I'm really confused, why is it suggesting that I now eat 300 less calories per day?

I realised today that the start weight I put in when I joined wasn't totally accurate, it was about 5 pounds out. So I amended it. I have since lost nearly a stone so I am now 11.6 stones. as opposed to 12.5. I amended my start weight to 12.5 as it should have been. My current weight is also set correctly to 11.6 (162lbs).

Nothing changed with regards to the calories I should eat per day until I clicked on "advice" which then suggested on the basis of my new weight that I need to eat 1300 a day to achieve my goal of 139lbs in September.Well when I joined and estimated my weight at 12 stone it told me 1600 a day??? And I followed this and it clearly worked else I wouldn't have dropped any weight.

Why would it now advise 300 calories less when I weigh less? I changed it to what it advised on the daily calorie metre but to lose 300 calories per days seems a lot, so I will have to re-plan my daily eating habits. I haven't been slow about losing the weight either, so it can't be that.

Every time I loose a considerable amount of weight do I need to check with the "Advice" bit to see how many calories I can eat per day, I assume it will change again? Also will it keep dropping? I hope not as I clearly like my food which is how I got a bit plump in the first place :( But I found calorie counting via this site really worked for me as it stops me from munching when I shouldn't be as I know I don't have the spare calories. No other diet seemed to work. Even work colleagues have noticed I have lost weight and I'm pleased to say I have dropped a dress size too :)

Thanks in advance for any replies :)

I found the calorie advice thing to be very finicky, and would suggest other sites, at least to cross reference.  It has to do with your activity level, and your goal date.  If you have been losing at your current calorie intake, and have not plateaued, I don't see why you should change what you are doing (that's clearly working).

To give you an idea of why I don't trust the advice thing; by BMR is around 1670.  According to calories advice, with a goal of May 22 2009, I should be eating 1350 calories a day to reach it.  When I started, it said I should be eating around my BMR.  Nothing has changed (except for me losing weight), and clearing eating less would not be a good thing to do.

I currently use a combination of these three calculators:

http://www.phord.com/cc/

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/tools.php?ite mid=64

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calc ulator.htm#

Taking the average of them gives a pretty good answer.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for your reply :) I tried those sites and the majority advised I eat 1410. One site was a little more confusing which said 1700-1900 varied thoughout the week which I think would make me plump out again.

I will give the 1300 a try but if I find it's too little I will up it to 1400-1500 as I tend not to eat right up to my previous 1600 calories per day anyway, unless I'm having a bit of a greedy day. I guess it just means I have to think a bit more about what to have for dinner.

Also, after you lose a good amount of weight, you have to eat less to continue losing.  I would guess the CC estimate was taking that into account.

I agree with Dattaplot.  As we lose weight, our calorie allotment drops to compensate.  When I started, I weighed 230, and I could lose on 2000 calories a day.  Now, at 192, I need to stay under 1800.  I'm sure that by 180, I'll need to decrease again.

Now the calculator may not be accurate.  My advice is to stay where you are for now, and when weight loss stalls, try dropping it a couple hundred.  The alternative to dropping calories is to increase exercise.

Your calorie intake (energy intake) is dependent on several factors, age, sex, height, weight and actvity level.  If you make a significant change in any one of those factors (ex. weight loss), then your caloric intake will change as well.

A 5'6, 19year old, 184lb, sedetary female will have different caloric needs to maintain, lose, or gain weight as opposed to a 5'6, 19year old, 164lb, sedetary female needs for maintainance, lose, or gains.

But for the most part people usually burn more calories a day then they think, so in your case of a few hundred calorie difference, i'd say just keep doing what your doing.  The more you cut, the more you'll loose, but just don't create too much of a deficiet, if your on 1300/day and your hungry, then eat a little more, chances are you probably burned them up anyway.

Hope that helps, and good luck 

Everyone here is correct, the more you weight, the more you burn in a day, just by moving around throughout the day.  Think about it - the more weight you're carrying, the more exercise you're doing.

So, as you lose weight, your bmr will change.  However, some websites will simply take the amount you burn a day and subtract 500 or 1000 calories and tell you to eat that amount, regardless of your bmr.  You want to make sure you always eat at least your bmr, so your body gets the nourishment it needs, and create your deficit with your workouts.

Unfortunately, the more weight you lose, the harder it gets to lose more.   I use the Phord website that righteothen posted - I find it's a way better resource then the calculator on cc. :)

Grats on your weight loss so far! :)

I went to the sites righteothen posted as well, bummer they all say I should eat less than what CC told me!  CC said 1600 and the others were more in the 1400 range.  I'm bummed, but my weight is really hanging on so I think I just might try the lower cal's.  Thanks for the info of the other sites...hopefully this will improve my weight loss speed.

Or, you could exercise and burn more instead. 

I don't really have much time to exercise, and I hate it. I have to work in an office all day.

Well, because lower weight requires less calories to maintain..I know it seems confusing..like some crazy math problem, but that sounds right to me.

Mine went down as I lost, too.

I follow the recommendations of the phord site as it's numbers imply that the cc advice is below my bmr, and that just seems so wrong! so through time, i've learned to trust the phord numbers, because when i eat under the number they says is my bmr for a few days, i feel spacey and weak. live and learn i guess!

but yes, as we get thinner, we need less calories to maintain. it takes a lot of calories to sustain hundreds of pounds on a human frame!

I love the links.  Makes sense. 

dear waley_bean

the average energy expenditure for women ranges between 20 -25 cals for every kg body weight with sedentary to light activity and incr with exercise of coarse

this means that for every kg (about 2.2 lbs) you lose you should decr your intake correspondly

and i think the advice at CC is pretty good if u consider this fact

though this always contradicts the coach on my home page

i wish this is of help

What is BMR? How do I find out how  much I can lose in a day by the calories I eat? It's confusing here to understand how to know  if you are eating enough to lose or gain or just maintain?

Original Post by dee184:

What is BMR? How do I find out how  much I can lose in a day by the calories I eat? It's confusing here to understand how to know  if you are eating enough to lose or gain or just maintain?

BMR is your basal metabolic rate, the number of calories it takes your body to stay alive for a day if you don't move around too much, so pump blood, fire brain cells, run your organs, etc. You never want to eat below that number, or at least not as a usual practice. that would be the bare minimum, else your not giving your body the basic it needs. 

if you go to the http://www.phord.com/cc/ site and put in your numbers, it will tell you your BMR and what you should eat to lose as well as to maintain, and computes a safe rate of loss. 

Thank you!

From the scenario you described, I would guess that the first time you went into the advice section you marked yourself as lightly active and when you went back you chose sedentary instead. 

We have similar stats and the calorie suggesstions for me are 1300 for sedentary and 1600 for lightly active. 

After losing 30 lbs, my calorie requirements did go down a bit, but it wasn't much...  less than 100.

Nah I always set it as sedentary as I am very lazy :) I find I am losing weight rather quickly on the 1300. I have lost 2lbs in the last week.