Women who eat more than 1800 calories a day !!!!

chrissym78

bumping to read after work cause I am starving at 1200/day!

sunshine83777

You ladies are inspirational. For the longest time I thought I couldnt go over 1200 cals if I wanted to lose weight(fat) Now I know that's not correct especially if I am burning so much calories. From my experience if I work out I gotta take in more healthy food for fuel otherwise I will feel tired......low energy and unbalanced. That's somthing that I deff don't want. In my road to a healthy me.

mirandawilley

Can someone help me out I am a 26 year old female, 5'2", 134 lbs. My goal weight is about 115-120 but I have been at a standstill for about 2 months... I am halfway through p90x(classic) and am losing inches but not seeing the scale change. MFP says to intake 1240 calories so that's about what I take, sometimes the most is 1600. I see everyone posting about upping their calories to 1800 or more but I feel like I would be gorging myself and feel guilty in order to eat that much though out the day...
Anyone have any suggestions about how much calories I should up to??? Also is everyone eating super duper healthy when they are upping to more than 1800 calories or are you just eating anything and everything??

Thanks for any input!!

lizzy00125

I eat a TON! haha On non-workout days I will eat around 1800 and workout/lifting days I eat around 2100 calories. FYI-5'3" 126 lbs. I don't know how some people manage on eating only 1200 a day. I would be a MEGA-B*tch. Good to see so many women actually eating here. I have to read up on this thread once I leave work.

meagalayne

Can someone help me out I am a 26 year old female, 5'2", 134 lbs. My goal weight is about 115-120 but I have been at a standstill for about 2 months... I am halfway through p90x(classic) and am losing inches but not seeing the scale change. MFP says to intake 1240 calories so that's about what I take, sometimes the most is 1600. I see everyone posting about upping their calories to 1800 or more but I feel like I would be gorging myself and feel guilty in order to eat that much though out the day...
Anyone have any suggestions about how much calories I should up to??? Also is everyone eating super duper healthy when they are upping to more than 1800 calories or are you just eating anything and everything??

Thanks for any input!!

You have to figure out what your ultimate goal is... Losing fat and gaining muscle simultaneously is a tough balance but I can tell you that it will not be acheived at 1240 cal/day. In order to gain muscle your body cannot be in a mega calorie deficit. I strongly recommend doing some research on this. If you are losing inches, it could very well be loss of muscle mass despite your work with p90x. At the calorie intake you are stating, and the conventional burn of the p90x workouts, I am guessing you are not gaining very much lean muscle mass at all.

If your goal is simply to lose weight - then eating a calorie deficit will accomplish that. But it will likely be at the expense of some muscle loss initially and will also probably make you cranky, because food is delicious and eating 1240 cals/day is miserable.
If your goal is to improve your body composition, build lean muscle, and cut fat - without a focus on the scale - then eating your maintenance calories or slightly less (not BMR - maintenance) plus whatever calories you burn - while focusing your energy on weight lifting and overall fitness will accomplish that goal. Your diet should be composed of a good amount of protein and healthy fat, as well.

You decide :bigsmile:

agthorn

Also is everyone eating super duper healthy when they are upping to more than 1800 calories or are you just eating anything and everything??

I think most of us (definitely me at least) generally adhere to the 80/20 rule. Someone else specifically mentioned it in an earlier comment. Meaning we eat pretty healthy for the most part - good sources of protein, nuts, fresh fruit and veggies, protein shakes, carbs of all colors (at least for me). A lot of us skip the diet food and eat full fat dairy, real salad dressings, cheese, olive oil or butter on our veggies, nut butters, etc. There's plenty of healthy foods that are higher in calories. But if I want ice cream or, heaven forbid, cheese puffs? I can make it fit into my overall goal too. That's the problem I see with eating 1200 calories a day - there's no room for 'life' to happen.

cowgirlslikeus86

My base is suppose to be 1250 but I work out almost every day so I eat about 1600-2000 calories. On the days I don't work out I still eat around 14-1500 because my metabolisim is still going strong and I am hungry.

After playing around with my calories and figuring out what shows up on the scale, I am back to loosing 1-1.5 lbs a week and gaining muscle. I feel great!

I have a very sedentary lifestyle, from day to day, right now. If I didn't, my base would be like 1600 calories.

I am 5'9" and 177 as of this morning. Been at this since 1/9/2012

LorinaLynn

^^^ Everything Agthorn just said a couple posts up.

It's what you do most of the time that matters. Most of the time, I eat a healthy balance. Sometimes I eat pizza, but mostly I have a lean protein, a pile of veggies and something carby for dinner. Sometimes pizza IS a lean protein (chicken is my favorite topping), veggies and something carby, so it's fine. Sometimes I'll have cake or brownies or chocolate, but usually, I'll have fruit or a protein bar as a snack.

But everything I eat is something I enjoy and find delicious. I won't eat something just because it's good for me.

cleaneater80

love this topic

amberlyna5

Bump to read I net around 1600 but am still losing... this may explain

rmk20togo

So, those of you who have tried the increased calories for a while and seen success - what are your average NET calories? I've been looking at gross (1750) and not eating exercise calories, but only for 5 days so I can't tell how it's going yet. My net is always below 1200 because I'm a gym rat.

rmk20togo

I think most of us (definitely me at least) generally adhere to the 80/20 rule. Someone else specifically mentioned it in an earlier comment. Meaning we eat pretty healthy for the most part - good sources of protein, nuts, fresh fruit and veggies, protein shakes, carbs of all colors (at least for me). A lot of us skip the diet food and eat full fat dairy, real salad dressings, cheese, olive oil or butter on our veggies, nut butters, etc. There's plenty of healthy foods that are higher in calories. But if I want ice cream or, heaven forbid, cheese puffs? I can make it fit into my overall goal too. That's the problem I see with eating 1200 calories a day - there's no room for 'life' to happen.

80/20 is me exactly. I eat healthy all week, dark chocolate every day, full fat everything, avoid as much processed as possible, and eat french fries every Saturday.

tabinmaine

So, those of you who have tried the increased calories for a while and seen success - what are your average NET calories? I've been looking at gross (1750) and not eating exercise calories, but only for 5 days so I can't tell how it's going yet. My net is always below 1200 because I'm a gym rat.

Your net is too low, most people on here are eating 1800-2000 calories on rest days and that is their NET on workout days..

chevy88grl

Also is everyone eating super duper healthy when they are upping to more than 1800 calories or are you just eating anything and everything??

I think most of us (definitely me at least) generally adhere to the 80/20 rule. Someone else specifically mentioned it in an earlier comment. Meaning we eat pretty healthy for the most part - good sources of protein, nuts, fresh fruit and veggies, protein shakes, carbs of all colors (at least for me). A lot of us skip the diet food and eat full fat dairy, real salad dressings, cheese, olive oil or butter on our veggies, nut butters, etc. There's plenty of healthy foods that are higher in calories. But if I want ice cream or, heaven forbid, cheese puffs? I can make it fit into my overall goal too. That's the problem I see with eating 1200 calories a day - there's no room for 'life' to happen.

I completely agree with this.

MOST of what I eat is healthy and good for me, but if I want some cookies (which I will tell you I have EVERY single day!) or some cheese puffs - I eat the dang things. This is the only life I'm going to get. While I love being thinner again, I refuse to go without the foods I love.

chevy88grl

So, those of you who have tried the increased calories for a while and seen success - what are your average NET calories? I've been looking at gross (1750) and not eating exercise calories, but only for 5 days so I can't tell how it's going yet. My net is always below 1200 because I'm a gym rat.

My NET calories for weight loss?

2100-2200.

My NET calories for maintenance?

2300-2500 (though I can push it all the way up to around 2700-2800 and be fine, that is just too much dang food for me)

rockerbabyy

I think most of us (definitely me at least) generally adhere to the 80/20 rule. Someone else specifically mentioned it in an earlier comment. Meaning we eat pretty healthy for the most part - good sources of protein, nuts, fresh fruit and veggies, protein shakes, carbs of all colors (at least for me). A lot of us skip the diet food and eat full fat dairy, real salad dressings, cheese, olive oil or butter on our veggies, nut butters, etc. There's plenty of healthy foods that are higher in calories. But if I want ice cream or, heaven forbid, cheese puffs? I can make it fit into my overall goal too. That's the problem I see with eating 1200 calories a day - there's no room for 'life' to happen.

^this 10000%
though lately my diet has been more 50/50 than 80/20 >.> after tuesday that should go back to 80/20

rockerbabyy

So, those of you who have tried the increased calories for a while and seen success - what are your average NET calories? I've been looking at gross (1750) and not eating exercise calories, but only for 5 days so I can't tell how it's going yet. My net is always below 1200 because I'm a gym rat.

my goal on non-exercise days is 1845, and thats my net goal on workout days. i gross up to 2500 on exercise days.
i lost about a pound a week last month, but could have lost more if i didnt go over each weeks net goal >.>
id say your net is way too low..

Kincar

I'm convinced! I've been eating around 1400 kcals. I love working out & do so 5 - 6 days a week. I eat some to most of my exercise cals. MFPs has dropped my goal kcals as I've lost (as I knew it would), but I haven't been happy at the lower numbers. Plus, I want to start lifting heavy again (used to be a gym rat back before marriage & kids) So, I went in and added 100 kcals to my goals today. I'm going to add more in slowly. I am extremely glad I clicked on this thread. Thanks so much to everyone who gave advice & encouragement.

Nana_Booboo

Bump

Love this one!!!

31prvrbs

This whole thread makes me so happy to see women that are eating/trying to eat at reasonable deficits (even happier to see those willing to eat @ surplus to put on muscle).

To those on the fence, if you're not making progress where you are now, what do you have to lose? To those who feel they are making progress now, what will you do when you hit a plateau, go down further? Therein lies the problem, even if it seems like it's working at first, the results are temporary and almost sure to backfire.

Anyway, I'm around 5'2, 31 yr old, 118 lbs and maintain at about 2020. Right now I'm bulking at ~2400.