Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I am counting calories and just need to know how many to start with. My wieght is double what it should be. .Im tired of all the body aches and pains. IM tired of being fat and miserable. My kids have all grown up and are not at home much so its just me and hubby. I know that i stress eat and i am also a good meal skipper.I have lost 90lbs before only to gain it back. I learned thru that i need to eat 3 meals a day and exercise to lose weight and keep it off.

debimitch
how many calories a day ? depends on how much you weight...how much do you want to lose / week ;if you exercise....
i count calories too, and i find the dailyplate.com very helpful.
here is the link were you can find out how many calories a day you can have at your weight if you want to lose x lb/week

http://www.thedailyplate.com/users/myinfo/
good luck
michellenew

hi rakuette!
i just wanna say good luck to you too.
michellenew

There are several different calculations that are similar but here is the one that I prefer. It was in the NY Times and references A.D.A.M

This formula calculates maintenance calories. To lose one to two pounds per week you need to create a calorie deficit of at least 500 calories per day. You can do this by reducing the number of calories and/or increasing the number of calories burned.

To maintain your weight:
* 10 calories per pound if you are sedentary or very obese
* 13 calories per pound if your activity level is low or you are older than 55
* 15 calories per pound if you regularly do moderate activity
* 18 calories per pound if you regularly do strenous activity

Activity levels:
* Low activity - No planned, regular physical activity; occsional weekend or weekly activity (such as golf or recreational tennis) is the only physical activity
* Moderate activity - Participating in physical activities such as swimming, jogging or fast walking for 30-60 minutes at a time
* Strenuous activity - Participating in vigorous physical activity for 60 minutes or more at least 4-5 days per week.

Use this as a starting point and adjust from there. No matter what the number of calories is going to be personal to you. The only universal truth is that eating too little is never a good idea.

Welcome to 3FC!

thanks!! you too

oh the myinfo part of tdp was helpful! thanks! i can have 1400 calories to lose aprox. 2 pounds a week.

you're welcome.
michellenew

to calorie counters!!

There's a ton of useful info here, too.

I calorie counting - that with daily exercise is a way of life for me now.

thanks so much for the support. I think i need to start at 1600 per day. That is what they had me on when i had a kidney stone. So far today i have had alot less. I had 230 for breakfast( 1cup of raisinbran crunch with skim milk) lunch was a veggie kit that totalled a 170 calories. I can still have alot of calories today and i have planned a baked porkchop for dinner with a 1/2 cup of coleslaw and lots of steamed veggies. I may add a cup of hot air popped popcorn for snack. I already drink plenty of water a day and dont drink anything but water.
guess i will give it a week and see what happens.
also what do you think about jumping on a minitramp for exercise..i will only be able to do a few min at first and then work my way up.

1600 is a good place for you, I think. It gives you room to go down when you get close to goal.

As for the minitramp - anything that gets your heart rate up is a good thing! The key is to make a habit of moving, so find a few things you can enjoy (or at least talk youself into ). I started with just walking. A little here, a little there...it all counts and it adds up.

I'm counting calories too! I was doing WW points and it's a wonderful program, but it got to be too much for me. I do a lot of cooking and sometimes it was just too much work to come up with point values for things. It's basically the same thing, but with the WW point system you have to be counting fat grams and fiber too. I used to dream about points...lol.

I'm 5'10" and weigh 252 lbs right now. I'm trying 1,700 calories. I move around during the day, but nothing major. I know I need to incorporate more exercise into my plan. I have some videos that I'm going to start using.

ooo i can see where this calorie counting thing can be habit forming. i am learning so much about what i am eating!!! yay!!!

My Valentine's Day Mini Goal

I did GREAT yesterday. I totalled up my calories last night and realised i came in short. I was full and not hungry at all. I only ate 1100 calories yesterday but I ate 3 meal. I didnt get up early so breakfast was a little later than normal. I didnt snack but didnt feel the need. I weighed this morning and lost 2 lbs. Im sure thats from drinking so much water yesterday. I had to get up 3 times during hte night to go potty. hopefully today will go as well.

It's completely habit forming. I don't touch anything that I can't read a label for or have been able to look up nutritional value online. I've only been doing this for 5 weeks now, but I have totally noticed my habits changing. It's been wonderful. I feel great and I am loving exercising. I have seen great results from calorie counting.