How many calories a day have you been told to intake?

[ElfiePoo 109]

I was given a guideline to eat to satisfaction, eat from all food groups, and get a fill if weight loss stops. 3 meals a day, no Snacks was recommended

This is pretty much what my doctor told me, except that it was 6 small meals a day to keep my blood sugar stable. I generally eat 3 solid food meals and Protein shakes mid-meals for the other 'mini-meals'.

When I have restriction, I'm somewhere around 1200 calories. Without it, I'm closer to 1800 or so.

Studies show that women who keep their calories between 1200-1400 generally lose weight faster than those who drop their calories below 1000 because when we drop below 1000, our bodies become more efficient at conserving the calories we eat.

If you've hit a plateau it means that you are not expending more calories than you're taking in. Remember that as your weight drops, your calorie requirement will change as well. We drop *a lot* of weight in the early days because it takes a lot of calories to maintain that weight and we've cut them drastically. This changes as we get closer to our goal weight.

[Humming Bird 275]

I don't count calories, but do try to avoid high cal foods.

If I look back at what I normally eat in a day, I stay well below 1000 calories. My band is pretty tight, so I stay full with 3 "meals" a day.