Activity Level questions

SunBunzz

I don't have a job, but I realize I'm on my feet at least 4-6 hours a day, (this includes my exercise regimen) I cook, clean, (a lot) play with the dog, and I spend around 50 minutes a day exercising, usually 6 days a week.

I had to get rid of my HRM because it was a piece of crap (Polar FT60, it only worked for 6 months at a time, then just stop functioning, even with new batteries-I returned it to the company 3 times, before I finally just insisted on returning it for a refund)

I have a Wii Meter, which is a pedometer that counts footsteps (Linked with Wii Fit U, but I realize that this game is kind of useless lol)

If I put the pedometer on right around when I wake up, and keep it on all day before bedtime, I walk an average of 10,000 steps, sometimes up to 15,000. (This also includes working out, whether it's walking, jogging, dancing or my circuit training)

I still want to get around 125 pounds, but my current average weight is 133 (I'm 5'2 & a half)
But my fiancé says I should probably just jog most days, and set it to maintain weight, in which case I'd be eating around 1800 a day. I guess I wouldn't mind dropping just a few more pounds, and maintain between 128-130 if possible.

My question is, (my pedometer counts calories by actually footsteps, seems pretty accurate, except it doesn't measure heart rate, just rate of steps)

Should I set my diary at 1200, and manually add the calories I burned with the Wii Meter throughout the day, and include exercise? I still have to guess my exercise, which isn't too difficult, I have a generally good idea, but I always add a little less just in case. Like playing Just Dance for around 40 minutes is roughly 200 calories for me.

I chose lightly active, and to LOSE weight, I'd eat around 1590, which seemed to work, but after a week of this, I feel starved and weak, resulting in me binging one day, I felt like I lacked sugar or something. My exercise on top of my daily activities could be too much, and the calories could be too less...

Point is, eating 1600+ exercise calories seemed to help my weight loss, around .5 - 1 pound a week, but I seemed to get too hungry after 10 days or so. Any input or advice appreciated.

I've been dieting for over 2 years, lost most of the weight, I'm pretty healthy and happy now, but frankly I'm sick to death of eating a deficit, (I have cheat days too) but I still feel like I might be a bit heavier than I'd like to be. By about 10 pounds, but it's so hard to know what I should aim for.

Koldnomore

You could always just add an extra 100 cals/ week until you stop losing then decide what you want to do from there. Potentially if you want to lose more you might be a little hungry, that's kind of the point of losing weight. If you 'maintain' at 1800 and lose at 1600 then manually set your calories to 1700 and continue to eat exercise. See how it goes for a month or so and re-evaluate from there.

SunBunzz

THANK YOU! That's not a bad idea. I can certainly handle being a little "hungry" hahahahah but lately with my strenuous workouts I felt STARVED after 7+ days of it. So something was amiss. Headaches, mood swings, fatigue, craving sugar too, which could be a woman thing, but it was long after TOM.