Caloric Intake - Less calories on rest days?

tignorm

Hi, I am new to this healthy lifestyle and have really gotten into working out the last month. I am 5'1", 193 lbs - I started this weight loss journey at 209 on weight watchers and have switched over to MFP in the last 31 days tracking calorie intake instead because I don't only want to lose weight but be healthier.

I started at 1200 calories but lately have been finding that I am starving and after talking to several healthy lifestyle friends they said 1200 calories was ok but now that I work out regularly I should got to 1500 calories.

I work out 5-6 days a week. Crossfit, running, eliptical. I am actually running my first 5K tomorrow and am signed up for a 10k in August.

On workout days I hit 1500 net and on non work out days I am trying to stay between 1200 & 1300 calories. Is that the right way to approach this? I just started 1500 calories on Wednesday.

At my weigh in today I had no change in weight. I will say that my clothes are looser and I am feeling amazing. I just decided to start tracking inches this week.

Help from anyone else is appreciated.

Valeen2013

It is hard for me to restrict intake on rest days because exercise really helps me to conquer my appetite. If I don't work out in the morning, I want to snack all day, so even on rest days I try to raise my heart rate a little in the morning, or right before lunch.

When I work out hard, I seem to be able to net 1000 calories a day without really trying too hard. So it's a choice between struggling through the workout, or struggling all day with food cravings. I prefer the workout. I usually take a rest day once every 3 weeks.

BlueButterfly94

I'm no expert at this, but I think you should be okay! What also matters is the food you're eating. It's okay to indulge a bit, but also make sure you're getting foods high in nutrients that your body needs- that's why you get hungry after all. I'd say if this is working out for you- keep it up for a week or two and see if you lose a little bit maybe- then keep it up! Congrats on your clothes fitting looser. Also keep in mind you'll be gaining muscle as well through working out, so if you stop losing weight for a while but your clothes continue to get looser and looser that's because muscle weighs more than fat!

May_Rose

The most simplistic way to do it (not as accurate as other methods) is to eat 10x your weight. So, aim for 1,930 calories/day. With this method, I would not add back calories burned excercising.

Then, when you weigh 180 lbs, cut your intake down to 1,800 calories and keep working out. You'll do great!

_Waffle_

Set your lifestyle to sedentary or lightly active depending on how much you walk around during the day. That should give you a base number of calories that you're supposed to consume each day. Now log your exercise here on My Fitness Pal. It will give you a number of calories that were burned during this exercise. This will increase your daily calorie limit but your NET calories will remain the same.

If you're eating 1300 calories and you burn 500 in exercise you should eat 1800 calories that day. When you subtract the 500 from the exercise it's still the same as if you at 1300 calories. That is your NET calories. As you become more fit and more healthy you'll be able to exercise even more which burns more calories. If you don't add these into your daily goal you're going to end up running low on energy and won't be able to continue exercising.

MKEgal

I am 5'1", 193 lbs

I did a blog post about goal-setting:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/setting-goals-667045

There are 2 simple ways to determine calories.
1 - Take your current weight, multiply by 10, and subtract 500-1000 cal per day to lose 1-2 lb per week. So 1930 - 500 is 1430.
Don't go under 1200 cal unless you're monitored by a doctor.

2 - Take your goal weight & multiply by 10.
According to this BMI chart: http://www.shapeup.org/bmi/bmi6.pdf
the top end of a healthy weight range for your height is 125 lb, so your calorie goal would be 1250, and that will slowly bring you to your goal weight. You won't have to recalculate.

Either way, if you're still hungry at the end of the day, eat back 1/3 to 1/2 of what you use in exercise.

My doctor says that I should always aim for no more than my goal calories (in my case, 1700, but I'm 5'10") and treat exercise as an extra bonus toward weight loss. Between that and knowing that it's hard to estimate how much I've really burned doing any particular exercise, I use the 1/3 - 1/2 rule if I'm still hungry.

tignorm

Thanks everyone for the insight. I totally get 125 may be acceptable but at about 130 I begin to look ill. I have always been happy at 150 to 160 so that is what I am striving for. Some of our body types just don't work with the BMI standards.