QuestionHi....I am a 31 year old female, 5'4, 215lbs. I would like to loose around 60 lbs. how many calories should I eat daily? I just started back at the gym and I do cardio about 4 times a week for 40 minutes.
Also, I have been cutting back on the carbs for the past week and I weighed myself today and it says I gained a pound. how is that possible? PLEASE HELP!
AnswerHi Courtney Ann,
I can't say how your weight gain/loss may have happened (retaining water from too much sodium, hormones, different scales, etc.) but I wouldn't fret about anything less than 5 lbs.
On to the calories. Definitely between 1600 and 1800 per day, focusing on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and legumes and low-fat proteins. Make sure you keep your sodium intake low as well because that affects weight loss. And, drink loads of water.
It's not about carbs. It's fat. You can take in great carbohydrates, in fact, I urge you to eat complex carbohydrates like barley and oats. They are so important for good healthy. Furthermore, they often contain needed protein, minerals and vitamins.
You should definitely try to increase your cardio to at least 5x a week for between 45 mins to an hour. Additionally, you should be weight training because as we get older, we lose a lot of muscle mass. Plus, it helps to prevent diseases like osteoporosis. You should meet with a trainer at the gym to set up a daily workout for you.
The best advice I can give you is to invest in a heart rate monitor. These are devices that you wear on a strap below your bra line that send signals to a watch that will keep track of your heart rate. In order to make weight loss happen, you must increase your heart rate to a rate that burns calories. We may think we're working harder than we actually are without one. It will completely change the way you work out, trust me on this one.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
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