Here is my question: How many calories should I take in. I have heard 10-12X your weight. So does that mean a person that weighs 150lbs should take in 1500-1800 cal per day?Should you stay at the higher end or in the middle?Thanks for the help.Lynn

Here’s the link:

http://www.voicenet.com/~petrizzi/fitness/ckdcalc.html

This will outline what you need on the ketogenic phases, as well as what you need on the supercompensation phases (carb-up)

you know what, I'm gonna make this a sticky ...

There is lots of great info in this link. Thank you again Lynn

Thanks for the link Dan.

My percentages look good comparing fat/protein/carbs.

but i am only half ways to my calorie goal and i only have two meals left. Guess it might be time to break out the Macadamia nuts.

I was over 300 calories short today and had 28 grams of carbs

my percentages were 67% fat, 30% Protein and 4% carbs

still not getting enough calories.

10 calories per pound = 2600-2700 at my current weight.

I took 2300 in.

that equals about 8.5

is that too low?

From what I've read anything below 10x your body weight will slow your metabolism, but only after an extedned period of it.

Dan Duchaine says that you can shave 10% off your calorie intake to lose more weight. so if you were supposed to have 2700 calories a day, 2430 would be your ideal caloric intake. According to the book. This is all my interpretation of what has been said around here, so take it with a grain of salt.

The CKD calculator thingy tells me 3000 calories a day is my ideal caloric intake. My first 2 weeks I only took in 1900-2300 calories a day. And I lost 2 inches of my waist. I expect that if I continue that I'll hit a wall. Last week I used protien powder and heavy cream to get my calories up there but I think the lactose ruined my week cause there was no change in my weight, or very little, not even the normal fluctuation.

when I am short on calories, I know its sounds terrible, I usually grab some cooking oil, all I have is canola, but I've ordered flaxseed which is supposed to be ideal. Anyways I usually have 1-3 tablespoons of oil every other meal and that little bit gets you up there. If I am short at the end of the day I will goto that horrible thick jug-o-oil and drink up...blech.

hehe i ate some cream cheese and put extra butter on my green beans tonight to try and raise my calories.

I think i will have to check into the flax oil.

Dan,
The calculator page is a bit off, especially for us larger folks. No way could I eat 5300 calories per day. Also, the body fat estimation is way off too. I estimate myself that I am about 55% BF, while the tool gave me 29%. That's a bit of difference. So warning to all, be careful if you are not normal sized and using automatic calculators, they are not real accurate and may get you off in wrong direction.

Regards,
Lux

I used different input values on that page.

I artificially inflate my waist size so that the fat percentage looks more reasonable. if i use my actual waist it says 29%, i dont feel that that is accurate, so i increased my waist until i got a value closer to 40%. I am gonna be really unhappy if i get my fat percentage calculated with calipers and it comes out close to 30%


Next i decrease the calories per day to 10 cals/lb. 12 is just way too many.

also i decreas first days carbs to 8g /LBM and second day carbs to 5g/LBM.

I reduced those numbers since my goal is to burn fat as quickly as possible. So far it seems to be working.

I just don't understand how you guys are having such a hard time getting your calories high enough. Before starting this WOE, I regularly took in over 5000 calories a day (500g-600g carbs) and was still hungry. Now, keeping my calories around 10-12 (around 1250 calories) times my weight is killing me. I have been starving for the last 3 months!!!)

(BTW, I didn't gain weight on the high calorie, high carb WOE and I am not losing on the low calorie, low carb WOE. How is that possible when I am eating 4000 LESS calories???)

I just can't believe that you guys aren't starving let alone having trouble getting in enough calories! I wish I had your problem.

my problem is getting the "right" calories.

I could do 10,000 calories no problem but they would include way too much fat and too much bad stuff like fructose.

yall take a look at my ratios:

FAT: 70%
Protein: 25%
carbs: .4%

1125 cals of protein
3355 cals of fat
20 cals of carbs

281g Protein
373g Fat


Does that look about right.?? Is it too much fat

While ratios are a good way to check balance of Calories, they don't provide a method to get to what your intake needs to be in the first place. Now there are a whole bunch of Models that can help you get to a number. The following is the one I used, there could be better ones, I don't know, the one I am using is working for me presently.

Step 1 - Determine your Basal Metabolic Rate. This rate is the number of calories required to keep you at your current rate. There are several BMR models, I come to believe that the Harris-Benedict Model is representative of my body. The following is a link to page that will calculate your BMR:

Harris-Benedict BMR

Step 2 - Given this number you now can adjust your BMR for factors such as activity rate, your own metabolism characteristics, stress, etc. For me I gave myself a + .3 for working out but a - .2 because currently my metabolism is fairly slow. The end result is to take the BMR number and multiple it by 1.1. My Adjusted BMR number was 3391 x 1.1 = 3730

Step 3 - Determine how much you want to lose per week. Experts indicate that a slow, steady weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week is preferred. While you may experience faster loss rates at the begining of an LC plan, these typically level of by the 4th week.
In my case 2 pounds per week is my goal loss rate. For each pound of weight loss per week you need to subtract 500 calories per day. This mean either expending 500 more calories per day or eating 500 calories per day less. So in my case I take the Adjusted BMR from step 2 and subtract 1000 (500 calories per pound per day x 2 pounds per week). My Target intake calories was 3730 - 1000 = 2730 calories per day.

Step 4 - Back to ratios. Now guidelines suggest anywhere from .6-1 gram of protein per pound of Lean Body Mass is recommended. For people doing resistance training I've heard the recommended minium is 1 gram Protein per pound of Lean Body Mass is the target. So my Protein intake at 200 pounds LBM is 200 grams, which is 800 calories. Taking 2730 - 100 carb calories(25 grams x 4 cal/gr) - 800 Protein Calories = 1803 Calories from fat or 1803/10 cal/gram = 180 grams of fat

180 grams fat = 1800 calories fat = 66%
200 grams protein = 800 calories protein = 30%
25 grams carb = 100 calories carb = 4%

Hope this helps,
Lux

Thanks Lux!

Very useful indeed - straight and simple!

I've added the website to my favs - a nice complement to Fitday too!

Good info all around here -besides good people! So happy I found the Active Low-Carber Forums!

Have a great day all!

That calculator says at the most, I'd need 1680 calories for maintenance and 1000 to 1200 for weight loss. Anytime I have less than 1800-2000 (depending on what exercise I did that day), I am tired and hungry. Also, fat loss occurs best for me with my calories at 1500 to 1600.

The good thing about that calculator is that is says I am at 17% body fat - - I wish! Oh wait. If I'm wishing, I wish for 14% or whatever the lowest healthy number is for women.