Can anyone help me understand this? If my RMR is 1850, I should lose weight if I eat less than that on a continuous basis correct? But how much less?

3500 calories = pound of fat.
9 cal per gm of fat; 2.2 pounds = 1 kg; 1000 gms = 1 kg.
so 9 x 1000 / 2.2 = 4000 calories.

Well the trainer I saw said 3500 caloires = a pound of fat....So I'd say between 3500 and 4000 calories.

If you have a RMR of 1800 and eat 1300 then over a week you should be in deficit 500 x 7 = 3500 and have shed one pound. There is a lot of noise around this, so you should weigh after everything has digested AND probably once a week as opposed to once a day.

wrong, wrong, wrong!!! never cut calories to lose weight. that's why they are 'roller coaster diets' ... because you can't maintain the weight loss. I've posted this a few times, but here's what happens in a nut shell: a) cut calories b) body thinks you aren't getting enough food c) metabolism slows down d) you still lose some weight e) you start eating a bit more f) metabolism DOESN'T speed up, but instead stores the extra food as fat g) return to 'a'

You will actually find that people that are having problems losing weight but complain that they hardly eat anything will actually lose weight when they increase how much they eat towards the 'norm' ... the reason that there is a 'recommended caloric intake' is because your body needs that many calories to function normally.

Here's what you NEED to do. Examine the type of calories you are eating and remove useless ones. Try to split up your meals into 6/day with your heaviest meal being lunch, not dinner. You don't need a heavy dinner because you are just going to go to sleep ... calories are used for energy ... but you don't need energy to sleep.

Cardio: do it first thing in the morning before eating ... you won't have any easily accessible calories to burn, so it'll look at your fat stores and protein (muscle). Try not to eat anything for the first hour after your cardio as your body still burns fat even after you stop. If you are worried about losing muscle tone, then your first meal should contain a healthy amount of protein ... shakes are perfect.

Weight train: muscle is the most efficient fat burning mechanism in your body. The more muscle you have, the more fat you will burn.

... longer post than i anticipated, but it sounds like it was needed

i think you should make that post some kind of a sticky somewhere, its perfect in a nutshell!

My doctor told me not to have over 1000 calories a day. That seems low to me......what do you think?

That definitely seems low to me too... Perhaps you should seek out a second opinion, maybe from a nutritionist.

I have a rare liver disease and this was from my hepatologist.

I read in Marya Hornbachers "Wasted" that anything under 1000kcals a day is considered a starvation diet. I think between 1200 & 1400 is safer and you will still lose weight if you exercise also.
Briax

I think your medical condition comes first, but it also may improve with weight loss as a fatty liver is not good either. So I would consult with your liver doctor, as well as regular doctor if you have one as well as some nutrition guidelines to try and strike a healthy balance.

I found that the best way to lose weight was to simply go wholefoods vegan. And when you look at the calorie makeup of a typical Western diet, it's not hard to see why I lost so much weight so quickly and easily by doing so (62 pounds and counting in 20 weeks, with no portion control whatsoever).

Putting it bluntly, people get fat from eating processed foods and animal-based foods in our diet. Meat itself isn't so much a problem (depending on how you cook it), but dairy is basically pretty much pure calories from fat (check out food.com.au and work out calories form fat if you don't believe me).

Anyway, I did a food diary, tallying up where all the calories in my food were, and it was clear they were in tinned, packaged, processed foods and eating out. So I changed to whole grains, whole foods, whole fruits and veggies, and tossed the junk, and found myself dropping through the dress sizes faster than my bank balance could keep up :-) I went from size 18 jeans to size 6-8 (depending on the cut), and lost 11 inches from my waist. And no hunger, no portion control. I go out to dinner occasionally still, and when I do I don't bother counting calories - I just have a good time :-)

Exercise is part of the story, but it's nowhere near even half the picture. Speaking as an ex-State rower, I know a little bit about exercise, and it will increase your metabolism a little, but not a lot. If you want to lose weight without doing anything, dress lightly - your body spends far more calories keeping warm than it will keeping muscle going :-)

The key to losing weight is good nutrition - it always has been, and always will be. Gyms are full of fatties, but you won't find too many fat people who eat great, balanced diets. Get your nutrition right, and everything else will follow.

Actually, that's quite wrong. Your body is burning energy all the time, even when you're asleep. And the part of your body that uses the most energy? The brain! Think on that one :-)

You sound like a gym junkie to me, and gym junkies *love* to overestimate the amount of difference their exercise makes to body weight. But the fact is, the best way to lose weight isn't to hit the gym.

I compared myself to a good friend who became a gym rat about the same time I changed my diet. We both started out borderline obese, back in September. He kept his diet the same, and works like a demon at the gym 5 times a week, plus cycling to work regularly (they live about 20 miles from his workplace), plus other exercise when he can get it.

I changed my diet, and do a bit of walking every day (I have a baby son, so gym membership is out of the question for me).

The verdict? He's lost about 20 pounds. I've lost 62. People say he looks "a little bit thinner". When they see me, they're shocked at the difference.

Recently a friend of mine started on the same dietary changes I made. She started a month and a half ago, and has now lost as much weight as my male gym junkie friend in all the time he has been going to the gym! And she's not going to the gym either!

I think these cases indicate the very real truth that while exercise will *help* lose weight, the real key to success is dietary change.

Actually, I tend to agree w/ CDNBOY....I use the great majority of my cals between 3 and 6. I sit down to have my dinner at 6:30, and go to bed at 10, so I do need a bigger lunch than dinner.

I'm glad you've lost some weight, but Just curious, where do you get your expertise?

If your hepatologist is looking out for your diet, then I would say trust the hepatologist, or call your primary care doctor to check. Most of the recommendations out there are for people without rare liver diseases.
Since we all know we underestimate our calories, chances are when you are counting that you will underestimate and end up eating 1200 calories anyway.

As for the burning fat/ eating less issue: Working out it key for calorie burning, mucle building, motivation, being healthy, and looking better. However, poor eating can ruin any workout routine.

The issue is also different for people with different goals: consider a young male who wants to lose 10 pounds of fat and gain 10 pounds of muscle. He would want to follow Canadian Boy's advice above (minus the part about not eating before or anfer a workout... becuase then he will have no glycogen in his muscles for his next workout and he would get weaker, not stronger). On the other hand: a young man who wanted to lose 100 pounds of fat would want to concentrate on losing mass by eating a little less and exercisng a little more. This man's body is going to lose muscle as well as fat (because that is the way your body does it), so he's going to have to try and minimize muscle loss by doing resistance training, and then continuing resistance training when he is done with his weight loss.

Why is everyone saying 'just diet!' or 'just exercise!', combine the best of both worlds

I have to agree with AllCdnBoy. What he said is my plan in a nutshell. Even though I am only losing 1-2 pounds a week, I am changing my lifestyle and I believe that is the key to losing it and keeping it off. Much luck to all.