How many Calories to eat?

jessica7368

so I've lost 31lbs, and eventually I "hopefully" reach my goal weight in a few more months. So my question is, once I reach goal do i stick with 1200 calories, or do I go up to 1500 or more? And if I do that, won't I just start to gain weight back because I'd be eating 300+ more calories per day?

I've also feel like I've reached a plateau, I havent lost anything in over a week and a half and I've been eating my 1200 calorie + working out and nothing

Another question, do you all eat your exercise calories. My trainer says I should avoid eating them. However I was at a photography meeting on monday night and one of the girls there happens to be a trainer as her day job and she thinks I'm eating way too few calories, and I should definitely be eating more calories...i feel so confused as to where I should go from here. I really want to loose 20lbs more and hopefully by May. Thoughts???

j3nn14er

What I've heard of people doing to susccessfully break a plateau is to randomly (like maybe once or twice a week) bump your intake up. So say maybe fridays and wednesdays eat 1500 to get your metabolism going and then go back to 1200 the other days and see if that works for you.

I would say make sure you're eating properly, but if you've already lost 31lbs (great job by the way) then I'm sure you know what you're doing. ^_^

I, personally, eat back maybe 75% of my excercise calories mostly in the form of protein (tuna, greek yogurt). Doing strenght training will help you lose more, so if you're doing mainly cardio maybe mixing it up more will help. I think the general concensus around mfp is to eat back those calories...

You can do it!

melsinct

I am about at my goal now (30 pounds lost) and have plateaued twice for a length of time. This varies by person but after reading endless threads on MFP and articles on plateaus, weight loss, etc., this is what I learned:

1. When you get to within 10 pounds of your goal (I switched with 15 pounds left) up your calories to make a 0.5 lb/week loss. Not many people can lose 1 lb/week until the end. This will also help transition you to maintenance calories, as it takes some adjustment to incorporate hundreds of extra calories a day into your eating habits.

2. I plateaued by not eating enough calories. After my second plateau, I started eating back my exercise calories and it did the trick. As long as you are in a calorie deficit, you will not gain weight. That means if you are logging your calories and exercise correctly, you can't gain because you are still in a deficit. However, this becomes tricky especially with strength training because it is difficult to know exactly how many calories are burned. I usually eat back some, but not necessarily all, of my exercise calories. Try eating 50% back and see how it works for you.

1200 calories a day was waaaay too little for me, still is (I am 5'7" and 145 lbs). I feel sluggish and lack energy, my body needs more fuel. That is what sent me into my first plateau (upping to 1400 got the scale moving again). People use 1200 as a blanket number but you really need to find what works for you. It is not one size fits all.

Congrats on your loss so far, you have done a fantastic job!

jessica7368

bump...anyone else want to chime in?