Hi Brenda
I'm back from my hols and will look up your stats this evening and reply tomorrow. I assume 138 lbs is where you are at now.

Judy

Brenda

For a female aged 30 to 60:

daily maintenance calories are:

10st
very sedentary = 1627 calories
moderately sedentary = 1763
moderately active = 2034
very active = 2441

9st 7lbs
very sedentary = 1596
mod sedentary = 1729
mod active = 1996
very active = 2395

For weight loss:
deduct from the above:
to lose half pound a week = -250
one pound a week = -500
one and half pound a week = -750
two pounds a week = -1000
more than two pounds not recommended
If you are more than 2 stone overweight, you could start at 1 1/2 to 2lbs a week, otherwise stick to 1lb a week.

Hope this helps. Also that I've got the age range correct. It has columns for under 30 years old, then 30-60, then over 60. I thought the activity level was a bit difficult to work out, but I think I fall within the "moderately sedentary" as, apart from BFL, I'm sitting down most of the day.

Best wishes
Judy

Judy, I don't remember where I read this (darnit!) but if you're exercising in some moderately-intense fashion for more than 2.5 hours per week, you're considered "active", and 4+ hrs per week is "very active". Just FYI.

Have you ever plugged in your activities in fitday? Interesting...although I think it's a little high.

Thanks, Teri. I just don't feel very active as I sit at a desk for 8 hours a day.

But that's good news. Because of BFL, I can increase my calories quite a bit and instead of 1350 (moderately sedentary) I can eat 1550 or more (which I think is for moderately active but I'll check today).

Judy

I was interested in the thread title then as I began reading I noticed that Nat had mentioned my name. I wanted to voice she is absolutely correct. For months I was consuming anywhere between 2200-2500 and was easily able to maintain my weight at 132, doing just 30 minutes of cadio and 15 min of toning and stretching 4-5 days a week. [didnt change my stats from 134 cause I was going to quit smoking] Now then ...I quit smoking March 21 and started restance training about April 10th. The scales said as of about 10 days ago I am up eight pounds BUT my clothes are fitting about the same [for my observations check out my journal] Before resistance training I was quite happy to eat 4 moderate sized meals. I have noticed this past month I am ravenous! I am eating 5 larger meals a day! Im sure my calories are up now to 2400-2900 most days but I dont really think my weight gain is due too much to the fact I am eating way too many calories. [I would dearly love to be content eating 2100 calories a day..lol] I have read a few times then talked to a friend last night about this. In all cases the info leads me to believe that U can experience a weight gain for even the 1st couple months of resistance training, then IF U have weight to lose the scale will move down and if U dont have any weight to lose U will likely drop the few pounds U had intitial gained when U started.

Hey, I called the BFL hotline b/c I was concerned about the same thing. I confirmed with them that body for life is a 40, 40, 20 plan. That's 40 % carb&protein and 20% fat. I go to fitday.com and plan all my meals there. I only want to consume 1500-1600 calories daily so I have 5 meals with 33 gr protein, 33 gr carb, and 7 gr fat. I have lost 1/2 an inch off my waist in 2.5 weeks! Good Luck
Lisa

I forgot to answer this part, yes it will cause weight reduction Sometimes I eat 2200 depending on how hard I train and I am loosing.

Lisa