How high can you go?

jellybaby84

in calories and still lose weight?

I've been browsing around a few diaries (because I'm procrastinating from my work I guess!) looking for meal options and nutrient balance etc and have been surprised to find that some women have a daily allowance of 2100 calories or more BEFORE exercise. Over 2000 as a baseline!

These women are losing weight, they're not maintaining athletes or anything, just ordinary members. Eating more food than the recommended intake for a woman who is not trying to change their weight is working for them to lose weight. Seems strange to me.

So how much do you personally think you could eat and still lose weight? And, if you know, why would that be?

My allowance is 1200 and I think if I ate 1250 without exercising I'd probably gain!

beskimoosh

My boyfriends is over 2000, which is annoying when mine's 1260! I think it just depends on how much you weigh and how tall you are. If you're taller or weigh more, your body burns more calories in a day doing normal things. Also, it would depend on your activity levels. I think this is why, although it doesn't stop me getting jealous of my boyfriend!! Lol.

Also, I think I could go up to like 1400 and still lose, but it would be way slower than now!

usmcmp

I frequently eat between 1600 and 2000 without exercise and still lose. I think some of it probably has to do with quality and type of food. If I ate 2000 calories of meat and veggies while drinking lots of water versus 2000 calories of pizza while drinking soda my body reacts differently.

LJV1031

Mine is 1950, but I'm maintaining... So I guess I'm no help for this question. :ohwell: Oops.

snookumss

My daily allowance is 1700. I am 175lbs and very muscular... lightly active. I had trouble when I was consistently lower than my calorie goal losing weight. I didn't lose weight for 90 days because I was eating an average of 1450 and my daily goal was 1650. I upped it to be closer to my goal and now I lose consistently again.

karagav

1200 is definitely a baseline and i definitely think it's possible to lose weight by sticking to this. it depends what you're eating too though, so try to get the most out of your calories!! you don't want to still be hungry, you need to eat foods rich in proteins, etc.
i know that before i started tracking my calories again i would graze all the time, and probably ended up eating easily 500 calories daily over 1200....but because i wasn't tracking, i wasn't accountable for it!! andddd hello easy weight gain!

StarIsMoving

Lots of factors go into that. How is your metabolic rate? What types of food you eat. What is your "normal" activity level in living without exercise (a waitress has more activity then a phone customer service rep). For me, personally... I could probably do 1400 of good clean food (not processed, high sodium, etc) and still lose without added exercise

MissSharkattack

I could probably go up to about 1800 and still be losing. However, I still have a lot of weight to lose, so its coming off easier for now.
Im currently at 1500 and see (appox) 1.3lb loss a week, although its set at 1.6lbs.

bpurc22

I'm currently at 2000, just because I'm 18, still growing (hopefully) and do a lot of exercise/things I don't track, so I'm not really worried about it. I can eat on red for days straight and lose weight by the end of the week. It's all about who you are and how your body works. It's completely unfair but that's how it works...if you're taller, you most likely have a higher metabolism, so many other factors.

dls06

It depends on how much you have to lose. The less you have to lose the less calories you get.
When I was losing I only had 1200. Now I have 1400 to maintain.

MaximalLife

It depends on the individual.
I can eat 3700 daily; that's my maintenance level for food intake.

You have a number as well based on gender, weight and activity.
MFP sets your goals based on that number - BMR.

I suggest you set your goals based on 1 lb per week and EAT BACK ALL YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES.

Rae6503

My maintenance is about 2300. So yes, I've eaten 2000 PLUS exercise calories and lost weight. I'm a big (5'9"), active woman. If I'm as big as a man, there's nothing to say I can't eat as much as a man....

Right now I'm trying to bulk (add muscle mass) so I am eating an average of 2800 calories plus exercise and I track a weekly average so that some days I'm well over 3000.

I think in general, women on this site could eat more than they do and still lose weight (and be happier).

chatterbox3110

When I started my journey last year I was on just over 2000 calories a day, and as my weight has reduced so has my calorie allowance. I'm currently on 1610 daily and losing between 1-3lbs a week, dependent on how much exercise I've managed to fit in.

MFP re-evaluates your calorie quota at 10lb intervals, and of course, it takes into account things like height, weight, age, activity level to set your goal.

If I was on 1200 calories at the moment I would really struggle to keep to that. I've tried it, and found that I didn't lose at all that week, and even gained as my body went into survival mode thinking it was being starved!

I'm happy to keep reducing my calories as my weight drops - its working for me.

tigersword

I maintain at 3000, I'll lose consistently eating anything less than that. Keep in mind I'm a man, so that may skew my results a bit. :laugh:

eddyca

I think it depends on how meticulous you are about the accuracy of your calorie counting and calories burned. Someone who doesn't use a food scale or obsessively measure everything with a measuring cup should probably shoot for a lower number. If you're not careful, what you thought was 1200 calories worth of food could actually have been 1800 and vice versa.
It also depends on your metabolism, activity level and how much you want to lose per week.
I am a food lover with a huge appetite; I get plenty of incidental exercise going to and from work so my activity level is moderately active and my metabolism is pretty fast because of how much I eat. I'm happy losing only 1 lb per week because I want an easy and sustainable weight loss so 1,800 calories a day works for me!

darylspindler

It also depends on what you weigh. I'm early in the program and just slipped under 300. I was very suprised to find out that my baseline was about 2100 calories. Makes me shudder to think I've spent many days at 4000+. Old conventions are what did me in. I have fought counting calories my entire adult life because I knew I could do it my own way. What a delusion that turned out to be. So, I finally decided, I have to do something different and here I am! Five days and feeling good.

Sublog

in calories and still lose weight?

I've been browsing around a few diaries (because I'm procrastinating from my work I guess!) looking for meal options and nutrient balance etc and have been surprised to find that some women have a daily allowance of 2100 calories or more BEFORE exercise. Over 2000 as a baseline!

These women are losing weight, they're not maintaining athletes or anything, just ordinary members. Eating more food than the recommended intake for a woman who is not trying to change their weight is working for them to lose weight. Seems strange to me.

So how much do you personally think you could eat and still lose weight? And, if you know, why would that be?

My allowance is 1200 and I think if I ate 1250 without exercising I'd probably gain!

The fatter you are, the more calories your body needs to maintain that weight. A 200 lb woman will need more calories than a 150 lb woman.

CouchSpud

I am on 1910 at the moment, I am 5'11 and 111kg. On days I work out you will see me eat more than 2000kcal.
Fact is, we are not all the same. The 2000kcal is a guidance only, based on facts from a survey (no pictures this we measure a certain amount of women in world population and find the averga, then we make our guidelines for the average women).
Take for example the average height of german women (apparently 5.5) or in the UK (5.4 1/2)...
Now, it's also important what your goals are. Are you looking for the quick fix and want to lose as much as possible in the shortest time possible? Or are you actually looking to get away from dieting and just want to change your life style, therefore lose slow but most likely, once you have reached your goal will be able to maintain it without having to fight food for the rest of your life.

So, lots of factors that influence your calorie count, not everyone is the same.

Samerah12

My daily allowance has been all over the map, depends on where my heads at. I was set at 1200 for months and plateaued, ate maintenance for a week and lost 4 lbs. I'm currently set at 1 lb loss and 1550 daily cals or so, eating back exercise cals and I'm slightly worried that is still too little. I'll give it a go for awhile and then up it again if I need to.

IronSmasher

There are people that are overweight because they've worked up to eating 8000 calories a day in order to maintain their mass. They could eat 7500 calories and start losing.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

It really depends on the person, their age, their size, etc. I'm 5'3" and still lose weight at 1600, just slowly. You also have to watch a persons goal, not everyone is here to lose. I came here to lose, but I'm about to bump to gain to do a little muscle bulking.

34000volts

There are 3,500 calories in a pound. So to loose one pounder week Your average calories per day need to be 500 less than your maintenance level. Two pounds equals a 1,000 calories under your maintenance level per day. So depending on your goals some people can eat more than others. Also don't feel like a failure if your goal is two pounds a day and you go over your goal slightly because anything under 1000 calories is still leading to weight loss and should be considered gain. It will just take longer to get to your goal.

Kellyh01

I can lose slowly eating 1700-1800. I aim for 1200-1500 because naturally, I prefer to lose faster.

TrainingWithTonya

I set my goals based on the formulas I was taught in my nutrition classes since it was my minor. Specifically, I go with the formula that uses lean body mass instead of total body weight and activity level not counting exercise so that I can add more for exercise per MFP. My maintenance calories for a highly active person not counting exercise is 2957, which is what I have set as my goal on here. I set it as my goal so that after I add my exercise calories I can do one calculation (multiplying the total goal after exercise by 80%) to get the minimum number of calories I need for the day. I haven't been logging recently because I'm getting into my routine of my internship for my exercise physiology major so time has been scarce, but I'm pretty consistent with what I eat so I'm not worried about it. While I've only lost 14 pounds on the scale in the last year, I've also cut my body fat by 15% so the difference in what I lost in fat and what I lost on the scale is the addition of lean tissue, so obviously a high calorie intake is working great for me.

appleg1rl

The more you weigh/the taller you are, the more calories you can have. Men can have more calories than women, too. I'm 5'8", 264lbs, & female. In order to lose around 2lbs a week, I can eat about 1800 calories. I try to keep it under 1500, though.