Hi, Lady,
Personally, I am against low calorie diets for the following reason
- there is very little room to go down. 1200 kcal is pretty much the
minimum for healthy living. And your body gets used to that. As soon
as the intake goes up, the weight comes back. So you're pretty much
restricting your self to around 1200 kcal for the rest of your life.
You might eat a bit more once in maintenance, but not by much. And as
we get older, we will have to eat less and less to keep the weight
off. I can't imagine how low you'll have to go if you're at 1200 kcal
now.
Through experimentation, I found that I can lose (very slowly) if I
eat about 1600 kcal a day, exercise 5-7 times a week (with
moderate-heavy cardio at least 4 times), and not eat after 5pm. In
fact, I would say that not eating after 5pm is the key. If hungry in
the evening, I'll have a green salad with squeezed lemon juice for
dressing, and tea. Except for TOM, when I go crazy, this is enough.
At maintenance, I think that I'll be able to eat around 1800 kcal a
day, and this would leave plenty of room for me to reduce the intake
if I have to.
In your case, I would be very careful when upping calories. If you
want to try eating more, you absolutely have to add cardio. I heard
that a person burns around 100 kcal per every mile ran at 5mph. If
walking at a fast pace, I'd think you'd burn around 80 kcal per mile.
So if you walk 2-3 miles per day, you'd be able to add about 150 kcal
per day (before 5pm). You could try that. Also, as others suggested,
weight lifting is also very important - preserves muscles mass, makes
metabolism more efficient, tones up flabby skin, etc. If you can't
have a regular weight lifting session several times a week, you can
add ankle weights or cary dumbles when you walk to add a bit of weight
training.
I've tried combining LC with Weight Watchers, and eating LC foods
at my points range (20 pts), which is about 1200 kcal, and I was
starving all the time. So I can't even imagine how you manage on
1200.
In either case, you have to experiment, and find out what works for
you. Best of luck!
Elana
"Lady o' the house" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:I've been wondering lately if I should up my calories. Lately, I've been
averaging around 1200 calories and 30-35 carbs per day. I'm losing about a
pound a week (I know, that's great and I should be happy---52 pounds in a
year). But I read in DANDR that if one wants to count calories, to use the
10-12x rule. I can't imagine losing weight eating 2000 calories. Some here
have suggested that I may need to go lower than that, say 7 or 8x. My
calorie count is only a little more than 5 times my weight.
I guess I'm wondering if I am getting enough nutrition. I feel good, and
the weight is coming off slowly. Wondering if I up the calories if the
weight will come off faster (wouldn't mind that right now, at least till I
get to Pre-Maintenance.)
Also, could the fact that my calories are low be a cause of my thinning
hair? It seems to have happened shortly after I began to really count
calories. I've always had really thick and full hair; now I can see my
scalp through the top front of my hair.
Or should I just do my own experiment?
Thanks. I'm really glad to have all you experts to bounce questions off of
(ewww, bad grammar! Sorry!)
