How many calories do you eat a day?

jenilla1

I've been on maintenance for over two years now, eating 1700 PLUS exercise cals. When I was losing, I was eating 1350 PLUS exercise calories. (I am 5'7" and 130 pounds. I think my starting weight was about 150 but I don't remember.)

The amount of calories YOU should be consuming will be different than the calories people in this thread are quoting, because we all have different activity levels, heights and starting/goal weights. Don't base your calories on other people's opinions. :flowerforyou:

RebeccaBecca26

I started at 1200 calories at 180lbs.
Increased to 1450 when I came to a plateau.
Yes, I'm still losing weight.
I'm at 150lbs now, 5'2".

I work out 5x/wk and I do eat back at least half of my workout calories.
This is important. You need to net 1200 cals per day at least while working out. Eat more.

If you don't Mind me asking? How long it it take to lose those 30lbs eating 1200 calories a day. I'm on the same plan, same weight and goal.

Well... I'm heavy at 260pounds...so 30 pounds concidering this is my second week...I plan on 2 months.... maybe a little more. BUT after you get smaller...The weight is not going to come off that fast. It will be much slower.

quirkytizzy

Hi, I'm interested to know how many calories everyone eats a day to LOOSE WEIGHT.

I'm 5'3
260lbs
Female
I eat no more than 1,200 calories a day and I don't feel hungry.
+ I work out 1 hour of cardio 4/5 days a week. (I don't eat back my work out calories either)

What is everyone else doing? AND are you loosing weight eating that many calories?

Judging by your join date, it makes sense that you're not hungry.

Yet.

Give it a month and you'll be battling the urge to eat everything in sight, ESPECIALLY since you're probably netting around 600 cals a day with your exercise. Rather than torture yourself, start bumping up your cals now. At the very least, eat your exercise calories back. Less food does not equal faster weight loss.

It doesn't even have to be a dramatic increase. To lose weight, I eat 1400-1500, with my exercise calories. It might not seem much, but those extra few hundred do make a difference.

Seriously, save yourself the trouble. Eat.

rdsalem88

For all you people saying and agreeing with the notion that it is pointless to be asking the calories others are eating, are you serious?! There is a lot of value in seeing what others are doing to achieve similar goals. Reading up on other people's plans who had a similar body type as mine helped me set realistic goals for myself and reaffirmed the strategy of losing weight steadily.

I can't believe that on this particular website, people would be critical of the question OP posted. Unreal.

As for OP, I have a net of 1900 calories. And I do think hovering around 1200 calories is playing a dangerous game, unless you have a really controlled diet and workout plan. In your case, it seems that you want too much too soon. I'd say gradually eat at a deficit (maybe 500 below maintenance) and see how your body responds. Just my opinion.

jacksonpt

For all you people saying and agreeing with the notion that it is pointless to be asking the calories others are eating, are you serious?! There is a lot of value in seeing what others are doing to achieve similar goals. Reading up on other people's plans who had a similar body type as mine helped me set realistic goals for myself and reaffirmed the strategy of losing weight steadily.

I can't believe that on this particular website, people would be critical of the question OP posted. Unreal.

As for OP, I have a net of 1900 calories. And I do think hovering around 1200 calories is playing a dangerous game, unless you have a really controlled diet and workout plan. Just my opinion.

I understand your point, and for people who are willing to do the research and who aren't emotionally attached, then yes, it can be helpful.

But IME, most people who post things like this are looking for others to validate what they already do (or want to do). So what they will do is take 50 responses, pick out the 4 that line up with what htey want to do, and only listen to those posts/people, rather than taking the body of evidence and realizing that what they want to do might not be healthy, sustainable, etc.

jenilla1

Hi, I'm interested to know how many calories everyone eats a day to LOOSE WEIGHT.

I'm 5'3
260lbs
Female
I eat no more than 1,200 calories a day and I don't feel hungry.
+ I work out 1 hour of cardio 4/5 days a week. (I don't eat back my work out calories either)

What is everyone else doing? AND are you loosing weight eating that many calories?

Judging by your join date, it makes sense that you're not hungry.

Yet.

Give it a month and you'll be battling the urge to eat everything in sight, ESPECIALLY since you're probably netting around 600 cals a day with your exercise. Rather than torture yourself, start bumping up your cals now. At the very least, eat your exercise calories back. Less food does not equal faster weight loss.

It doesn't even have to be a dramatic increase. To lose weight, I eat 1400-1500, with my exercise calories. It might not seem much, but those extra few hundred do make a difference.

Seriously, save yourself the trouble. Eat.

I agree. Your NET calories need to be at least 1200, maybe more. If you aren't eating your exercise calories back, then you are netting WELL below 1200 and that's not sustainable long-term. It may work well at first, but you may find that in a few weeks you're gonna crash and burn. We don't want that to happen! :frown:

beachlover317

For all you people saying and agreeing with the notion that it is pointless to be asking the calories others are eating, are you serious?! There is a lot of value in seeing what others are doing to achieve similar goals. Reading up on other people's plans who had a similar body type as mine helped me set realistic goals for myself and reaffirmed the strategy of losing weight steadily.

The point is, having the same height and weight does not equal the same success for individuals. Age, sex, and body composition make a tremendous difference in some people, as well. Better to run your own numbers and do what works for you.

NRSPAM

How much I eat really depends on how much exercise I do. On a mostly lazy day, ( I have a 2 yo, so lazy for me is still not sitting around all day, lol) I'll eat about 1,500. On a heavy exercise day, I'll eat 2,000, maybe more. I have a bodymedia, so I go by what it says I burn for the day. Only problem with that is I usually work out later in the evening, so I don't exactly know what I'll burn 'til late in the day. At 1,200 cal's you will probably lose for a while, but you'll likely hit a plateau pretty quickly. I've been there. My BMR is 1,450 so that's what I need for my body to do it's thing without me moving or doing anything but breathing.

EvgeniZyntx

Hi, I'm interested to know how many calories everyone eats a day to LOOSE WEIGHT.

I'm 5'3
260lbs
Female
I eat no more than 1,200 calories a day and I don't feel hungry.
+ I work out 1 hour of cardio 4/5 days a week. (I don't eat back my work out calories either)

What is everyone else doing? AND are you loosing weight eating that many calories?

How much muscle are you losing?
Sounds like a good forrmula for a diet crash

At 260lbs your theoretical TDEE is anywhere from 2200 to 2800.
You are eating at 1000 below that. (Which can be ok but creates a LBM loss risk)
On top, you are adding about 200/300 cal deficit per day.

So at 900 cals net per day for a 260lb woman you are probably losing quite nicely. Yep, big deficit. BUT.....
And a lot of that is LBM. Not so good.

Good luck.

Ophidion

ETA:The advice above is solid, you have to consider loss of muscle when you have such a high deficit.

I suggest reading these links and implementing the advice...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

I eat around 2200cals a day and 2900cals on refeed days (once a week) ...am losing steadily.(In a cutting phase)

bentobee

I'm 5'11" and weigh 243.
My BMR is 1830. I eat around 1900-2000 calories a day, usually. I never eat below my BMR.
Rarely, maybe once a month, I'll eat at maintenance calories for one day. Which for me is 2500-2800.

I work out every day and never log in less than 10,000 steps in a day.

kr1stadee

1800 a day (and that's actually low for me, I haven't been that active lately)

I started at 220 and 1300 calories. As I was losing, MFP kept taking calories until I hit the 1200 mark. I thought.. ah hell with it, I'll exercise if I'm hungry so I can eat more!

BUT at 1200 calories, I didn't have the energy to exercise. So I didn't. I still lost, yes, but I was cold, cranky and exhausted. And starving!!!

I started researching about my metabolism, damage, how much I should be eating to retain lean muscle while losing fat... now I'm eating much more and I'm happy. It did take a lot of courage and prompts from MFP friends, but I did get up to 2000 at one point. The scale weight has slowed, but inches have dropped. No one can see when you lose 5lbs. Everyone can see when you lose 5 inches. SO much better for me. And I'm not hungry (or hAngry!) ahaha

kr1stadee

I suggest reading these links and implementing the advice...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

I eat around 2200cals a day and 2900cals on refeed days (once a week) ...am losing steadily.(In a cutting phase)

Psst... your profile picture just gave me chills! haha

bcattoes

You do realize that what other people are doing will offer very little meaningful information about what you should be doing, right?

This ^^

nikkylyn

I eat between 1500-1800 per day. I exercise around 3 times a week. Yes I am losing weight!

Occasionally I have days where I only eat 1200 but not everyday.

RunHardBeStrong

1800-2200 gross. 107 lbs lost.

rdsalem88

For all you people saying and agreeing with the notion that it is pointless to be asking the calories others are eating, are you serious?! There is a lot of value in seeing what others are doing to achieve similar goals. Reading up on other people's plans who had a similar body type as mine helped me set realistic goals for myself and reaffirmed the strategy of losing weight steadily.

I can't believe that on this particular website, people would be critical of the question OP posted. Unreal.

As for OP, I have a net of 1900 calories. And I do think hovering around 1200 calories is playing a dangerous game, unless you have a really controlled diet and workout plan. Just my opinion.

I understand your point, and for people who are willing to do the research and who aren't emotionally attached, then yes, it can be helpful.

But IME, most people who post things like this are looking for others to validate what they already do (or want to do). So what they will do is take 50 responses, pick out the 4 that line up with what htey want to do, and only listen to those posts/people, rather than taking the body of evidence and realizing that what they want to do might not be healthy, sustainable, etc.

Maybe I'm too new to this site and I haven't seen enough posts like this, so I'm not as cynical about this subject haha. Judging by her post though, it seems that she has genuine naivety about how to approach her diet and was seeking out quick feedback for comparisons sake. Once one gets the proper feedback and info, then yes, it's on them to make an informed decision. I'm just saying that there is value in seeing what others are doing.

Achrya

About twice as much as you do, and yes I'm still losing. I'm not particularly active (I lift three days a week an I'm trying to add in other things but I usually get bored and quit after a week) or tall (5'3") but I've lost all of my weight eating more than 1600 calories.

rachelmarie1

Hi, I'm Rachel. I'm 5'5" and I'm happily down to 213 from 250. I'm still on my journey and I'm in a weight management program at a local hospital and supervised by a bariatric specialist and meet with a dietician every week. Under this program they have me eating 1000 calories a day. I eat 100 carbs, 75 proteins, and 33 fats daily. I focus on eating fresh veggies and fruits, low fat cheeses, lean meats, and will occasionally eat complex carbs. I also eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner and have 3 scheduled snacks a day. I wouldnt recommend to a low calorie diet unless you are being supervised, because you still need to make sure that you are getting all the nutrients that you need. The doctors, rn's, and dieticians are able to review my specific situation and give me personal advice and tips. They also monitor my blood work. I have a hypothyroid and I'm vitamin d deficient. I receive useful information regarding my health and get tips on how to improve my lifestyle. We also setup realistic weekly and long time goals for myself.

kristen6022

I'm 5'11, almost 35 year old. I eat between 1550-1650 EVERYDAY consistantly and lose .5 - 1lb a week on average. And this is with minimal exercise. And I'm on the low end of the BMI (20.5).