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It’s pretty much common knowledge: in order to lose weight, you have to create a caloric deficit over a period of time. Of course, the easiest way to create this deficit is with the combination of reducing your food intake and increasing your activity level.
Fitday says that I need to eat about 2900 calories/day in order to maintain my current weight of 215 pounds. It takes a reduction of approximately 3500 calories to lose 1 pound. So, if I want to lose 1 pound/week, I should aim for a 500 calorie deficit each day. I’d rather lose 1.5 pounds/week and so I will aim for a 750 calorie deficit each day.
But that’s not really the point of this post. My point is this–since I’ve been gaining weight over the last 10 years of my life, I’ve been eating a hell of a lot of calories each day. Also, in order for me to keep gaining weight each year, my food intake has had to increase as well! What the hell was I thinking. 2900 calories a day is a ton of food. Even dropping down to 2150/day is still a lot of food considering the information on food labels is based on a 2000 calorie/day estimate!
J.D.
13 responses so far ↓
1 James Lemoine II // Dec 14, 2007 at 9:06 am
Your weight gain over the last 10 years does not necessarily mean your food intake had to increase over that time. Most likely, your metabolism slowed down, which would mean the same food intake would be like a calorie increase for you… causing weight gain.
Be sure to adjust your calorie intake based on your weekly results… the calorie counters on sites like fitday.com are not accurate for everyone, but only provide a starting point.
2 Tom // Dec 14, 2007 at 9:10 am
2900 seems like a whole lot, but if you’re eating (or drinking!) the “wrong things,” it adds up very quickly.
Since I started paying more attention to what I was eating, I find it’s not the main meals that are the problem, it’s the little snacks that are a problem. Even healthy snacks add up. For instance, a cup of almonds, while pretty healthy, is 800 calories, and not hard to eat without even noticing it.
3 Tim // Dec 14, 2007 at 10:18 am
In Japan, there’s a saying called “hara hachibun.” It means “eat until only you’re 80% full.” I started taking that seriously when my weight ballooned to 40 pounds over what it was after graduating from college. Now it’s a good feeling to go to bed a little bit hungry every night …
4 Dani in NC // Dec 14, 2007 at 10:39 am
Don’t forget about fast food. I can get what seems like a reasonable meal at McDonalds and blow half my day’s calories! The sandwiches in fast food restaurants have a deceptively high amount of calories for their size, at least to me. A McDonald’s chicken ranch BLT sandwich is 600 calories. I can eat a Lean Cuisine chicken panini sandwich that has 350 calories and be just as full. So don’t beat yourself up TOO much :-).
5 Dave // Dec 14, 2007 at 10:52 am
Tom brings up a GREAT point — eating enough almonds (or broccoli or oranges ) for 3 people will not make you 3 times healthier. It’s not just a matter of eating the right foods, which we should all strive for, but it’s also a matter of eating the right foods in smaller portions. When I was in my 20’s I would sometimes by a quart of low-fat frozen yogurt and eat the whole damn thing, because “why not?” yogurt is health food, afterall, so I can eat as much as I want and not feel guilty. This, of course, is a colossal misunderstaning.
6 macdaddy // Dec 14, 2007 at 11:04 am
7 Tom // Dec 14, 2007 at 11:12 am
Running on that same topic, things like broccoli, and other leafy, green veggies are great because it feels like you’re eating a lot more than you actually are. Obviously, it’s possibly to go overboard, but it’s a good deal harder than it is with a lot of other foods, in my experience.
8 TosaJen // Dec 14, 2007 at 11:12 am
Fortunately, you can boost your metabolism by building your muscle mass back up — muscles are HUNGRY.
(I hate you guys — testosterone means it’s easy for you to build lean muscle mass, up your metabolism, and have the weight fly off. Pout.)
9 Eden // Dec 14, 2007 at 11:43 am
I would check another source for calorie info. I questioned the number Fit Day gave me after I tried another online calculator and it came back with something lower. I forget what site I used, but I would try some Google searches and get some other calorie estimates to compare to the Fit Day number.
My first goal was to cut to 2000 calories. That left me hungry for several days, but now I have adjusted. Now I’m trying to consume ‘better’ foods with my 2000 calories.
10 macdaddy // Dec 14, 2007 at 11:50 am
11 Lauren Muney // Dec 14, 2007 at 12:01 pm
I’d recommend that you first start understanding potion sizes FOR REAL versus the calories you see in junk-food meals. You can ‘fill yourself’ with a quality protein, 2 veggies, and a sparkling water meal… thus giving yourself NOURISHMENT which keeps you from feeling hungry later. When you inadequately feed yourself (ie: not enough nourishing foods) but even stuff yourself with too many calories, your body will still signal you to eat - so it can ‘try’ to get real beneficial value from what goes into its stomach.
It’s NOT simply “calories-in/calories-out”. That’s a myth; or at least, that far too elementary a description for the highly developed scientific/biological machines which are our bodies.
What you need is better understanding and a quality plan on HOW you will eat, HOW you will train, WHAT does food do in your body, HOW to make incremental habit changes (so the changes don’t ‘hurt’), WHAT does your particular mind do to scuttle your plans, etc…
You aren’t simply talking about “dieting” here. You, and everyone else looking to make changes to your physiology, mental journey, and emotional makeup, needs to understand how intensive YET FULFILLING it is to embark on this path. No quick fixes. Few chances summing it up easily in blogging laments. It’s about comprehension of all the true factors, mindfulness, making choices, and moving towards your goals…
Once your body adjusts to NOT eating the crap it’s been eating, in the quantities its been [probably] eating, and is allowed to be active, it will WILLINGLY stop poking you with hunger pangs and it will drop pounds. I promise.
12 SR // Dec 30, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Actually, you do not need to be eating more to gain weight over time. Everyone’s body changes and their metabolism slows down as it gets older, so if at 38 you’re still eating the exact same number of calories per day as when you were 28, and you don’t have additional exercise in your daily plan, you’ll gain weight.
13 Lindsey // Dec 30, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Have you seen sparkpeople.com? I used fitday but sparkpeople has a snazzier interface.. Plus you can see weekly reports of your calorie intake/workout minutes/weight tracking. I like it. This is sort of off topic but I wanted to recommend a heart rate monitor for your exercise. I know it can sound a little “workout pyscho” but they are great. When I first started exercising, I was so out of shape that I’d wear myself out in 15 minutes… with my Polar monitor I found out I was wayyy above my target heart rate, because I was so out of shape! But it can track how long you’re working out, your heart rate, and the calories burned. Pretty nifty! I love your money blog and will now be following this site too. Good luck!
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