How many calories on the NHS diet plan?

[lisajane0401]

Hi

Just a general question, are you all sticking to the 1400 calories (for women) or are you going by your recommended calories for your BMI?

There is quite a difference between the two for me. For my BMI is gives a guide of 1600-2000 calories per day.

I'm in week 4 and I've been sticking to 1400 or less per day. Generally I don't feel too hungry but am starting to crave stodgy/carby food more and more. When I tried weight watchers, I was told that eating too little can stop you losing weight too.

Am I doing the right thing but sticking to 1400?

[Salaisa]

I am not an expert, but I would reason as follows: a normal intake for a female is 2000 kcal. If you want to lose 1lb per week, reduce intake by roughly 500kcal, which gives the recommended 1400. However, if you are quite a lot overweight or do lots of sports or (a number of other reasons) and you actually eat much more than 2000, then reducing it down to 1400 may be a huge shock to the system. (I think of the 2000 kcal, generally some 1500 kcal are needed just to keep the body breathing and heart pumping, 500kcal is for extras like thinking and walking and working. So if you have a larger body, you may need more than 1500 kcal for the basic functions. Or if you do lots of heavy work, you may need more than 500 kcal for the extras.)

Hence the recommendation on the BMI page is a bit more specific to your circumstances and I would think it is more accurate. Obviously, as you lose weight, you need to check with that calculator again as with reduced BMI, the recommended calorie intake will also go down. So personally, I would go with the BMI recommendation.

Good luck!

[Lorraine-Mary]

Hi there, I have just started, today. I have given myself an initial target of 1800 calories as I wanted to get in the swing of things, I think 1400 would be too much of a shock for me and I didn't want to fail before I had even started. I think I will gradually get down to 1400 but decided to ease myself in.

Saxgirl6 will have a look at the app you recommend as that sounds good.

[SineadC92 5lbs]

Hi, I asked this same question at first as both the bmi on here and MyFitnessPal said I could have quite a bit more than 1400. I have about 1600, which is the fitnesspal recommendation and I lose weight. I found the NHS bmi calculator really high

[gingernut49]

If I ate 1400 calories a day I wouldn't lose anything. My TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) thefastdiet.co.uk/how-many-... is only around 1400 - and that would be to maintain so it's best to calculate your own.

I lost three stone on the 5:2 diet in six months. It's so easy to do as you just eat up to your TDEE on five days a week, and on two non-consecutive days you eat up to 500 calories, 600 for men. The first couple of fasts are challenging but you soon get used to it and the results are amazing! It's totally free to do and once you've got to your goal weight you just 'fast' for one day a week to maintain - instead of yoyoing it all straight back on again.

youtu.be/W9Aj6hRYg4A(Not working as expected?)