Tue, May-13-03, 02:14
|
|
|
|
Plan: Atkins & Schwarzbein
Stats: 234/157/90
BF:56.4%/38.8%/23.9%
Progress: 53%
Location: Orpington, UK
|
|
10 or 12 times what!
Hi Nicole
The 10x to 12 x rule is a guide line of the calories that you should eat and is based on your current weight. However, before you say I'm never going to eat that many calories, read on.
In general the rule is less applicable to those over 250 pounds, because otherwise they will be eating excessive amounts of food a day. It is based on the fact that this is not a low calorie diet and therefore you should make sure you eat enough calories to keep your metabolism happy. Too few and your body will go into starvation mode and weight loss will slow or stop. Go much over 12 times and you will be supplying your body with so much fat that it will meet all your bodies needs and it will have no need to use up your bodies fat resources, so again, no weight loss.
You might be surprised at how many calories your body needs to just keep it going. If you are a member of Fitday look in the activities section. This will show you how many calories your basal level is. You should never eat less than this, because this is the trigger for sending your body into starvation mode. How many you eat above this level is up to you and will depend upon how active a lifestyle you lead.
I am now down to 177 which is still over 80 pounds from my goal. I try to eat around 1800 calories a day to keep me losing weight, which is around 10 times my current weight. As I get slimmer I do need to lower my calorie level to keep the weight loss going.
I hope this helps your confusion. I don't know how many calories you are eating per day, but think you should have a minimum of 2,000 a day at the moment.
|