New & Need Help with Calories & Macronutrients page

[Stephrocks73]

Hi All,

I have spent the past month and a half getting off of the Standard American Diet for weight loss, to manage arthritis & fibromaylgia. I started eating primal 4 weeks ago and finally was able to get the Primal Blueprint last week. I realize now I was not getting enough calories as I was utterly exhausted for the past 4 weeks. I was taking in between 900-1300 calories a day eating primal but just not getting enough nutrients. Now that I have read the book and have been keeping my carbs below 100gr and increased my protein and fat & I feel so much better! However, I dont want to be taking in too much as the book says. I need help understanding just how many overall calories I need on average to lose weight & the grams of fat & protein I need to be taking in each day. I have read page 249 a couple times and I just cant figure out what I need. Help?

Here is some info about me:
Female age 39
Weight: 171lbs
Height: 5ft
Moderately active

[noodletoy]

is your job sedentary? do you drive everywhere? do you exercise at all? what's moderately active?

you're very small in stature, so won't need as much as a 6 ft dude.

i am 47, and 5'2". i eat about 1500 cals per day, with 60-70% fats, but you need to find what works for you through trial and error.

[Stephrocks73]

My job is very sedentary, I work at a computer all day. I walk, bike, or jog 3-5x a week for at least 1 hour. I also am doing weight training 1-2x per week.

[sbhikes]

I think at the beginning you should just try to eat enough to not be hungry. It's likely that you will lose weight pretty easily at the start just from the diet change. Of course, if you have a binge eating issue, this might not be the best advice. But if you don't, just eating enough to not be too hungry between meals will probably work okay. Otherwise, there are some online calorie calculators. You can search for "how many calories should I eat". Try a few out and see what the consensus is.

[noodletoy]

i'm sorry, but an hour of being mobile each day is not moderately active. at all. that's sedentary. be careful with the on-line calorie recs, especially if they ask you to plug in how much per week you'd like to lose.

eat primal, get moving, don't undereat, but don't gorge.

[Lawyerchick12]

I am 5ft 1ish and have to eat 1100-1400 a day to continue losing. I also have a job that for the most part I am sitting down as well but try to get in some form of walking/zumba an hour 5x a week. I would consider myself to be sedentary. I think if you keep the carbs low, increase the fat to 80g at least and moderate the protein you would lose.

What is working for me right now is Very Low Carb-ing with High Fat. So I eat about 50g protein when I do not work out and 65g when I work out, between 30g carb when I do not work out and 60g when I workout (I do light cardio might have to adjust depending on intensity) and 65-80g of Fat a day. Working for me so far. Good luck!

[Stephrocks73]

Thanks lawyerchick12! That's really helpful!