Question regarding calorie amount to lose weight w/ exercise

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mrcbu145
mrcbu145 Posts: 37 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone,
I'm hoping for any suggestions. I have recently lost 20lbs over the last 7 months, mainly from joining a bootcamp (circuit training) class 4 days a week (usually 400-500 calorie burn), 2 days a week cardio (300 calorie burn) for 1 hour and 1 rest day. I've also stayed within a 1200-1350 calorie range. I'm happy with my weight now and want to maintain, or lose 5 lbs.

My question is, with how much I'm working out are my calories at 1200-1350 to lose weight best for me? I find it really difficult to stay in this calorie range and just don't feel like it's enough for me. I'm typically always hungry, struggling to get through the day to stay within calories when I am trying to lose. Any suggestions of upping my calories or would this not be the best idea?

Also, if I maintain my level of exercise, what are your suggestions for a maintenance calorie range? I've estimated 1700-1900 a day.

Thanks for any help!

Replies

  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
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    If it doesn't feel right, don't do it. I don't support 1200 calories at all, I pretty much think it's a recipe for disaster. It just seems too low.

    Enter your details into MFP, set your loss at either 0.5lb loss per week or 1lb loss per week. Pick one which gives you an amount of calories which seem good for you.

    When you exercise and burn off calories, eat around 50-75% of your calories back (as you're already in a deficit).

    Your maintenance calories depend on your TDEE, I assume?
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
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    Congrats on the great loss! If you don't feel like you can be consistent to your nutritional goals, then change them. That means eating a bit more if you can't stick to 1200 cal/day. As for your maintenance calorie range, that predicted calorie range isn't necessarily correct. After a long weight loss phase on a calorie restriction, you will likely find that jumping back up to a normal calorie range makes you gain weight. The issue here is that as you go through a long calorie deficit, your body will reduce your metabolism to compensate. How many people have you seen come off of a diet and gain everything, or more, back really quick? The best thing to do is a reverse diet. This is SLOWLY increasing your calorie intake over time. I'm talking about adding 100 calories to your diet and holding that for 2-3 weeks. If you don't gain weight, bump up another 100 calories and hold that for 2-3 weeks. Rinse and repeat. Here, check out this video.
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3gTGLulLnI

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