Need a little guidance, please!

sweetandstormy

Ok, I've been on MFP for a few weeks and I'm doing well. I've lost 9 lbs. so far and feel better than I have in . . . well . . . ever. But here's what I'm wondering. I'm 38, female, 5'1", 265 (yikes, I can't believe I said that out loud). Right now I've got my daily calories without exercise at 1300. Should I up them or keep them that low? I'm not going hungry by any stretch of the imagination and I make sure to never go below 1200. In fact, most evenings I have a couple hundred extra calories that I have to come up with a way to use up to get as close to that 1300 as possible. Since I have about 160 lbs. to lose to reach my ultimate goal, I'd like to keep my target loss at 2 lbs. a week. Thanks everybody. You guys are great!

sweetandstormy

Ok, I've been on MFP for a few weeks and I'm doing well. I've lost 9 lbs. so far and feel better than I have in . . . well . . . ever. But here's what I'm wondering. I'm 38, female, 5'1", 265 (yikes, I can't believe I said that out loud). Right now I've got my daily calories without exercise at 1300. Should I up them or keep them that low? I'm not going hungry by any stretch of the imagination and I make sure to never go below 1200. In fact, most evenings I have a couple hundred extra calories that I have to come up with a way to use up to get as close to that 1300 as possible. Since I have about 160 lbs. to lose to reach my ultimate goal, I'd like to keep my target loss at 2 lbs. a week. Thanks everybody. You guys are great!

abbychelle07

OMG your babies could not be cuter!

1300 seems low to me, but I guess you are a lot shorter than me and you are trying to lose 2 lbs a week..l would continue, but if you hit a plateau maybe play around with upping your calories or switching around your workouts.

sbacon1203

I'm at 1200 cal a day, I try to keep it to around 1100 because of errors I may make in counting my cal and to this point I do not use excercise cal. I'm averaging 2.5 per week. I feel great and love this site. I hope this helps.

Keep up the good work :flowerforyou:

DjBliss05

I'm 5'7" and 226lbs. I get 1900 calories a day. So 1300 seems pretty low to me. If you are doing ok with what you have it at now, then I guess don't rock the boat!

I agree that if you get stuck, it might be time to up the calories. Make sure you are eatting your exercise calories, too!

TamTastic

Your babies are gorgeous!! Congrats on that!

As far as calories go, 1300 is safe enough but you COULD go a little higher and still have success if you wanted to. I started at 270 lbs in September and from 270 to like 210ish I was eating around 1700 (or a bit more) a day and I wasn't exercising regularly until the last couple of months. I would lose anywhere from 2-4 lbs a week (3 being average).

I am down to 189 now. On days I work out (and burn 700 cals), I eat around 1800 cals a day. On days I don't work out, I eat around 1450ish a day. It seems to be working for the time being. But as you get lower and closer and closer to a healthier weight you may need to switch things up a bit.

foxfire9372

A little personal, the babies are gorgeous. Are they still newborn and are you breastfeeding or pumping. That does change your caloric intake. If you are, make sure you eat at least 400-500 extra per day for milk supply and really watch what you eat, as in very well balanced.

sweetandstormy

Thank you to everyone who thinks the munchkins are cute. They're also rotten and ornery. :bigsmile: And I wouldn't have them any other way.

foxfire9372 - My twins are 15 1/2 months and I'm not breastfeeding anymore. Unfortunately, I had to stop when they were about 4 months old.

foxfire9372

Just wasn't sure. I was in the same weight cat though. I walked, a lot. I can imagine what a handful they are now. My boys are 11 months 6 days apart. Not the same, but close.