Question for Calorie Experts

[LisaR]

I have never counted calories in my life until a few weeks ago. I am not looking to drop any weight but I am looking to firm up. I have started walking 30 minutes a day or swimming when the weather allows it. I am a very healthy eater and always have been.

I am trying to determine how many calories I am suppose to have. Some websites say I should only eat 1200 calories a day. I have tried that and I am starving. Others say around 1500. That is doable probably 3 weeks out of the month. I even found one website that said I should take in 1800 calories. DH said if I search long enough, I will find one I really like!

Any idea which one is right or how to determine the appropriate amount of calories?

I'm 5'5" and 120 lbs.

 

[mickeyboat]

Have you checked www.sparkpeople.com?

 

[Plantlady]

You should eat 13 calories for each pound of your GOAL weight if you don't exercise, 15 calories for each pound of your GOAL weight of you DO exercise.

This information has been drilled into my head by my FIL, who lost about 150 pounds, and has kept it off for 15 years.

 

[LisaR]

You should eat 13 calories for each pound of your GOAL weight if you don't exercise, 15 calories for each pound of your GOAL weight of you DO exercise.

This information has been drilled into my head by my FIL, who lost about 150 pounds, and has kept it off for 15 years.

I like this! I could live on this plan. I have been using Sparkpeople for the past few weeks and 1200 calories was not cutting it.

 

[chisnpeke]

I use caloriecount.about.com

I always try to keep it under 2000 a day but I'm taller (5'8") and heavier (160). I have read that I'm supposed to eat 2,200 but I don't like that amount so I eat much less than that.

 

[bicker]

I am trying to determine how many calories I am suppose to have. Some websites say I should only eat 1200 calories a day. I have tried that and I am starving. Others say around 1500. That is doable probably 3 weeks out of the month. I even found one website that said I should take in 1800 calories. DH said if I search long enough, I will find one I really like!

It's really frustrating: Three people, who eat the exact same things, in the same amounts, could count the calories they're eating and come up with three radically different numbers, and a fourth number would be the actual reality, and a fifth number would be the effective reality (because different people metabolize food differently, so the effective number of calories from any specific bit of food could be different for different people). So counting with three different levels of accuracy plus two additional perspectives yields five different numbers that could all be the "correct" number for you. Frustrating eh?

One of my weight-management coaches once gave me the best advice about this: If you're trying to maintain weight (or lose weight), then the right number of calories to eat is exact the amount that makes you maintain weight (or lose weight), and that's the only precise answer available. You use the other resources -- the hard numbers -- to know where to start. Then keep track of "your count" and the end-result you achieve. If you're not achieving what you want, then change the number you're aiming for untill you do achieve what you want. The only accurate measure is your own body, and you can use your own measurements, of both your intake and expenditure, and of the results you achieve, as tools to refine your plan.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

To carry that specificity further. It's not just calories. You need to learn (determine) what types of food work for you and what types of foods work against you.

I have serious problems with most carbs. I can have 1/2 slice of regular thickness white bread and my BG will spike dramatically. Others can eat a slice of cake with no spike.

Losing weight for the reason of being healthy (and NOT the reason of being appealing to society ) is a journey of learning how many calories and what type of food works for YOUR body. Then you can start to think about exercise. The same will apply there.

I work out at a gym. I can bulk up faster than any pro-wrestler if I used weights . I need cardio to lose and tone. Weights are something I need to use in very small doses.

Again, what is specific to your body? In the beginning, it's much more work to learn about what you need to do than you may think (or may have been led to believe)! Once you've learned what works for you, it really is an easy road of it. You'll feel so much better you won't want to eat those things that make you feel like a slug.

Good luck to you!

 

[lil mermaid]

Okay, I am going to completely change the subject. Your BMI is 20, which is a healthy weight for your height. If you aren't having trouble maintaining your weight at all, I wouldn't get so hung up on calories, especially since you say that you are already a healthy eater.
In your OP, you say you want to tone up.

Walking 30 minutes per day isn't really going to do that for you. It is great exercise, of course, and a very healthy habit, but it isn't really going to "tone" you. For this, you've got to add some resistance training, and possibly some higher intensity cardio.

Good luck to you!

 

[LisaR]

Okay, I am going to completely change the subject. Your BMI is 20, which is a healthy weight for your height. If you aren't having trouble maintaining your weight at all, I wouldn't get so hung up on calories, especially since you say that you are already a healthy eater.
In your OP, you say you want to tone up.

Walking 30 minutes per day isn't really going to do that for you. It is great exercise, of course, and a very healthy habit, but it isn't really going to "tone" you. For this, you've got to add some resistance training, and possibly some higher intensity cardio.

Good luck to you!

I agree with you but I consume HUGE quantities of food so I want to try to stay somewhere in the normal range for calories and see how I do. I am one of those people that grabs a handful of this and a spoonful of that constantly. Thankfully I am not overweight. I am used to eating only whole grains, fruits, veggies, salmon, legumes and very little meat. I think it has helped me maintain my weight (well, that and luck since I have don't have very good genes). Now that I need to tone up, I recognize I need to do more than walk or swim but I hate exercising. This is my attempt to make some changes. I hope to wipe out a few calories and pick up speed with the exercising.

 

[lil mermaid]

I agree with you but I consume HUGE quantities of food so I want to try to stay somewhere in the normal range for calories and see how I do. I am one of those people that grabs a handful of this and a spoonful of that constantly. Thankfully I am not overweight. I am used to eating only whole grains, fruits, veggies, salmon, legumes and very little meat. I think it has helped me maintain my weight (well, that and luck since I have don't have very good genes). Now that I need to tone up, I recognize I need to do more than walk or swim but I hate exercising. This is my attempt to make some changes. I hope to wipe out a few calories and pick up speed with the exercising.

That makes sense. Anyway, that being said, if everyone ate the way you do, we would all be a lot healthier!