Advice please

lilpickles
lilpickles Posts: 6
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
I am getting one hell of confused right about now.

Basically cut a long story short i undereat last year for a while, was exercising every day and not eating it back, and then wondered why i passed out.

But i have been told (and read) that to lose 1lb a week, you need to shed 3500 calories. so thats 500 a day yeah? which is actually easy! So to lose 2lbs a week, do you have to shed 7000? which means 1000 a day. which even still if you are eating 2000 calories a day, that leaves you with 1000 calories a day to eat, whcih, im pretty sure, isnt acceptable!!

Not to mention if you're exercising, that brings it down to less.

Can someone please shed some light on this, cos im scared to ask my nurse again as im sure shes told me.

as far as im aware, i thought 1200 calorie diet with no exercise was good, but i have been told its not. though saying that i have also been told to ignore what other people are saying and do this how i want to!

but im just so confused and i dont know what to do!

Thanks :)

Replies

  • DudeShesAmazing
    DudeShesAmazing Posts: 1
    I think that's right but I'm new to this.
    I've been told that the 1200 calories without exercise is for people who have lots of weight to lose (like 100lbs), and people who are sedentary and sit down a lot. If you have a job where you're on your feet all day and moving or walking a lot then 1200 is not enough. Check your goals and make sure you have the right activity level set.
    Good luck!
  • bkibbs
    bkibbs Posts: 106 Member
    You can't take this as law, because I'm only going off of what I read. I pound per week is pretty healthy. From what I've seen, the "two pounds per week" average is only acceptable if you are severely overweight. That is a heck of a lot of exercise to sustain over several weeks.

    I've always gone against BMR for calories in a day, but again, I'm not every educated on the subject either.
  • lilpickles
    lilpickles Posts: 6
    I think that's right but I'm new to this.
    I've been told that the 1200 calories without exercise is for people who have lots of weight to lose (like 100lbs), and people who are sedentary and sit down a lot. If you have a job where you're on your feet all day and moving or walking a lot then 1200 is not enough. Check your goals and make sure you have the right activity level set.
    Good luck!

    I need to lose, well id like to lose about 10kg and then anything else is a bonus! i weigh 81.5kg (not sure what that is in lbs LOL) and i am on my feet all day!

    I have upped it to 1500 a day, i got an appointment on friday so i can ask my nurse then, i just wanted to see what peoples thoughts were on the matter :)
  • lilpickles
    lilpickles Posts: 6
    You can't take this as law, because I'm only going off of what I read. I pound per week is pretty healthy. From what I've seen, the "two pounds per week" average is only acceptable if you are severely overweight. That is a heck of a lot of exercise to sustain over several weeks.

    I've always gone against BMR for calories in a day, but again, I'm not every educated on the subject either.
    Thanks for your reply :) ive heard about the BMR thing, but i spoke to my nurse and she told me not to listen to it! so im really confused! haha
  • lilpickles
    lilpickles Posts: 6
    Thanks for your replys :)
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
    So yeah, 3500 calories is a pound. If you eat 500 cals less per day that what you are CURRENTLY eating (to maintain your weight), you will lose 1lb that week. If you eat 500 cals less per day AND burn 500 cals per day exercising, that's a 2lb loss for the week. The 1200 cals thing doesn't have anything to do with this.

    To figure out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight, use this handy dandy calculator:
    http://thefitgirls.com/tdee-calculator.aspx

    Once you have that number (mine is 1847 cals per day), subtract 500, so mine would be 1347. This is how many calories I need to eat each day to burn 1lb in a week. If I wanted to lose 2lbs per week, I could burn 500 cals per day exercising and still eat 1347 per day. Realistically, I am starving and miserable if I do a 500 cal workout and eat 1347 calories and I'm in no rush so 2lbs per week doesn't work for me. I do .5-1lb per week.

    I hope that helps!
  • NewMeAT33
    NewMeAT33 Posts: 33
    Sorry so slow about this... my BMR is 1796 and my TDEE is 2784. Which number do you subtract from to find the appropriate amount of calories?
  • lilpickles
    lilpickles Posts: 6
    So yeah, 3500 calories is a pound. If you eat 500 cals less per day that what you are CURRENTLY eating (to maintain your weight), you will lose 1lb that week. If you eat 500 cals less per day AND burn 500 cals per day exercising, that's a 2lb loss for the week. The 1200 cals thing doesn't have anything to do with this.

    To figure out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight, use this handy dandy calculator:
    http://thefitgirls.com/tdee-calculator.aspx

    Once you have that number (mine is 1847 cals per day), subtract 500, so mine would be 1347. This is how many calories I need to eat each day to burn 1lb in a week. If I wanted to lose 2lbs per week, I could burn 500 cals per day exercising and still eat 1347 per day. Realistically, I am starving and miserable if I do a 500 cal workout and eat 1347 calories and I'm in no rush so 2lbs per week doesn't work for me. I do .5-1lb per week.

    I hope that helps!

    But surely your body would go into starvation mode if you eat 500 calories less and burnt 500 calories, no?? see what i mean about confusing?! haha

    I go to the gym every other day as have been told by several people exercising every day is bad for you, and a personal trainer at the gym told me not to exercise every day and have 2 days off at the weekend, but to do it every other day!

    Thanks for your reply :)
  • dexfatpants
    dexfatpants Posts: 55 Member
    Sorry so slow about this... my BMR is 1796 and my TDEE is 2784. Which number do you subtract from to find the appropriate amount of calories?

    This was my same question :)
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