Calorie Counting - does it help to lose weight?

[Nip]

I really need to lose a stone or two and have just checked online and it says i should have 1200 calories a day.

I have never calorie counted before and would like to know if it works. I was thinking of having 1000 calories a day and seeing if this works?

Nip - if are you brave enough to put your height/weight/age on here I will look up what it says in the GI Jeans diet book (Rosemary Conley). If you eat the number of calories that equals your Basal Metabolic Rate, and do exercise, you will see results quickly. Eating less calories than your bmr is self defeating as your body thinks it's starving and goes into conservation mode slowing down your metabolism. You don't want that to happen as it makes it much harder.

ok...but i'm going to whisper...

TIA chalat

ooh would you look mine up too please? 5 foot 6, 12 stone 7 and 39

Sorry to be away from the pc for so long, work got in the way today

Right! Nip, at 5' 6" your weight is in the healthy BMI range of 20 - 25, (which is between 8 st 12 lbs and 11 st 2 pounds. You are Very Lucky to be 28 as your Basal Metabolic Rate gives you extra calories as you are below 30, can you believe it!! LOL) At 10 and a half stone, you should start your calories off at 1477 per day, which is rather more generous than you planned, eh? When you get to 10 st (I have every faith in you!) then reduce slightly to 1430.

Thunderpants, you are in the same calorie boat as me as I am also the same height and age as you! The Basal Metabolic Rate calorie allowance for your age and current weight is 1492 per day, reducing to 1466 at 12 stones, 1440 at 11 and a half stones, 1414 at 11 stones, 1389 at 10 and a half stones.

Apparently, most people would find it easier to cut calories than to get into doing more exercise. However, exercise is really the key to it all - you eat the calories to match your BMR, and exercise all you can, in all sorts of ways - taking the stairs, doing an exercise DVD, playing ball games with the kids, building more walking into your day to day living, ANY activity, basically. It does work and it means you don't have to starve yourself. The GI Jeans diet is based on foods which have a lower GI rating and keep you fuller for longer. That helps to stop you snacking. If you really want to go for it, get the Ultimate GI Jeans diet book, do the Kick Start diet for the first fortnight (gives really speedy results, though it is a tighter calorie budget of 1200 cals/day, ONLY to be done for a fortnight. After that, go up to the calorie counts listed, because staying at that lower level is hard to maintain and your body thinks it's starving so slows down your metabolism. You DON'T want that!!)

I found the Kick Start helped to sharpen my focus and highlighted all the times in the day I was eating, really pointed out where all the bad habits were in my life........the good news is that it Can be done, it isn't difficult, and discovering my local Rosemary Conley classes was brilliant for me - from 19 st 7.5 in March to 14 st 9.5 this week - that is not a typo!!!!

Thank you so much for this - after the weekend, i'm going to start watching the cal's!

(Feeling a bit guilty now though as i've just had a sausage roll (not from greggs!) and thats 530 cal's!!!!)

Diet always starts tomorrow!

chalat thanks very much. I@m currently doing 1500 a day, so it's nice to know I'm doing the right thing. not sure if 1000 cals of food and 500 cals of alcohol is what the dieticians have in mind, but hey.....

Thunderpants! LOL

Is your H2O intake good too??? Seriously, I hadn't realised just how important the 6 - 8 glasses a day was until we had a talk telling us this:- "When you are dehydrated - even before you start becoming thirsty - your liver has to help the kidneys function and can't metabolize fat as quickly. Your metabolism slows down, causing some unwanted fat to remain. If your body is used to not getting water, it actually stores more in ankles, hips and thighs. In other words, it doesn't trust you to keep bringing water, so it keeps what it can get, like a thirsty cactus. Once it realizes the water will keep coming, your body will get rid of the stores and you'll lose weight!" Tada! Guess it won't harm to try it out, eh?

If you are counting calories, one of those little books of lists and a calculator come in handy - oh and a small notebook to record what you're eating, as dieting can be fraught with episodes of intake-amnesia, LOL

It will work. If you take in less calories than you burn then you will lose weight.

You have to be very carefull that you are eating a balanced healthy diet. Aim towards a diet that you can maitain and continue rather than a quicjk fix and returning to bad habits