Calories in and out

[trigurl]

Ok this may have been asked before but.....is there some way to calculate how many calories you need daily? I am counting cals today and am already up to 1165 and am HUNGRY. I was going to try to stick with about 1400 but I only would get to eat 235 for dinner

I am exercising about 5 days a week for 50-60 min - in my zone 1 h/r - so nothing hard I am working on endurance, and doing some weight circuit training 2 times a week.

I gained a few lbs. over the holidays and they don't seem to want to go away, I have really cleaned up my eating the last few weeks but have not seen any weight loss or if I do go down a couple of lbs. they come right back in a few days Anyway, I want to lose about 8-10 lbs and as much as I HATE counting calories I know that is what it will take. I just want to make sure I get enough to eat.

5'7" 160wt.

THANKS YA'LL

[kiwi girl]

There are some good sports nutritian books by Nancy Clark and Liz Applegate that have good information on losing weight at a sensible pace. The big bit of advice they both have is that even when losing weight you need to eat more than you might think from other diets you might have been on.

I'll check at home over the weekend when I can look at my books - but I think a rough rule of thumb is your basal metabolic activity needs 10 X your weight in pounds then around 40 - 60% of that for daily activity depending on your lifestyle and then whatever you use in purposefull exercise.

So assuming your lifesytle is moderately active your 'normal' needs at 160 pounds are 1600 calories for basal metabolic rate + 800 for daily activing = 2400 before taking account of your exercise.

Then they both recommend cutting out about 500 calories a day.

If I have remembered the figures right even trying to lose weight you should be closer to 2000 calories a day than 1400

[ladyjai]

I was coming here to write a lengthy post, and I probably will still.

here's a few thoughts. Keep in mind, I am not an expert, just a woman who is overly concerned with this junk and has been looking into it recently.

number of calories you need a day. there's several calorie calculators online, mostly versions of the same thing. I like this guy, it's a little more intense than others:
http://www.dietitian.com/ibw/ibw.html

that'll give you an idea of caloric consumption.

Next, let me bring to mind a few more things. One of my roommates doesn't eat that much. she doesn't excercise, and while likeing good, wholesome, made-from-scratch food, she doesn't like to cook. She is overweight. more than what is in the "healthy body weight range" is my guess. not obese, or uglifying, but from what i see of her eating (we work together), she should not be that heavy. However, her diet consists of mostly processed foods, with the occassional vege or fruit.

calories from processed foods are easier for the body to consume, and thus, you need less of them to keep your body calorie sated. Now, the problem with processed foods, is they rarely have a sufficient amount of the goodies your body needs.

Here's an interesting site which talks about a few generalities with calorie types:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/issa16.htm
and another interesting read:
http://www.annecollins.com/calorie-c...ose-weight.htm

Raw foods are cool. There is a "diet" out there of raw food only. no limits on how much you eat, just be picky on the foods. I'm sure there's a way to gain on it, but for the most part, people lose on it. why? i was reading about "negative calorie" foods. In theory they require more energy to digest than they provide. (though none of the sites say it, I"m sure you need to be eating them raw. they include certain fruits and veges like apples, carrots, celery, etc. ) I'm sure you'd lose weight if you only ate those foods, but that's kinda silly. using them as a negative is silly. saying they don't count towards the end, that makes sense.

regardless, I think everyone should be eating more raw, including myself. we need what they offer, enzymes, amino acids, and all the other goodies.

now that i've lost myself on a bunny trail...
I'm not sure how tall you are, but I know that even if I'm looking to lose weight, i have to eat 1800-2000 a day. any less and my performance on the bicycle shows. I'm 5'6" and somewhere in the vicinity of 127-130lbs. days I ride more than just my commute to and from work, or have some other form of moderate to intense activity, then i add calories to that day's consumption and/or to the day before's. Even at those estimates, I'm still not sure exactly where I fall in.

If you are starving, you need to eat. I've lost weight without being hungry. hunger is the way your body says, "Hey! you're jipping me here!" I gain weight when i boredom eat. when I eat only when hungry, and am truly honest with myself, meaning that I don't always eat at the "preset times" (for me, comes to 3 decent meals and 1-2 snacks), the weight is slowly trimmed or maintained. You should not be experiencing great hunger pains if you are losing safely, perhaps a very minor discomfort at most and definitely not all day, something easily ignored.

avoid sugars, and heavily processed foods. If you are hungry, eat an apple or 2. Plan on keeping healthy snacks available. I know some people say protein fills them up. i need a complex carb to make my tummy say, ahhhh, thank you. but you need to have something available. breads do the trick for sure, but I'm trying to be concious of what I eat as well, so that means my bday present (breadmaker) is getting used. a nice piece, even plain is much nicer than running to the vending machine for an unfilling bag of chips or candybar.
"overdosing" fruit can be fun. While clementines were in season, I ate 5-7 a day in the morning before lunch. It was cool. but a mere apple isn't enough now. i keep rice cakes, and need to find another healthy processed carb to keep on hand.

another interesting fact, i can boredom eat, but if I increase my effort, not my distance in cycling, then my body consumes it faster. Even taking one day a week and punching it as hard as you can makes a difference.

it's is definitely trial and error to figure it out. I hate the water weight thing, I can't tell if I'm stable, gaining or losing! Even with these, you can tell. If you lose 7 lbs in a week - worry! if you are starving all the time - worry! If you eat all the time when not hungry - worry! actually worrying is bad, so don't worry, just notice and correct. the body is an efficient machine, and while it does not want to lose
but I can say for sure that for you, you need to be eating more than 1400. you are too active to do a starvation diet... . if you don't eat enough, you can lose muscle, water, and then when things come around later, you'll have fat fill in where the muscle was

hope some of my ramblings helped. Sorry if you feel I spoke too much about me. I think many of us struggle to some extent with some aspect of these issues and what we eat.

[trigurl]

Thanks!!! sometimes I need reminding that I am not the "average" person

I eat mostly fresh foods I cook almost everything I eat, my one processed food I eat the most is the Weight Control Oatmeal, with soy milk it is pretty filling.

I cook or steam my foods b/c raw just isn't good for my stomach beano does help tho.

I was thinking last night that my problem may be this:

7 am breakfast
9 am hungry - small snack usually apple with some p.butter or pretzels
10 am hungry - bigger snack, fruit and or yogurt
12 pm lunch - some type of meat or hearty soup, salad yogurt or fruit and maybe some bread or crackers.
3pm snack - cheez stick and crackers (whole wheat of course) or apple and p.butter (apples are always avail here year round) I will eat some no sugar added canned fruit sometimes, or yogurt - whatever is in the fridge at work, I bring a big bag on Mondays!
5 pm sometimes I have something light yogurt or apple if I am hungry
6pm gym after drinking 70+oz of water I get a powerade and mix with water for another 34 oz.
8pm home and fix dinner!! there is the problem-so people say-, I eat late in the evening but with my schedule it has to be that way!
before breakfast I am feeding horses and the farm animals.

I was thinking of a way to get in a mini meal around 4 and dropping the 3pm snack, I bought some lean cuisine meals this morning under 300 calories maybe if I have one of those around 4 and a "snack" for dinner then I may be ok. I know it is processed but I didn't have leftovers from last night - I made great stir fry with almonds we ate it ALL.

I will check out those websites and see what they say too. Thanks for looking for me I appreciate that.

[Veronica]

I don't know if they have it out your way, but my preferred frozen meals are Amy's. They are expensive, because they're organic. I don't eat a lot of prefab stuff, because it doesn't taste like real food. These do!

I've started buying the canned soups and chili's lately. The tomato soup rivals my homemade tomato for flavor.

V.

[trigurl]

HMMMMM, I just checked out the dietician website: med. frame, said I am over weight but my bmi is within the healthy range, my weight should be 122-149 - somewhere in the middle of that (right) it doesn't take into consideration muscle I suppose, I have never been under 145 in my adult life. My daily calories to lose weight would be 1350!!! ain't happening I ate 1400 before going home and eating dinner

Well I think I will set a goal of 2000 a day and see what happens, if I don't lose then I can drop a few calories and just watch. I am adding a harder workout each week now, I did one last night, I will add another one next month as my month of easy base training will be over.

When I was biking last summer I didn't worry much about how much I ate! I can't wait until the weather is better. Supposed to be 65 today, my girl is in the back of my van waiting on a ride! AND I get off work at 2:00 today, yeehaa.

[trigurl]

I will look for those, Food Lion doesn't have much of an organic section but Kroger does. I agree they are cardboard tasting meals. I also don't like that most have white rice and noodles! not what I would eat much of. Thanks Veronica, I didn't think about the organic ones!

[ladyjai]

yup, muscle is the one thing it can't take into account, and muscle means you need even more food. how funny that site said that. If you google 'calorie counter' you might get a mixed review. Even ones that say they follow the same process are a little off depending upon

consider trying to eat a heavier evening meal before you work out, and a light "snack" type thing when you get home, or make sure you eat foods your body will take less time processing. Even fix the dinner for the next evening's night, if you want to do fixings...

ok, here's a wierd question, Are you constipated? If you are, that means your food is in the system longer, and your body is sucking calories out of it all the while. You don't want to be the opposite, but a healthy bowel movement is helpful, and perhaps even essential. I think one of the sites mentioned it. Also to consider is if you have intestinal parasites. Most people do, unless they regularly detox for them. they're incredibly easy to pick up. any restraurant or place with processed foods, if one worker did a quick wash, or didn't wash, if some bird left a gift on a fruit you ate, and you didn't clean it up thoroughly....

of course, if you don't have to worry about it in the summer, you'll probably drop them then anyway , so in the end, you'll win!

[Veronica]

I went to the dietician web site. I know my Body Fat is 20.9%. I had it tested at a very reputable place. I weigh 153. Of those pounds, 121 of them are not fat. She says my highest weight should be 138. That would give me 12.3% body fat!

All these numbers BMI, etc are only a guide. They are not THE WAY you have to be. How you feel and can perform are much more important.

If it makes you happy to obsess over the numbers, by all means continue to obsess. But if it ticks you off or makes you unhappy... Forget about them. Your lifestyle sounds pretty healthy to me.

V.

[trigurl]

nope not constipated! too many apples for that

Ok on body building.com my RMR is 1489 - so that is my calories used just everyday no exercise.

I have been measured and found I have 27.4% body fat 115lbs lean.

According to bb.com my calorie intake should be 1385! I suppose these are well intentioned but even on the same website there is a difference in calories in!!!! arrrhgggggg.

I did see the article about flaxseed oil, I think I will get some of that and use it, I do use olive oil, maybe too much even. MORE protein says I should be eating 173g a day.

[Pedal Wench]

I'm no expert, and I struggle with this myself too. But, are you eating a big enough breakfast? I've found that if I have a good balance of protein and carbs at breakfast, I'm good until lunch. I usually need two packets of oatmeal - one just barely covers the bottom of the bowl!

Most of those calorie calculators do not take into account active peope, because most folks do not exercise. Like others have said, if you're active, you need a few more calories to keep the muscles fueled.

[trigurl]

Funny you should ask that Pedal Wench, I was reading a book by Chris Carmichael, and saw what he recommended for breakfast, I was eating 1 pack oatmeal with some soy milk and a banana! NO WONDER I was walking out the door an hour later hungry!

This morning I ate 1 cup w/w Chex, 1 cup soy milk and 1 1/2 tbs peanuts, I ALWAYS eat a banana with breakfast, I was so full I saved my banana to eat for a 10:00 snack! even then I wasn't starving like I usually am but I did eat it anyway, I needed my banana I guess I wasn't eating enough filling breakfast. Tomorrow I will eat 2 packs of oatmeal and maybe my banana.

The learning process never ends

[Nanci]

Hi trigirl,

Have you seen how many calories are in peanut butter? That's a problem food if you are counting calories. Fruit is "bad" also. maybe you could switch over to snacking on veggies- they are _way_ lower in calories than fruit.

Sadly missing giant fruit cups and spoons of peanut butter,

Nanci

[trigurl]

There are a lot of calories in PB but I need my PB, I use the all natural and only eat one spoonful! I also buy the smallest bananas and apples I can get, I don't think fruit is a problem we need the vitamins they provide and the good carbs.

I eat fruits so I won't eat sweets, if I want something sweet a banana or pear will do the trick and I save a lot more calories and fat that way. I get my daily dose of veggies too, my lunch has lots and so does dinner, altho I don't snack on veggies, raw ones make my tummy hurt

As I am sitting here thinking about lunch I realize I didn't bring mine I have some soup and hopefully a veggie burger in the freezer, shoot, I was looking forward to my shephard's pie I made Sunday - got the recipe from a weight watchers magazine, mmm mmmm good.

[Aint Doody]

Don't eat the instant oatmeal. Eat the "old fashioned" kind. The instant is processed more and doesn't take you as long to digest. The old fashioned kind takes longer to digest and will stay with you longer. I even eat it uncooked with fat free vanilla yogurt, blueberries, and some walnuts. Then you get protein, dairy, carbs and lots of fiber. Tastes really good, too!