this site that I am willing to try

Thank you all for supporting me and guiding me to the right places.

I don't understand why people are so afraid of fat. Healthy fat is filling and good for you.

I have to keep my carb count LOW or I'm starving all day. I can eat a LOT more food if I limit my carbs and still lose. I focus on quality protein and life is good. Keep tweaking things until you find what works for you. Good luck!

Hey Skittles, I think I have found a natural appetite suppressant--fiber. I know you say you hate fruits and veggies--I'm wondering if you've tried to cook them yourself, and the reason I'm asking is that I hated veggies growing up. My mom, bless her British-cooking-tradition-trained heart (no offense to any of the Queen's subjects!), would boil the veggies down into mush with minimal salt and no other flavoring. No wonder I hated them!!

Now, I LOVE veggies, all sorts, raw, steamed, sauteed, roasted--in fact, almost every way except boiled. Why not try 1 new veggie a week, and try cooking it in a couple of different ways to see what you like? If you like a mild flavor, try sauteeing in just a teaspoon of olive oil (then use a little water or broth if you need additional liquid)--then add salt, pepper, garlic powder, whatever. I do this with almost every vegetable you can think of, and it's delicious!

We've also discovered the benefits of roasting veggies--wash well, cut into serving sizes, and put on a Pam-sprayed roasting pan at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or so--then sprinkle with salt and pepper and chow down!! I like a spritz of lemon on most roasted veggies, too, just for that kick.

Anyway, fiber really, really works to satisfy my appetite. It makes lower calories an easy sell, too, when you see the full plates of delicious and pretty food that you get with a veggie-centric diet. Plus, you're feeding your body well, getting great nutrition, and that means your body craves less junk.

Best wishes!!! If you'd like some more veggie cooking ideas, you can PM or google low calorie vegetables and get tons of ideas.

do you like eggs? I find eating a couple of hard-boiled eggs in the morning keeps me filled up for hours. Perhaps not the healthiest alternative, but I also eat the WHOLE egg, not just the egg whites. I'm a huge fan of eating WHOLE foods in their "naturalish" state. (like whole grains if you're going to eat carbs etc.) I'm often so busy in the mornings I don't have time to stop and snack.

For the record, your brain is made up of fats, its especially important for children to get healthy fats in their heads, literally, to build the brain up. It can also affect adult health. I'm still breastfeeding, and I've been taking fish oil supplements initially for the pregnancy/breastfeeding, but I've found it beneficial to me overall as well. Afterwards I've read that people use it as a natural anti-depressant.

I used to hate all fruits and veggies too. With a freaking passion.

You should try finding a farmers market in your area. Fruit and veggies from farmer's markets come from local farmers, and locally grown produce is AMAZING. You haven't tasted real produce if you've just been buying it from the grocery store.

Also if you cook it right, it is delicious. Mind you this is coming from a former veggiephobe.

Best of luck!

Does anyone know of any natural suppressants ( like foods that can help or herbal ones)? I have an irregular heartbeat and am not going to take anything that is full of caffeine because I know that isn't good for my heart. A lot of the over the counter and prescribed suppressants are full of stimulants and caffeine. Any suggestions on ones that aren't?

Have you considered a low carb food plan? Many people find that going going low carb, moderate protein, high fat is the best way to curb appetite, and have a diet that nourishes one's cells. If one keeps a low carb plan, there is nothing to trigger appetite. It is the starches and sugars, the carbohydrates which stimulate an insulin response, which causes hunger.

There is an Atkins sub-forum here.

Southernbelle, lots of folks find that when they stop eating the grains which contain gluten, that their heartbeats become very stable and steady.

I was someone who could, if I admitted it, eat things I like, all day long. That hunger/appetite was only satisfied when I started keeping a well planned, low-carb, way of eating. I really enjoy it and feel much better than I ever did just keeping my calories low.

Sending you all best wishes.