THE GREAT CALORIE DEBATE

melissaka7

I am 5'5' (and about a half). I weigh 162.4. I am a female. I am 28. I have lost 26 lbs & have about 19 to go. I run 5-6 days a week (2 miles one day, 4 miles 4 days, & 5 miles one day). I do one hour of yoga (class) one day a week. I do strength (?) training 3 day a week (lunges, squats, plank, push ups, arm workouts). I do a 10 minute custom Tony Horton P90X video 2 days a week & I rest one day a week.

I will be starting P90X on 8/5.

I have finally conceded to the fact that I may not be eating enough calories (even though I have had sucess with what I've been doing so far). I cannot figure out a number of calories that I should eat that I am comfortable with & this app does not do a good job helping with that. I tried setting my goals to .5lbs loss a week & that upped my calories a little, but I still would like to try to lose 2lbs a week (safely).

I'm looking for honest & not rude answers on how many calories I should be eating. And please do not give me the http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ website because I've used it & it says I should be eating more than 2,000 calories a day & I really don't think that is something I can do.

As previously stated. I have 19lbs to go. I excercise a lot. I have a desk job. I know when I start P90X I will HAVE TO up my calories, but until then. I need HELP.

explosivedonut

How many calories are you eating a day now? You should probably be eating 2000. P90X is hard. I did it eating 1500 a day and that was probably a mistake

melissaka7

With the excercise I'm doing now. I eat around 1200, maybe a little more. I tried changing my settings & it gave me 1380, which I am comfortable with. I know with P90X there is no way either of those will be enough.

grrrlface

Do you log your exercise and eat it back?
Your calorie goal is similar to mine when i am set at sedentary to lose 0.5lbs per week.

If it is that low then I do recommend logging and eating your exercise calories, this is what I do at the moment and is working better but I cannot do strenuous exercise like P90X and would say you do need your exercise calories to refuel your body after a tough workout like that.

melissaka7

I log EVERYTHING. I do not eat my excercise calories.

AmIhealthyyet

Instead of changing calories maybe shake up your macros??? I believe in eating lower carb for loss, keeping carb intake to under 40 grams based on your calories. That is just my thoughts!

wtw0n

I log EVERYTHING. I do not eat my excercise calories.

Since you follow MFP system, you're supposed to net 1200, not only eat that much. I checked your food diary and you're eating way too little.

conniemaxwell5

2000 is definitely realistic at your activity level. I have similar stats (5'5", 169 pounds, would like to lose another 15-20). I run 3 days a week, about 2-3 miles each, 30 minutes on the elliptical 2 days a week, and similar 'strength' training 3-5 days a week). I eat 1700-2000 calories a day and lose .5-1 pound a week on average.

My diary is open to friends. Feel free to friend me if you'd like to see what I eat. I don't eat 'clean' but it's pretty healthy plus I treat myself to ice cream a few times a week. I don't have any trouble getting the calories I need. I don't eat low fat / fat free anything unless that's just what tastes better to me (I don't care for full fat dairy).

Inshape13

I currently have my activity set at lightly active and I am maintaining...I am 5'6. In the beginning I did the 1200 calorie thing for a good while to lose the majority of the weight, but then when I started doing P90X type workouts and running I upped my calories to around 1500-1700 cycling my calorie intake. Basically on a more intense workout day I will do a little over 1700-1800 with higher carbs and protein and if I am on a rest day which is walking I will do 1400-1500 with lower carbs and normal protein. I found that this has helped me with plateaus and such in the past. Your body needs the calories to make muscle rather than just loose skin after you lose the fat. This is just from my own personal experience, but it is what has worked for me. Wishing you the best.

This is a link that basically goes over all things exercise. You can use the macronutrients calculator to show the low end and high end of what calories you need for your weight....the calorie calculator above that averages a little high.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/womans_lean_sexy_bible.htm

ktarter22

I would watch your macros also, it seems like you are having too much sodium and carbs. I would also make sure you are having enough water, I didn't see any water logged !

melissaka7

Oh I drink plenty of water, I just don't log it. I guess I lied when I say I log everything. I don't drink anything but water.

ksy1969

I log EVERYTHING. I do not eat my excercise calories.

OUCH!!! With the exercise you are doing you need to be fueling your body.

Please read the link below.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

husseycd

Well, I'm your height and about ten years older (37). I exercise less than you and eat around 1700-2000 calories per day. My last official weigh in (saturday before my weekend water gain. :-) ) was 128 lbs. I'm about 20% BF. I've lost ten pounds in the last two months eating this amount.

I firmly believe in the TDEE method. If you're really worried about it, have your RMR tested and calculate from there. I did, and found mine to be 1580 calories/day.

If you really love eating only 1200 calories daily keep doing it, but you should be able to eat more than that and still lose weight.

000WhiteRose000

I have done a few of those programs. I wouldn't go as high as 2000 unless you want to maintain or purely build muscle. 1500 is a good figure, if you workout every day.

stealthq

At 1500 Cals I was losing 1 lb / wk and I'm 39, not quite 5' 3" and started out in the healthy weight range. I'm nowhere near as active as the OP. She can easily be eating more than 1500 Cals and still lose at a good rate.

These days I'm losing closer to 0.5 lb / wk, but I'm pretty close to goal.

cwolfman13

I log EVERYTHING. I do not eat my excercise calories.

Since you follow MFP system, you're supposed to net 1200, not only eat that much. I checked your food diary and you're eating way too little.

I would agree. You've probably burned up a lot of muscle and your metabolism is crashed as a result. 1200 is if you're completely sedentary...when you exercise you're supposed to eat those calories back due to MFP's GOAL has a huge deficit of calories from maintenance already built in (net of exercise)...you don't include exercise in your activity level with MFP, thus is becomes extra activity that needs to be fueled. And it's not like you have just been going on walks or anything...with all of that exercise, you've been seriously under achieving calorie wise.

Also OP...with 19 Lbs to go, 2 Lbs per week is completely unrealistic. The leaner you get, the slower it goes. Your body doesn't have the fat stores to dump like it used to. You need to re-evaluate expectations here and be a little more realistic. With 19 Lbs you should be looking at 0.5 - 1 Lb per week max.

LAW_714

I am 5'5' (and about a half). I weigh 162.4. I am a female. I am 28. I have lost 26 lbs & have about 19 to go. {...}I tried setting my goals to .5lbs loss a week & that upped my calories a little, but I still would like to try to lose 2lbs a week (safely).

The closer you get to your goal the more difficult it will be to lose 2lb a week. It'll help to think long term rather than the quickest solution.