weight issues

[wiredragonfly]

the holidays was not kind to my waist line--this frightens me. I have gained 15 pounds since I graduated in 2002 and I need to do a _major_ crash diet. How many calories does it take to exist? (sigh) No, I would not go that far, but I do entertain the thought.

Comments

I'm with you

[buffysedai]

Now that my birthday's passed, I'm making myself get on the ball about getting back in shape. Between stress eating and not being able to exercise for 8 weeks because of my ankle, I've gained 11 pounds since moving here. I'm currently shopping around for a good online support group website because I keep reading it can really help to keep others apprised of your status. Wanna join together? Oh, and here's a formula from my Shape magazine this month to determine how many calories you should eat to lose weight: 1.) Determine your goal weight (to find a healthy number, you can go to Shape.com and choose 'Fitness Calculator' It's free) 2.) How active are you? If you work out: 3-4 x week, designate your activity level a 15. If you don't exercise at all, a 13. If you exercise every day, a 20. 3.)Multiply your # from step 1 by your number in step #2. This is the # of calories you ideally will want to be intaking to lose weight. Subtract this # from the # of calories you now eat per day (say you write down everything you eat one day and find that you normally eat 2200 calories a day, and the formula tells you that you need to intake 1800 calories a day to reach your ideal weight. 2200-1800= 400. So you'd need to work up to decreasing your calorie intake by 400 calories a day, or increase your activity level and readjust the formula. And never ever eat less than 1200 calories per day unless you want to incur damage to your health. I think the Body Mass Index calculator on Shape.com isn't terribly useful, because it doesn't factor in how much muscle mass you have, but it's a start. I'll let you know when I find a good support group.