Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Fat4myJeans
Dang, really? I had this wacky formula worked out that if I cut back on 300 calories a day, and burned 300 calories a day, I would "burn" 4200 calories a week - just over a pound per week. Should I be eating more?
The answer to your question really lies in what you eat and don't lose. If you were eating 1600 calories a day on average and maintaining your current weight, then you'd need to burn more or eat less to lose. I'd be willing to bet that you eat more than that
on average when not trying to lose weight, so aiming for 1500-1600 calories
on average while losing weight will probably give you a productive weight loss. You can get there in a number of ways - eat 1600 calories per day, straight through - eat 1200 calories some days and a more generous 2000 calories on some days (weekends, anyone?), basically planning for a "splurge" and keeping your body guessing. There are probably a few other options, but I'd say sticking with a pretty solid 1500/day average would do better for you in the long run than constantly fighting to keep it down, if you struggle to eat less than this.
Without a direct measure of exertion, the average 200-pound person is going to burn around 1800-2000 calories on a daily basis, with a normal basic level of activity (dressing, cooking, walking around the office, etc). Obviously, this is a huge GUESS, but it's a good jumping-off point. If you eat 1250 calories a day, that should be a 750 calorie/day deficit, while 1500 and burning 250 extra will give you the same effect, and 1.5 pound/week loss on average.
This is why I really love the bodybugg - it gives me a pretty reliable measure of what I ACTUALLY burn, instead of all the estimating that we do to try to guess what goes on. When I sit at a desk all day and don't get a chance to move around a whole lot, I barely burn 2000 calories in a day (and that's including walking or biking to work); when I swim in the morning, move around all day at work, bike for an hour in the evening AND lift for an hour, I can burn up to 4000 or more. That's a LOT of difference - if I were trying to eat 1500 calories or less on a normal workout day, I'd be starving!