How much am i SUPPOSED to eat???????

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-04-2003
How much am i SUPPOSED to eat???????
6
Tue, 03-08-2005 - 8:06pm

ok... this is the deal. because i weight 205 pounds and very active it says im supposed to eat about 3100 calories (or soemthing very close to it , it said take ur weight and multiply by 15 if u are pretty active)....which makes me want to scream. then (off of SELF.com) it says u need to cut out 250 cals everyday to lose a pounds a week, i think it said. which is fine, i decided to cut 500 cals off of the 3100 it said i should eat. my prob is that i refuse to eat 3100 calories even IF thats how much my body needs. i think im eating way too much even tho its "what im supposed to have". its driving me nuts to hear about women who eat 2 pieces of toast for b-f, a cup of fruit and a salad for lunch, and then a small sandwhich for dinner and have them say they arent starved, CUZ IF I ATE THAT I WOULD BE STARVED!!!! help me out cuz i have no clue!! i usually eat a small omelet with ham on wheat toast for b-f, a sub for lunch , and a sub for dinner. at most my subs are 500-600 calories, depending what i have on it. thats not a lot of calories considering what im SUPPOSED to be eating. i drink mostly water, although i am trying to drink milk even tho i hate it, so there are a few more calories , but not enough??? i need some help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! any advice would be great!

Jessica

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
Tue, 03-08-2005 - 9:45pm

Yeah, it can be really confusing.






iVillage Member
Registered: 03-15-2004
Wed, 03-09-2005 - 8:55am

I agree that it is awfully confusing to figure out exactly what you're supposed to do. I don't think those formulas take into account the the majority of women have tinkered with their metabolisms with yo-yo dieting, etc. This is what I would do...

Write up a typical day of what you USED to eat. Estimate how many calories you were getting per day. I would subtract about 300 from that number and aim to consume that many calories per day and see how you feel. If you find that you're climbing the walls with hunger, you may need to change the breakdown of what you're eating. I have recently been experimenting with my macronutrients and find that I'm MUCH less hungry and irritable when I'm on a higher protein diet.

Is there a reason you're trying to drink milk? Trying to consume any substance for the sake of a diet is just *not* going to work long-term. You need to be thinking about habits that are going to be sustainable. If you're trying to make sure you're getting enough calcium, there are lots of calcium-rich foods and supplements are available as well.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Wed, 03-09-2005 - 9:32am

i agree with you kel, but also, i want to really emphasize changing what types of foods you eat. (if i were eating bread three times a day i'd be hungry all the time AND gaining weight.) while eating more protein or more fat might make someone more "full" what kind of foods you are eating really make a big difference too.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
Wed, 03-09-2005 - 10:51am

Kel and Jen made good points about the






iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Wed, 03-09-2005 - 11:30am

even if calcium does help with weight loss, i hope no one falls for the old dairy industry trick of equating calcium with dairy. that's what they rely on (very successfully too) to trick the public into thinking that milk is good for you. calcium is undeniably good for you. but there is no evidence that dairy is good for you, and lots of evidence that it is bad for you. there are much better sources of calcium.


as i've said before, i believe that the whole "milk does a body good" thing is the most successful and harmful consumer scam since the public finally wised up to the fact that cigarettes aren't so good for you after all. you know doctors used to promote cigarettes as a way to lose weight too.

Avatar for soleilune
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 03-09-2005 - 5:16pm

I want to add two other things about dairy (bearing in mind that no info is absolute - there's always somebody out there ready to refute it).

First, according to my nutrition studies, of all the animal fats milk fat is the most heavily saturated.

Two, the body uses calcium in the process of breaking down protein into the amino acids, so its possible that the calcium you're getting from dairy products is being negated in the process of metabolising the protein. So why not choose lower fat products? You could but they are higher in lactose - a simple carb.

In the long run there's really no good reason to consume dairy beyond your personal enjoyment of it. Healthwise there are a multitude of far better choices to supply your macro & micronutrients.

Soleilune