Re: Number of Calories, Was: intoduction

[Guest guest]

Hello group. Lurker here.

I have a question or two regarding number of calories. I have looked

at Dr. Walford's program, and it seems to indcate that for a woman

5'4 " -5'9 " and medium frame, she should be consuming 2000

calories/day, I guess for " ideal " weight. I would think Malinda

should be able to lose weight easily at 1600 calories/day, 600 being

way, way to low for adequate nutrition.

Malinda- do you know what was your daily caloric intake before you

started your calorie reduction regime?

To all in the group- What is your daily caloric intake? I am looking

for a reality check here. Thanks!

I am 5'8, 160lb, 43yrs. From Dr. Walford's program, my caloric intake

should be 2640 calories? Seems like a lot! So even reducing this by

40% (that's a lot) would mean I should consume, let's see here, carry

the one... 1584 calories per day. Am I doing this right?

Thanks.

Jerry

PS. Malinda- The rule of thumb is to average losing about 1

pound/week. That means probably eating way more that you suggest in

your note. Many people will try to compensate for eating way too much

by eating way too little. That is very hard to maintain, and may

result in a " boom-bust " type cycle. Too much, too little, too much

too little, then giving up in frustration. Slow and steady is the way

to go. Maybe you could try to lose 2 lb/week until you get to 200,

then go to one lb/week.

-- In , " mrbosco77 " <mrbosco77@y...>

wrote:

> Hi Melinda

>

> I congratulate you on doing a good thing.

> >

> I would encourage you to view this as a lifetime thing. I think

that

> 600 calories is far too few. Either start with more like 1200 (and

> make them all nutritionally count), or just change what you eat and

> don't worry so much about the calories. Either way, you will lose

> weight. Read Walford and the excellent files on this site. If it

> turns out after a couple of weeks you are not losing at 1200, drop

to

> 1100 and repeat. There's no big hurry. And I believe the odds of

> success are higher for those who take it more slowly.

>

>

>

>

> >

> > Hi Everyone, I am new to CR. Currently my weight is 280. I am

5'7 " ,

> age 41. A real carb addict but I have been sticking to a very low

cal

> diet for the past couple of weeks and feel great.

> >

> > Today I ate a mango and a sandwich with bran bread, imitation

bacon,

> tomatoe and onion and mustard. I take vitamins as well as a couple

> calcium chews (my big treat). I am trying to stay under 600 calories

> until I am under 200.

[Guest guest]

Hi Jerry:

Those numbers look way high to me. I once had a long phone

conversation with a Weight Watchers franchisee about how many

calories people needed to consume to maintain their weight once they

had gotten down to where they wanted to be (which is probably about

what Dr. Walford would call the set point - much higher than the

ideal CR weight). This is what the franchisee told me, quoting as

close to verbatim as possible:

" In our experience **no one** (his emphasis) living a normal daily

life needs more than 2000 calories a day. Some people do quite

nicely and maintain their weight on just 1200 a day " .

Presumably shorter females are those at the lower end of this scale

and tall muscular males at the top of it.

I am simply repeating to you what he said. But since Weight

Watchers' people spend their entire working lives analyzing what

people are eating and watching what is happening to their weights, I

would think they are probably a more reliable source on this than

most.

You could check with your own local Weight Watchers if you wanted.

Rodney.

> > >

> > > Hi Everyone, I am new to CR. Currently my weight is 280. I am

> 5'7 " ,

> > age 41. A real carb addict but I have been sticking to a very low

> cal

> > diet for the past couple of weeks and feel great.

> > >

> > > Today I ate a mango and a sandwich with bran bread, imitation

> bacon,

> > tomatoe and onion and mustard. I take vitamins as well as a couple

> > calcium chews (my big treat). I am trying to stay under 600

calories

> > until I am under 200.

[Guest guest]

> Hello group. Lurker here.

> .....

>

> To all in the group- What is your daily caloric intake? I am

looking

> for a reality check here. Thanks!

>

> I am 5'8, 160lb, 43yrs. From Dr. Walford's program, my caloric

intake

> should be 2640 calories? Seems like a lot! So even reducing this by

> 40% (that's a lot) would mean I should consume, let's see here,

carry

> the one... 1584 calories per day. Am I doing this right?

Hi All,

At about your age before CR I was 155 pounds and 5' 10 " . I take in

about 1850 calories/day and weigh 96 pounds naked in the morning.

I believe that diet composition will make a big difference.

Cheers, Al.

[Guest guest]

> > To all in the group- What is your daily caloric intake? I am

> looking

> > for a reality check here. Thanks!

> >

> > I am 5'8, 160lb, 43yrs. From Dr. Walford's program, my caloric

> intake

> > should be 2640 calories? Seems like a lot! So even reducing this

by

> > 40% (that's a lot) would mean I should consume, let's see here,

> carry

> > the one... 1584 calories per day. Am I doing this right?

You can see my profile and intake here:

http://profile.calorierestriction.org/cronies/default.view?

_mode=details & RowId=38

You can also views other people's profiles to get a rough idea of

what is average.

Kat.

[Guest guest]

Hi Jerry

I have been eating very 'CR-ish' since about the end of September, in

other words, not that long. I purchased a program called " diet

power " . It has you enter your weight, age, and sex and them estimates

your metabolic rate. Note that this is NOT your BMR (basal metabolic

rate), which is the number of calories you would consume if you lay in

bed all day. It is the rate that you burn in your normal day-to-day

life not counting exercise (thus higher than your BMR). If you

exercise, you enter it and it adjusts your calorie goals for the day.

The program starts out by estimating your metabolic rate, and then, as

you input all your food, exercies, and weight every day, it readjusts

its estimate. Once it has 30 days of data, it's pretty accurate.

For me (50 year-old male, weighing 206 lbs on Sept. 30), it estimated

2450 calories per day. Immediately, as I started feeding it data, it

started lowering it's estimate. It has now pretty much stabilized

between 2100 and 2200 calories per day, although now I am 195 lbs. I

am actually losing at a bit faster than one pound a week and might

have to up my calories. Over the past month I have averaged about

1650 calories per day. I have also exercised fairly conscientiously.

I have read that ON AVERAGE if you lose weight, you will need 20

calories less per kilogram of body weight loss. I don't know how

accurate this is, and I'm sure that it varies between individuals.

BTW, I'm not sure how a weight-watcher's person would be that clued

into calories--they use " points " which are not the same thing. If you

eat higher fat, using the weight-watchers system, you will be assessed

more points than just the calorie value. The formula is

Points = calories/50 - grams fiber/5 (but no more than 4 gms) + gms fat/12

In other words, they penalize you for fat, and reward you for fiber up

to a point, which is sensible, but not entirely calorie focused. Back

when I tried used weight watchers, I found the fiber thing confusing.

I could not count more than four grams per serving. But what if I

ate 2 servings? Should I cound 4 grams twice, or would I only count

the first 4 grams? It seemed a bit arbitrary. I no longer use WW. I

am doing quite well just eating sensibly. As I said, I probably need

to figure out how to get a few more calories so I don't lose quite so

quickly.

Sorry for rambling. Hope some of it was useful.

Rob in Alaska

> > > >

> > > > Hi Everyone, I am new to CR. Currently my weight is 280. I am

> > 5'7 " ,

> > > age 41. A real carb addict but I have been sticking to a very low

> > cal

> > > diet for the past couple of weeks and feel great.

> > > >

> > > > Today I ate a mango and a sandwich with bran bread, imitation

> > bacon,

> > > tomatoe and onion and mustard. I take vitamins as well as a couple

> > > calcium chews (my big treat). I am trying to stay under 600

> calories

> > > until I am under 200.

[Guest guest]

Hi Rob,

I like the approach of determining what is right for you. All the med rec's are based on averages and I know I'm not average and I'm not sure they know how to calc an average anyway. I also like the idea of losing weight slowly. Do you encounter a lot of colder temps there or are you mostly indoors? I find I lose more calories in cold weather.

Regards.

----- Original Message -----

From: mrbosco77

Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 2:44 PM

Subject: [ ] Re: Number of Calories, Was: intoduction

Hi JerryI have been eating very 'CR-ish' since about the end of September, inother words, not that long. I purchased a program called "dietpower". It has you enter your weight, age, and sex and them estimatesyour metabolic rate. Note that this is NOT your BMR (basal metabolicrate), which is the number of calories you would consume if you lay inbed all day. It is the rate that you burn in your normal day-to-daylife not counting exercise (thus higher than your BMR). If youexercise, you enter it and it adjusts your calorie goals for the day. The program starts out by estimating your metabolic rate, and then, asyou input all your food, exercies, and weight every day, it readjustsits estimate. Once it has 30 days of data, it's pretty accurate.For me (50 year-old male, weighing 206 lbs on Sept. 30), it estimated2450 calories per day. Immediately, as I started feeding it data, itstarted lowering it's estimate. It has now pretty much stabilizedbetween 2100 and 2200 calories per day, although now I am 195 lbs. Iam actually losing at a bit faster than one pound a week and mighthave to up my calories. Over the past month I have averaged about1650 calories per day. I have also exercised fairly conscientiously.I have read that ON AVERAGE if you lose weight, you will need 20calories less per kilogram of body weight loss. I don't know howaccurate this is, and I'm sure that it varies between individuals. Iam doing quite well just eating sensibly. As I said, I probably needto figure out how to get a few more calories so I don't lose quite soquickly.Rob in Alaska

[Guest guest]

Hi

I agree that everyone is different, and we should not try to " live by

the averages. " But we still must be careful about our health and get

adequate nutrition. I think we are all here because we want to live

healthier, as well as longer. Reducing calories is part of this, as

is making sure we have enough nutrients. But reducing calories beyond

a certain level is a form of nutrient deprivation, and although a

little stress on the body might be healthy, too much for too long is

not. In the same way that fasting might be good, but if overdone,

results in death.

We are operating on averages when we do CR. On the average, mice and

rats lived longer when they reduced their calories. Not every mouse

or rat did. We are betting that will be on the winning side of those

averages.

I live in Juneau, so temperatures are not too cold. Right now they

are around 25 degrees F. The last couple of winters, our ski area

barely opened. I am mostly indoors, although I do get out for walks a

couple times per day. I am curious how my current eating habits will

affect my energy level and sensitivity to cold when I ski this winter.

I'd sure hate to give up skiing.

Rob in Alaska

> Hi Rob,

> I like the approach of determining what is right for you. All the

med rec's are based on averages and I know I'm not average and I'm not

sure they know how to calc an average anyway. I also like the idea of

losing weight slowly. Do you encounter a lot of colder temps there or

are you mostly indoors? I find I lose more calories in cold weather.

>

> Regards.

>