is there a calculation or web site that will lmk
There are about 138,000 web site that will let you know. The
problem is that there isn't just
one web site!
And then there are the 250,000+ web sites that will tell you
not to lose weight focusing on calorie intake. Keep in mind that, with the exception of sites like Calorie King and Fitday, there is little incentive on the 'net to provide an especially effective recommendation in this regard.
Pardon me while I rant for a while....
Many of the recommendations you'll see online are necessarily ultra-conservative -- recommendations that are deliberately anti-aggressive. It's not just that those sites place safety over effectiveness, but rather they put the objective that their recommendation not be the source of
any possible harm whatsoever over the likelihood that taking a less aggressive approach could tend to lead to failure of the effort, and therefore add to the risks to health from being overweight or obese.
By the same token, many of the recommendations you'll see online are necessarily over-aggressive, in order to foster a more substantial distinction from traditional approaches, with regard to effectiveness. Many of the most effective approaches have such virulent detractors that they need to over-state their uniqueness, and push the envelope, in order to stand-out.
So what we end up with is a core set of recommendations, supported broadly and widely, that are within themselves utterly innocuous, but comparatively ineffective. Then, scattered around that core set are a vast array of seemingly contradictory recommendations, all of which, when compared against the core, seem to be a little more risky in the short-term to pursue, but a bit more effective in the end, thereby reducing risk long-term. That's why there is such a disparity among recommendations.
Anyway, back to what I said about "the 250,000+ web sites that will tell you
not to lose weight focusing on calorie intake." While I used a calorie intake-focused program, I had learned my lesson many years ago about the limited effectiveness of such programs. While calorie intake is a big part of the issue, it is by no means the only thing to be concerned about. We used to combine calorie restriction with eating "low-fat" -- but that approach is generally discredited now. Fats are not all the same, and some of the healthiest and most effective approaches are those that combine calorie restriction with a good amount of (healthy) fat
consumption. So I think the best approches now combine calorie restriction, with exercise, elimination of saturated fat and trans-fat (but no other focus on fat -- the calorie restriction should handle that),
and ensuring that you get enough protein to spare lean-body mass, which is essential for maintaining your weight-loss long-term.
Doc told me when I started not to go below 1200 calories/day
Folks on diets where they eat less than 1200 calories per day (a very-low calorie diet -- VLCD) need to be under medical supervision. With the program I used, the VLCD patients ate either 500, 800 or 1000 calories per day, while the traditional (female) patients ate 10 calories times per pound of body weight in weight-loss, and 11 calories per pound of body weight in maintenance. (Male patients ate 1 calorie per pound of body weight more.) Those traditional patients who wanted to lose weight a bit faster would eat 10 calories per pound of body weight
at their intended healty-weight goal.
As I mentioned before, the program I used was calorie intake- (and exercise) focused, but I "knew better" and combined that with a very clear focus on getting enough protein. When I had lost a substantial amount of weight many years before, I hadn't focused on protein intake at all, and as a result I had lost a substantial amount of lean-body mass, and was unable to maintain my weight-loss more than a couple of years. This time, I aimed for about 100 gm of protein per day, not quite double the minimum daily requirement. Some folks feel that's too little, but I'm not a body builder so I felt that that was enough for me. So far so good. I'm up about 10 pounds from where I should be, after three and a half years, but there are still 90 pounds pretty-much gone for good.
Definitely try keeping a food diary, writing down everything you put in your mouth (food or liquid). Many people don't realize what their actual daily calorie intake is.
Truer words were never spoken, Mel. I can track my success and failure directly to two things: (1) Whether I'm journaling or not, and (2) how much I'm exercising.
