Obesity Discussion Forums

[adam&emilysmom]

My low carb diet isn't working for me anymore and I thought I would try to count calories, but I have no idea how many I should consume in a day. I am a girl, I am 5'4" tall, and I weigh a whopping 186 pounds right now. I exercise at least 45 minutes to 1 hour daily.

I am going on vacation in April and I would like to lose 20 pounds by then. At the rate I am going now, it doesn't look like that will happen. I got lazy over the holidays and now it is taking me a while to get back into the swing.

Thanks a lot for your help!

[MikeB]

I hate to link to other sites but two great calorie counting sites are fitday.com and calorie-count.com.
To find out the amount of calories you should intake a good start would be around 2,000 calories but there are tons of great calculators for BMR and BMR+activity requirements.

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by adam&emilysmom

My low carb diet isn't working for me anymore and I thought I would try to count calories, but I have no idea how many I should consume in a day. I am a girl, I am 5'4" tall, and I weigh a whopping 186 pounds right now. I exercise at least 45 minutes to 1 hour daily.

I am going on vacation in April and I would like to lose 20 pounds by then. At the rate I am going now, it doesn't look like that will happen. I got lazy over the holidays and now it is taking me a while to get back into the swing.

Thanks a lot for your help!

So you're looking to lose 43lbs in 5.5 months, that's roughly 22 weeks and 2lbs a week.

In order to do that you're going to need to setup a deficit of 1000 calories a day on average. One question I have is how intense is your exercising? Are we talking walking? Running? Cardio? Weightlifting?????

By my calculations you should shoot for eating 1450 calories a day on average in addition to your exercise if you're doing low intensity exercise, but if it's truly high intensity exercise then you should shoot for eating 1730 calories a day. This should get you to your goal weight by June!

[adam&emilysmom]

Originally Posted by Obesity Discussion

So you're looking to lose 43lbs in 5.5 months, that's roughly 22 weeks and 2lbs a week.

In order to do that you're going to need to setup a deficit of 1000 calories a day on average. One question I have is how intense is your exercising? Are we talking walking? Running? Cardio? Weightlifting?????

By my calculations you should shoot for eating 1450 calories a day on average in addition to your exercise if you're doing low intensity exercise, but if it's truly high intensity exercise then you should shoot for eating 1730 calories a day. This should get you to your goal weight by June!

I walk on a gazelle for 45 min. to 1 hr. almost every day. I wouldn't say that it is very intense. I usually walk an average of 3.0 - 4.0 mph and about 2 miles.

Thank you so much for taking the time to calculate that for me. I was guessing around 1200 calories, so 1450 sounds better. I'm going to try it for a while and see how it goes. I don't know if I can be disciplined enough to count calories or not, but I do want to look good when I go on vacation. We are going to Universal Studios and to visit old friends that we haven't seen in a while. I want to look and feel my best.

Thanks again!

[adam&emilysmom]

Originally Posted by MikeB

I hate to link to other sites but two great calorie counting sites are fitday.com and calorie-count.com.
To find out the amount of calories you should intake a good start would be around 2,000 calories but there are tons of great calculators for BMR and BMR+activity requirements.

Thanks, I will check them out. I want to find a site that lists the calories in different foods. I think I would do better if I could go online and type in what I'm going to eat and have it calculate how many calories I'm going to consume.

I appreciate your help.

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by adam&emilysmom

Thanks, I will check them out. I want to find a site that lists the calories in different foods. I think I would do better if I could go online and type in what I'm going to eat and have it calculate how many calories I'm going to consume.

I appreciate your help.

Most of the calories in different foods are right there on the nutritional labels of the food you buy, and IF you eat out, a lot of restaurants list them on their websites too. Restaurant food is LOADED with calories so I encourage people to avoid eating out like the plague.

[adam&emilysmom]

I started my 1450 calorie diet on Monday, and I can't believe how well I've done. It surprised me how much I could actually eat per day as long as I make the right food choices. I have always been a late night binge eater, but I've done really well. I have saved approx. 100 calories per day so that I can have a midnight snack. I know you are not supposed to eat at night, but I just can't seem to help myself. At least this way I'm not binge eating. I keep a notebook on the kitchen counter with a pen and a calculator and I total up my calories before every meal. I've actually lost 2 pounds this week. I wish I had tried counting calories sooner. On all of the other diets I've tried in my 18+ years of dieting, I've always felt that I was depriving myself. So far I've been able to eat whatever I wanted. I guess it is really about portion control.

Anyway, I'm just excited that I am making some progress and I wanted to share. Thanks for listening!

[shanaki]

I think calorie counting is definitely the way to go! I have always previously just focused on exercise and have failed at trying to shed my excess pounds. I began counting calories on Jan.3/08 and got on the scale yesterday and have dropped 9 lbs! I have only been walking for exercise. It really forces you to make smart nutritional food choices - I'm THRILLED with the success I've had in such a short period of time, and best of all I feel so energetic and my food cravings are gone!! (except for 1 bad day)

[adam&emilysmom]

Originally Posted by shanaki

I think calorie counting is definitely the way to go! I have always previously just focused on exercise and have failed at trying to shed my excess pounds. I began counting calories on Jan.3/08 and got on the scale yesterday and have dropped 9 lbs! I have only been walking for exercise. It really forces you to make smart nutritional food choices - I'm THRILLED with the success I've had in such a short period of time, and best of all I feel so energetic and my food cravings are gone!! (except for 1 bad day)

Wow, 9lbs, that is really good. Everyone is entitled to a bad day once in a while. Sounds like you are doing really great.

[shanaki]

Thanks! It is working very well. I am also female, 5'2" -so you've got 2" on me! I'm consuming between 1200-1300 cal/day. Seems like you are doing quite a bit more exercise than me right now (I'm only walking at this point) so I think your number of 1450 sounds good.I like to eat in the evening too and have found that having a few cups of sweet herbal tea is taking the place of food at night. Best of luck - keep us posted on your success.

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by shanaki

I think calorie counting is definitely the way to go! I have always previously just focused on exercise and have failed at trying to shed my excess pounds. I began counting calories on Jan.3/08 and got on the scale yesterday and have dropped 9 lbs! I have only been walking for exercise. It really forces you to make smart nutritional food choices - I'm THRILLED with the success I've had in such a short period of time, and best of all I feel so energetic and my food cravings are gone!! (except for 1 bad day)

Wow, that is super!!! I'm glad to hear of more success from counting calories!!! Good for you!!