Calories per day

[waynef 25]

I was wondering from any of you experience bandsters about how many calories do you eat per day? Im not sure if I am eating enough. The nurse told me I needed to eat more to lose weight, sounds weird to me, but im not sure.

Thanks for your help.

[christina353 1]

I have the same question. I started eating 1200 calories but I don't think irbid working. I think I did better with 800

[bigtom1948 8]

Yeah it does sound strange but once you get below about 1,000 calories the body shifts to starvation mode and weight loss can actually slow. Weird Huh?

You want to avoid very low calorie plans in weight loss because you can set your set point too low and then you'll gain more weight than you may expect when you establish a new normal intake point for yourself with your dietitions guidence.

To get an idea of the amount of calories you will need try this site:

http://www.freedieti..._calculator.htm

just remember to put the goal weight in the calculator to reflect how many calories you need to maintain the goal.

You can also put in your current weight just to see approximately how many calories you needed to maintain that size.

Good luck and a 2-3 pounds a week is less likely to result in regaining than 5 or more we all didn't gain overnight and even with the band we shouldn't expect to lose it too fast.

[CalicoskiesNC 2]

Based on advice from my dr, PA and NUT I go with 1200 cals daily, and must hit at least 65g Protein. Most days I do well, now and then I hit 1400-1500. When I go over, its with good foods: milk, yogurt, cheese, nuts, lunchmeats. I'm losing about 1 lb weekly. I need to exercise more but just cant get a routine established. And arthritis just hurts.

[isaviolinist 11]

Its really hard to determine your calorie needs without knowing your body composition. For me, at 5'2, and with maybe 27-28ish% body fat, 900-1000 calories a day enables me to lose about 2 pounds a week fairly consistently. But if I were 5'2 with 10% body fat, my calorie needs would be different. Its good to just experiment and see what works.

I don't really believe in the starvation mode theory, but what does happen is that your body tries to maintain an equilibrium. And one way it does that is by slowing down its metabolism based on how many calories you're eating. So if you're consuming 800 calories, your body will try to burn less because it is getting less which is why you may start losing less if you eat a very low calorie diet. If you're 6'2 and weigh 190 and its mostly muscle, your body's metabolism would desperately try to slow down as much as it could if you gave it 800 calories a day. But if you're 5'2, weigh 190, and have some lean mass but less than what is healthy, 800 calories may work perfectly fine.

Its always good to listen to what your body is telling you regarding how it feels. So if you're current calorie intake is making you feel sluggish or just not right in some way, it may be your body's way of telling you it needs something different.

[bigtom1948 8]

Its really hard to determine your calorie needs without knowing your body composition. For me, at 5'2, and with maybe 27-28ish% body fat, 900-1000 calories a day enables me to lose about 2 pounds a week fairly consistently. But if I were 5'2 with 10% body fat, my calorie needs would be different. Its good to just experiment and see what works.

I don't really believe in the starvation mode theory, but what does happen is that your body tries to maintain an equilibrium. And one way it does that is by slowing down its metabolism based on how many calories you're eating. So if you're consuming 800 calories, your body will try to burn less because it is getting less which is why you may start losing less if you eat a very low calorie diet. If you're 6'2 and weigh 190 and its mostly muscle, your body's metabolism would desperately try to slow down as much as it could if you gave it 800 calories a day. But if you're 5'2, weigh 190, and have some lean mass but less than what is healthy, 800 calories may work perfectly fine.

Its always good to listen to what your body is telling you regarding how it feels. So if you're current calorie intake is making you feel sluggish or just not right in some way, it may be your body's way of telling you it needs something different.

Isa is right you do have to establish a calorie deficit to lose weight but we all already knew that. The consistancy of your body mass and your relative activity and your age will all affect the weight loss progress. For me at age 62 it's going to go much slower than someone in thier 20's or 30's your metabolism does slow with age per all tyhe doctors I have talked to so it takes more time to lose weight and more work (exercise) to maintain my hoped for new body. I am sure you will do fine and you don't have to spend the whole day working out and starve yourself on top of that to lose. Because if that's the case I will probably fail (I don't intend to do that though )

Wishing you Good Luck and Steady Progress

Julius

[isaviolinist 11]

Isa is right you do have to establish a calorie deficit to lose weight but we all already knew that. The consistancy of your body mass and your relative activity and your age will all affect the weight loss progress. For me at age 62 it's going to go much slower than someone in thier 20's or 30's your metabolism does slow with age per all tyhe doctors I have talked to so it takes more time to lose weight and more work (exercise) to maintain my hoped for new body. I am sure you will do fine and you don't have to spend the whole day working out and starve yourself on top of that to lose. Because if that's the case I will probably fail (I don't intend to do that though )

Wishing you Good Luck and Steady Progress

Julius

Some people around here actually don't really know that and don't really believe that by consuming less energy than you burn, you will lose weight (and they present that information as fact to people who are easily swayed, and who perhaps don't know the science behind losing weight). There are many people on this board who will argue that a 500 calorie deficit per day does NOT equal roughly 1 pound loss per week (hopefully it doesnt, but in case it needed explanation, 500 calories x 7 days in a week = 3500 calories which is a pound). Instead of looking at their lifestyle and asking questions such as, "What is my BMR? Maybe I think I'm burning more than I actually am everyday? How many calories am I eating? Am I slowing my metabolism down so much that my body has reached an equilibrium? Am I fooling myself into thinking I'm eating 1200 calories a day when actually little bites and tastes and Snacks is really adding up to 1500 calories a day?", they tend to just say that the science of calories in vs calories out is wrong or they are a special or different case. So I feel the need to reiterate it as many times as I can.

[bigtom1948 8]

Some people around here actually don't really know that and don't really believe that by consuming less energy than you burn, you will lose weight (and they present that information as fact to people who are easily swayed, and who perhaps don't know the science behind losing weight). There are many people on this board who will argue that a 500 calorie deficit per day does NOT equal roughly 1 pound loss per week (hopefully it doesnt, but in case it needed explanation, 500 calories x 7 days in a week = 3500 calories which is a pound). Instead of looking at their lifestyle and asking questions such as, "What is my BMR? Maybe I think I'm burning more than I actually am everyday? How many calories am I eating? Am I slowing my metabolism down so much that my body has reached an equilibrium? Am I fooling myself into thinking I'm eating 1200 calories a day when actually little bites and tastes and Snacks is really adding up to 1500 calories a day?", they tend to just say that the science of calories in vs calories out is wrong or they are a special or different case. So I feel the need to reiterate it as many times as I can.

Good point on the establishment of your own approximate BMR showing how many calories you burn per hour in several states from sleep through vigorous exercise to arrive at a maintainence point for a health weight. This can be a daunting and expensive process and even at completion the results are only for that point in your life as your body fluxes by decreasing adiposal tissue, hopefully, plus the gain of lean muscle mass through exercise coupled with the more efficient use of your foods vs. just storage as fat.

The Basal Metabolism Rate (really rates based on activity level) is a valuable tool used by both dedicated amature and professional athletes many of whom consume 7-10Kcal a day while training. Body builders are a whole other animal who swing between eating heavy for bulking out and

near starvation for competitions. You have to admire that dedication to the sport and the attention to nutrition they express in order to excel it's really hard on a body though.

For most of us though, i'm afraid we are just underestimating how many calories we take in and overvalueing our calorie expenditures through exercise and normal daily activities. I know through my own experience that a big part of my gain was through continueing to eat as a person involved in 3-4 hours of daily physical traing in body sculpting even after a sudden drop in that activity due to a back injury. I put on 15+ pounds a year doing that for over 10 years. I told myself that I had cut on my foods to relate to the reduced caloric expenditure brought on the injury to my back but I fell into that trap of self deception I mentioned at the head of this paragraph. (Knowing about the danger doesn't always save us from making the same mistakes as others) So I think we agree that equalibrium is possible but is variable due to a number of data sets that come into play and the possible wild card of denial. Weight loss still all comes down to the eat less and exercise more mantra and if I am reading you right there is no fixed number that you can plug into the equation to set a stable caloric value, we must be vigilent and adjust as needed. All of us are different we'er not one size fits all so that conclusion should be no suprise to anyone who thinks seriously about the issue. Thinking now that's the rub

Thanks for presenting the well thought out points and laying them out in a logical order, it was a fun read and very informative, I really enjoy your post's.

[dariasjourney 0]

same issue for me...I eat little and my weight loss is so slow and is gtting me disocuraged too. I just do not know....

I was wondering from any of you experience bandsters about how many calories do you eat per day? Im not sure if I am eating enough. The nurse told me I needed to eat more to lose weight, sounds weird to me, but im not sure.

Thanks for your help.

[IndioGirl55 32]

I was wondering from any of you experience bandsters about how many calories do you eat per day? Im not sure if I am eating enough. The nurse told me I needed to eat more to lose weight, sounds weird to me, but im not sure.

Thanks for your help.

It's true - Starvation isn't going to do it - you gotta eat healthy - follow the band rules - As to how many calories you should it - you are a guy so it's totally diff than us girls - Your Doc should really be guiding you in this area

Have you ck'd out the men's room ?? They might be able to help..

For me I ate 800-1200 cal a day and exercised 5 times a week - lost my weight in 1 yrs time..

[CalicoskiesNC 2]

Nevermind.

[TucsonAnnie 2]

Great post- I saved that link to my favorites

It does seem when I eat more, I lose more. I have been eating like a two year old ( quantity wise) for the last few weeks, and I'm not losing weight. I used that calculator and now I think I understand why!

Yeah it does sound strange but once you get below about 1,000 calories the body shifts to starvation mode and weight loss can actually slow. Weird Huh?

You want to avoid very low calorie plans in weight loss because you can set your set point too low and then you'll gain more weight than you may expect when you establish a new normal intake point for yourself with your dietitions guidence.

To get an idea of the amount of calories you will need try this site:

http://www.freedieti..._calculator.htm

just remember to put the goal weight in the calculator to reflect how many calories you need to maintain the goal.

You can also put in your current weight just to see approximately how many calories you needed to maintain that size.

Good luck and a 2-3 pounds a week is less likely to result in regaining than 5 or more we all didn't gain overnight and even with the band we shouldn't expect to lose it too fast.