Lowering Calorie Limit?

xxghost

I'm considering lowering my daily calorie limit. I'm rarely hungry, and find that I would have to eat more than I would like to meet my daily number. I work out quite a bit, but never have a desire to eat my extra calories. I end the day with a couple hundred extra calories. I lost quite a bit of weight my first week (I am sure this is from working out more and being more aware of what I was eating), but I actually gained nearly two pounds last week.

I've only eaten my workout calories a couple of times (when I had nearly 1000 calories in exercise).

Would you recommend I cut out a couple hundred calories? Right now, I am given over 2000 calories to lose 1.5 pounds a week.

ECR1989

I'm by no means an expert so definitely don't take what I saw as gospel, but in cases like this I would just listen to your body. I hate eating when I don't feel like it, just to make up numbers and as long as you aren't starving yourself to lose weight quicker then I would say cut down the calories. Just make sure what you eat is giving you a good mix of protein, vitamins, nutrients, fibre etc etc

There's a saying which is eat to live don't live to eat, and I try to go with that really. I don't like to snack between meals (although I have been recently just because I've been doing 14 hours days so just need that extra energy boost) so generally just have 3 main meals a day. Maybe you should try eating less but more often? Carrying fruit around, or sliced carrot or celery, or even a homemade sandwich?

I'd definitely listen to your body though, and not eat if you feel full or satisfied.

now_or_never13

If you don't want to actually eat more food to reach your limit eat higher calorie foods. Eat nuts, peanut butters, nut butters, add oils to your food when cooking, use higher fat salad dressings/dips, drink full fat milk, have a protein shake/bar, add some may to a sandwich/wrap, add some cheese to your meal, etc.

Eating too little isn't the way to go for the most part. A higher deficit is more sustainable when you are obese or very obese. As you lose weight a smaller deficit is needed so that you can preserve your muscle mass.

If you lower your calories you risk losing not only fat but also muscle mass. Losing muscle mass will ake you look bigger when you lose weight and will eventually cause your metabolism to decrease.

Your calories will decrease as you lose weight so I wouldn't cut any now. Just try to reach your goal by adding in higher calorie foods.

xxghost

Thank you for the advice! I will try going for the more calorie-heavy foods.