I've read lots and lots of info. about not going under the 1500 calorie mark when it comes to dieting. But I find I'm not really shifting the weight while eating 1500 calories a day (with exercise). I do find 1000 to 1200 calories a day a more effective level.

I do lead a very sedentary life - working with books or at the computer a good 10/12 hours a day. I force myself to do approx. 40 minutes of moderate/vigorous exercise a day. But will eating at a level below 1500 eventually lead to future weight gain when it comes to the point when I'm 'maintaining'? I don't want to think I'm developing a bad dieting habit which will ultimately lead to me piling the weight back on.

For those counting calories - what is your daily intake for effective weight loss? (2 lbs a week) Have you played around with finding a level effective for your weight loss?

Any advice mucho appreciated!

emma

I'm 5'4 and 210 pounds at the start of my diet. I've lost approx. a stone on over seven weeks of low calorie dieting. My target is 135.

Congratulations on losing a stone over 7 weeks!

I count calories and aim for around 1250 a day (I'm only 5'2"), which allows me some leeway for little things that I don't know the exact values for e.g. vending machine tea at work, tasting the dinner whilst I'm cooking etc!

I use the 1500 calorie mark as something to aim for on days when I eat out, or when I am having a particularly "hungry" day.

By doing the above I've lost 2 stone since 1st Jan this year. It's never an exact science though - some weeks I'll lose more and others I'll lose less even though I haven't changed anything.

I read an article a few months ago (through a link on 3FC I think) which likened weight loss to a game of snakes and ladders - the bad weeks being the snakes - but that the main thing to remember is that "you can't win the game unless you keep on playing". It's really helped me when I think things are not moving fast enough.

I suppose the answer is to go with whatever works for you but within reason - 1000 calories per day sounds too low to me. It may work well now but when your weight loss slows down (which it will unless you're particularly lucky) there's no way you'll persevere through a few weeks of a plateau if you're depriving yourself that much without seeing immediate results.

Good luck!

Serena A - thats a brilliant analogy (so very right!) - any idea where you found the link?

Emma 2 - I wouldn't go as low as 1000 calories, how about experimenting... go down (or up) 50 calories a day until you find a level that you feel happy at - one where you aren't so hungry you could gnaw your leg off all the time but also where you are losing the optimum 1 to 2lbs a week which everyone seems to recommend for healthy weightloss.

Good luck!!!!

I was just going to say the same thing about the snakes and ladders.

2 stone since January that's great Serena. You must be really motivated.

I can't find the link but I did e-mail myself a copy of the article to read when I needed a boost! Here it is: (hope I'm not infringing any rules here)



Falling Off The Diet Wagon

by Jonathan Bowden, M. A.

One of the most discouraging aspects of weight loss are the inevitable slips. Everyone has them. For some people, an occasional slip engenders an all out binge...followed by guilt, self-recrimination, a sense of powerlessness, and a feeling of "What's the use?"

Sound familiar?

I call it "falling off the diet wagon," and if you can change how you think about it, you don't need to be victimized by it anymore.

Let's start by looking at a simple children's game called "Snakes and Ladders." Here is how it works: you use a spinner to advance from space to space toward the winner's spot. Along the way there are ladders - which leapfrog you over a lot of spaces-as well as snakes-which send you back in the opposite direction.

Some kids play this game with a laissez-faire, "whatever" attitude, taking life as it comes with all its ups and downs, pitfalls and triumphs. They learn the wonderful moral of Snakes and Ladders - half the secret of life is just showing up. Keep playing the game, and eventually you will get where you are going.

Some kids, however, get very upset when they land on a snake. They are ready to quit the game, pick up their proverbial marbles and go home. For some reason, they believe that life isn't supposed to have any snakes. When they land on them, they are very disappointed and feel like giving up.

Weight loss is like a huge game of Snakes and Ladders.

In dealing with hundreds of clients over the years, I've discovered that the biggest difference between the winners and the losers in the weight loss war isn't whether or not people have "slips" and go off their program. It's not really a question of "if" they have them, it is a question of "when."

What really makes the difference is how you deal with the slips when they happen.

Here's an example. You have been absolutely wonderful on your plan for three weeks. You've been sticking to your exercise routine and feeling pretty terrific. You go to your best friend's wedding and have a glass of wine. Before you know it, someone is insisting that you try those delicious little canapés, and before the wedding singer can say "Tanta Elka Cuts The Cake," you've managed to down about 4,000 calories from stuff you wouldn't have been caught dead looking at during the past few weeks...pates, desserts, breads, stuffings, you name it.

Most people think that's where the action stops. Actually, it's where the real action begins.

First, a reality check. Have you done a lot of damage? Not really. You may have put on a pound or two. Big deal. You can knock it off in no time, and go right back to work on yourself.

So what's the problem?

The problem isn't what we did, but what we make it "mean." We tell ourselves that our "transgression" means that we have no willpower, that we will never succeed, that our efforts are in vain.

Let me suggest something more empowering.

Suppose, instead, that we learn to see life's occasional "snakes" as just that - stumbling blocks that everyone hits on their personal path to personal power, nothing to be afraid of and certainly nothing to give a lot of meaning to.

So you had a snake. On your next spin you might hit a ladder.

Most important of all, you can't win the game unless you keep on playing.

And every minute gives you a new chance for another spin. Take it.

And don't look back.



Fabulous article isn't it - it really was quite a eureka moment for me!

Hi Emma, sorry , I don't count calories so I have absolutely no idea how many I have a day , but I wanted to say congrats on your weight loss so far - that sounds brilliant to me!

Thanks for the snakes and ladders - good one and so true!

Serena, Thanks for that - really great! Really made me think about how I view weightloss.

hi, i make sure that i dont go below 1200 calories a day. can be difficult to eat enough at times as im used to advice i was given years ago - stick to 1000 cals a day - which is too low. a couple times a month i will have an evening where i eat what i fancy within reason. if i average my calories out for the week i`ve still got enough of a deficit to lose weight steadily and i dont feel totally deprived. mad

Thanks for all the pointers. I think all-in-all I average around 1250 a day. I tend to forget to add in the cups of tea etc. or the tablespoon of low cal salad cream etc. I have noticed if I eat 1000 cals I am cranky and lack concentration.
I'm sure my body is still getting used to the fact that it not being fed chocolate on a daily basis (chocolate and procrastinating are my vices ).

I love the snakes and ladders analogy - I must tell my Mum about that - she has also started dieting with me and this week went from being officially obese to officially overweight.

Serena well done on your weight loss since Jan!

I don't ever go below 1200. Rarely below 1400. I try to stick around 1400 - but I have PCOS, and so I have to keep it lower than other people (Am 5 foot 6, and because my medical condition means I lose weight around 3 times slower than a woman without PCOS and my metabolism is involved in that, I have to be extremely careful). Even being extremely strict, for weeks and months on end, and doing a couple of hours exercise a day (half of it just walking, half of it something more demanding) I often only lost half a pound a week. Most weeks I lost nothing, but kept going. Without the PCOS, I'd probably have been losing 2-4lb, most weeks.

I ate according to my BMR - never, ever below it. Otherwise you get problems when you maintain, as you've realised! So at the start when I weighed 14 stones, I could eat 1600 cal a day and lost weight fine on it. I adjusted that down every 10lb I lost, using online tools or the charts in Rosemary Conley's books. But if I'd started at 1200 the weight loss would no doubt have stopped.

Sarah and others here have used 'zigzagging' their intake (some days more, some less - see your intake over, say a week, rather than per day) - and I think that was helpful. I used Fitday.com to chart my calories. Whatever works for you! Just be careful not to go too low too soon or you can risk re-setting your BMR too low.