Let's Lose a Person!

[JanH]

I have a question.....if we need to have a 3500 calorie deficit, how do we know what the beginning number should be for our weight and calories per day. I am tracking calories, but I don't know if I need to cut out 100 or 500 per day. I need a start point. Where do I get it? Thanks guys!

[creditcardfree]

JanH that is a great question. I use this website and it has a weight maintence calculator. CalorieKing - Interactive Tools - Exercise Calorie Counter, BMI Calculator, Target Heart rate and more - Weight Maintenance Calories

My goal weight has been 145 pounds. This is what I put in the calculator and came up with 1729 calories based on my height and age. I have been eating 1200 calories a day...so I'm pretty close to the 500 a day deficit. I did start at 1400, but adjusted down after a two weeks.

So a good start might be to put your goal weight in the calculator and subtract 500 from that amount.

Weight loss varies even with the same exercise and calories in. I've ranged from 0.8 pounds to 3.4 pounds lost in one week. So just keep that in mind.

[Ima saver]

I just read somewhere on Yahoo, that people on the adkins diet seem to have the most sucess. I am still eating out every night, Kristen. I do try and get some walking and stair climbing in everyday.

[JanH]

Thanks, creditcardfree! That was a big help! Now I know where to start.

[creditcardfree]

You are welcome! I hope you have great success.

The first week of cutting calories is the hardest because you are so hungry. I like to remind myself that when I feel hungry that is when I'm burning the pounds! It helps to drink lots of water too. Of course, this may not apply to you if you already started cutting calories down.

[JanH]

It's been hit or miss since I didn't know how many calories I should be eating. Kinda like the budget. Got to get the feel of it before you can make changes. Now I know where to start and it will go much better.

[Kris10Leigh]

I did my same workout as yesterday, another 350 calories burned on cardio equipment. I think I've done the interval training before and it is challenging and kind of fun. How are you doing yours Kristen?

I do two different styles of intervals. I do HIIT which is High Intensity Interval Training. It is a matter of going "all out" (and I mean ALL OUT) for a short period of time and recovering for a longer period of time in intervals. The way I like to do this is 30 seconds ALL OUT and 60 seconds recovery repeated for 20 minutes. OR I like to do 8 seconds ALL OUT and 12 seconds recovery, again for 20 minutes. ALL OUT means an intensity that you could not sustain for longer than the 8 or 30 second interval. It's very intense!! I do this at a high resistance setting as well.

The other style is just the program on the elliptical. It's a matter of the machine changing from a low to high resistance every 2:00.

Ima, I too have read that Atkins has a high success rate, but I've also heard they have a high rate for putting it all back on.

CCfree, my budget is slowly coming back to normal. I was the casserole queen!! With casseroles, I could stretch one breast of chicken to feed four! LOL! With each of us eating our own chicken breast, it is a little pricier. But I'm whitteling it down! It helps that I've eliminated pops and chips. Though those are quite cheap at Aldi's!! $.99 for a bag of chips was not breaking the bank, though $4.00 for Ruffles probably would.

[Ima saver]

I did Adkins. I have put back on 5 pounds, but it is because of my love of chocolate. Russell stover had sugar free chocolate candy, but I can not find it anymore. I wonder if they took it off the market??

[tinapbeana]

ima, check walgreens candy ailse. we buy russel stover sugar free candy for my FIL (he's diabetic). be careful, though: too much of them wrecks havoc on your lower digestive system

[baking23]

baking23, a 3 pound drop is great!! It will be nice to get out in the fresh air and getting some exercise. You can also lose weight by decreasing your calorie intake. One needs a 3500 calorie deficit per week to lose 1 pound per week.

My mom's a dietitcan and I know about that, I just don't exercise enough. I tend to eat well, and moderatre, but I really do need to exercise more. For continued health if nothing else.

[tinapbeana]

just a word to all: if you're frequently hungry and drinking plenty of water you're not eating enough! seriously, one should not spend the bulk of a day feeling hungry.

if you're trying to ramp down to 1200 calories per day, perhaps consider stepping down over 3 weeks rather than cutting it all at once.

and as for what you can eat for 1200 calories in a day, i REALLY recommend you check out [url = www.whfoods.com]World's Healthiest Foods[/url]. for most (except ima who doesn't eat veggies!), this is what a 1200 day could look like

1271.92 calories total
ITEM / AMOUNT / CALORIES

BREAKFAST
Cantaloupe, cubes / 1 cup / 56
Banana / 118gm fruit / 108.56
Cow's milk, 2% / 1 cup / 121.2

LUNCH
Egg, whole, boiled / 44gm egg/ 68.2
Romaine lettuce / 2 cup / 15.68
Tomato, ripe / 1 cup / 37.8
Onions, raw / 1 cup / 60.8
Sweet potato, baked, with skin / 77gm potato / 95.39

DINNER
Spinach, boiled / 1 cup / 41.4
Black beans, cooked / 1 cup / 227.04
Brown rice, cooked / 1 cup / 216.45
Chicken breast, roasted / 4 oz / 223.4

[laceshawl]

Yippee, I have now lost 10 lb! Only 3 more to go and I reach my goal weight of 160. My best tip is to have a cup of tea with nonfat milk in it instead of black coffee. Keeps me from reaching for a snack to go with it.

tinapbeana, that menu looks really yummy.

[JanH]

Hey, I have finally lost two pounds! Now, if I can just keep it off and go for more......

[Ima saver]

We don't have a wal green's however, I found some Hershey's no sugar candy which is good. I walked 3 miles yesterday and watched what I ate, but the scale is still the same. I will just keep trying.

[tinapbeana]

i don't know if this will be of interest or not, but here 'tis just in case!

attached is a zipped excel spreadsheet with two pages, one at about 1200 calories the other at about 2000. the same foods are on both, just different quantities. items were picked because at the 2000 calorie stage they get 100% recommended daily value for everything except chromium and B5... at the 1200 level, obviously there are nutrients lacking and this should make it all too clear that it is important to take a multivitamin if you are reducing your calorie intake!!!

nutrient values are listed, and some of them might be suprising. did you know a cup of cooked spinach has almost as much calcium as a cup of milk? and sesame seeds have more calcium than milk?

in case you're wondering after looking at the sheet, you can make tasty homemade salad dressing with yogurt, olive oil, and lemon juice...

at any rate, this has been floating around my head for a while and i wanted to post it in case anyone would find it useful...