Calorie questions help please

[Mrs.soontobealfonzo]

I started my diet and work out the 1 of this month. My goal is to lose 10 pound but I think that not going to happen. My question is how many calories do i need to burn to lose weight. Ive been burning 500 a day, and i think Ive taken off 300 of the food.

Any body know ?

 

[Mara]

check out www.sparkpeople.com and build a profile on there. it asks you questions and also asks how much you work out, what you typically burn etc. it will then give you a suggested food/caloric intake range for how many cals to be eating, and tell you how many cals to burn to reach your goal by the date you put in. it won't let you lose more than 1.5lbs a week i believe so take that into account when you are planning your goal date. i used the range they gave me and the calories burned and lost 20 lbs over 8 months (i went really slowly because it was a lifestyle change for me, not just a diet). you don't want to take your caloric intake too low if you are burning a lot of cals, you have to give your body the right types of fuel. so i'd use the range they give you (i stayed near the bottom of my range most days) and work out as much as you input to see your results.

good luck!

 

[Kit]

Generally it''s safe to lose about a pound per week. I think that one pound has 3700 calories. So you need to net -525 calories per day.

Beginning from that goal, then you figure out what your caloric needs are. Your body burns hundreds of calories every day even if you do nothing more than lie in bed. It needs calories for basic organ functioning. This could be like in the neighborhood of 1,000 calories. Just google caloric needs and you''ll find lots of calculators to figure this out for you. Your caloric needs take into account this basic functioning as well as calories needed to get up and go about your day.

So you back out the 525 from your number to calculate how many calories you''ll take in a given day. You need to maybe exercise away 300 and then take out 225 from your diet. It''s not really that tough to do so. On days when maybe you don''t hit the gym, eat a smaller lunch or dinner. On days when you really go hard working out, maybe treat yourself to an extra tasty snack.

I advocate eating no sugar, cut out white flour, and eat a bit more lean proteins and a bit less carbos. But that''s just what works for me, everyone''s different.

1 gram of protein = 4 cals
1 gram of carbos = 4 cals
1 gram of fat = 9 cals

It would be tempting to cut out the fat since it''s more caloric, but dietary fat is important and futhermore, if you eat good fats then you''ll feel fuller longer and generally more sated. You can do some research to figure out how many caloires per day you should try and get from fat, protein and carb sources.

Good luck!!

 

[diamondfan]

You have to burn more than you take in. You should, if your health is good, be at 2000 calories a day, with less than 25% of those calories coming from fat. A workout that burns 500 calories is good, but it is mathematically simple, you must burn more than you use.

 

[Mara]

There are so many calculators online that you can use to figure out what your BMR is and then add in activity and workouts and all that but it's really confusing as there are like 3-4 'accepted' methods of calculating BMR out there, and no one says one is right and the other is wrong. I can do the calcs for all of them and come up with diff #'s. So how do you really know what to do. Also when you add your activities in, it's all just estimates anyway, aka how much you burn for taking a shower or making the bed or making breakfast. All that has to be factored in.

SparkPeople actually estimates all that for you and just spits out the range it thinks you should stay in. I used their numbers, it gives a range per day that you can eat (aka 1400-1700 cals per day) and how much you should work out (aka 'burn 2500 cals this week') to meet your goal date and weight goal based on the data you put in...the range was wide enough so that you didn't have to stick to one # per day, and I just had to burn X amount per week and eat X amount in the range per day. Staying near the bottom of the range worked out great. I had weekend splurges as well...but the rest of the time I stayed near the bottom of the range.

So if you are lazy and don't want to try to figure it all out on your own (like I tried and just kept getting confused because again, no one way is the RIGHT way!!) you might have luck using SP as a gauge. And they have community boards and all that too so you can get support and ask specific questions about weight loss and your goals. Good luck!

 

[diamondfan]

Mara, my trainer RAVES about sparkpeople and turns all of her clients on to it...

She also loves the Cybex Arc trainer, I am going to test on this weekend, she raves about it. We both have the same Precor Ellipitcal trainer, the 5.33 with the arms that move, and she uses hers, but she is crazy about this arc thing. She burned 900 calories in a 30 minute workout, I do 500-520 in 45 minutes on the elliptical...

 

[Mara]

oh yeah DF my friend''s gym has an arc trainer and she uses it sometimes, she said the calorie burn is crazy and that it really makes her sore the next day! i would love to see what it''s all about. our gym doesn''t have one but hopefully we''ll get one soon and then i can try it!

 

[diamondfan]

there is a dealer near me in Villanova. There is a home and a gym version, she really likes the gym version better. I have a treadmill and an elliptical now, but really want to see it and see if it is as awesome as she says. I have all the literature on them but really want to hop on and see if it is good. It has an arc motion more like cross country skiing and not the circular movement of the elliptical, and it is supposed to be less hard on the low back.

 

[aquarius_ser]

It took me a long time but I''m not a huge scale person. If you''re strength training as well as doing cardio, you may lose fat and gain muscle so the scale is going to be deceiving. I would suggest you measure your progess by: 1. a pair of pants that don''t quite fit right now 2. Have your body fat measured possibly 3. Measure yourself, hips 37", waist 29" , etc, so you can track your progress that way.

I strength train 5 days/week and have lost inches, not weight. I wanted to get into the 120''s so damn bad, but I''ve seen results in the mirror and clothes so I''m at peace now

I only weigh myself once/month

 

[Independent Gal]

I also really recommend Sparkpeople.com I used it when I put on 5 lbs last summer and wanted to take it off again (before I put on another 5!!) I thought it was great. It kept me honest about what I was eating, and gave me a sense of accomplishment with the exercise part, showing how many calories I'd burned each week... seeing them add up made me feel motivated. My favourite thing is that while it counts calories, it also counts nutrients. That way it forces you to pay attention to whether you're eating WELL, not just how many calories you're taking in. So you can't just eat three brownies and then starve yourself. I also like that it's down home basics: no fads, no gimicks. It's simple and smart: eat less junk, do more exercise. You'll lose weight.

Worked for me! I took off the 5 lbs in 5 weeks and learned a lot about nutrition.

ETA: Haha! Do I sound like an ad or what?

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 4/5/2007 12:10:47 AM
Author: diamondfan


She also loves the Cybex Arc trainer, I am going to test on this weekend, she raves about it. We both have the same Precor Ellipitcal trainer, the 5.33 with the arms that move, and she uses hers, but she is crazy about this arc thing. She burned 900 calories in a 30 minute workout, I do 500-520 in 45 minutes on the elliptical...

i went to a different gym today and saw one for the first time. I don''t know that my regular gym has one but will have to look next time I''m there. I may have to go back to the downtown one tomorrow just to try it out. 900 calories in 30 minutes, i''m so into that!!!

 

[just_looking!]

ooh - will have to look up that website!! I may have to factor the estimated calories down by quite a bit though as normal basal metabolic rate calculations don''t work for me....

I''ve been using Cron-O-Meter to track my nutrition and have managed to lose 10 kg since last November. It''s pretty hard as I can acually gain weight at 1600 kcal with moderate exercise, because my metabolic rate is so low. I work on a construction site so have to walk for at least 2 hrs a day and sometimes more if there is more to check up on.

However, I''m doing it for health reasons as my thyroid etc. are out of whack and reducing body fat levels is supposed to help regulate hormones. I know it''s working as I''ve kept to the same thyroid dosage and my temperatures have finally got above 35 deg C

.

I''m the only one onsite that doesn''t feel uncomfortable when it''s 40 deg C outside and the guys are bemused at the fact I complain when the AC makes it colder than 28 deg C!!