January/February weight management challenge

[goldfinch]

I don't count calories. If I ate 1200 calories a day, I am not sure if I'd survive. I've seen formulas that say I should eat something like 1100 calories a day to maintain my weight . Realistically, I think I eat about 2,000- 2500, with exercise, of course, and now I might be eating 16- 1800.

My resting metabolic rate, the calories needed just to run my body at rest, is roughly 975 to 1000 calories. I currently eat between 1450 and 1500 with exercise, on a weekly average. I will have higher days when I have significant exercise or I just blow it. Last week when I rode 57 miles I had about 1900 calories that day. But my weekly average still stayed close to 1500. Last week it averaged 1534.

When I was heavy my resting metabolic rate was roughly 225 calories more than it is now. That is because I had more body to support. I think that I always want that additional 225.

As far as variability, the "hacker's diet" has a good discussion of the fluctuations people have that basically are meaningless: http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/signalnoise.html