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Old 04-03-2010, 04:24 PM   #4
Pharmadryg

Join Date
Oct 2005
Posts
435
Senior Member
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Weight, age, and activity levels plays a huge role in figuring out a good target calorie level.

As unbelievable as it would be to those that know me, I struggle with this myself at times. I have definitely found that I have a tendency to drift towards eating too little which has a negative impact both on weight loss and energy levels / overall feeling.

The more we know about you, the more we can help. However, if you're unwilling to disclose your age and weight, I would at least suggest the following self-sanity check:

Go to http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ and use the BMR calculator, and then apply the Harris Benedict equation ( http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-ca...dict-equation/ ) to the result.

My advice, based on my own personal experience, is to never eat less than your BMR requirement, and additionally never eat less than 1000 calories per day less than what the Harris Benedict equation says.

Example:

------------------------------
BMR = 2134
Activity Factor = 1.55
Average Daily Calories used = 3307 (2135 * 1.55)
Max safe calorie daily deficit = 1000
Calories burned - max deficit = 2307 (3307 - 1000)
------------------------------
Number to actually use = 2307 (The bigger of 2134 and 2307)

In the past, I found that my intake often fell to 1500-1600 calories a day, because I was never that hungry, and because I don't really like to cook that much. I personally believe this had a negative impact on both my weight loss itself, as well as my athletic performance (wow, it's a trip to even say that phrase in relation to myself. A year ago I was barely able to get off the couch).

For what it's worth, I have never experienced a strong correlation between eating more carbs and better results - it's usually the other way around. Your body is capable of producing all of the carbs you need to survive.

Please don't misinterpret this. I am NOT encouraging you eat less vegetables in any way, just asking you to look at it in a slightly different light - the way I look at it, I try to eat "12-15g of carbs worth of vegetables". I don't eat them because of the carbs, I eat them because they're the most efficient way to get important vitamins that are hard to get in other ways (and the fiber doesn't hurt).


I hope this information helps you (or anyone else who stumbles on this post).
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