Maintaining on 1200 calories

allycat54
allycat54 Posts: 67 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Instead of calling it a plateau, I'm feeling like I'm maintaining my weight at 1200 calories a day. I'm 5 feet tall and I'm pretty happy with my weight, though I wouldn't mind losing a few more pounds. I've been stuck at this weight for months, working out every day and eating back most of my exercise calories. Anyone go through this? I feel like I should maybe up my calories, though I don't know if I can eat more than I do. Some days I feel like I'm eating so much. If it helps, I'm doing 30 day shred and I'm on level 2.

Replies

  • Bighiker2
    Bighiker2 Posts: 100
    Yes, by all means try to up your calories intake, all the way to 1600-1700/daily for about a week, then go back down to 1200. You should begin losing again after that. Your scale will register a gain during the 1700 cal week, but it won't last, so either don't worry about it or don't weigh yourself. Looks like you are doing great as far as physical exercise goes, so good luck and keep going! =)
  • prov31jd
    prov31jd Posts: 153 Member
    Do you have a heart rate monitor that accurately counts calories burned? My personal trainer / nutritionist suggested I get one to find out what my true total daily energy expenditure (total calories burned per day) is. He said that the online calculators that take into consideration your age, height, weight, and body fat may be very accurate for some people, but that each person is different.

    What I'm suggesting is that it's possible you're burning many more calories than you think (and therefore upping your calories may be the jumpstart your body needs), or many fewer calories than you think (and therefore 1200 is truly maintenance for you at your weight).
  • allycat54
    allycat54 Posts: 67 Member
    I use a heart rate monitor. But thanks for the suggestion :)
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
    I know no one ever wants to hear this but if you're truly maintaining at your current intake/activity level, the only solution is to lower your intake or increase your activity. It doesn't matter which estimate is wrong-- BMR, TDEE, HRM, intake calories-- one of them is, and it's not all that important which one. It might be BMR and you'll never know. But if you're maintaining and it's not due to body changes, the energy equation is in balance.

    Eating more might help you burn more but studies say that the increase in calories burned is never as large or larger than the total increase in calories.

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