calorie intake

Just how many calories should a person consume?
I am eating about a third of what I am used to eating and it looks like it
is between 1100-1300 per day.
I exercise very little at this point.
also,
is fasting good for anything?

"tala" wrote in message
...
Just how many calories should a person consume?
I am eating about a third of what I am used to eating and it looks like
it
is between 1100-1300 per day.
I exercise very little at this point.
also,
is fasting good for anything?


Many in the group suggest 10 x current weight as the daily calorie intake
for losing weight. This may vary a little for everyone due to several
factors. Are you using anything to track your daily intake? Many in the
group use www.fitday.com. It's free but you do need to register. It's
great for keeping track of your food intake and determining the
protein/carb/fat ratio.

Adding exercise will help you retain as much muscle as possible during your
weight loss period. Muscle burns more calories than fat and you want to
hang on to as much of it as possible. Walking is a great exercise. You
might consider adding a little weight lifting into your routine, too.

The only time I fast is for medical tests. It does nothing for me except
make me grouchyg

Beverly

"Beverly" wrote:

The only time I fast is for medical tests. It does nothing for me
except make me grouchyg

That reminds me of one Sunday during the summer I was losing weight. I
went for my walk early before breakfast, which was normal. I had eaten a
piece of fruit about 8pm the previous evening. It was such a pretty
morning I decided to add another road with a nice big hill
to my "loop". I knew it was farther, but hadn't measured previously. By
the time I got back home, it was past 9 and my husband started talking
to me. I just stared at him - I was nearly *blind* with hunger. As I
gulped a glass of water I told him "I can't hear you until I eat
something - please stop talking!" Sanity returned with every spoonful
of cereal and I was fine when I was done eating.

I had set out to walk 5 miles that morning. When I measured the mileage
for the route with the car later, it was 8.5 miles.

It's not good for me to fast.

--
Walking on . . .
Laurie in Maine
207/110 60 inches of attitude!
Start: 2/02 Maintained since 2/03

I started my diet on march 1
I weighed about 360lbs
I am 5'2"
I am used to no exercise whatsoever
so far, I walk a short distance daily and make an effort to go up and down
the basement stairs a few times a week
this may not sound like much, but during week one I hated this much activity
and now I am not hurting as much to do it
As the weather gets better around here, I will make a greater effort to
walk/bike
10 X my weight in lbs is excessive
no kidding, I have reduced my intake by 2/3 of what I am used to eating
I use the fitday.com service and this is excellent at calculating my
calories
since my doctor dismissed me when I asked for his help with this diet, I
just wanted to know how much I should be eating
I see already a difference in inches, naturally and comfort

Ignoramus21819 wrote:

SnugBear, I understand that you were hungry. But, why do you think
that something bad happened to you?

I was truly unable to make any sense of what he was saying - and he's
usually quite sensible. He might have been speaking French for all I knew.

I'm happier when I can focus. s

--
Walking on . . .
Laurie in Maine
207/110 60 inches of attitude!
Start: 2/02 Maintained since 2/03

On 15 Mar 2004 13:53:09 GMT, Ignoramus21819
wrote:

Wonen lose on calories equal to 10x their weight in pounds, men on
12. exercise helps a bit.

This is a generalization. I started dieting at around 6.5x
bodyweight, and am now more or less maintaining at around 8-9x
bodyweight. I never in all that time lost at a rate of more than 1.5
lbs/week. And I exercise quite a bit. If I did not exercise at all I
would certainly gain weight on 10x bodyweight calories. (By the way,
I am not hungry at these levels. They are consistent with my
metabolism.)

Peoples' metabolic rates differ significantly, due a range of factors.
One of these is age, another (for women) is the hormonal change
associated with menopause, another is thyroid level. These are just
the ones that affect me; I'm sure there are others.

The only real answer to this question is to see what works for you.
Decide on a calorie level to try, eat at that level for a few weeks,
and see what happens. If it seems to be working, stay there. If
you're losing too fast (more than 2 lbs. per week after the first week
or two), eat more. If you're not losing, or the rate of loss is very
slow, adjust downwards a bit.

Chris
262/157/ (holding in 152-165 weight class)

"tala" wrote in message
...
I started my diet on march 1
I weighed about 360lbs
I am 5'2"
I am used to no exercise whatsoever
so far, I walk a short distance daily and make an effort to go up and down
the basement stairs a few times a week
this may not sound like much, but during week one I hated this much
activity
and now I am not hurting as much to do it
As the weather gets better around here, I will make a greater effort to
walk/bike
10 X my weight in lbs is excessive
no kidding, I have reduced my intake by 2/3 of what I am used to eating
I use the fitday.com service and this is excellent at calculating my
calories
since my doctor dismissed me when I asked for his help with this diet, I
just wanted to know how much I should be eating
I see already a difference in inches, naturally and comfort


If your doctor is not helping with your weight loss, you should get a new
doctor immediately. At your height and weight, your Body Mass Index is
65.8, which is clearly in the danger zone. You are to be congratulated for
taking control of your weight and your health, but you should be under
medical supervision.

As for "how much to eat", the Harris-Benedict formula for a woman of your
height and weight, (assuming a Sedentary lifestyle, and 40 years old),
predicts that you need 2,723 calories per day to maintain your current
weight. However, this formula tends to produce estimates that are too high
for the obese, so you could probably reduce this to around 2,200 calories
per day. If you're only eating 1200 calories per day, that would be a daily
deficit of 1,000 calories per day, which should result in about 2 lbs per
week of weight loss, which is a reasonable goal.

Make sure you drink plenty of water, and if you're not taking a
multi-vitamin, that would probably be wise.

GG

Chris Braun wrote:
On 15 Mar 2004 13:53:09 GMT, Ignoramus21819
wrote:

Wonen lose on calories equal to 10x their weight in pounds, men on
12. exercise helps a bit.

This is a generalization. I started dieting at around 6.5x
bodyweight, and am now more or less maintaining at around 8-9x
bodyweight. I never in all that time lost at a rate of more than 1.5
lbs/week. And I exercise quite a bit. If I did not exercise at all I
would certainly gain weight on 10x bodyweight calories. (By the way,
I am not hungry at these levels. They are consistent with my
metabolism.)

I'm the same way--I maintain at 8x or 9x my bodyweight while running 8
miles a day. If I consumed 10x my bodyweight with little exercise, I'd
gain too.


Peoples' metabolic rates differ significantly, due a range of factors.
One of these is age, another (for women) is the hormonal change
associated with menopause, another is thyroid level. These are just
the ones that affect me; I'm sure there are others.

I actually just had a chat with my primary care physician about this very
topic during a followup (I gained a bunch of weight awhile ago on some
nasty meds and haven't been able to do much about it). She said that
heredity, including but not just with respect to thyroid, is a factor, as
well as what you eat and when. She reiterated the idea that the bulk of
eating should be done in the morning, or around your "active" time, and
that meals before bed should be avoided generally. She also talked about
eating too little and going into starvation mode, and eating substantial
("quality") foods before periods of exercise. It's all stuff we've talked
about here, but it really does affect metabolism.

I still thought that I was having to do a lot to just maintain my weight,
so I asked what was going on with that (my thyroid test came back
perfectly normal so it's not that), and if my diet/exercise was
acceptable. She said that as long as I felt OK, it was fine--that I,
along with many people, just have naturally slow metabolisms for no
particular reason (and that we'd be better off than the rest if faced by
famine since we'd last longer, joy oh joy). Some of us really just don't
need a lot of food.


The only real answer to this question is to see what works for you.
Decide on a calorie level to try, eat at that level for a few weeks,
and see what happens. If it seems to be working, stay there. If
you're losing too fast (more than 2 lbs. per week after the first week
or two), eat more. If you're not losing, or the rate of loss is very
slow, adjust downwards a bit.


Good advice. It's what I had to do after my expansion (kind of a pain to
have to drop from 1700 calories to 1100 and exercise MORE) but you just
have to figure out what your body needs, and experimenting is key. It's
good to keep in touch with your doctor too, especially if you experience
any odd changes or true difficulties with your weight.


-Alison (not sure if I'm liking being one of the most efficient human
beings on the planet with respect to sustenance)

On 16 Mar 2004 13:55:15 GMT, Ignoramus28400
wrote:

Very good. I am curious Chris, you seem to be successfully practicing
calorie restriction. I sometimes read your food and exercise
threads. How does it make you feel. Are you cold when others are not?
Do you notice that you do less fidgeting than you used to?

You asked me something like this before. As I tried to say then, I
don't think my calorie levels are unusually low for a woman of my age
and weight. Menopause decreases the metabolism; my maintenance level
if I did not exercise would probably be no more than around 1400-1500
calories. I eat around that and lose slowly because I do exercise a
fair bit.

I do not allow myself to get uncomfortably hungry. I don't think I'm
cold more than average. As far as fidgeting, I don't notice a
difference there either. If anything, I'm perhaps more fidgety.
(Both of these can also be symptoms related to thyroid level. Since
I'm very hypothyroid and on synthroid, I would be more inclined to
blame a shift in coldness/hotness or fidgetiness/lack thereof on
out-of-whack thyroid levels.)

Repeating myself, I think my calorie intake is pretty consistent with
the average female my age who is trying to lose weight. So I doubt I
would make a very interesting research project in calorie restriction
:-).

Sometime soon here I may officially declare myself in maintenance.
(I'm kind of maintaining now on purpose for a few weeks, but am not
sure what I'll decide to do after the April 2 meet. We shall see.) At
that point, I will figure out what a maintenance calorie level is for
me.

Chris
262/157/ (holding in 152-165 weight class until the Masters Nationals
on April 2)

On 17 Mar 2004 04:03:37 GMT, Ignoramus28400
wrote:

Thanks for your thorough answer. I am also on Armour, a natural
thyroid hormone derived from pigs. It works better than Synthroid, for
me. Some detractors may say that that is so because I am a pig
also. With Synthroid, I felt as though I was not taking anything,
somehow it did not work.

I gather some people don't respond to Synthroid, but it seems to work
for me. My endo is not opposed to Armour and prescribes it for those
who don't get results with Synthroid.

Chris