Calories vs. Carbs

[JayNo]

According to my BMR I should consume 1800 calories to maintain, which means if I want to lose I need to either burn or cut back around 300 calories a day. Along with walking, I have been starting to count calories and have ben aiming for 1500 a day. I'm still counting carbs of course. The good Doctor's book does not say anything about counting calories. Am I wrong to count them? Thanks! - Jen

[TitianWasp]

It's not quite as cut and dry. BMR describes what you would burn doing absolutely nothing at all. You should do the Benedict Harris formula to figure out what you are using up with your daily life (me, working at a computer, use an additional 1.2 times my BMR of 1430, for instance - which is 1730ish. To lose I need to eat less than that). Once you know what you are really burning daily, you go down from there, typically 300 to 500 calorie a day deficit depending on how much you have to lose. That leaves many people on this board eating exactly at their BMR or just a little over.

[*Emma*]

Its generally during induction that its said "Dont count calories" but as everyone around here will say

Dr A said, dont count calories NOT calories dont count

Whats your AMR at, with your exercise and eveything included.... as i understand it you should always eat at your BMR or slightly above, but not up to your AMR...

I'm sure you'll get some better responses, i struggle with my calories so cant really answer for you.

[JayNo]

Nice! I will google for the Benedict Harris formula.
Thanks a lot!

[LishJustLish]

I'm on extended Induction, and I don't count calories. Because of the amount of protein and fat in my diet, my appetite is self-regulating. I simply eat until I am full and wait until I'm hungry to eat again. I do check my Ketostix fairly regularly to see if I'm still turning purple (in lipolysis), but other than that I believe the book when it says that you will naturally reduce your caloric intake by being fuller longer on less food.

[*Emma*]

Fair enough Lish, if that works for you, GREAT!

You may find further down the line you need to change something up though!

[Hudson]

I would just say that for the early pounds (first 50 of 100) you can just about eat as much as you want provided you keep the carbs very low. However, the lower you get weight wise the more you have to ask yourself: is that enough? Ok, I'm not hungry I will stop. Not always the easiest thing to do. And I have found that I can actually be satisfied when necessary with as little as about 1200 calories.

LC works but at some point you may have to work on only eating enough. "All you want" won't work for most of us. I don't count calories, but I do "ballpark it" and work at controlling the amount I eat. LC works beautifully but not perfectly.

[mitzimarie]

Originally Posted by JayNo

Nice! I will google for the Benedict Harris formula.
Thanks a lot!

Here is a link to find BMR and Harris Benedict Equation...

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/