Calorie question?
 

Okay, this may sound weird to you guys, but I was thinkin today...say FitDay figures out you can have 1400 calories based on your weight, height, and lifestyle. If you eat 1200-1300 calories daily, will you lose faster? And say you eat 1400-1500 calories daily...will you gain? I was just curious as to where those extra calories actually go? Not for a specific reason, just cuz I am thirsting for knowledge :) I think Im gonna get the Protein Power book from the library just for fun, I like Atkins too much :) Have a nice night!!!

Those sorts of numbers can only be approximate, so being off by 100 calories here or there is hardly going to make a lot of difference. However, the general rule is that if you eat 3500 calories more than what your body expends, you will store one lb of that excess energy as fat. So if it were possible to consistently eat 100 calories a day more than what you expend, it will take 35 days to gain a pound. But given that our activities every day are hardly exactly the same, there is no way to know exactly what your output is so as to know if you have expended more or less, etc. The 100 calories more or less that you are talking about are too much within the margin for error to be able to say anything definitive in response to your question.

Val

In essence what you said should be true, but calories are not the whole story. A calorie is an energy measurement - the amount of energy it takes to raise 1 cm3 of water through 1 C. In our bodies we use fats, carbs and proteins for different things. They are not all used for energy.

You should be eating a little less than what Fitday says your body needs, but never lower than the basal level. If you consistently eat more calories than your body needs, even if you keep the carbs in check, your body is likely to put on a small amount of weight from extra water storage. I've experienced that several times. There is also no reason for your body to use up any of its own resources if you feed it enough in what you eat.

On the other hand, not eating enough is just as bad for you as your metabolism slows and prevents you losing weight.

If you are following a low carb lifestyle and eating excess calories then you are unlikely to put on body fat, just store extra water. You need the carbs to produce the insulin for fat storage.

I hope that this makes sense.

But even Dr Arkins said that if you eat too much, even on his WOR, you will not lose...so I wonder if this is altogether true.. too many extra calories for too long will end up in weight gain...and that won't be muscle or just water (there's a limit to that too). The thing is that a high protein and ad lib fat diet pretty much stops us from eating too much any way, so that is why we are all eating this way!!

I agree VALEWIS. There IS a limit to the calories you can have before you stop losing and eventually start gaining. Yes Atkins does give us more leeway in the calorie department but only to an extent. If I eat way over my caloric needs (roughly 2,700), no matter how I watch my carbs, I'll gain.