Dieting advice

First of all, IGNORE THE SCALE. It makes me crazy when people are slaves to the scale. Losing inches is WAY more important than how much you weigh. Yes, it's easier to judge your successes by watching the numbers drop on the scale initially, but if you're adding muscle, your weight will eventually plateau but you will continue to drop inches. So please....stop weighing yourselves!!!!

Anyway, one thing I like to do when I'm trying to drop a little fat is the zig zag diet. Here's a description:

To Lose Fat Weight:
- Subtract 2 calories per pound of body weight from your daily caloric intake.
- The reduced calories should come mostly from fat calories, and NOT protein.
- This caloric reduction should be applied to all of your 5 meals; NEVER skip meals!
- For example, assuming that you weigh 150 pounds, and you're eating 5 meals per day (highly recommended), you should reduce each meal by 60 calories (total of 300 calories reduction over a full day).
- By reducing your daily caloric intake by 300 calories, you can expect to lose about 2 1/2 pounds of fat per month, assuming you're weight training for muscle mass preservation or increase.
- Increase your caloric intake two days per week by 2 calories per pound of body weight, to ensure that you're getting enough calories to put on lean muscle, and that upward BMR adjustments are being made (called 'zigzag dieting').


So in other words, watch your caloric intake 5 days per week, and then overeat a little 2 days per week. This kicks up your metabolism (BMR = Basal Metabolic Rate).
This lets you eat the things that you like to eat so that you don't feel deprived. I usually am good Monday through Friday and then on the weekends I splurge.

Hope this helps!
P.S. I found this info here:
Zig Zag

Very good advice Ann!

Roughly, a woman's daily caloric intake should be around 2000 calories, men's slightly higher at 2500.

thanks, just needed a guideline

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Posted by Janice

thanks, just needed a guideline

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I usually use this formula:

If you're inactive, multiply your weight by 13. That's the number of calories you should eat to MAINTAIN your weight.

If you're slightly active, multiply by 14.

Active, multiply by 15.

So 150lbs x 13 (if you're inactive) is 1950 calories. Subtract around 300 and that's 1650 calories. It sounds like a lot, but if you eat the proper ratio of fats, protein, and carbs, it'll work. This is the healthy way to lose weight.
You can also adjust if you find that it's not working for you after a few weeks.