confusion

Hello! I signed up for this site yesterday and started using it. I need to loose 193lbs according to the calculator. It tells me to eat 2240 cals per day.  I am wondering what makes this accurate.. I signed up at another site and it told me to eat 2660 per day.  Other people have told me to eat less than 2000 per day. I am confused.

My husband is signing up for this site to. We both need encouragement and friendship! 

If you have any suggestions please reply.

Janna

The more you weigh, the more your allowance will be.  It will go down as you lose weight.  2240 doesn't sound too ridiculous for someone with a very significant amount to lose.

Thanks for the information!!

And don't worry....if encouragement and support is what you need, you came to the right place!!

Thanks! 

Keep in mind as you lose weight that number will drop as it's based on your current weight.

It's always good every week or two to go ahead and compute what your ALLOWANCE is to see what you need to eat.

This site only allows for a deficit of 750 calories, however it is safe to have a deficit of 1000 calories.

How this works is...

You eat less calories than it takes to maintain your current weight.   This number is your allowance.

A pound of fat is 3500 calories

Your body will use up the fat in your body for the calories it doesn't get towards your maintenance needs.    So if you need 3000 calories to maintain... you can eat 2000 and have a deficit of 1000 per day.

1000x 7 days = 7000 calories... which is also equal to 2 pounds of fat being processed.


There is a limit though..

Women can only go down as low as 1200 calories in a day.   That's 1200 without exercise.   If you exercise or have a job where you stand up then you need to eat more calories.   For exercise you need to eat as many calories as you burn.

For men they can't go below 1500 on the ALLOWANCE + whatever they burn in exercise and if they have a job standing up and moving around then they need several hundred more above that.


These are the bottom limits though.  Don't ever go below them if you can avoid it because you get into dangerous territory.


Wecome to the forums and this diet.   I lost 15 pounds just working out and cutting out softdrinks from my diet.   Then I found out about counting calories and this last month alone I lost 12 pounds!   That's nearly as much as I lost on my own over 4 or so months trying to just work out and do this without any information.


ANother big tip for making this diet work?   Don't drink softdrinks.  Even diet ones.   The caffiene messes with your blood vessels... blood pressure... and so on... the sodium causes you to retain water... overall they are just very bad for you.   Find a way to switch to water... 8 glasses a day (2.5 liters) and your body will start to release all it's been storing up and it'll also help you lose the weight.

What about drinking regular non-sweet ice tea?  Is that as bad as diet pop because of the caffeine?

It's not as bad as pop... but the caffiene is still pretty bad for you.  Expecially if you are already borderline between normal bloodpressure and pre-hypertension.

But hey go to that.   My path to water had me kicking and screaming the whole way.   I went to kool-aid with sugar... then after a month of that started dropping the ammount of sugar down for several weeks till I got to the point that I was nearly just drinking colored water.   That's my path to it.

If it's too hard to go straight to it then go to non-sweet tea... then eventually non-sweet caffiene free tea... then... water (or heck keep with the tea but atleast add several servings of water to your diet as well).

Shedding that water weight gives a nice feeling.   I have yet to feel really bloated since the switch.

does drinking caffine raise out blood pressure then? (when i say caffine i mean tea - im a tea drinker)

How do you knwo when you are just shedding water weight or actual fat?

I never had an issue with blood pressure (lucky probably).  I am HOOKed on Diet Mountain Dew and Ice Tea though.  It will be hard to give up either of those.

In small amounts (I believe three cups a day or less is recommended), both tea and coffee are good for you (as long as you stay away from the cream & sugar!). Quantities greater than that, however, will start to reverse any positive effects.

I believe Caffiene actually masks high blood pressure.   So though it's restricted your blood vessles... it makes your heart pump harder than it should so it looks like your blood pressure is fine though really it's quite a few points higher.   It's pretty crazy stuff.

As for water weight...

1. You don't feel bloated hardly ever (and for guys it's more on the hardly ever side)

2. You'll notice extra pounds drop off in the first few weeks of the diet.   So for instance if you had a deficit of 1000 calories you'd expect to lose 2 pounds a week.... but the first few weeks you may post 3 pound losses or something like I did and many others here report.

3. Once you figure out how much water your body needs and you don't go overboard drinking a lot more you'll also end up a lot more regular.   So no tons of visits to the bathroom... but just more regular ones.   This can be nice too when you want to see a movie or something but don't want to have to have a bathroom break in the middle of it because you drank too much since by nature it seems we all just drink for the Taste of those softdrinks and tea and not because we are truly thrirsty.

4.  Oh yeah and extra water aids in digestion and it helps when your body is trying to get rid of fat.   But keep in mind it takes a few weeks for your body to clean itself out.