Up my calories?

Aaron_K123

Yeah your TDEE is probably around 3000 with all that exercise. You should be eating over 2000 calories.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

I agree, if she is actually doing 2-4 hours of intense exercise then she should be eating over 200 calories. Honestly though I have my doubts. It seems basically impossible that she is eating 1200 calories a day while doing 2-4 hours of intense cardio and sustaining that.

Something is wrong and until we know what that thing is its hard to advise her.

Aaron_K123

My advice would be to SLOWLY bring up the amount you are eating until you are eating more calories. Increase the amount VERY slowly each day. After you are able to eat more calories, and maintain a certain weight for a time, THEN decrease them again and see what happens. I am learning that it is best to eat the most amount of calories that your body can handle and still loose weight. Our body wants to stay in homeostasis. Rest your body, eat healthy food but SLOWLY increase the calories, when your metabolism levels out, then decrease the calories again. I found this advice on the internet and it makes SO MUCH sense. Our bodies want to stay the same, they want to be in homeostasis. So, your body wants to stay the same size. Slowly increase calories up to maintenance level for you and patiently allow your body to adjust to the new you. THEN.... Decrease your calories just enough to loose weight. This is where I have always struggled. This isn't about will power, it is about caring for your body. Easy does it, I think.

This. ^^^^ Increase by 100 calories per day for 1-2 week increments until your weight stabilizes. Look at my ticker. I eat 2200 calories a day and lose over a pound a week. It can be done. Do not be afraid to eat, it fuels your body and your metabolism. Higher calories, higher metabolism, higher rate of burn, higher calorie intake to maintain. The opposite is low calories, low metabolism, low burn rate, low calorie intake to maintain.

Also, read this.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/521728-upping-cals-what-to-expect-why-you-need-patience

According to her her weight is stable, that is her problem. So not sure what you mean for her to do when you say "do this until your weight stabilizes"

Airi8

"Not everyone is the same" only takes you so far. No one is going to be doing 3 hours of intensive cardio daily eating 1200 calories a day and be able to sustain that. You could not maintain your glycogen stores doing that and you would bonk out hard.

I'm your weight and I have to eat about 2100 calories a day to be able to handle 1 hour of daily exercise with intensity. If I tried to do 3 hours a day I wouldn't last 2 weeks, would probably have to up my intake to 2800 calories.

I never said I did 3 hours of intensive cardio. I just said that my workout intensity wasn't low. Plus, I used to do only 2 hours a day, I added the 2 hours of swimming 10 days ago.

You might be my weight, but we are not the same build, height, and you're a guy? You can't really compare us...

And I usually workout 1.5h after I eat, so I do have energy to keep it up

Airi8

You've asked for advice but have pretty much shut down everyone that has offered it. 1200 is way too low. "Not everyone is the same." True, but obviously, your program isn't working for you anymore.

It's time to switch it up and increase your intake.

I haven't shut down any advice. I already said I was gonna up my calories? I just got a bit defensive, but only against the people who were being rude in my eyes.
And most don't seem to believe that I eat 1200 calories a day, that's pretty frustrating, because I honestly do. I make all my food myself, weigh everything, write everything down.

Aaron_K123

"Not everyone is the same" only takes you so far. No one is going to be doing 3 hours of intensive cardio daily eating 1200 calories a day and be able to sustain that. You could not maintain your glycogen stores doing that and you would bonk out hard.

I'm your weight and I have to eat about 2100 calories a day to be able to handle 1 hour of daily exercise with intensity. If I tried to do 3 hours a day I wouldn't last 2 weeks, would probably have to up my intake to 2800 calories.

I never said I did 3 hours of intensive cardio. I just said that my workout intensity wasn't low. Plus, I used to do only 2 hours a day, I added the 2 hours of swimming 10 days ago.

You might be my weight, but we are not the same build, height, and you're a guy? You can't really compare us...

And I usually workout 1.5h after I eat, so I do have energy to keep it up

Why can I not compare you to me if I am a guy? I know we are all different as you pointed out but we really aren't THAT different. Your BMR at your size is 1600, my BMR is 1800. So I have to eat 200 calories more than you...not 2000 more than you. As far as how much we burn calorically from workouts that is going to be close to the same given our relative weights.

Eating 1200 calories a day you would be eating 400 calories below your BMR meaning you would have a 400 calorie deficit even if in a coma. On top of that you have your normal daily activity which would bring your daily total up to around 1900 even if you are sedentary. You put on top of that a couple hours of moderate exercise and you are talking a TDEE of about 2700.

If you are truly eating only 1200 calories a day you would be at a deficit of about 1500 calories which would mean you would be losing a staggering 3 pounds per week ( a very unhealthy rate).

Yet with all that said you are apparently maintaining your weight. So I maintain that something doesn't add up here.

To have a TDEE of 1200 and maintain at 1200 you would have to be a sedentary 75 year old woman who was 4 foot tall.

Aaron_K123

Okay I actually ran the calculator and my earlier statement about a four foot tall 75 year old woman is an exaggeration

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

You'd have to be a 92 pound 4 foot 6 inch tall 65 year old woman.

Aaron_K123

You've asked for advice but have pretty much shut down everyone that has offered it. 1200 is way too low. "Not everyone is the same." True, but obviously, your program isn't working for you anymore.

It's time to switch it up and increase your intake.

I haven't shut down any advice. I already said I was gonna up my calories? I just got a bit defensive, but only against the people who were being rude in my eyes.
And most don't seem to believe that I eat 1200 calories a day, that's pretty frustrating, because I honestly do. I make all my food myself, weigh everything, write everything down.

I can understand that you feel being told your calorie counting is incorrect but perhaps you can understand that it is hard to believe a 5'10 173 pound 25 year old woman who exercises frequently would maintain her weight at 1200 calories a day.

Airi8

Why can I not compare you to me if I am a guy? I know we are all different as you pointed out but we really aren't THAT different. Your BMR at your size is 1600, my BMR is 1800. So I have to eat 200 calories more than you...not 2000 more than you. As far as how much we burn calorically from workouts that is going to be close to the same given our relative weights.

Guys need more calories than girls do, plus you probably have more muscle than I do and muscle needs even more calories.

Eating 1200 calories a day you would be eating 400 calories below your BMR meaning you would have a 400 calorie deficit even if in a coma. On top of that you have your normal daily activity which would bring your daily total up to around 1900 even if you are sedentary. You put on top of that a couple hours of moderate exercise and you are talking a TDEE of about 2700.

If you are truly eating only 1200 calories a day you would be at a deficit of about 1500 calories which would mean you would be losing a staggering 3 pounds per week ( a very unhealthy rate).

Yet with all that said you are apparently maintaining your weight. So I maintain that something doesn't add up here.

To have a TDEE of 1200 and maintain at 1200 you would have to be a sedentary 75 year old woman who was 4 foot tall.

Yes logically that doesn't seem to add up. But you are talking like everyone has the same body and the same metabolism which is obviously not the case. My friend is losing weight with me and to lose the same amount that she does, I need to workout twice as hard. I just don't lose weight fast if I don't do the work.
And I actually started off losing 4 pounds a week. I went to the doctor for a check-up last week and there is nothing wrong with me. I take vitamins, I eat enough fruit and vegetables. I drink enough water, so I don't see why it's unhealthy (I actually think it's normal to lose weight at such a rate in the beginning for overweight people).

Airi8

I can understand that you feel being told your calorie counting is incorrect but perhaps you can understand that it is hard to believe a 5'10 173 pound 25 year old woman who exercises frequently would maintain her weight at 1200 calories a day.

I completely understand. I seriously have no idea why my body is plateauing either. But I already lost 32 pounds, so it's safe to say that I know how to count calories

CA_Underdog

But I already lost 32 pounds, so it's safe to say that I know how to count calories

At the beginning of a long weight loss journey, obtaining a deficit is often easy enough that simple estimation works. As you progress further, more and more accuracy is needed. Something seems wrong with your "energy in" vs "energy out" calculations, unless non-scale measures paint a different picture?

Opening your food and exercise journal might help. Are you taking "cheat days", not counting certain foods, or eating out often and underestimating? With respect to exercise calories, how do you determine how many to eat back? Again, we all or mostly want to help you here, opening up your journal might help.

Have you asked a doctor to check for health conditions that might impact your metabolism?

Aaron_K123

Guys need more calories than girls do, plus you probably have more muscle than I do and muscle needs even more calories.

Yes guys need more calories, slightly, because they tend to have a larger lean mass than women and as you said muscle burns more than fat. Thing is that people hear that and assume it burns a lot more than fat...it doesn't. Muscle burns like 5-8 calories more than fat per pound...that is it. I am not a particularly muscly guy either...I might have something like 30 pounds more muscle than you. My BMR estimate is about 200 calories higher than yours because of this..but just 200 calories, not 2000 calories.

Like I said, everyone is different...but not THAT different. There is no way that with two people who weigh the same one would maintain at 2600 calories and the other would maintain at 1200 calories. Me being male doesn't explain that.

Aaron_K123

I don't mean this to be rude OP but people are faliable where math isn't. I'm a firm believer that (Calories out minus calories in) divided by 3500 equals pounds fat lost. If someone is not losing fat over a long stretch of time (to eliminate the possiblity that they just haven't been tracking long enough) then calories out = calories in. At your age, weight and activity level it is not possible that calories out for you is 1200 and therefore your calories in is in error or you are not mentioning that you are eating back your calories based on estimated burns and your burn estimations are off.

That is it. Not trying to be rude, not being personal...I'd say this to anyone.

Without having access to your diary for either your intake our output logging its really hard to say what the problem might be.

forkofpower

I'm 5'1, female, and only do moderate exercise, and am losing weight eating 1200 calories a day. Either you're logging your food incorrectly, or you have some sort of condition that makes weight loss difficult (you might want to check for this possibility with a doctor?); otherwise, I'm not sure how a 5'7 and 170 pound person could fail to lose weight consistently eating 1200 calories.

At the beginning of a long weight loss journey, obtaining a deficit is often easy enough that simple estimation works. As you progress further, more and more accuracy is needed. Something seems wrong with your "energy in" vs "energy out" calculations, unless non-scale measures paint a different picture?

Opening your food and exercise journal might help. Are you taking "cheat days", not counting certain foods, or eating out often and underestimating? With respect to exercise calories, how do you determine how many to eat back? Again, we all or mostly want to help you here, opening up your journal might help.

Have you asked a doctor to check for health conditions that might impact your metabolism?

Also, this. Could it be a possibility that you've been overestimating calories before, but it didn't really matter, since you still at a deficit at that weight?

psych101

I don't mean this to be rude OP but people are faliable where math isn't. I'm a firm believer that (Calories out minus calories in) divided by 3500 equals pounds fat lost. If someone is not losing fat over a long stretch of time (to eliminate the possiblity that they just haven't been tracking long enough) then calories out = calories in. At your age, weight and activity level it is not possible that calories out for you is 1200 and therefore your calories in is in error or you are not mentioning that you are eating back your calories based on estimated burns and your burn estimations are off.

That is it. Not trying to be rude, not being personal...I'd say this to anyone.

Without having access to your diary for either your intake our output logging its really hard to say what the problem might be.

^^ yep

OP - I'm pretty close to you: 5'9 female 32 and currently 174lbs. I workout 4 days a week and I'm losing on 1800 calories a day.

Can you open your diary?

manicautumn

A) You are obviously not eating a deficit right now. Weigh your food!

You should be and should have been eating WAY more than 1200 with all the exercise you do.

C) All of the above.


I vote C

I weigh all my food and count every calorie, thank you very much. Plus, other than the excercise I do, I don't move around all that much since I'm a student, so I'm stuck behind a desk most of the time, so I think 1200 isn't "way" too low.

I'm a student too. Doesn't matter that you're behind a desk because:

A) 1200 is really low and generally not very great for those who aren't petite women
You exercise, a lot. Doesn't matter that you sit around most of the day, you exert 4 hours a day of strenuous activity and need to sustain that.

Airi8

I'm just going to humour some of you. So okay the general opinion is:

1) I'm miscalculating my calorie intake and am eating more than I think I am
2) I need more than 1200 calories with the amount of excercise I do, about 1900-2000 calories to lose weight

So even if I am miscalculating, and I'm eating 1500 instead of 1200, wouldn't that still be a deficit though? Unless some of you are suggesting that I'm miscalculating by over a 1000 calories, cause that would be amazing.

I lost 1.2 pounds since yesterday btw... I really have no clue what is going on with my body, but I hope this means it's not plateauing anymore.
I am still going to up my calorie intake (not to 1900 though) and see what happens.

Aaron_K123

I'm just going to humour some of you. So okay the general opinion is:

1) I'm miscalculating my calorie intake and am eating more than I think I am
2) I need more than 1200 calories with the amount of excercise I do, about 1900-2000 calories to lose weight

So even if I am miscalculating, and I'm eating 1500 instead of 1200, wouldn't that still be a deficit though? Unless some of you are suggesting that I'm miscalculating by over a 1000 calories, cause that would be amazing.

I lost 1.2 pounds since yesterday btw... I really have no clue what is going on with my body, but I hope this means it's not plateauing anymore.
I am still going to up my calorie intake (not to 1900 though) and see what happens.

Hi Airi8. I actually agree with you that it seems pretty impossible that you would be miscalculating your intake so much that when you thought you were eating 1200 you were actually eating 2200, I don't really believe that either. Back is to the wall though with the information you have provided. The "wall" being the notion I am not willing to give up which is Calories in - Calories out = weight loss if Calories out is bigger.

I get you don't want to respond to maintaining your weight by eating more and are therefore reluctant to eat a lot more but if I am one of the posters that you are currently humoring this is what I would suggest:

Bump your calories from 1200 to 1500 as you were saying you were thinking but in addition, stop exercising....just stop. Maybe go for a short walk now and again but no hard cardio no weight lifting. Do this for one full week. I am betting at the end of that week you will be 5 pounds lighter. If you can commit to that and I am wrong at the end I will fully admit I have no idea what is going on.

Aaron_K123

My only other thought is to wonder if when you say you eat 1200 calories if you mean NET or gross. In otherwords do you estimate your burns from your exercise and eat that back so that you net 1200 or do you just eat only 1200 and ignore the burn from exercise?

CA_Underdog

Humoring us would be opening up your food journal.

Orangesky50

That is the problem. Her weight is "stable" at essentially starvation mode. It is not her weight that needs to become stable, but her body needs to adjust to the new level of homeostasis. It is not healthy to be at a "stable" weight while eating at a starvation level of calories. So, SLOWLY adding calories and SLOWLY decreasing exercise readjusts the body's inner homeostasis (hormone levels, metabolism, etc.) and allows the body to loose weight at a later date. If she were increase her calories now to say 2 or 3 thousand at this point, she would gain more weight than she lost in a very short amount of time, AND it will be harder to take off the next time. If she drops her calories below 1000 in order to loose more pounds, she will damage her body further. This is why dieting doesn't work most of the time. I am just learning about this. Calories in, calories out is a very small part of the picture. I watched my father suffer all of his life. He could eat 1200 calories and GAIN weight, when he weighed over 500 pounds. I have avoided diets because of this. Better to stay at a stable weight than to continue to yo yo diet and gain more weight. I am now trying to drop weight very slowly. Finding the information about homeostasis, was enlightening, helpful, and hopeful. We are more like thermostats than calories in, calories out machines. I've lost 27 pounds, and now I am bringing my calories back up and trying to maintain this weight for a while before I try to reduce again. I'm still loosing though, so I want to find a balance where I am stable, before I loose more weight. Then, I am going to try to take it off about 10 pounds at a time- go back to homeostasis for a time, then take off another 10 pounds, etc. We shall see how it works. I know for me, dieting the normal way does not work, my body eventually wins and I just simply gain it back and go crazy in the mean time. LOL Again, I am not an expert, but the idea of homeostasis makes a lot of sense. Loosing weight sometimes feels like it is as impossible as trying to change my body's core temperature. I might be able to freeze myself enough to make my temperature go down, but it will always go back to normal. Except after you diet... our body's new normal becomes 10 to 20 pounds above normal, in other words a new, heavier "normal". My goal now is to SLOWLY set a new normal for my body.