2000 calories too many?

EmilyEmpowered

I am 5'4", 143 pounds, 25 year old female. My waist is currently at 31 inches, so I would like to lose a few inches overall. My BF was tested with calipers March 1st and found to be 29.6%!

ihave stopped really tracking my weight and am now focusing on building muscle and losing body fat. Now I am so confused about how much I should be eating! I had problems with EDNOS for most of my weight loss journey, so for me, I always try to stay on the lower end of my calorie goals. But that is not working any more, because I wake up in the middle of the night RAVENOUS, can not fall back asleep until I eat, and I usually am in such a haze I make bad or just plain WEIRD choices. I am not enjoying this night time eating, and it is putting me over my calories every day.

Anyway, I have been thinking about upping my cals to 2000 a day (from 1375 + exercise cals). I exercise 5-6 days a week, a mix of running (cause I love it) and weight training. On the weekends, I am very active- I have two young children so I am always trying to keep us on the go and not sitting around the house, plus since I work 50+ hours a week, I clean all weekend long getting caught up on every thing. I dont just sit around wathcing TV like I used to!

Basically, although I have come so far I feel like I am going in circles trying to get the last few pounds off and change my body how I want it. I dont want to waste any more time- although I know I cant expect a miracle before summer, I would like to get as far as I can in the next 2 months so I can really enjoy myself this year in the hot weather!

EmilyEmpowered

Hopefully I provided enough information, and my diary is open but again, there is some weird stuff going on lately! Thanks, all!

Rose_bee

You've come so far!

Those last few pounds are the absolute hardest to move, I've heard.

Have you tried having something with protein before you go to bed? That might help with not waking up so hungry in the middle of the night.

If I were you, I'd figure out your maintenance calories for your goal weight, and eat at that level. You should very slowly lose weight until you level out at your goal weight. Maybe up your calories to 1600 + exercise?

ash8184

Try it and see how you feel? If you wake up hungry, you definitely need to eat more. Can you keep fruits & veggies around and go for those when you want a snack or are hungry in the middle of the night?

I'd try the 2000 cals for 4 weeks and see how your body feels. If you're that active, you very well may need more calories in order to lose/tone.

Good luck!

BEERRUNNER

2K calories is just right for you I think! You are very active!!! your body needs to feed. Just feed it right 1300 cals?!?!?!!? dude, you are starving!!!:bigsmile:

BEERRUNNER

Dont forget to strenght train!

Ben2118

Worth a try, maybe have a re feed day too. Basically just eat ALL the carbs!! lol That can help kick start a change, you sound really active and have done amazing so far so I am sure you will be able to stick to it to try see if it works.

GIve it 2 weeks and see how the scale has reacted, I guess there is no exact science to it but upping your cals, especially if you are really active can have a positive effect. It's hard to find the true balance of what your body actually needs cals wise but what you have described sounds like a great starting point!

Hope it works out!!

Ben

jordantylergillespie

I'd say 2000 calories is fine, just looking back through one week of your diary though and I would HIGHLY recommend increasing your protein intake by like double.

TheEffort

I think adding the 2000 calories is a good idea...given how active you are.

PeteWhoLikesToRunAlot

Congratulations on your accomplishment, you look fantastic!

I've actually just hit my goal recently, but am actually trying to pull off just a few more lbs for "insurance". But I'm thinking similarly to you, from a maintenance perspective, and trying to further decrease bodyfat and build back some muscle - I usually run 40+ miles a week and as I've lost weight, I've also lost a lot of upper body muscle.

If you don't mind I'm going to tag along with this post and see what the masses say

junipearl

Use a TDEE calculator to get an estimate if you are not going to be tracking your exercise calories.
2000 calories per day for me is just right because of how active I am and because i do not track my exercise, whereas if I were mainly sedentary, I would have to stay around 1600.

skylark94

I'm 5'4", 127, 37, and have my goal at 2,000. I'm still losing at a rate of about a pound a month.

namluv

your body is sending you a LOUD message to eat more - how much more is tricky to say but 2000 doesn't sound unreasonable to me. I would add it to not weigh in immediately as you may have an initial gain and you wouldn't want that to discourage you if you are getting over a scale addiction.

cwolfman13

Given your activity level, I'd say 2000 is good.

That said...you should consider upping your protein intake to roughly .9 - 1 gram per Lb of LBM...pretty important for as active as you are. Also, you should definitely be incorporating strength training. That is going to do more for you at this point than anything else...it is the only way to change your body composition and get the look I know you're looking for (because everyone is looking for it).

Here's a good read:

http://www.metaboliceffect.com/exercise-to-burn-belly-fat/

Also, if you haven't done so yet, look into New Rules of Lifting for Women. Lift like a man and look like a goddess...you've got this.

Angie80281

I'm 5' 0" and when I was lifting heavy on a regular basis, I set my calories at 1845 plus exercise calories and was able to maintain my weight just fine. (MFP set me somewhere around 1400.) I felt so much better than when I was practically starving myself trying to maintain an unrealistic goal. Try 200 and see how it works. If it's too much, back off gradually, maybe 100 at a time. Good luck!

jlapey

If you've been eating just 1300+exercise cals for a long time, It's probably not wise to just jump right up to 2000. 2000 may well be what you should be eating, but you should work your way up slowly as you may have negatively affected your metabolism. If you make that big a jump right away, your body is gonna 'freak out' . I would add 100-200 calories to my daily goal and stay there for a week then up it again for another week. Continue in this way until your reach 2000. Good luck.

climbamnt

If you are exercising that much you will be fine upping your calories, just make sure you are getting plenty of protein! Find a good TDEE calculator and work your numbers out. Also, I use a FitBit pedometer, and on average I burn 2000 - 2200 a day. If I let MFP set my calories it sets it too low. I manually set me numbers on here and I am for 1800. P.S. My exercise is just walking (I am on my feet a lot), no gym or lifting yet. Don't underfeed yourself, especially if you are looking to replace fat with muscle. Good luck!

MiamiKid305

Your weight x 14= maintanence calories subtract 500 calories to lose weight or add 500 to gain

NRSPAM

No. I've been eating at around 2,000, and I'm finally starting to lose. Ate at maintenance for a few weeks, to break my plateau. Now I'm eating at a 500 cal. deficit. Started to see some changes on the scale this morning and yesterday, after seeing an increase from water retention, but it's coming down now. I recently got a body media so I don't have to guess anymore how many calories I burn. I have 1 small child, and 3 boys all together. I exercise also anywhere from 3-6 days/week. I do zumba, treadmill, and strength training. My days are pretty busy, most days, cooking, cleaning, and chasing after my 19mo old. I'm amazed at how many calories I burn just doing those daily activities. On the days I exercise, I can burn from 2,500-3,000, depending on how much I do. You may see a slight increase in the scale initially, but it will come right back off, atleast mine did. Your body will just have to adjust to the change in calorie intake. Give it time! I was getting frustrated, and almost cut my calories drastically, but it's coming off now. Good luck! :happy:

azamlynn2000

I think this site will benefit you incredibly - freedieting.com . Just go to the calculators for how many calories you need with the amount of exercise you are doing, which in your case will be , everyday(intense). When I put in your info, it gives me the following number of calories for you:
Monday/Thursday Sunday - eat 1905 calories
Tuesday - 1524 calories
Wednesday - 2286 calories
Saturday - 2095 calories

Calorie cycling will help not to plateau! Also, I will suggest increasing the amount of lean protein that you take to about 30% of your total calories, that will take care of your cravings! Hope that helps!

Francl27

I'd increase your calories but maybe not by that much.

What's your job? If you're sitting 50 hours a week, even a few 200-250 calories workouts don't make you very active. I'd say lightly active. Or just log your strength training too and eat back those calories.

surromom2010

I'm 5'3 122 lbs and eat anywhere between 1700 and 2400 in a day with my insanity and about 300-500 deficit and haven't lost a lb but inches are still shrinking! I think 2000 would be just fine for you.

EmilyEmpowered

:flowerforyou: thanks everyone for all of your replies, I was in a meeting and came back to a lot of answers! Thanks, I cant wait to take more time reading what you all have to say. Transitioning into the frame of mind I have now has been difficult, but everyone here has really helped so thanks again :flowerforyou:

EmilyEmpowered

I do have a desk job, but I dont just sit the whole time. I am up and down for the entire ten hours. Also, on my lunch break I work out for an hour and I also try to get a few morning workouts in throughout the week. So at least 2-3 days I do two a day workouts, or do yoga or a long walk with my little ones before work when the weather is nice. So all in al, I probably 'workout' 10 hours a week, plus other activities playing with the kids on the weekends and at least half of those are pretty intense-- a mix of HIIT, strength training, and I am training for my first 5K, so I run at least 12 miles a week, trying to do more than that. I dont get a chance to log all of my exercise and I dont always record it all because MFP gives me more calories and I was trying not to over estimate what I was eating back. I need to be more consistant with recording exercise, right now I normally only record half the cals I burn in a day.

I do strength train, right now due to school being in session, I am not able to get to the gym on a regular basis, so I am working with the dumbbells I have in my gym at work. After this semester, I can actually use the bar. for now, I do OHP, deadlifts, squats, bench press, etc with dumbbells, and then also use the machine they have (not sure of the name, one with multiple exercises and two sides, things like leg press, calf raise, tricep, rows, etc.) I mix all of this up so I dont get bored, and I dont know if it is right but when I strength train I do things like box jumps between sets to keep my heart rate up so I can burn more in a limited amount of time. I can honestly say I am one of the only one in my work gym who WORKS MY BUTT OFF and isnt in there to show off how I look in my workout gear (although my profile pic is from my work locker room lol)