Increasing daily calories.....

MichelleF81

Hi, I started out on here just a few weeks ago as I wanted to lose about 14lbs. I've already managed to lose 8lb by following 1200 cals per day plus eating all of my exercise calories. I feel this is quite a lot of weight to lose in a short space of time for me as I'm not what most people would call 'big'.....I'm 130 lbs and 5'5" tall. To be honest I'm finding the 1200 cals a day pretty difficult to maintain on the days I don't exercise and find myself going to bed hungry, and sometimes going to bed early just so I'm not tempted to eat!! Anyway, getting to the point lol, I'm thinking about increasing my calories to 1600 per day, everyday, regardless of whether or not I exercise. I work out on average 4/5 times per week for an hour burning around 400 cals each time.

Will I still lose weight by doing this - would you guys recommend more cals/less cals? I'm a bit lost tbh, it's not right to feel hungry is it? I'm also trying to increase my cardio and push myself a little more with each work out and as I've lost 8lbs in 3 weeks maybe I should lose the last 8lbs at a slower pace and concentrate on my fitness and being healthy. Say I wanted to lose half a lb to a lb per week what would be the recommended calories cos everywhere I look it says 1200 net but I don't seem to be fitting into that calculation I don't want to be unhealthy or re-bound and gain it all back as soon as I increase my cals. Anyone can look at my diary and do eat 'fairly' healthy as a general rule so as long as I'm not using my extra cals to eat junk or chocolate I should still lose slowly??

Sorry for the long post. I know everyone's bodies work differently I just wish I could figure mine out

jennyocox

I'd say increase it a bit to about 1400 or 1500 and see how you get on. You shouldn't ever go hungry.

dad106

I just increased my calories simply by upping my lifestyle from sedentary to lightly active.

I'm 5'9 weigh 158 and have about another 8-13 pounds to go, I'm also at a pound a week loss and they had me at 1420 calories.. which for me is not enough. On days that I didn't exercise, I was always going over and on days that I did, I still was very close and felt very hungry. upping it to lightly active gave me about 150 extra calories which is a lot for me.. so I'm going to see how this goes and if lose weight continue it... if not, then I can change it.

Sarcastic1

You're right, everyone's body is different, but I think you're probably on the right track, thinking of increasing cals. I was also on a mission to lose 15 and not "big". I lost 6 very quickly, like in two weeks. I am also on the 1200 a day thing and working out about 6/7 days a week doing p90x cardio/plyo/core/kenpo, which are 1 hr. I hit a plateau after I lost 6lbs. I then increased my workouts to be strictly 7 days a week and adding another 45 mins of cardio running/walking hills. Kept my cals under 1200. I didn't lose a single pound. Many many people on here have told me not to go below 1200 net. I stopped eating back my exercise calories and would come in at 500 net. That didn't work either. It doesn't sound like you are thinking in that direction, but just in case, I don't suggest it.
For me, I am very afraid of large calorie totals, so I plan on cutting back on exercise and trying to always net all 1200 calories. If you are planning to keep up the same workouts and adding more cardio I would think increasing calories would be a good idea. Maybe go back and look at your BMR, then go from there to decide exactly how many more to add per day. Apparently these last few pounds really are the hardest to lose, but I wish you luck!