I am going to base my eating plan on portion counting rather than calorie counting but I would like an idea of a rough amount of calories to aim for on a daily basis. When I go on to the NHS BMI calculator it says I should eat 1970 - 2530 per day. When I go onto my fitness pal it says 1390 (which seems pretty low to me). When I stuck to a 2200 calorie diet I lost around half a pound each week (would like to lose a little faster if possible). That said I wasn't doing a huge amount of exercise when on the 2200 kcal plan.
My dietician suggested a 2000 - 2200 calorie plan with 45-60 minutes walking 5 days a week. What do you think to this? I'm wondering if it's low enough having seen the my fitness pal recommendation and given I didn't lose much weight last time?
Suggestions as to what you would recommend as a good calorie range each day?
I think what your dietician says this should be fine. I don't worry about what MyFitnessPal tells me to eat it tells me to only eat 1200 Cals but my bmi is telling me around 1350 to 1750 and is helping me lose weight. I tried to do what MyFitnessPal said to start with and was losing nothing. I was told to follow between my bmi and I started losing around 1lbs a week. I have had the occasional stick, 3lbs and 2lbs loss as well. I have also put on 1lbs once as well, but that is what happens to us all at some point. Doing the exercise should give you more of a boost than you got before. Dietitians have to deal with a lot of people and if they never got anywhere it wouldn't be their job. I can understand you want to lose it faster as everyone does want to. Losing it slower though will more than likely help you more by changing your ways altogether and stop you from regaining the weight afterwards as you probably won't enjoy the sweet stuff quite the same after a while. Good luck with whatever you decide though!
I think it's not just the amount of calories you eat but the type of calories; if most your calories are coming from fresh healthy produce like fruit, veg, salad, beans, seeds, nuts etc you'll go really far and find you will probably lose a good amount of weight (especially at first) and you'll feel satisfied for longer and feel great as you feed your body all those lovely nutrients.
I'm trying to eat more now too and I guess it will take a few weeks to notice anything but I have nothing to lose I think, especially as most of my foods are fruiit and veg and I'm trying to include nuts etc
I’d follow the calorie ranges provided by your dietician and the BMI calculator, since they’re both more likely to be in keeping with your daily requirements, based upon age, weight, height and level of activity.
By keeping calories in the 2000-2200 range, you’ll be creating a large enough calorie deficit to encourage expenditure of calories from fat, but still eating enough to ensure that you don’t hungry, while also ensuring that metabolism continues to fire.
A daily deficit of around 300Kcal, plus additional expenditure through activity should hopefully ensure that you lose 1-2lbs per week. If fitness levels allow, simply aim to ensure that walks remain brisk throughout, ensuring greater calorie expenditure.
Follow your dietitians advice but you need to remember that not all calories are equal. Different food stuff will have a different impact on your body. It's a little bit trial and error, that's why it's so important to record what you eat in the first few weeks and see what's working for you. Definitely take time to walk/exercise as your dietitians advises, this will build important lean muscle plus there's lots and lots of other health benefits. Good luck and keep posting xx
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