starting a meal plan, need some links

[nubbie]

So, I have decided to start some sort of meal plan. Tracking everything I eat in an attempt to loose weight / fat. Does anybody have any good links for me to start at?

As for calories, what should my daliy intake be? I heard 2000 cals is average.

[sleepyguy]

all depends on your height and current weight.

also jumping right into a meal plan isn't always the greatest start imho... sorta like going cold turkey if you know what i mean.

I think just substituting your bad eating habits with good alternatives is a good start... ie. fruit/veggies instead of chips. water istead of pop. small multi meals instead of 3 large ones. you'll notice soon enough.

encorporate a fitness routine in there is very important as well... also as i've always said... diets don't work... lifestyle changes do.

So, I have decided to start some sort of meal plan. Tracking everything I eat in an attempt to loose weight / fat. Does anybody have any good links for me to start at?

As for calories, what should my daliy intake be? I heard 2000 cals is average.

[civ@uw]

Tips for someone who will be living away from home in 4 months, having to cook on their own for the first time are appreciated. :)

I'm just starting to get into shape as well, and I think changing my entire diet completely is worthwhile. My current diet is lacking in vegetables (I'm a picky eater :( ). Learning to cook in the process is a nice bonus too.

[nubbie]

all depends on your height and current weight.

also jumping right into a meal plan isn't always the greatest start imho... sorta like going cold turkey if you know what i mean.

I think just substituting your bad eating habits with good alternatives is a good start... ie. fruit/veggies instead of chips. water istead of pop. small multi meals instead of 3 large ones. you'll notice soon enough.

encorporate a fitness routine in there is very important as well... also as i've always said... diets don't work... lifestyle changes do.
True, and that's the plan. I checkout the pinned topic in the forum, it has some awesome info.

[Big D]

So, I have decided to start some sort of meal plan. Tracking everything I eat in an attempt to loose weight / fat. Does anybody have any good links for me to start at?

As for calories, what should my daliy intake be? I heard 2000 cals is average.


I've always liked the Calorie King - Diet Diary. You can download it here (http://www.calorieking.com/software/ckdietdiarywin.php) but it's $45 for the full version so I'd suggest you try the free 7 day trial to make sure it meets your needs.

Personally I find this type of thing most useful for people who really don't know what they're consuming. It has a nice tool to breakdown the nutritional components of your meals (fat/calories/vitamins/minerals etc.). I found it really made me think about what I was putting in my mouth. Once you get the hang of thinking about it....you won't need a tool like this.

[poedua]

So, I have decided to start some sort of meal plan. Tracking everything I eat in an attempt to loose weight / fat. Does anybody have any good links for me to start at?

As for calories, what should my daliy intake be? I heard 2000 cals is average.

sleepyguy makes some good points. I'd add the following.

The question of how many calories you should be taking in during the course of a day is an important one. It'll help you figure out a solid strategy on which to either sustain a current weight level , gain or lose weight. It'll also - give you some idea as to how an balance your diet in terms of carb, fat and protien intake....and if you read enough of these threads, the issue of much protein you should be taking each day always seems to in the background ( i.e protein shakes, bars etc. ). Let's assume you're 175 lbs.

Quick and dirty method: ( 2,670 calories ) ( Found this a book I've read and noticed it cited on the web in a few places ). I usually stick with 15.25 ( below )

- Very Light Exercise..................Multiply your weight in pounds by 13

- Light Exercise .......................Multiply your weight in pounds by 14

- Moderate Exercise..................Multiply your weight in pounds by 15.25

- Moderate-Heavy Exercise .......Multiply your weight in pounds by 16.5

- Heavy Exercise......................Multiply your weight in pounds by 18

So, if you're 175 lbs. and moderately active, it's 15.25 x 175 ..which is 2,670 calories.

The RMR Method : ( 2,625 calories ) ( Got his from a nutrition book ) RMR stand for your Resting Metabolic Rate . RMR is the number of calories you need to simply exist - breathe, pump blood, etc.

1. Find your RMR. Take your weight and multiply by 10 calories per lb. bodyweight. Say you're 175 lbs. 175 x 10 calories = 1,750 calories RMR

2. How many calories for " normal " ( non- exercise ) daily actvity : This getting up, going to school/ work, shopping, etc.

Sedentary ................20% - 40% RMR
Moderatley Active.......40% - 60% RMR
Very Active ...............60% - 80% RMR

Say you're moderately active ( assume 50% RMR ). 50% x 1,750 RMR = 875 calories. Now you're total is up to 1,750 RMR plus 875 for moderate actvity for a total of 2,625 calories. You'll notice 2,670 ( from the quick and dirty method ) and 2,625 are almost the same.

3. Find the calories for your exercise : Try as best you can to figire out how many calories your activity takes..i.e 30 minutes or weights, 30 minutes of cardio, 1 hour of hockey etc. For example, if 30 minutes of cardio needss 350 calories ...add 350 calories to 2,625 and you get 2,975 calories.

Gain/ Lose Weight: Remember that adding an additional 3,500 calories to your diet will add 1 pound of fat to your body - and losing an additional 3,500 calories in your diet will drop 1 pound of fat from your body. That is 500 calories a day to add or lose a pound in a week( 3,500 calories in a week / 7 days )

A good rule of thumb is to adjust your total calories up/down 20% to gain/ lose fat.

Want to gain weight ???........ Say your total as above is 3,000 calories. Eat more and bump up your calories by 20 % ...3,000 x 20% = 600 calories a day. With an additonal 600 calories a day you'll gain a pound in less than a week.

Want to lose weight ??? ........Eat less, do cardio, do weights and burn off / reduce your calories by 20 % ...3,000 x 20% = 600 calories a day. With an additonal 600 calories being lost a day you'll lose a pound in less than a week.

Track Your Calories: The post by Big D is a good one. You need to become savvy about serving sizes and exactly how many calories you are putting in your mouth each day...these tables will also tell you how many grams of protien carbs and fat your taking in.

Take some time and check out the calories in a sub sandwich, glass of milk, can of tuna, a hamburger, fries, a pizza slice, a muffin, a can of Coke, chocolate bars, an apple, eggs, protien shakes, iced cappuccino etc. etc. ...you'll be surprised :)

[poedua]

Tips for someone who will be living away from home in 4 months, having to cook on their own for the first time are appreciated. :)

I'm just starting to get into shape as well, and I think changing my entire diet completely is worthwhile. My current diet is lacking in vegetables (I'm a picky eater :( ). Learning to cook in the process is a nice bonus too.

Get a Foreman Grill...these things and amazing ( and small ) and great for chicken, burgers, grilled cheese etc.

[nubbie]

poedua:
Your full of awesome info, I take its your profession?

Anyways, what my plan is for now is to start a food log and document everything I eat. I have also started running, and considering going the running room.

After a few days / weeks I'll share my info and go from there.

BTW: 28, 5"11. 200lbs. Don't consider myself fat, but would like to slim down.

[nubbie]

more info:

So following your chart above, my body requires 3050 calories a day. The plan it so loose fat, which you say is 500 calories a day.

If I run for 30 mins, that burns 350 calories. 500 - 350 = 150 left to burn. So could I just not eat the 150 calories that day?

Hope that makes sense.

[poedua]

more info:

So following your chart above, my body requires 3050 calories a day. The plan it so loose fat, which you say is 500 calories a day.

If I run for 30 mins, that burns 350 calories. 500 - 350 = 150 left to burn. So could I just not eat the 150 calories that day?

Hope that makes sense.

That's pretty much it .

You need to drop 3,500 calories to lose 1 pound of fat. If you want to drop a pound a week - dropping 500 calories a day for 7 days does it.

You're correct, if you burn 350 calories A DAY running ...all you need to do to drop your calories rom food by another 150 calories a day. .

One word of caution - 30 minutes of running burns different amounts of calories depending on your weight and your intensity ( run pace ) ...so try and be as sure as you can be, about how many calories your 30 minutes of running will burn...it might be 150 calories ..it might be 350 caliores ...it might be 500 calories in 30 minutes.

And - don't trust the displays on treadmills / elipticals for an accurate calorie burn estimate. If the machine asks you to enter in your bodyweight, and let's say you want to run till the machine says 350 calories are burned, what i sometimes did was to enter in 20-25 lbs below my actual weight to compensate for any inherent error threre may be in the machines's calculation of calories burned.

[poedua]

poedua:
Your full of awesome info, I take its your profession?

Anyways, what my plan is for now is to start a food log and document everything I eat. I have also started running, and considering going the running room.

After a few days / weeks I'll share my info and go from there.

BTW: 28, 5"11. 200lbs. Don't consider myself fat, but would like to slim down.

Not my profession at all...my backgroud is in finance and consulting.

Sad to say, fitness/ training is just a side hobby I've devleoped from spending way to many years in the gym :)

That, and I've collected a lot of fitness / weight training books over the years as well - mostly, to help me figure out where and why I'm going wrong in the gym.

[nubbie]

Thanks again for the info. I hear what your saying about running 30mins. I actually plan to increase this to 45mins - 1hrs, as soon as I'm able to.

[poedua]

Thanks again for the info. I hear what your saying about running 30mins. I actually plan to increase this to 45mins - 1hrs, as soon as I'm able to.

Keep in mind..it isn't so much how long ( minutes ) you run, but how HARD you run....intensity is important.

You can stay at 30 minutes , or even drop to 20 minutes if you run at a faster pace , or stay at the same pace and 30 minutes but raise ther treadmill incline level to increase intensity ...ore better yet, do interval training.

A good rule of thumb when doing any training........it's always better to train smarter and harder...not longer ( i.e 45 minutes ) !! :)