Eating 1900 calories + a day and still losing weight?

feistyhorsegal

So I have lost 14.7kgs since New Years (not sure what that is in pounds). I joined MFP a few months after I started and it tells me I have lost 20 pounds since then. My goal weight was initially 67kgs, then I got there and decided to go to 63kgs, I've hit that and surpassed it, and I'm now down to 61.8kg. I'm starting to look bony and its not attractive. But I'm eating a minimum of 1900 calories a day and nearly always eating back my exercise calories. Not exercising much either, just 1 Zumba class a week and a bit of running and walking leading my little daughter on her pony. I don't want to lose any more weight. Just want to stay at 63kg. Why am I still losing weight when I'm eating this many calories? I've just revised my calories on MFP to "gain half a pound a week" to see if that helps. That gives me 2120 calories to eat a day. I'm finding it hard to eat this many calories whilst still eating good food and I'm going back to eating biscuits and fatty foods, which I really don't want to do. I want to keep exercising cause I want to tone heaps more but because the weight is dropping off me, its almost like I'm scared to exercise as I'll drop even more weight. Any suggestions??

ColleenRoss50

You could try switching your exercise from cardio to strength training. If you are really enjoying the Zumba classes, one class a week is not too excessive but it is unnecessary and you really don't need to burn extra calories with cardio. Strength training two or three times a week will get you further in getting the body composition you want.

ColleenRoss50

Make sure you are getting sufficient protein. Some healthy foods to help reach your calorie goal for weight gain are nuts and seeds (brazil nuts, almonds, walnuts, peanuts, sunflower seeds, etc.), avocados, healthy oils such as olive oil, and whole grains. Drinking healthy fruit juices with no added sugars might also help.

SusanLovesToEat

If you want to keep burnig calories at your present weight you need to add calories. You can add "good" fats to your present diet to boost calories. Athletes do this everyday. My brother was in crew in college and ate 8000cals a day when rowing...

angelina2585

May I suggest that you plug your numbers into this calculator http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

My allowance to maintain is 2095. I'm 42, 5'4", 138lbs and exercise 3-5 hours a week.

Just make sure that you are honest with the number of hours you are active and see what numbers you get back.

Hope that helps.

aproc

Increase fats when eating more... It really isn't hard to hit 2200+ with good foods. You just have to eat more at each meal and the increased fat intake will help. Nuts will go a long way.

HeidiMightyRawr

Have a look at my diary. I am on 2300 at the moment to lose (total calories, not net) and very rarely have problems making that.

Don't judge by this weekend's though (not my typical day) I usually just have quite big healthy meals, sometimes a pudding if I can fit it into my calories, but most of the time the meals makes up my calories easily, pasta, meat, etc are great!

feistyhorsegal

Thanks everyone for your replies. The calculator angelina posted said I should eat 1900 calories a day, but I am still losing at that. So I will just try my original plan of 2100 calories, but try to eat good fats and healthy food. Will do more strength training to build muscle. :-) Don't really want to drop my Zumba session as it is starting to tone my body really well. Will just have to eat heaps that day. lol.

Jynus

pasta, milk, olive oil, peanut butter

all very calorie laden and cheap. Go wild, add that stuff to everything.

veganpoler

Seems like kind of a fun problem to have, to me!

How tall are you, may I ask? I am 5'10" and I can eat quite a lot to maintain my weight. As an experiment, I upped my calories to 2000/day for a few weeks awhile back, and I continued to lose 1-2 pounds per week while doing that.

It sounds like you are doing great, just try to enjoy having a few hundred more calories to eat each day! If you are having trouble getting it in, try eating more nuts, or make smoothies with peanut butter added to them!

feistyhorsegal

I'm 5ft 11 veganpoler. I ate over 2000 calories today but then my fat went through the roof. Upping calories without upping fat is what I struggle with.