Hello,
I am a 28yrold Male, my height is 6'2", weight is now 100KG flat. My BMR according to most calculators is about 2440.

I am walking at about 4KPH for 3 Hrs every day (covering roughly 18KM's distance a day), which burns roughly 1500 Calories.

How many calories should I consume each day to maintain weight loss and not put my metabolism into "starvation mode" ???

Anything below -500 of your BMR is considered low enough to trigger starvation mode. So try to keep it above 1,940.

:-)

Also, taking off 500 calories of your BMR burns 3,500 calories on a weekly basis, so you're looking at burning a pound of fat a week if you DID NOT exercise AT ALL, and just lay in bed. If you exercise as well, you'll lose more weight.

WOW. Thats insane, I have been eating only about 1000Cal a day and lost about 6-8KG in 6 weeks. So, eating 2000cal isnt going to slow my weight loss down?

From what I've read in the forums (and I know I wont be saying this perfectly) but when you cut your calories to that point you not only set your body up to go into starvation mode but also will end up stalling your weight loss out completely in the future. Your metabolism will adjust itself to what you are eating now and the exercise you are doing, and your weight loss will slow or stop all together.

I've been reading up on it because I started on my weight loss journey a few months ago and wanted to eat more healthy. I lost weight before by exercising 6 days a week burning 1000 calories each session. Well I figured I'd do twice as good this time if I changed my diet.(more fruits and veggies.. watching portions.. counting cals. Drinking lots of water, no soda etc.) I set myself at 1800 cals a day and was working out 6 days a week. My calories kept getting lower and lower as the weeks passed. I tracked them in a food diary. I got down to 1400-1500 a day and I was forcing myself to eat that because I wasn't really getting hungry anymore. After reading many many threads on here and reading through some diarys I am starting to see that I was starving myself even tho I wasn't hungry. 1500 cals a day - 1000 burned at the gym = 500 to live off of... not good.

Its not an easy thing to realize when you are trying to lose weight that you need to eat more lol. Its a hard thing to balance also. I am still trying to get myself back onto the right path. Listen to the people here, read stickys, ask for advice, and just keep going! We'll all get there

Eh, for the first few days you might gain a bit of weight, but in the long run you'll lose a lot more weight a lot faster if you eat the right amount of calories.

It's hard to wean of off a stable weight loss plan, but it's doing your body damage and it's crippling your success of weight loss in the long run.

Wise up and eat more, I went through the exact same thing you did (except I was eating 800 calories) and one day I just stopped losing weight. Up you calories.

OK We'll I'm 98.8 KG this morning, so I wont say my way isnt working *for now* but with the above advice in mind, I'll try and up the calories gradually over the next week to get to that 2000 in healthy food. Gosh its hard to get my head around eating mroe to lose weight hahahaha!

Damn You pizza and salt and vinegar chips for not being in my "healthy calories" category!

Have you tried the qwave system? It`s a very easy-to-use online application that allows you to calculate calories consumed, tracks your exercises, workouts, diet, and weight loss. You can also measure your physical workload, daily stress reaction and recovery etc. It`s kind of multifunctional gadget. You could read more on qwave.com

Ok, so if I up my calorie intake (still having issues getting my head around this!) then there is lots of talk about healthy foods, not "any" foods...
now I want to clarify some things here just to understand some questions I have on that...

So:

1. If I ate about 1000cal of healthy food during the day, whats wrong with me making up the other half of my required 2000cal daily intake with 1000cal with a bowl of pasta, or 1000cal of Pizza? Calories are Calories arnt they?

2. Why are the people on "The Biggest Looser" eating only 1000cal a day and doing 4-6hrs of extreme excersise daily? By what everyone is saying here, they should be eating much much much more? Why is this conflicting information, can somone please explain?

Im interested in the response to this as well....

Anybody????

And not many contestants manage to keep the weight off when they hit the real world.. Television isn't real... They are trying to get ratings.. 2-3lbs a week isn't ratings worthy..

Yeah but they aren't keeping the weight off because they go back to eating lke shit again once they go home. Not all of them have gained the weight back. I guess its all about your freewill. If you think that you could spend the rest of your life eating like that and working out like that. I personally couldn't do that but hey to each there own right.

So in other words all this about "you have to eat more than 1000 calories" and "starvation mode" is a load of crap?

The biggest loser people have all maintained weight loss consistantly enough throughout the show to prove that its a myth! Lets face it, if the best way to lose weight was to eat 2000 calories and excersise the 6 hours they do each day, then they would be eating the 2000 calories, not just 1000 like they are taught to do.

The real challenge is nothing to do with "starvation mode" as I see it for now (until I am corrected with good reason), it is breaking the habit of jumping back into junk food 24/7 once you've reached the goal weight.

Oh and I've lost another KG over the last 6 days too. 108 down to 99 now. Its been consistant over 7/8 weeks, which once again goes againt this starvation mode theory.

They gain weight as soon as they go back home. If you would like to use them as your example...have at it.

I don't know many people who could just spare 6 hours everyday to exercise unless they worked at a gym or had no job or something.

I don't know how off I am but isn't 108 kg = to 237 or so pounds? You keep losing large amounts of weight right now because you're still kind of beginning. The more you weigh, the more you lose at first. After a while you'll lose less. And then if you haven't been getting enough calories, you go into starvation mode..maybe hit a plateau, then re-read this thread and think "Damn."