Ok so I went to this site that calculates your daily calorie needs. It says that to MAINTAIN in my weight (250), given that I consider myself lightly active, I should eat 3575 calories a day. Also supposedly, if you want to lose 2 pounds a week, you need to take 1000 calories less than what you need to maintain your weight.
Sooo, if I eat 2000 calories a day, I should lose a little more than two pounds a week.
My plan is to eat 2000 calories until it takes less than 3000 calories to maintain my weight. According to this calculator, that will be around 210 pounds. It says at to hundred pounds, I can eat 2860 a day to maintain. So at that weight, I am going to eat about 1860 a day (1000 less than what I need to maintain). I will do this until I reach 160. Then I should be able to maintain around 2288 but before I go back to that, I'll be eating what I need to still lose until I reach the 160. Does this make sense?
I know that 3500 isn't going to help me lose. I'm just saying that eating that supposedly will maintain my weight which is way way way to high anyway.
And I do exercise. I go to curves 3-4 times a week(actually pushing myself on the equipment). Also I try to walk twice a week.
Here's the calculator I am using.
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_6_1x_Calorie_Calculator.asp
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Honestly, no.
Forget the calculator stuff. Basic intake is around 2,000 cals.
Most people on a diet it around 1,600-1,800 calories. That's what you need to do.
Eating 3,575 calories a day? Not good. It's not going to help you "maintain" 250 lb, you're definetly going to GAIN weight. Unless you NORMALLY eat that much.
To cut a pound a week, it's true that you need to take 1,000 calories less. Less than what you NORMALLY eat. Track what you eat and calculate off that. I don't really trust this weight/calculator business, because in my opinion it doesn't take a lot of other major factors into account.
Want to lose weight? Simple plan. Hard work.:
- – - – -
- Load up on the veggies & fruits. Lowest calorie plan out there, totally natural. Find your favorites – I like mangoes & strawberries, I can a whole box in a sec!
- Cut the junk food. No sodas, my dear. No candy. I guess it's ok to indulge, but not daily. Try to find substitutes, or balance it out [like chocolate-dipped strawberries].
- Lots of water & sleep. Water flushes out toxins, keeps you healthy, and increases metabolic rate. Sleep – can we ever get enough? Like a cute saying I heard the other day, you can buy all the diet pills and organic food you want, but water is cheap and sleep is free.
- Careful of what you snack on! A bite of your friend's cookie, a swig of Coke from your co-worker, a couple fries from your sister's McDonald's bag can all add up to 700 cals a day.
- Exercise. Yes. You have to. Dieting is fun and all that [yeah right] but exercise helps you get there a lot faster and STAY there. You CAN indulge in that occasional Snickers if you exercise. Yoga, running up stairs, fitness tapes, jumping rope, gardening, kickboxing, swimming, lacrosse, basketball, tennis, cardio dance, millions of jumping jacks – whatever works for YOU.
You've heard this all before, right? Because it's what WORKS. It takes intense determination, and may need some restarting over and over. I know. I'm on day two of my millionth diet plan and just dug into some peanut butter. But hey! I did cardio dance today.