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Yesterday I participated in Hydrostatic Body Fat Composition Testing, results heavily suggesting a caloric intake of 1404 (resting) and an extra 300 when exercising. Generally, paleo's don't calorie count for weight (/fat) loss, but I did find the results to be intriguing. I calorie counted before and found it to be a nightmare. What would your suggestions be in terms of staying at that range, the paleo way? (I hope this post made sense)

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track your food for a week or so and see what 1400 and then 1700 looks like and then just eat like that. – ben61820 May 3 2012 at 21:55
Wow, 1400? How small/large of a person are you? That sounds like such a small amount to me. – A at Grain Free Diet May 3 2012 at 22:28
5'4 / 132 lbs / 30.5% body fat , the "test" calculated that amount for fat loss. Since beginning paleo 2 months ago I've lost 8 lbs on the scale. I'll be truthful, I've got quite a gut going on, so I'm not surprised that it seems so low… Ok, a little. My worry is obsessing over the #'s of the tracking, I hate doing that. – paleono May 4 2012 at 0:22

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Calories do matter and people can experience weight gain on paleo if they overeat. Calorie counting is pretty easy nowadays with a variety of websites/apps that essentially do it for you. Cronometer, Paleotrack, LoseIt, FitDay, etc...

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I'm wondering how they calculate your caloric needs/expenditure from body composition. While RMR correlates highly with LBM, it's still quite variable between individuals. So I like the suggestions above that you might be better to "eat normally" for two weeks and track to see what you're eating now. Then work on a deliberate deficit. Depending on your habits (e.g. do you always eat mostly the same things) it might be as easy as cutting out an egg at breakfast, having 6 oz v. 8 oz, etc. to eat less without obsessing over calories.

I totally understand not wanting to obsess and count, but it is rather easier today with all the tools available. I even know folks who do paleo and/or low carbish with WW points (though apparently some find it difficult with the fat points I hear).

Unlike some other comments, I would say that 1700 cal/day for losing weight sounds like a nice amount. I know few women who will lose on those levels, that's about what I'm maintaining on these days. You're just north of technically "petite". You just can't eat like the big guys!

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1700 calories a day?? Seems a little on the low end...

Download the MyFitnessPal app and start logging your food intake and exercise volume. Regardless everything comes down to what you want your goals are.

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5'4 / 132 lbs / 30.5% body fat , the "test" calculated that amount for fat loss. Quite honestly, I have quite a gut going on, so I wasn't surprised to see how low of a number they suggested. I just hate calorie counting : l – paleono May 4 2012 at 0:23
1700 doesn't seem awfully low when aiming to lose weight. It's not very hard to keep at either if you're eating plenty of fat. – sess May 12 2012 at 14:07
1700 IS low if you're training as well. I've had my caloric intake at this level and with training it's very hard to maintain muscle tone, and maintain at the level. – San Diego Dude May 14 2012 at 16:18
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just my $.02? technically at my weight i should only need 1800-1900 calories (on the online calculators) with exercise included to maintain my weight, but i lose fairly rapidly at that amount of food, and can lose up to 500 or so calories more than that. learn your body and its needs, then you do you! good luck!

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While I don't want to discourage you from counting calories (I myself have enjoyed the process at different times of my life) do know that if you eat fatty meat you're going to have a hell of a time figuring out how many calories were in that 5 ounce piece of meat you just had for dinner. It's very easy to be 100 or 200 calories off in your guesstimate of how much fat was in that steak. Some people try to separate the fat from the meat and compute the calories from the two separately. If you don't like counting calories in the first place you won't enjoy obsessing over how much fat is in something.

And, don't think that the label in packaged meat is going to save you. There have been recent discussions here about calories in bacon. The package label will typically give you a number that won't likely be accurate because it assumes that some of the fat in the bacon is being rendered away and that you're not consuming all of it. How many calories? That's a great question and that's my point.

It seems to me that a better approach to fat loss than counting calories is noting how you feel, how you look in the mirror, and how your clothes are fitting. Rather than count calories in meat in particular you might want to keep consumption of fatty meat to some number of ounces per day while you're in weight loss mode.

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I use LoseIt and love that it tracks my macronutrients as well

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Check out SlimKicker, they turn calorie counting into a game, and they seem geared towards the Paleo Diet. Other good apps include LoseIt!

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