How many Gross calories are you eating to lose? and Are you upping your calories as you lose?

Kim55555

Hi

I havent seen one of these topics for a while so I thought i'd create a new one. I've noticed as I've lost the weight since last August, that I've been increasing my Gross calories. How about you? So i'm curious to see what everyone else is doing.

So if you copy and paste the below.

Age - 42
Height - 5 foot 2
Starting weight August 1 - 66 kg (145 lb)
Todays weight January 17 - 59.3 kg (131 lb)
Newest low weight January 9 – 58.4 kg (129 lb)
Goal weight – 17 - 20 % bf - Approx 57 kg (125 lbs)
Exercise 3-4 intense running speed & sprint sessions, 1 bike ride, 2-3 weights (heavy lifting)
NEAT - My job - When on full duties I'm on my feet a lot. Currently I'm on light duties and sitting more so I (slow) walk at lunchtime for 30-45 mins to help boost my NEAT calorie burn. I dont consider my lunch time walks as exercise as they are at a leisurly pace and for the sole purpose of bumping up my NEAT.

August - October Gross calorie average mid 1800's

Nov Gross Calorie average 1920

Dec 1 - Dec 7 - 2014 gross calorie average
Dec 8 - Dec 14 - 1903 gross calorie average
Dec 15 - Dec 21 - 1961 gross calorie average
Dec 22 - Dec 28 - 1912 gross calorie average
Dec 29 - Jan 3 - 2271 gross calorie average
Jan 5 – Jan 11 – 2129 gross calorie average


So I'm finding that I am able to lose weight by upping my gross calories. Im still losing eating in the 2000's range now. How about you?

shadow2soul

I'm not increasing. I am however staying the same. I haven't really needed to move up or down yet. I have found that since I started counting calories, my sweet spot is 1600-2000 calories (sometimes I eat a bit more, sometimes a bit less). My average since Dec 13 has been 1835, I'm too tired right now to workout any further back than that. I lost 5lbs or so during that time frame as well (Dec 13 - today).



Time to go to bed. So tired. :yawn:

ana3067

2100. Upped recently from 2000. Was feeling cranky and the increase seems to have helped, I'm much less moody now. Although I do think removing some of my self-imposed rules helped ease my mind and tension.

LivingtheLeanDream

Good post Kim☺

For the past 3 months I've steadily increased my gross cals and maintained my weight within a 3 lb fluctuation.
I am same height as you and today am 137lbs. My lowest weight was 134, this is my average range held for a year. I'd perhaps like to get to 130 but I'm not overly caring either.

A year ago my average cals would have been 1800 gross per day, now I average 2100 a day. I like this amount as I'm never hungry.

The previous 6 months to now when I noticed my weight going up those 3lbs then I would have cut to 1600 a day to see 13 again. I never felt satisfied on that amount therefore not sustainable for me. It was a vicious circle! Right now I'm fighting the urge to cut my cals again BUT will eat at 2100 for another few weeks to see what gives.

I'm very active. 17000 average Fitbit steps a day, of which 10k of those steps are ran I also do strength training x 3 /wk.

Hope you get lots of feedback/ data which supports eating more ☺

skinny4me2be

Hey Kim55555! Great post and great successes!
Back in October I was eating 16-1700 calories GROSS! And not losing.
Nov/Dec I upped it to 1850-2000 calories and now the scale is moving.
Its moving slowly, but its moving and in the right direction, downward.
Its taking a lot to learn about my body and what I need to eat to fuel it.
But what I have learned is I don't have to starve or deprive myself to lose!

kr1stadee

All of my calories have been delicious!

Sorry, had to.. lol
I net my goal, or close to it... so 17/1800, depending on the exercise.

MKEgal

I'm 5'10"-ish and as of the morning I'm writing this I'm 198.6 lb, down from 275.3 a year ago.

When I started a year ago, my total calorie goal was 1700.
As I lost weight, I had to cut 50-100 at a time when I hit plateaus, in order to keep losing weight.
My total calorie goal now is 1400, and looking at my diary I hit that maybe 2/3 of the time.
Need to do better.

My doctor & dietician told me to just eat at (or slightly below) my calorie goal & ignore exercise calories. In fact, they'd never heard of "net" calories.
1 - most weight loss comes from controlling calories in
2 - most people underestimate what they eat
3 - most machines (including MFP) overestimate calories burned

Kim55555

Hi @MKEgal‌

Congrats on losing so much, thats aweome! How much more do you want to lose? What is your activity/exercise levels like? Is that 1400 gross calories that your eating?

ana3067

Kim55555 wrote: »

Hi @MKEgal‌

Congrats on losing so much, thats aweome! How much more do you want to lose? What is your activity/exercise levels like? Is that 1400 gross calories that your eating?

Yes, it is. Please do not follow her 10x your goal weight advice (which I'm surprised isn't posted here). Her gross calorie goal is far lower than it needs to be for herself, anyways. And please do eat your exercise calories back if you use net method; exercise calories are only pointless when doing TDEE method because you are already accounting for them in your average intake.

ana3067

MKEgal wrote: »

I'm 5'10"-ish and as of the morning I'm writing this I'm 198.6 lb, down from 275.3 a year ago.

When I started a year ago, my total calorie goal was 1700.
As I lost weight, I had to cut 50-100 at a time when I hit plateaus, in order to keep losing weight.
My total calorie goal now is 1400, and looking at my diary I hit that maybe 2/3 of the time.
Need to do better.

My doctor & dietician told me to just eat at (or slightly below) my calorie goal & ignore exercise calories. In fact, they'd never heard of "net" calories.
1 - most weight loss comes from controlling calories in
2 - most people underestimate what they eat
3 - most machines (including MFP) overestimate calories burned

And perhaps this is why they gave you the poor advice of not eating exercise calories back. I honestly find it kind of sad (like, not pathetic sad, just "I feel bad for you" sad) that you weigh more than I do and are eating significantly less than I do, and that your goal from the get-go was lower than mine was when I first started out at 188lbs. I feel bad for ANYONE who subjects themselves to not eating enough food, though. for anyone to not even meet their net goal is just a sad way to diet.

Kim55555

skinny4me2be wrote: »

Hey Kim55555! Great post and great successes!
Back in October I was eating 16-1700 calories GROSS! And not losing.
Nov/Dec I upped it to 1850-2000 calories and now the scale is moving.
Its moving slowly, but its moving and in the right direction, downward.
Its taking a lot to learn about my body and what I need to eat to fuel it.
But what I have learned is I don't have to starve or deprive myself to lose!

Great work!! @skinny4me2be‌

How many gross calories are you on now?

Yep the body prefers it if you eat just at a small defecit... It doesn't sense there is anything wrong, and barely notices missing any calories. You don't need to go hungry to lose. You don't have to be miserable! Once you are then ready to switch to maintenance it's so much easier as your metabolism is healthy and because it's not such a big jump in calories (eating at maintenance) you can slowly increase until you stabilise and you will also be able to eat at a higher maintenance amount as your RMR hasn't been suppressed.

I have a goal to get to 56.5 kg which is 25% body fat and I'm quite happy to lose the last 3 kg over the course of the next 6 - 12 months like last time. I'm in the healthy weight and body fat % range it's all just a bonus and aesthetics for me now that I'm working towards so there is no rush!

Kim55555

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

Good post Kim☺

For the past 3 months I've steadily increased my gross cals and maintained my weight within a 3 lb fluctuation.
I am same height as you and today am 137lbs. My lowest weight was 134, this is my average range held for a year. I'd perhaps like to get to 130 but I'm not overly caring either.

A year ago my average cals would have been 1800 gross per day, now I average 2100 a day. I like this amount as I'm never hungry.

The previous 6 months to now when I noticed my weight going up those 3lbs then I would have cut to 1600 a day to see 13 again. I never felt satisfied on that amount therefore not sustainable for me. It was a vicious circle! Right now I'm fighting the urge to cut my cals again BUT will eat at 2100 for another few weeks to see what gives.

I'm very active. 17000 average Fitbit steps a day, of which 10k of those steps are ran I also do strength training x 3 /wk.

Hope you get lots of feedback/ data which supports eating more ☺

Thanks for contributing to the topic. Great to see your metabolism (& resulting appetite) awakening now since you have been eating more. I think it was suppressed before. You'll know how much it was suppressed as you continue to up your gross calories. Enjoy!

I'm enjoying reading your topic in the maintenance forum.

LivingtheLeanDream

@Kim55555 thanks honey about my forum post, I've had so much positive feedback which has been great :-) You said the other day about my metabolism having awoken, I can hardly get filled these days!! It's crazy! I'm eating as much as my hubby, I hope I don't get a rude awakening with the scales whooshing up lol‌

LivingtheLeanDream

Kim55555 wrote: »

skinny4me2be wrote: »

Hey Kim55555! Great post and great successes!
Back in October I was eating 16-1700 calories GROSS! And not losing.
Nov/Dec I upped it to 1850-2000 calories and now the scale is moving.
Its moving slowly, but its moving and in the right direction, downward.
Its taking a lot to learn about my body and what I need to eat to fuel it.
But what I have learned is I don't have to starve or deprive myself to lose!

Great work!! @skinny4me2be‌

How many gross calories are you on now?

Yep the body prefers it if you eat just at a small defecit... It doesn't sense there is anything wrong, and barely notices missing any calories. You don't need to go hungry to lose. You don't have to be miserable! Once you are then ready to switch to maintenance it's so much easier as your metabolism is healthy and because it's not such a big jump in calories (eating at maintenance) you can slowly increase until you stabilise and you will also be able to eat at a higher maintenance amount as your RMR hasn't been suppressed.

I have a goal to get to 56.5 kg which is 25% body fat and I'm quite happy to lose the last 3 kg over the course of the next 6 - 12 months like last time. I'm in the healthy weight and body fat % range it's all just a bonus and aesthetics for me now that I'm working towards so there is no rush!

I wish there was a like button in the forums ☺ **like**