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#1

Soulmia , 10-26-2006 12:06 PM

I put all of my food intake for the day on fitday (as best i could) and it came up with roughly 1700 cals for the day! Am I eating too much!!!
I basically ate eggs, veggies and lentils today. Couldn't stomach any meat today.

HAAAAALP!! What ideally should I be consuming in terms of calories? I am 5 feet 3 inches tall and am trying to follow SB!!

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#2

ValRock , 10-26-2006 12:14 PM

I thought SB didn't give a calorie level?! 1700 isn't THAT high... I weigh about 86 kilos, am 5'9 and eat around 1400 for weightloss.

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#3

jillybean720 , 10-26-2006 12:19 PM

Well, technically, on South Beach, you don't have to count your calories as part of the plan. However, I'm one of those people who happens to track my calories no matter what plan I'm following, so I understand your concern.

1700 may sound like a lot, but it's really not. Have you ever noticed the nutrition labels on food where it says, "Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet?" Well, they base them on 2,000 (and some do both 2,000 and 2,500) because that's roughly how many calories at which most healthy people can maintain their weight. Of course, the bigger you are, the more you burn anyway (since it takes more energy to move a bigger body than a smaller one), so, for example, just about every calorie calculator I've used (all of which are to be taken with a grain of salt, of course, since we are all very highly individual and cannot run our bodies according to a mathematical function) estimates that I burn well over 2000 calories a day without ANY exercise.

There are all kinds of calculators and theories out there (I've heard you should multiply your weight by a certain number to see how many calories you should eat to maintain or lose weight, but depending on who gives that suggestion, I've seen the multiplier range from 7 up to 15 ), but the bottom line is: are you losing? If you're starting out, keep doing what you're doing and see how it works out. If you don't los any weight after a couple of weeks, then it may be time for some fine tuning, but if you're losing an average of .5-2 pounds per week, then you're on the right track!

1700 sounds like a great place to start and figure out where to go from there. So many people try to start out at 1200 or 1300 (or even less, which can be dangerous to your health), and they see immediate weight loss, so they think it's a good idea. However, once their bodies have shrunk a little and adjusted to that amount, they have to reduce their calories further in order to losse more, and if you start out at rock bottom, then where do you go from there?

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#4

srmb60 , 10-26-2006 12:22 PM

Nope, what does fitday say your basal is?

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#5

Mel , 10-26-2006 01:10 PM

The "average 2000 calorie diet" is for an average person. There is no such thing. Someone who is 5'3" probably needs far less to lose unless you are doing a LOT of exercise. It also depends on your age and your personal body chemistry. Are you losing at that level? If so- great! if not, drop the calorie level and/or increase the exercise until you do start losing.

Mel

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#6

Soulmia , 10-26-2006 01:22 PM

I am 2 days on the program and going on vacation tomorrow. I haven't dared to check my weight after the initial weigh - in 2 days ago...so I don't know if I'm losing
But I feel if I eat any less.... I won't be able to sustain it. i will binge. I have eaten till I was full but NOT stuffed. I agree with Jillybean on this one though... if i reduce my calorie intake and lose then stall ... i will ahve to further reduce to lose again... and then what will i end up at? an apple a day??
Oh lord gimme strength!!! I am stressing now!!

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#7

jillybean720 , 10-26-2006 01:57 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Soulmia
Oh lord gimme strength!!! I am stressing now!!
My suggestion: follow the South Beach plan as it was intended (i.e., don't worry about calories!). By following South Beach, people generally reduce their calorie intake naturally by cutting out things such as sweets and overly-processed ("white") carbs. Are you eating less and healthier than you were before you started SB? If so, then you are making progress regardless of numbers. Who knows--maybe you were unknowingly eating 3000 calories a day before you started paying attention!

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#8

Heather , 10-26-2006 02:13 PM

I agree that if you're losing that's great-- but you need to give yourself more than just a couple of days. Give yourself at LEAST a couple of weeks to see what's going on!

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#9

callystia , 10-26-2006 06:58 PM

You said "SB"; are you doing South Beach Diet or Sugar Busters? Just curious.

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#10

Soulmia , 10-26-2006 09:59 PM

Jillybean - I love you
The thing is, before Atkins or South Beach, I ate pretty healthy ( or so I thought ) My diet consisted of veggies, lentils and brown bread and rice (a little) I don't have a sweet tooth - except when TOM's approaching so I ate desserts once every 2-3 months (if that)
My problem was - no exercise. I would find ingenious ways of skipping it (and I don't mean that in the literal sense)
But since I started low carbing (Atkins) and now South Beaching, I am more aware of what I eat. However, I seem to fall off the wagon pretty quickly.... I get sick of all the meat/chicken/fish. I am essentially a lentils and veggie eater so when i have to restrict my lentils intake to 1/3 - 1/2 cup (whats that anyway??!) I start craving it. Imagine - normal people crave chocolate and cookies - I crave lentils!

I am leaving for Shanghai on this 5 day vacation. I just found out it's a 12 hour flight (including transit in Bangkok) We are flying Business Class and all I can think of is " what the **** am I going to eat??!"
I R-E-A-L-L-Y want to enjoy this vacation but am worried that I will be so stressed about eating that I won't

I know everyone says that I should not fret about it so much but what should I do? I can't help the stress I'm feeling

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#11

Soulmia , 10-26-2006 10:01 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by callystia
You said "SB"; are you doing South Beach Diet or Sugar Busters? Just curious.
doin South Beach callystia

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#12

Heather , 10-26-2006 10:05 PM

My question is, if you were eating healthy before, why switch plans?? If you don't like the new plan, why are you on it?

That doesn't help your vacation problem, but I do know from experience that there's lots of veggies in China -- some cool ones we don't have here, either!

But going to China for only 5 days??!!! Wowsa... that's a lot of jet lag.

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#13

Soulmia , 10-26-2006 10:13 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by wyllenn
My question is, if you were eating healthy before, why switch plans?? If you don't like the new plan, why are you on it?

That doesn't help your vacation problem, but I do know from experience that there's lots of veggies in China -- some cool ones we don't have here, either!

But going to China for only 5 days??!!! Wowsa... that's a lot of jet lag.
I THOUGHT that I was eating healthy. I actually wasn't. Meaning...I tried to stay low cal, low fat and low everything... but then would end up binging... so South Beach seems better now...
Yeah...China. We're only going for 5 days coz we're only going to Shanghai. My boyfriend's Swedish and works for the Swedish Trade Council. They are launching Volvo in China so he's going for that ... surprised me with a ticket!
So yes... it will be a lot of jet lag but hey...it's China!

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#14

Heather , 10-26-2006 10:24 PM

Ah, thanks for the clarification!!

I hope you like China -- Shanghai is a city growing by leaps and bounds. I haven't been there since 2001 and I bet it's changed a lot. I was surprised by how much European influence there is!

Business class, I'm jealous! I've mad e 4 trips to Asia, all in economy. All weighing over 260 pounds. No wonder I'm so excited I can move the tray tables up and down now!

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#15

fiddler , 10-26-2006 10:52 PM

Soulmia,

Most of the popular diets are geared toward American cuisine. I can't imagine how hard it must be to stay on SB or Atkins if you are used to traditional Indian cuisine, which it sounds like you are from what you said you like to eat.

It sounds like what you are already eating is pretty healthy, and you just need to work on portion control. Have you considered Intuitive Eating as a weightloss plan? There is a thread on it in the General Diet Plans forum. That would help you work on portion control, and maybe you could just make a few modifications in what you are already eating. Like reduce the amount of bread, substitute brown rice for white, stick to yogurt-based rather than cream-based dishes, and cook with a minimal amount of oils.

As far as whether 1700 calories is too much, I agree with the other posters who said you should see if you are losing at that level. If you are exercising, you will be able to eat more than if you aren't, and exercise has a lot of other benefits besides, like keeping your metabolism from slowing down. When I incorporated exercise into my weightloss plan, it made a much bigger difference than I had anticipated. When I don't feel like exercising, I remind myself that I would not be able to eat as much as I do if I didn't exercise. Maybe that would work for you too.

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