Weight Watchers, Not Enough Calories?

Hi,

I've been on Weight Watchers almost 2 weeks now. I joined online and got the information, but then canceled and have following it on my own. I'm a woman, 43 years old, 5 ft. 3 in and weigh 133.

According to Weight Watchers I'm entitled to 18 points a day. That was fine last week using the Weight Watchers website that only tracked my points, but this week I was using a free site that tracks points and calories and I was surprised at how low my calorie intake was.

For example today I've had 21 points so far, 3 over my allowed amount, but I'm only at 948 calories. I do want to lose a little weight, and the WW plan is easy to follow, but isn't 948 calories way too low? Shouldn't I get at least 1200 calories? I'm thinking maybe I should forget Weight Watchers and just count calories instead. Please advise.

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Answer:

According to my calculation (based on your height, weight, and age), your metabolic rate is right around 1200 calories per day, so you definitely should not eat less than that amount. In addition, it's just plain hard to get all the nutrients you need when eating too few calories.

If calorie counting is something you're willing to do, it's certainly an appropriate weight loss approach. If you don't already know about it, My Food Diary is an online calorie counting resource that I really like (it has a database of over 65,000 foods) and many of my clients use.

If you need help figuring out how to distribute the calories (i.e. how many should come from carbs, protein, and fat), please contact me to set up a phone appointment. Good luck!