I have been over weight for years.. averaging about 240-260lbs.. i wasnt too concerned about it cause i had the energy of a much smaller person as well as my body would 'move' like that of a much smaller person. In the last year and a half, i have gained up to 301lbs.. must be the fact i have pretty much sat on my tail drinkin soda and eating fish and chips the whole time lol... now i find i dont have the energy to get dressed hardly much less exercise... i know ill feel better and have more energy if i do get movin, and im gonna make myself.. but my question is this now that im done digressing lol.. how many cals per day should i eat at 301lbs and 5'3?? i was thinkin starting at about 1600-1800 per day... any thoughts?
ps.. this is also kinda my introduction, so 'hey' everyone
pss .. wish me luck on givin up reg coke.. gonna switch to coke zero.. would quit completely but i think i would go into shock and die lol...

I just wanted to say

I'm not so sure about the amount of calories that are appropriate. (Sorry!) I just wanted to say that you've found a great place for support, and I'm sure someone will be along any moment to give you some advice about counting calories.

Have a look around, post where you're comfortable & best of luck drinking that coke zero!

Best of success to you!!!

hello and welcome,
As far as how many calories you need it is hard to say. I eat less than some and loose slowly. I think its trail and error.My dr actually put me on 1400 per day but I am doing 1500 and sometimes as high as 1600. You can search and see what the charts say. I have found each site tends to give me a different number. I would start high and you can always cut back if your not loosing 1-2 lbs a week. You will most likely loose more than that the first week or two.
Good luck.
debi

Weclome!!

I like diet dr. pepper

Or how about only having one reg. coke a day but drinking it with 1/2 a coke zero and 1/2 reg until you ease up on the regular coke and go completely with coke zero? Or managing the calories so you are allowed one regular coke a day?

As for moving, just do small things. Like taking the stairs instead of the elevator...walking around the block...or even walking in place during commericals while watching tv. Small steps can add up to a lot.

Calories I would advice seeing a doctor - you don't want to end up eating too few calories and your body going into starvation mode.

Hope this hints help!

-Taylor



ADDED: England, huh? My fiance is from Manchester (Leigh, really) and I know how hard it is to stop eating fish and chips! I love that stuff....and english breakfasts...mmmmmm

to 3FC! I hope you find inspiration at this site. I'm a calorie counter too, and the times I am most successful are when I am completely accoutable, and make a daily plan for myself. I carry a little orange journal and make it a fun little project! I wish you !

1600 - 1800 calories is not a bad place to start. I would recommend starting closer to 1800 and see how you do. You can always bring it down in increments of 100 calories if you think you are losing too slowly.

Lori

I would try the higher number first (1800) for maybe a month and go from there. I'm doing higher than that (2200-4 days/2600-3 days) because I started a strength training program (and that's what it recommended). It hasn't slowed my progress, and in fact may be speeding it up a little.

Just make sure that your numbers for the day are accurate. It can be easy to let little things slide and then find out they add up to a couple of hundred calories. If the 1800 works well, and you add exercise, then you can always bump it up a little. Everyone will likely give you a different number. If you can, try and figure out what you've been eating and then pick a number that's lower by 500 - 750 calories. Do that, move a little more, and you should be good.

Changing what your eating will help as well. Although you could still eat 1800 calories of fish & chips and soda, I think you know that better food choices will leave you more satisfied. Good luck on kicking the coke habit, although we've all seen studies that diet coke (and others) may stimulate your hunger just the same. However, from personal experience, even diet soft drinks were hard to give up (that was my vice).

Good luck.

Ditto on the starting with 1800 and giving it a few weeks. You can always go down, but I think you might be pleasantly surprised.

Welcome, welcome!

I started out at 5'4", 237. I was between 1300 and 1500 cals a day (every once in a while going up to 1600) and doing cardio and light weight lifting every day. I lost my first 60-ish lbs doing that.

I starting doing more serious weight lifting and my weight loss stalled a bit. Also Iv'e been travelling a lot lately, and not watching my calories as well, and I've been holding steady at between 168 and 172 for the last 3 or so months.

I just started counting every calorie again and found that I'm consuming between 1800 and 2200 per day. So obviously that's my maintenance level for this weight .. I need to drop back to 1600 again to start losing again and meet my goal I think.

Hope that helps you some as far as a range!

.

I am starting high (2000 cals/day or so) but eating healthier, because I really want to stick with everything this time and not give up, I tend to over do things with cutting calories and eating healthy and now allowing myself treats. Once I become comfortable with eating healthy at 2,000 (my daily plate says I can eat up to 2,000 and lose 1 lb per week), I will cut 100 cals per week until I am comfortable with it and not being hungry AND losing weight. After that I plan on calorie cycling.


I think everyone is different and the calorie needs are different from person to person too - which is why you have to experiment.

Good luck!

thank you all for the timely and helpful responses.. i checked out a couple web sites that tell you how many cals you need to maintain your weight... they both said ( after putting in my height, weight etc) that to MAintain i would have to consume 2700 per day... just giving up soda will be most of that lol... so i figure 1800 is a good place to start... that is 900 less than my cals to maintain.. plus if i exercise and burn off a couple hundred a day that should put me around the 2lb a week weight loss mark i hope.. i know nothin is accurate 100 percent, and each body is diff.. but i think its a good jumping off point...
i checked out fitday .. saw it in these forums... and it looks like a 'doable' thing for me... so, monday im starting my 'change' lol.. would do it this weekend, but hubby and i gonna splurge some this weekend as a PRE lifestyle change celebration.. dumb huh? lol.. but i must admit i am looking forward to my last weekend of coke...is funny, but i dont care much about food... but i calculated it and i drink about 2k cals per day in coke... no wonder im fat lol.....i sure hope coke zero tastes good... fingers crossed..

The coke zero will taste like crap at first.. but after a few days you won't even notice the difference. It definately tastes better than diet coke.

By the way, welcome to the boards.. this place is amazing!

Oh.. and I love your username... it reminds me of a summer camp Camp Wannalosealot sounds like my kind of camp!

I think 1800 is a great place to start, Wannalosealot. I also suggest that you consider weaning yourself from sugar Coke to diet Coke. Take your sweet time with it (pun intended). To this day, when I get a fountain diet Coke I put a shot of sugar Coke in it, which is 30 calories well-spent as far as I see it.

Also keep in mind its not really that hard to give up Coke (or which ever your poison of preference is). We used to keep pop in the house all the time, consuming 4 or 5 cans per day of the stuff. I tried switching to diet with no weight change and back to regular. Finally I went thru the 2 week or so withdrawl of just not having it in the house and forcing myself to drink water and its not as bad as you would think!

Besides that its much better on your body, think of all the work your liver and other internal organs need to go thru just to lose weight (it has to be moved out of the body somehow). Now add on top of that all the work its forced to do to just filter out the artificial stuff we put in.

Just some food for thought, I know breaking too many bad habits at once is hard but if you want to give up coke for your health, consider GIVING it up not substituting it, in the end you feel better and after a few weeks when you go to have some you will find it makes you feel ill, hmmm.

Always start on the higher numbers it gives you lots of wiggle room to work your way down. Although that being said at your size I was eating around 1800 most days plus exercise. It depends how quickly you're aiming to lose... what makes your body happy... etc.