My Calorie Needs in a Nutshell

Just a general guide to show how I calculate my calorie needs each day:

You start with your "Resting Metabolic Rate" RMR for short. You calculate this by taking your weight and multiplying by 10. Everyone is individual and will need to keep that in mind, some people burn more, some less, but this is a great place to start in trying to figure out your own caloric needs. Also, even though your weight starts going down, you may still be burning more because of building muscle, but generally it's good to stick with this calculation unless you're starting to feel fatigued in general, then you *might* be suffering from a genuine need for more of the right kind of calories. Listen to your body, *you* will know when something is wrong.

My RMR is 1650 this week. As I lose weight I will need to adjust my calculations.

The next thing you'll need to calculate is calorie burn from regular daily activity. This is called DAB for short (daily activity burn). You calculate by multiplying your RMR by either 10% for sedentary activity, 20% for moderate activity, or 30% for high activity.

Some days I am 10%, others 20%, so calculate daily as necessary and will also adjust as my RMR goes down with my weight :D

Next I get to calculate a circumstantial calorie burn (which is awesome!) for breastfeeding my 7 month old son :D. Breastfeeding on average burns 300-500 calories per day, so I average it out to 400.

Breastfeeding a 7 month old, full time = 400 calories on average

1660+200+400=2260 for my total calorie burn. This does NOT include exercise calorie burn, but we'll get to that later.

QUALITY of calories count as well!

I am mostly concerned about HEALTHY FATS (and my definition of healthy fats is far from average, please visit HERE for some more info) and protein intake. I'd like to keep my carbohydrate intake below 125g daily.

I need to start creating a calorie deficit, either through eating less or through exercise. I hope to start with exercise :P cause I like eating a little too much.

3500 calories = 1lb

each 3500 calorie deficit = 1lb lost!

Hey, ho, let's go!