Calorie intake/exercise help

Pandasarecool
Pandasarecool Posts: 508 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have a question. So here goes... I have a pretty sedimentary lifestyle (School etc.) I walk briskly for 30 minutes or so every other day and I do 15 minutes of body weight training 3-4 times a week to tone up. My question is, is 1200 calories a day too much for this lifestyle? I usually stay under, my diary is open so you can take a look if you want. Thanks!

I am a 5'7" 18 yr. Old 134 pound female.

Replies

  • mavericks15
    mavericks15 Posts: 21 Member
    Are you trying to lose or maintain weight/tone? Seems you're at a healthy weight for your height.
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
    1,200 is fine given your current activity level and stats. It's not too much.
  • Pandasarecool
    Pandasarecool Posts: 508 Member
    Are you trying to lose or maintain weight/tone? Seems you're at a healthy weight for your height.

    I wouldn't mind losing about 5 more pounds or so, but I am OK with what I am at now. I just want to lose some flab, and I am getting a bit of muscle tone. But mainly I want to maintain.
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
    Are you trying to lose or maintain weight/tone? Seems you're at a healthy weight for your height.

    I wouldn't mind losing about 5 more pounds or so, but I am OK with what I am at now. I just want to lose some flab, and I am getting a bit of muscle tone. But mainly I want to maintain.

    I presumed you wanted to lose a bit more given your ticker but if you want to maintain you could easily bump up calories to around 1,600 and be just fine.
  • Pandasarecool
    Pandasarecool Posts: 508 Member
    Are you trying to lose or maintain weight/tone? Seems you're at a healthy weight for your height.

    I wouldn't mind losing about 5 more pounds or so, but I am OK with what I am at now. I just want to lose some flab, and I am getting a bit of muscle tone. But mainly I want to maintain.

    I presumed you wanted to lose a bit more given your ticker but if you want to maintain you could easily bump up calories to around 1,600 and be just fine.

    I did originally want to get down to about 120, but I am OK where I am at now. I really don't enjoy exercise, that is why I only strength train 45 minutes a week. So I figure it will take longer for me to tone up, but I am not in a big hurry. I just feel that I am eating to much. Do you think that I could stay at 1200 calories a day, at the same amount of exercise, and stay about the same weight and not lose muscle? I have been feeling blah this week, so I haven't gotten my walks in, but I am planning my 3rd strength training session (15min) Tomorrow. Thanks for the help!
  • Pandasarecool
    Pandasarecool Posts: 508 Member
    Are you trying to lose or maintain weight/tone? Seems you're at a healthy weight for your height.

    I wouldn't mind losing about 5 more pounds or so, but I am OK with what I am at now. I just want to lose some flab, and I am getting a bit of muscle tone. But mainly I want to maintain.

    I presumed you wanted to lose a bit more given your ticker but if you want to maintain you could easily bump up calories to around 1,600 and be just fine.

    I did originally want to get down to about 120, but I am OK where I am at now. I really don't enjoy exercise, that is why I only strength train 45 minutes a week. So I figure it will take longer for me to tone up, but I am not in a big hurry. I just feel that I am eating to much. Do you think that I could stay at 1200 calories a day, at the same amount of exercise, and stay about the same weight and not lose muscle? I have been feeling blah this week, so I haven't gotten my walks in, but I am planning my 3rd strength training session (15min) Tomorrow. Thanks for the help!
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
    Do you think that I could stay at 1200 calories a day, at the same amount of exercise, and stay about the same weight and not lose muscle?

    Theoretically, if you stuck to 1,200 calories a day consistently you would actually continue to lose fat as it is below your maintenance calories (TDEE.) That might not show up on the scale for a while given water balance issues which will mask the loss (this is a particularly pesky issues for women who are fairly light) but it will be happening.

    Eventually your body will adapt to the lower intake by slowing your metabolic rate and while you won't lose too much muscle as your deficit isn't too severe (you generally always lose a bit along with fat when you are at deficit even with weights) why would you want to train your body to survive on less?

    If you want to eat a little more then don't be afraid too. If you want to keep at 1,200 then you can but it isn't optimal.

    Good luck.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I have a question. So here goes... I have a pretty sedimentary lifestyle (School etc.) I walk briskly for 30 minutes or so every other day and I do 15 minutes of body weight training 3-4 times a week to tone up. My question is, is 1200 calories a day too much for this lifestyle? I usually stay under, my diary is open so you can take a look if you want. Thanks!

    I am a 5'7" 18 yr. Old 134 pound female.

    No, I would say 1200 is no where near enough. With your height and weight if you want to lose weight you should aim for 0.5lbs/week and eat back the cals burned from exercise.
  • kellicci
    kellicci Posts: 409 Member
    You're doing MUCH better eating more protien! Your diary looks pretty good but I still think you could eat t little more. If your goal is to tone up it wouldn;t hurt yout ot upp it to 1300-1400. It does take time though I didn't feel like I saw much change until about 4 weeks in.

    I'm 6" shorter than you at about the same weight and I set my goal to 1300 and seem to do about what you do (stay under a good100-250 a day as a buffer b/c I probably underestimate). I haven't lost much weight but I have certainly toned up. I think what really helps with that is boot camp lots of push ups sit ups squats attempted pull-ups. I found boot camp meet up in my area for $5 a session I think I'm going to start trying that/ it sounds terrible especially forsomeone who doesn't like i excercise but if it's a group and everyone is struggling it makes it easier and it is SO worth it!
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
    Only you can decide calories, base it on how you feel and what the scale trend is doing, not what anyone here tells you to do. You can always gradually notch your calories up or down by 100 and see how you do. It takes some experimentation to find what works for YOU. What worked for the next person may not work for you just because it did for them. For the most part, if you have fat reserves eating more to lose weight is just plain silly, think about it.

    If you have a lot of body fat reserves you would be surprised at how little you can eat (unless you have emotional eating issues or disorders). The leaner you get the less your body has to draw from and then you have to taper up your calories. There is no such thing as starvation mode for women over 12% body fat or men over 6% body fat. I am a living breathing example of that. I went from obese to now under 12% BF and I've maintained for one year and built muscle the whole time. You don't BUILD muscle in starvation mode, so I proved everyone wrong. You can't really argue with my results and you can see my befores and afters on bobbies fitness.
  • joeamendiola
    joeamendiola Posts: 54
    1200 calories doesn't sound like enough. That is a very strict diet.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    you aren't eating enough.

    you should find out your TDEE and BMR. your tdee is your total daily energy expenditure, which is the amount of calories you need to maintain your weight at your current activity level. your BMR is you basal metabolic rate, which is the bare minimum of calories you need to survive if you were just laying in bed not moving.

    TDEE- http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    BMR- http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/bmr-calculator.html

    i took the liberty of plugging in the stats you gave. your TDEE for moderate exercise is 2200, for light it is 2000. your BMR is 1460.

    you should never eat under your BMR. ever ever ever. that could possibly hurt you and force your body to resist weight loss, as it is trying to conserve itself. if i were you, i would find out my TDEE at "light exercise," and then your BMR. find a number about half way in between those two, and then log and drink your exercise calories.

    did i say drink your exercise calories??? WAIT, NO PUT DOWN THAT MARGARITA!!! i mean to get yourself some protein powder, and start using it to make post work out/recovery shakes. use 1-2 scoops of powder, 6-8 ounces of orange juice, and then a half a cup or two of frozen berries and throw it in the blender. its a great way to replenish your body with a lot of good stuff that it needs, and taken after a work out it refreshes you, and helps put off that OMG I WANT TO EAT EVERYTHING feeling ppl get an hour or two after a work out.
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
    Whatever you do, don't listen to apollo, erick, or msf...they speek science
  • dewgirl321
    dewgirl321 Posts: 296 Member
    If you're trying to maintain and improve body composition, you wouldn't want more than a small deficit. Your estimated TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is 2265, so you should probably eat about 2000 cals per day. Try to get extra protein and limit simple sugar. Make sure you're lifting with intensity if you're only going to do it for 15mins at a time. Maybe you can do a HIIT class or Boot Camp so that it's not as boring for you?

    Eating 1200 cals and not exercising much won't get you the results you want. You might lose scale weight, but most likely not much body fat, and you won't gain much muscle (which is what it takes if you're looking for more definition).
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    btw, if you really want to lose those last few pounds and the flab, you should check out staci. http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    hard to believe, but she's 131 on the left, and 142 on the right.

    Screen-Shot-2011-07-21-at-92311-AM.jpg
  • Pandasarecool
    Pandasarecool Posts: 508 Member

    did i say drink your exercise calories??? WAIT, NO PUT DOWN THAT MARGARITA!!!

    Aww, I was hopeful for a moment! :tongue:
  • Pandasarecool
    Pandasarecool Posts: 508 Member
    oops, didn't mean to quote myself...
  • Pandasarecool
    Pandasarecool Posts: 508 Member
    ...
  • juliebeannn
    juliebeannn Posts: 428 Member
    btw, if you really want to lose those last few pounds and the flab, you should check out staci. http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    hard to believe, but she's 131 on the left, and 142 on the right.

    Screen-Shot-2011-07-21-at-92311-AM.jpg
    this article changed everything for me. staci is my hero.

    eat more and lift heavy things. you'll be happier.

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