Just a bit confused !
I just added up what I would normally eat on a regular day before starting CC and my calories added up to about 1900 calories. I am 5' 3" and weight 198. Everyone tells me to eat about 1600 calories a day to lose weight. Is 300 calories a day really making this much of a difference that I am soooo overweight. That really is equivelent to about a 2 cup bowl of cereal. My exercising has always been the same?
Another thing, what kind of figure am I looking for at the end of the day when I see my calories intake and calories burned. What would be a good number to pretty much tell me I have had an excellent day.
First of all who is "everyone"? Did you do a startup analysis of your calories on this site? I'm 5'6" and when I started at 190 lbs it was recommended that I eat only 1200 calories. I suggest you go back to the beginning and re-assess your calories. 1600 cals is what I would eat at maintenance, not for weight loss.
I agree with mommakitty. I am 5'1 and I know what it is like to be short. It takes eating alot less than someone who is tall to loose weight. (go figure haha) Anyways I have to stick to 1200 to loose weight pretty much the same on days i excercise because I am sedentary every other part of the day. I would find out how many cals you burn in a day (dont neccesarily need to use CC to find this out there a number of other sites).
DO NOT GO BELOW 1200-Once you figure out how many cals you burn figure out what you need to create a significant deficit. Ie. 500 cal. You need a deficit of 3500 calls a week = 1 pound of stored fat.
I disagree with the above posters. You really shouldnt be eating only 1200 cals at your weight! But without knowing your age, its hard to really recommend.
It is recommended by the majority of people on CC that your eat the number of calories calculated by your bmr, which is the number of calories your body requires to run properly and is the number of calories your body would burn if stayed in bed all day. Eating below this number can slow your metabolism and make losing weight harder. To figure out your bmr, just google bmr calculator and enter your stats.
So, lets say you find out your bmr and its around 1600 cals. That would mean that you would burn around 1920 cals a day without exercise (bmr x 1.2), giving you a deficit of 320 cals a day. You will be able to lose weight by doing this, but your right it will take awhile. So instead of eating below 1600 or whatever you figure your bmr to be, try adding some exercise to your routine to create a bigger deficit.
Good Luck.
Listen to keb1984!!!!!!! I've been eating 1600-1700 cals a day and doing enough exercise to burn an extra 400, giving me a 700 cal deficit each day. I've been losing 1.5 - 2 pounds a week. (13 pounds my first month!) I started out eating 1250 and lost nothing for weeks (no exercise).
Dieting this way also allows you to lower your calories later on, when you seem to stop losing weight. This usually happens to me after the first 25 pounds...then I'll lower my calories to1400-1500 and add more exercise so the weight loss will start again. This way your body will never be starving (which slows your metabolism and makes it harder to lose weight) and you have some flexibility with your diet later on. 1200 calories is just not enough whe you're starting out.
Trust me! This works! - Lily
Hey Lilygirl:
Thanks for the help. What kinds of foods are you eating to get you to 1600-1700 calories a day. Mine is 1450. Are you watching carbs while you are eating that number of calories or just concentrating on the calorie count. This is a very weird diet to eat so many calories and loose weight. I have thought about joining Curves, is this a good idea, or just walking and doing around the house exercises.
