Hi Everyone!
My name is Kat, and I've been on WW on and off for about 3 years-- and this was my "time" to be on again for good, but financial reasons (threaded elsewhere on 3FC) have made it hard to do anything with WW for the time being, so JillyBean suggested I try calorie counting for a while, until I can make the financial commitment to WW again (or, if I like just counting, maybe I'll stick with it!!)

So--I joined thedailyplate, and they said that I need to eat 1729 calories a day to lose 2 lbs a week.... And coming from WW (where the conversion is a little iffy, but it basically equated to anywhere from 1100-1890 cals/day), 1729 sounds like a LOT.... since it's on the higher side...

Do I just try to stay under that number?... Or should I really be eating exactly 1729/day? What does everyone else do?

I exercise every day, whether walking, dancing, aerobics, or pilates-- And I took a 2 hour "shopping" walk today, and it said that I "gained 521 calories" for my plate... Is there any way to track the exercise without getting the calories back? Because I exercise SO much (and have before dieting), I don't want to count any of the earned calories back into my "plate"...

Sorry if I'm a little confused/skeptical/new at this, but I just don't want to misunderstand something and get back to my start weight!!

Has anyone else switched from a different plan to calorie counting? Was there adjustment time?

Aiee!!! I guess I just need an "intro" course I'll check this thread for tips/tricks, but anything anyone wants to contribute here would be much appreciated!!!
Thanks!

Hitting your calorie target is all about averages over time. So no you don't have to be on target every day. On average I come close but there are the occasional high and low days. Some calorie counters do zig-zagging (also called calorie shifting or calorie cycling) where they purposely have high and low days but again always coming back to their average.

There is no perfect formula to determine your perfect calorie target. You have a good starting point but from there you will want to monitor your progress and if necessary adjust. It is a bit of trial and error.

Remember that quality of food matters so make sure you eat lots of fruits, veggies and get your fiber.

Best of Luck - Lori

Finding the right calories to lose is a bit of trial and error. Are you losing at the present amount ? If not try lowering your calories by about 100-200 calories a day. If you are losing at that amount, that is where you need to be. Do not go below 1200 calories a day.

1700 is a reasonable place to start--perhaps slightly on the high side, but it's worth starting there and seeing how you go. Finding the right calorie level is a matter of trial and error in the beginning. Sometimes it's easier to think of calorie targets as a range: 1500-1700 or 1600-1800. As long as you fall somewhere within your range, you're ok.

The Daily Plate is annoying in that it automatically adds exercise calories to your available food calories. I think the only way around it is to not log your exercise with TDP, or, if you want to log, to just ignore the extra calories. I can't imagine in what universe walking around while shopping burns nearly 600 calories! I'd have to run for about 75 minutes to burn that many calories!

Calorie counting has a particularly high learning curve at the beginning and it can take some getting used to. But it is a pretty basic, intuitive and flexible approach to weight loss, so it's worth putting in the effort at the beginning. There is some trial and error involved but you will not wake up tomorrow or on Friday and find yourself at your start weight! But, you will need to pay attention to how quickly or slowly your body loses (or stops losing) at a particular calorie level. Give yourself a week or two in the 1500-1700 range and see how you do. You can re-evaluate your calories from there.

(Another thing you might consider doing is logging a couple of days of WW eating and see where that puts you calorie-wise. Then you'll have a sense of what a good losing range is for you.)

I log all my exercise in DailyPlate, but I scroll to the bottom of the page and look at total calories eaten instead of just net calories. Alternately, you could wait to log all your exercise until the end of the day, so it won't affect your total.

DailyPlate is undergoing a lot of changes right now and are very open to user suggestions. Maybe you could suggest a toggle for exercise as to whether it "counts" to give you more calories, or whether it's just logged.

I have been told a 1400 -1500 calories a day by my dr. She said to take your ideal body weight and multiply it by 100. I have found alot of online charts say many more calories for my current weight. It is trail and error in my opion. I have found that if I cut my calories to low that i dont lose. This is week 5 for me and so far I have lost 16lbs. I lost 10 in the first week and then 4 the second week and then nothing the next week and then 2lbs last week. I am lifting weights and joggin . I only get about 15 min of exercise a day. Im slowly increasing exercise.
good luck
debi

Cool! Thank you, everyone, for all of your advice! I did calorie counting yesterday, as my first day, and it went amazingly well-- I ate whatever I felt like, logged EVERY little thing, And weighed in this morning a little lighter than I was last week That's all (this) girl hopes for

I think they gave me the 1700 range since I said I'm moderately active-- I dance about 13 hours a week, and take walks, and other exercise... I've had troubles in the past "giving myself points/calories" for exercise I normally do, so if I have it given to me straight up, I'll feel more obligated to keep up with my extra curricular exercising

Yay to calorie counting!

Kat, you've already gotten some great advice, so I just wanted to say "welcome" and good luck!

Cheryl

Welcome Kat, glad you could join us.