Lulu's Weight Loss Information


How Many Calories Can I Have And Still Lose Weight?


How to Estimate How Many Calories You Can Have and Still Lose Weight

To figure out how many calories you should have, first start with where you are. In other words, figure out how many calories it takes to maintain your present size and then reduce from there. You can go about this in many ways. Most people simply choose an arbitrary number like 1200 calories and that's what they eat, but in nearly every case that's not nearly enough calories to ensure adequate nutrition, not to mention the deprivation that sets up.

While losing weight and to this day, I eat over 2000 calories a day on average and I've maintained a good weight for my height for over 17 years. Remember, your body requires calories to maintain itself.

Basic Calorie Requirements Calculation Based on Activity Level:

Sedentary : 13 X Weight = Avg. cal/day
Sedentary is not exercising at all

Moderately Active: 16 X Weight = Avg. cal/day
Moderately Active is exercising approximately 3-4 times per week

Very Active: 19 X Weight = Avg. cal/day
Very Active is 5-7 strenuous exercise sessions per week.

If you weigh over 200 pound now, and you'd like to weigh closer to 150, here is a calculation you could use to get started: Assuming you are going to be adding enough exercise to quality as Moderately Active, we'll use 16 as our modifier:

150 pounds X 16 calories per pound = 2400 calories
Less 500 (Using the common 500 calories per day reduction) gives us a total of 1900 average calories per day

If you started to incorporate a plan that allowed an average of 1900 calories every day, you'd start to lose weight. The mistake most people make is to reduce calories too much, which ultimately sacrifices muscle plus sets you up for feeling deprived. It's far better in the long run to go more slowly, keeping as much muscle as possible while burning calories via exercise. Remember too, even if you don't eat quite that many calories on many days, you might eat more on the weekends for instance, so it ends up being closer to your goal of 1900 average per day. Take the total calories for the week divided by seven.

Remember, this average calorie number gives you plenty of wiggle room during the week. You can have some treats along with everyone else, or add more on weekends. Instead of constantly saying, "I can't, I'm on a diet," now you can say, "Thank you, that looks delicious," and enjoy some. It doesn't ruin your diet plan because you've got a large enough calorie allowance that if you are more careful some days than others, it will work out to the average number of calories you want. I tend to eat far less calories during the week than on weekends and my totals generally average out to 2000 to 2200 calories per day.

The 500 calorie reduction is a well accepted amount. You can reduce your calories further, but I wouldn't recommend it. It doesn't benefit anyone to try for faster weight loss, in fact, if you reduce your calories too much you end up wasting muscle in the process, which is exactly what you do not want to do. If you want faster results, it's better to add more activity, thereby burning more calories at rest.

You may be thinking I'm nuts, recommending 1900 calories per day, but I can say for a fact that if you eat too little (1000 - 1200 calories is too few, IMO) then you set yourself up for all of the following:

Deprivation. You're going to feel deprived, mentally and physically. 1000 calories isn't enough for your basic metabolic needs, much less to fuel yourself for your activity needs. Add more food! Just have a bit more than you're already having, so for instance, if you are allowed 1/2 cup of vegetables is a whole cup going to ruin all your progress? I doubt it. Eat a whole cup, or go ahead and have two oranges. Fruits and vegetables are very low calorie but provide high nutrition.

Sure, some vegis and fruits are high in sugar, but it's natural sugar. I seriously doubt our planet grows any killer foods - it is more likely the food industry which has processed those foods to become nothing more than a dried powder, then add back more sugars, and chemicals so it will resemble the original product, is more harmful than a simple apple or banana?

If you are diabetic or must watch the sugars, have a small bit of protein along with the higher glycemic food, such as an ounce of cheese with your apple. Notice I said an ounce of cheese, not a slab big enough to feed a small country.

Metabolic Slow-Down Feeding yourself too few calories sets you up for metabolic slow-down. Studies have shown time and again that a heavier person can find it difficult to lose weight, even though eating very low calories, simply because their body's metabolism is burning at such a slow rate. As you probably already know exercise helps to speed up your metabolism but so does eating. That's why they say breakfast is so important, not only to fuel yourself but because it starts the metabolic furnace burning, and it continues to burn all day. If you don't eat anything until noon, you don't stoke your furnace to start burning until then either.

Has the ultra low calorie approach worked for you so far? If not, why not try something more reasonable? Tag along with a friend who doesn't have a weight problem and you'll see how sometimes they eat more, sometimes less, but on average they eat enough to fuel their body and maintain their weight.

Adding more food gives you additional eye appeal. If you split up 1000 calories over the course of an entire day you're looking at pretty skimpy portions on your plate each time you eat. I like to feel like I'm getting enough to eat and I do this by rounding out my plate with extra vegetables.

If I'm having a frozen entree for instance, I'll cook up a cup or more of frozen vegetables to add to my plate. The extra vegis really fill me up, providing the satisfaction I need, and I often have a bit extra vegetables to throw away. Is that wasting food? No, it's smart. Far better for me mentally to have extra food to toss away than to be licking the plate because I'm still hungry. I'm also not likely to start wanting something else to eat right after dinner if I'm feeling content with the amount I've eaten.

Make an effort to learn to like your food as is. Plain mixed vegetables with nothing on them are delicious. It took me awhile to stop putting butter on them, and then even quitting the Molly McButter (just chemicals and sodium). I eat them plain and yes, they are great. Nature made our fruits and vegetables naturally sweet and all those "extras" we are used to using like butter on vegetables or potatoes certainly make things taste all yummy but they also make us larger than we need to be. Those "extra" calories add up.

Start to Slowly Make Ajustments to What You Eat or How Much You Eat

For instance wean yourself off adding sugar to your cold cereal. Read the label; all processed cereals contain a ridiculous amount of added sugar already. There's no need to add more. My only exception is brown sugar on oatmeal. I don't sugar my cereal at all anymore but it took me awhile to make the change. Start by adding a bit less, then next week cut back a bit more until you break the habit entirely. Tiny changes make up for big results over time.

If you feed yourself well, and focus on increasing your activity, even if only a little, then you will continue to lose fat, build muscle and get more shapely, all the while increasing your metabolism so you can eat more food!

~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com

Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss.


MORE RESOURCES:

abc7.com

Small weight loss effectively reduces sex hormones linked with breast cancer
Fox News
So just how effective is weight loss in keeping cancer at bay? A new study out of the Hutchinson Cancer Researcher Center has revealed even a small amount of weight loss effectively reduces the amount of circulating estrogens in the body– which are ...
Moderate Weight Loss Can Decrease Breast Cancer RiskABC News
Moderate weight loss cuts breast cancer riskTimes of India
Study finds moderate weight loss reduces levels of sex hormones linked to ...EurekAlert (press release)
abc7.com -GlobalPost
all 34 news articles »


Family Practice News Digital Network

Innovative Weight Loss Approaches Show PromiseBY BRUCE JANCINElsevier Global ...
Family Practice News Digital Network
NEW ORLEANS – Stung by disappointing long-term outcomes for evidence-based intensive behavioral weight loss interventions that are often marked by late backsliding, researchers are turning the standard treatment programs upside down, with encouraging ...



Column: Weight loss will come with lifestyle change
Visalia Times-Delta
Last week, Visalia Times-Delta Sports Editor Eric Galvan introduced our readers to a project we are starting here in the sports department. The goal is to piggy back on Justin Levine, the owner of the California Fitness Academy in Visalia, ...



Weight Loss Camp for Children, Teens, & College Students Announces Hiring of ...
PR Web (press release)
WellBalance, a leading fitness and weight loss camp with a location in northern California for ages 10 – 20, proudly announces the hiring of Christine Johnson. Ms. Johnson is a fitness professional and educator with a passion for helping children, ...

and more »


Lexington Herald Leader

Celebs credit 'Dancing with the Stars' for weight loss
Lexington Herald Leader
By Stephanie Cary — (Torrance) Daily Breeze The trio credit ABC's hit show Dancing With the Stars for kick-starting their weight-loss journeys. Celebrity after celebrity said they saw their bodies transform while appearing on the reality competition ...

and more »


ABC News (blog)

Paula Deen Dishes on New Diet, Weight Loss on 'The View'
ABC News (blog)
Later when the weight-loss surgery companies offer her big bucks, she'll THEN reveal she had weight-loss surgery. She's a liar! She should keep her mouth shut. That comment about “one food that causes diabetes” is stupid. So if she ate only butter, ...
Paula Deen Dishes on New Diet, Weight LossKBOI
Post Diabetes Diagnosis, Paula Deen Sheds 30 PoundsEveryday Health

all 10 news articles »


AboutMyArea

FREE Online Weight Loss Programme from Brio and Weight Loss Guru
AboutMyArea
Brio Leisure has teamed up with Weight Loss Guru Pete Cohen to offer readers of AboutMyArea Neston a FREE online weight loss programme. Lose weight, get fit, break old habits and feel great! Pete Cohen is one of the world's leading Life Coaches and ...



Monsters and Critics.com

Kim Kardashian Launches Weight Loss Kit Pictures
Monsters and Critics.com
By James Wray May 22, 2012, 12:25 GMT We have added a new set of pictures from the event "Kim Kardashian Launches Weight Loss Kit". Kim Kardashian QuickTrim Essentials Weight Loss Kit launch party at the Renaissance Hotel in London on May 18, 2012.



Weight Loss Success: Jason Barsotti Wanted To Get Healthy For His Daughter And ...
Huffington Post
Got a success story of your own? Send it to us at success.stories@huffingtonpost.com and you could be featured on the site! How I Gained It: I was heavy my entire life. I really got that way by eating and drinking whatever I wanted.



Contactmusic.com

SHOCK WEIGHT LOSS Katherine Jenkins: I'm eating everything I can to get my ...
Now Magazine Online
But Katherine admits much of her weight loss happened before she took part in the programme - the US version of Strictly Come Dancing - because of her split from fiancé Gethin Jones, 34, at the end of last year. She's now feasting on chips, ...
Dancing With The Stars: Katherine Jenkins Binge Eating After Weight LossContactmusic.com
Katherine Jenkins in Dancing with the Stars finalITV News
DWTS Katherine Jenkins: 'I'm Eating Anything And Everything To Put On Weight'Entertainmentwise
Unreality TV (blog) -Yahoo! omg! UK
all 440 news articles »

Google News

lulus wellness program, workout routines
© 2009 Lulu's Weight Loss Information - Lulu's Weight-Loss tips - Weight-loss do it now!

Real Estate for sale in the USReal Estate buying and selling in the USReal Estate in south of SchwedenGolf in south of SchwedenTranslation & Design for the Web
Illustrations for the WebReal Estate in south of Schweden Real Estate brookers in south of Schweden Lose Weight NowAerobicsFashion-StyleBeauty and care

Be an attraction
Real Estate in Schweden Travels in Europe Joomla Walkthrough Success Guide Lulu's wellness program

AddMe.com, Search Engine Marketing