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Discuss a healthy lifestyle, weight loss goals, or refine exercise routines.
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By JuneStar
#146
I haven't been actively looking to lose weight but lately I was curious about how many calories I am typically consuming. I always thought that I ate pretty decently (not well but not horribly) and so I thought that I could keep an eye on calorie intake and have a better idea of how decently I actually am eating.

I've found that calories are kind of crazy. As an adult female I should be eating somewhere close to 2,000 calories every day. This is what things look like on a typical day for me:
  • Breakfast: 1 breakfast sandwich or 1 toaster pastry - 180-240 calories
  • Lunch: 1 prefabbed bowl of salad or 1 microwavable bowl of a Lean Cuisine meal - 180 - 290 calories
  • Sometimes Snack: - Varies - 180-200 calories
  • Dinner: Varies dramatically, but typically a piece of chicken and some rice - 300 - 400 calories
  • Evening Snack: 1 brownie - 160 calories
So, my calorie from foods each day is about 1300 or lower.

What I think kills me most is my drinks though. I don't drink water, but, instead, I'll have up to one glass of milk a day and then multiple glasses of sweetened tea (green tea or black tea sweetened with honey or sugar). That's, like, 100 calories per 8 ozs (which is about a glass but could be 3/4 of a glass).

So, while I'm not gaining weight I can see why I have some extra weight. This isn't how I've always eaten, of course, but I've been keeping a closer eye on it.

I'm thinking of cutting back with my tea and mixing with water. Like, instead of pouring a full glass of tea, pour 1/4 of water and 3/4 with tea. Then slowly go up to 1/2 tea and 1/2 water. Then 1/4 tea and 3/4 water. I'm not sure if it'll work but I'm thinking it might help a little with lower sugar and calorie intake, which is just generally healthy.
By LittleAmy
#378
You have really good eating habits! Now I'm not a nutritionist but I have some ideas on how you can better measure how you're doing. I'd firstly find out your BMR or basal metabolic rate which you can do here: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ and then you use the harris equation to see what you're at after you activity level. For instance my BMR is 1515 calories and I multiply it by 1.2 because I'm mostly inactive meaning that my total is a little over 1800 and that's what I need to eat in a day in order for my body to function properly.

You eat well and could even add a bit more if you wanted without gaining. The extra weight you may have might be water weight since you said you don't drink a lot of water often or it could be a result of the days where you eat even less because eating 1000 and under sends your body into starvation mode and it clings to everything you are putting in.

I would recommend lots and lots of water and MORE tea! Tea has either no calories or next to none. Green teas and oohlong teas are supposedly good for weight loss but there is really no need for you to water down your tea. Tea is super healhy and awesome! You can still add honey or a little bit of sugar! Just avoid using white processed sugar as that snailpoop's supa terribad.

Please don't take anything I've said the wrong way I'm not trying to say anything negative about you or your habits! When I see calorie counting and a low intake I just get worried. As long as you are healthy and happy it's all good! <3
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By Emily
#5365
Yeah I think my exercise routine hasn't been doing much in terms of losing weight. When I started exercising, all I really wanted to do was lose weight. Six months later, I'm doing the same exercises, increased set, but I weigh the same. :roll: All that's happened thus far was I swapped out fat for muscle, and if I'm trying to be a little girl, it seems counterproductive!

I'd love to try dieting, personally. But the problem is you just can't predict what you'll have to eat during the day, and since I'm out of the house most of the time, in situations in which you can't just count calories, in highly stressful situations a lot of the time that require to be full on food, it makes things quite hard to deal with.

So instead of all that, I instead have a tendency of eating very well on some occasions and just splurging on food for others. Something like a responsible part of me at war with the impulsive part of me that can't plan, when it comes to food.
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By sleepydaddy
#5429
My fitness pal is good for keeping track of calories, I'm sure there are other apps out there too. You have a good diet by the look of it though! As people have said above, everybody is different and some people will require less calories than others so working out what you require is key. For example I have to eat a bit over 3000 calories to maintain my weight but the 'average' is 2500 for men. Exercise level also plays a big part!
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By Emily
#37398
I know this is a really big necro, and I apologize for that, but I just wanted to say that I have some updated information. Recently, I've tried dieting more than exercising, and I've lost 11 pounds. I think the trick is to don't try to diet, rather just try implementing healthier options to your day to day life.

For example, with coffee alone, I learned how many calories are in a normal white mocha, for example. And then I just tried making my own. I like my coffee to be light-brown, almost white, compared to a normal dark brown. And I also have a motto that there can never be anything too sweet. As a result, I used to put in massive amounts of milk and sugar into my coffee. Now, I started trying to be healthier by trying 0 calorie sweeteners. Stevia has been a wonderful thing for me. Ultra-sweet and zero calories. After a few weeks of a concerted effort in trying to lose weight, I eventually realized that Stevia's also not only good for losing weight, but also for taste. In other words, I actually prefer Stevia, even when I'm not actively trying to lose weight.

Over the past few months as well, I got fed up with trying to remember everything that I ate so I started a food journal. I just pulled out a spare journal I had laying around, and entitled it "Food Journal." It's now become a permanent fixture on my desk. Basically, every day, at the end of the day, I write down what I had to eat, try to guess at the number of calories, and then I write down if I got any exercise or not, and if so then how much and what kind. And then I have a third section which is suggestions/notes. In there, I can put if I liked the food, or if it took a long time for them to prepare. So in this case, the food journal is also helping me in other spheres of life, not specifically in helping to lose weight.

One thing in particular that should be noted is sugar addiction. I know I have it. If you're so used to eating sweet foods, chances are going on a diet will be particularly hard for you. Sometimes I might pull out a Snickers bar and eat it, not because I'm hungry, but sometimes because I'm bored. Sometimes simply because it's within reach. Sugar addiction is a real thing though. When I go to my school, I'm convinced that I need coffee to function, so I drink it, and my body craves for more. So I drink more, and it still craves. One day, I tried something. I went to the convenience store, and bought a Hershey's bar. I ate it, and suddenly my coffee cravings were gone. I realized from then on that I'm not addicted to coffee or caffeine, it's all just sugar. So at least when it comes to coffee, you might need to realize that sugar substitutes are not actually the same thing as sugar: your body can tell the difference, but even if it can't, it might still be a good idea to try to move up from four stevias in a coffee to just two stevias. I know I did, and now I feel like my coffee is much more rich in comparison.

I feel obligated to report this as well: coffee has different roasts. If you don't like bitter things but like sweet things, then when you're making a coffee, try for the lighter roasts. Light roast or blonde roasts are the best kind. Panera sells both a Light Roast and a Hazelnut roast, and they're both only 20 calories but taste heavenly. Basically, the darker the roast, the more bitter the coffee. If the coffee is more concentrated, then you need to use more powder/sugar to make it tasteful. You can do with a medium roast, I just don't recommend getting a dark roast. The Peet's at my school only sells dark roasts and they're horrid. As a result, I just bought the required stuff for coffee from the store, and now I've started just making it at home. I got coffee cups, so I can just brew my own coffee and then take it to the school. No hassle.

Traditionally, my coffee is as follows: a few centimeters of concentrated coffee that you can get at Trader Joe's. Two cups of water that have been microwaved for two minutes. Combine the two together (might be too much for a coffee cup, so pour until you feel satisfied with water amount.) Then they sell peppermint extract at Vons, I think. Usually just one drop gives the best taste. Then combined with Stevia, and then there's some chocolate coffee creamer they sell at the store as well. You can combine it all together, and they form a pretty tasty mug of coffee, and it's only 50 or so calories.

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