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Mom2my3angels
07/20/09
hi there, i am a 35 year old woman of 3 kids, I work out 3 times a week and try to get in walks when the weather ins't in triple digits. I have been doing this for about 3 weeks and it doesn't seem to be working. I lost weight with weight watchers years ago but i think the calorie intake is too low for me. I did what my trainer told me and took my weight and multiplied it by 10 to get my resting calorie intake and it isn't working for me. any input would be nice.
Tdavis
07/21/09
The following is an excerpt from the NetDiary Dietician (Kathy) in a post to the general forum. "When calorie intake is too low -
This might apply to all of you given the nature of your questions and descriptions. When calorie intake is too low to sustain the caloric cost of basic bodily functions at rest (basal energy expenditure), then you can bet that your body is going to fight to conserve energy. Evolutionarily, this is what allowed us to survive as a species during famine. It is likely that your body will burn both body fat and muscle for fuel, but with lower intensity levels, a preference for using body fat.
I would recommend that you not ingest fewer calories than your basal energy expenditure.
The Harris Benedict Equation is a well known and often used equation that predicts basal energy expenditure. You can access a calculator by using Cornell University's Medical Calculator: http://www-users.med.cornell.edu/~spon/picu/calc/beecalc.htm
Be sure to enter the correct unit of measure for your height, weight, and age. Also, choose "no stress factor" and "ambulatory". Here are the formulas if you choose to do the math by hand. Remember, these formulas are for basal energy needs, not for total energy expenditure.
NOTE: Weight in pounds/2.2 = weight in kg, Height in inches x 2.54 = height in cm, Age is in years
For men
66.5 + (13.75 x kg) + (5.003 x cm) - (6.775 x age)
For women
655.1 + (9.563 x kg) + (1.850 x cm) - (4.676 x age)
Example: 5"6' (167.6 cm), 137 lb (62.3 kg), woman of 47 years
Harris Benedict Equation = 1341 Calories
Given this information, I would not dip below an intake of 1350 Calories."
I found that this worked for me as far as figuring out what my "net" cal intake should be. Hope that helps.
new...may I join
