Calories consumed on BR

jennys11

I am vegan, so I don't follow her meal plans. However, I eat very clean and 1200 calories/day in the recommended schedule that she suggested: 250 breakfast, 400 lunch, 150 snack, 400 dinner.

What is everyone else doing in terms of calories consumed while doing Body Revolution? The scale isn't moving for me the past 2 weeks. I'm on phase 2, week 2. Is anyone eating their earned calories back? I'm considering zig-zagging my calories slightly, but I'm worried about eating more than 1200 calories a day while doing BR.

gardenimp

I was doing 1200 through the first phase. I lost 9.5 lbs during kickstart week and haven't lost since. I've been reading alot about under eating and "starvation mode". I thought maybe the extra weight training and less fuel was stressing my body. So as of yesterday I upped my calories to match my BMR, but not eat back the exercise calories. There are as many opinions on here as there are members, so I think you need to experiment for yourself and see what brings you the best results.

theredcliche

I have been so stressed about how many calories to eat. During the entire first phase, I ate only 1200 calories and averaged a net caloric intake of 850. I was starving, so I calculated my BMR AND TDEE (1430, 2290)... then I read a lot about how you aren't supposed to eat below your BMR, blah blah blah. I wanted to follow the program because I think it is designed well and I feel like it is getting results... however, I was obsessed with food, hungry, grouchy, etc. I read Making the Cut and it is designed for people with 20 lbs or less to lose (and I fall into that category + want to build muscle which is apparently hard to do at a deficit). In Making The Cut, Jillian suggests you eat AT your BMR during the 30 day program and you are not eating back exercise calories, so your net caloric intake is still below your BMR. Since I had already been eating way too few calories for a month, I decided I had to NET at least my BMR. Then, magically, today I find a tweet where someone asked Jillian if they were moderately fit with only 5-10 lbs to lose but were doing Body Revolution what they should do... she said to start on Level 2 (I assume that is phase 2??) and up their meal plan calories to 1700. So, after all that, my calorie goal on MFP is now 10% above my BMR (so it is like 1580 a day)... I'm scared that I'm going to gain weight, but I keep having to tell myself that I'm still eating at a deficit so it is nearly impossible to gain weight overall (I may gain for a few weeks, but it will even out and in the end, I will be losing)... the whole analogy of your metabolism being like a fire helped me understand better... the more wood you throw on a fire, the stronger the fire... if you only feed the fire, every six hours, the fire is gonna be wimpy. I don't want a wimpy metabolism!

NovemberJune

I usually eat about 1500-1600. I usually have a 500-800 calorie deficit after exercise. (0-300 calories "remaining" set at 1 lb lost per week)

jennys11

I have been so stressed about how many calories to eat. During the entire first phase, I ate only 1200 calories and averaged a net caloric intake of 850. I was starving, so I calculated my BMR AND TDEE (1430, 2290)... then I read a lot about how you aren't supposed to eat below your BMR, blah blah blah. I wanted to follow the program because I think it is designed well and I feel like it is getting results... however, I was obsessed with food, hungry, grouchy, etc. I read Making the Cut and it is designed for people with 20 lbs or less to lose (and I fall into that category + want to build muscle which is apparently hard to do at a deficit). In Making The Cut, Jillian suggests you eat AT your BMR during the 30 day program and you are not eating back exercise calories, so your net caloric intake is still below your BMR. Since I had already been eating way too few calories for a month, I decided I had to NET at least my BMR. Then, magically, today I find a tweet where someone asked Jillian if they were moderately fit with only 5-10 lbs to lose but were doing Body Revolution what they should do... she said to start on Level 2 (I assume that is phase 2??) and up their meal plan calories to 1700. So, after all that, my calorie goal on MFP is now 10% above my BMR (so it is like 1580 a day)... I'm scared that I'm going to gain weight, but I keep having to tell myself that I'm still eating at a deficit so it is nearly impossible to gain weight overall (I may gain for a few weeks, but it will even out and in the end, I will be losing)... the whole analogy of your metabolism being like a fire helped me understand better... the more wood you throw on a fire, the stronger the fire... if you only feed the fire, every six hours, the fire is gonna be wimpy. I don't want a wimpy metabolism!

Thank you so much for this. This makes a lot of sense. I'm thinking I'm not eating enough and I'll have to up my calories. I'm just not sure by how much. I'll have to figure this out.

mals422

I have been so stressed about how many calories to eat. During the entire first phase, I ate only 1200 calories and averaged a net caloric intake of 850. I was starving, so I calculated my BMR AND TDEE (1430, 2290)... then I read a lot about how you aren't supposed to eat below your BMR, blah blah blah. I wanted to follow the program because I think it is designed well and I feel like it is getting results... however, I was obsessed with food, hungry, grouchy, etc. I read Making the Cut and it is designed for people with 20 lbs or less to lose (and I fall into that category + want to build muscle which is apparently hard to do at a deficit). In Making The Cut, Jillian suggests you eat AT your BMR during the 30 day program and you are not eating back exercise calories, so your net caloric intake is still below your BMR. Since I had already been eating way too few calories for a month, I decided I had to NET at least my BMR. Then, magically, today I find a tweet where someone asked Jillian if they were moderately fit with only 5-10 lbs to lose but were doing Body Revolution what they should do... she said to start on Level 2 (I assume that is phase 2??) and up their meal plan calories to 1700. So, after all that, my calorie goal on MFP is now 10% above my BMR (so it is like 1580 a day)... I'm scared that I'm going to gain weight, but I keep having to tell myself that I'm still eating at a deficit so it is nearly impossible to gain weight overall (I may gain for a few weeks, but it will even out and in the end, I will be losing)... the whole analogy of your metabolism being like a fire helped me understand better... the more wood you throw on a fire, the stronger the fire... if you only feed the fire, every six hours, the fire is gonna be wimpy. I don't want a wimpy metabolism!

Thank you so much for this. This makes a lot of sense. I'm thinking I'm not eating enough and I'll have to up my calories. I'm just not sure by how much. I'll have to figure this out.

So glad you guys are feeling this, too! I'm 20 lbs away from my goal, and I definitely don't have enough energy at 1200 calories. My calorie goal is currently set at 1350, but I'm thinking of increasing it to 1500 or so, since my BMR seems to be about 1475.

twinmomtwice4

I can't eat as low as 1200 calories. I get cranky and become obsessed with food, eventually going on a major binge. I started out at 1300 calories and ended up gaining back 2 pounds on my first week of BR. Then I upped my calories and dropped those 2 pounds, plus 1 more.

I've been slowly increasing my calories to my TDEE - 20%. This week I'm at 1600 calories and next week I'll go up to 1700 and stay there.

So far, it's working well for me. And I have plenty of energy to do the workouts.

theredcliche

I can't eat as low as 1200 calories. I get cranky and become obsessed with food, eventually going on a major binge. I started out at 1300 calories and ended up gaining back 2 pounds on my first week of BR. Then I upped my calories and dropped those 2 pounds, plus 1 more.

I've been slowly increasing my calories to my TDEE - 20%. This week I'm at 1600 calories and next week I'll go up to 1700 and stay there.

So far, it's working well for me. And I have plenty of energy to do the workouts.

well, i started out at 1200 calories (not eating back exercise calories).... then i upped to 1150 net calories for 2 weeks..... then 1450 net calories for a week... and i am starting 1800 net calories today which is my tdee-20%. i'm scared to gain weight but i've been reading the "Eat more to weigh less" group on MFP. i seriously feel so much better with more calories though. i don't know how it has affected my weight loss yet as i don't weigh in again until tomorrow... but i'm pretty sure i haven't lost anything (although that is expected when going from huge calorie deficit to small deficit). i will say that i don't have a signficiant amount to lose and i'm trying to get rid of the last 5-10 lbs of fat and build muscle, so what works for me probably won't work for someone trying to straight up lose.

also, i usually workout in the morning before eating but yesterday i ate cereal, then fell back asleep for about an hour before working out and i had SO MUCH ENERGY doing cardio 2. it was so much more do-able than normal, so i'm going to test this theory again and see if i need to eat before working out to tolerate the workouts better.

snlperdue93

I am vegan, so I don't follow her meal plans. However, I eat very clean and 1200 calories/day in the recommended schedule that she suggested: 250 breakfast, 400 lunch, 150 snack, 400 dinner.

What is everyone else doing in terms of calories consumed while doing Body Revolution? The scale isn't moving for me the past 2 weeks. I'm on phase 2, week 2. Is anyone eating their earned calories back? I'm considering zig-zagging my calories slightly, but I'm worried about eating more than 1200 calories a day while doing BR.

I lost 11.5 pounds in Phase 1, but the scale has stopped moving. I upped my calories to my BMR of 1526 last week and I am making sure that I NET that number, so we will see how the scale treats me tomorrow. I did horrible logging over the last few days due to finishing up finals and I am actually expecting to gain on the scale tomorrow due to eating higher calories, but my body is shrinking. I went to put on a pair of size 8 blue jean shorts for my daughters softball practice on Friday (they were too tight to button before starting JMBR) and they would not stay up. So even if the scale is sitting still, I am not worried because the inches are falling off.

I would suggest just making sure that at minimum you NET 1200 calories per day to avoid starvation mode.