Hi my name is lisa and i really need to lose just over a stone.

Ive been looking at the boards checking out ww and sw, which are all explained quite clearly how the plan works, but reading through the posts for rc im very confused, do you count calories or fat or both? How do you work out how many calories you are allowed, everyone seems to have something different!

I cant go to class as i moved to cyprus last september, so could somebody please give me a clear explanation of how it works and what i would be allowed, im 5"5  43 years old and 10st 10.

Many many thanks

Lisa.

Hi Lisa
Welcome to the board.

I have never been any good at counting calories myself. I prefer the watching fat method which works for me. There are many different ways of following the programme, for me, I have used the books, firstly the Hip and Thigh Diet then later the Beach Body Plan and GI Jeans Diet. I don't follow the plans to the word, but use them as a guideline and found the forbidden foods list a great help in the first book. Sometimes there are things on the menus such as ready meals or prepacked sandwiches which should be less than 5% fat. This is what I try to stick with when I am following the diet.

The GI Jeans diet has a 2 week kick start plan, which I think is the same in the classes, this is 1200 calories. After that, you move on to the main diet which is based on 1500 calories. The book has a table in it to calculate your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) which shows how many calories you would need to consume to remain at the same rate in an inactive state. This is based on your current rate and age.

I can recommend the books as I have found them very useful, they have plenty of success stories in them too which I find very motivating. I haven't tried the magazines and am not sure if they have enough information for you to start off or not. I hope someone else can give some input there. Can you order a copy of a book online?

Feel free to ask any questions.

Ana

Hi ana,

Thanks for your reply, just a couple more things, when you count the fat content is it 5% of the whole meal or 5% per 100 grams?

Also sfter the first two weeks of 1200 calories you say you use your bmi to work out your next calorie allowance, wont that just maintain your weight or do you then deduct some caslories from that figure?

Im not usualy this dim, but this doesnt seem to be going in!!!!!!!!!

Many thanks

Lisa.x

Hi Lisa

it's 5% of the whole meal which is the same as 5g per 100g.  Some parts of your meal can be more than 5% on their own, but as others will be less, it is the total percentage for the meal you need to look at.

The main part of the diet is based on BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) rather than BMI (Body Mass Index).  If you ate the required calories for your BMR and stayed in bed all day without any movement or exercise, you would maintain your weight.  As soon as you add movement, you are burning more calories than you have consumed.  You should be aiming for around 20 minutes of exercise 3 or 4 times a week - not sure the exact amounts ATM, as I am fairly active anyway.

Does that make it any clearer?

Ana