Debating a Bump Up in Calories

sunshinestater
sunshinestater Posts: 596 Member
in Food and Nutrition
MFP put me at 1200 calories when I joined. I'm a 48 year old female looking to get down into the 120s. I exercise daily (C25K, Jillian Michaels Body Revolution, and some outdoor walking or Leslie Sansone DVDs thrown in occasionally) and eat back my calories, which means I actually eat about 1400 to 1500 a day. Most days I stay within the limit, although I go over occasionally, usually when hormonal chocolate cravings attack, and sometimes I'm under because I'm just not too hungry that particular day. I have occasional planned overages when covering a media event with food or going to an indulgent restaurant for a special occasion.

I was losing nicely after joining MFP and starting my program on March 25, but I've hit a plateau. I'm not gaining, and I"m getting toned, but I can't get the scale into the 130s. I've seen others talking about plateaus caused by too few calories, so I wonder if that's what's happening to me. I do have one other factor playing in. Around the same time as I started my fitness program, I got off Yaz birth control pills, which I've taken for a few years for perimenopause symptoms. I'm using an herbal supplement with black cohosh at my doctor's recommendation instead. I know hormones can wreak havoc, so I suppose that could be playing into the plateau.

I'd love to hear from others who bumped up a bit and started losing again (or gaining) and those struggling with hormones before I make a final decision. I'm okay with 1200 calories, but it would be very ironic if that was what's impeding my progress at the moment.

Replies

  • cc141
    cc141 Posts: 55 Member
    I couldn't eat only 1200 even with eating back my exercise calories- I get so hungry. I'm at 1560 now and eat back most exercise cals- so I get to 1800. I set my goal now to lose .5 lb per week because I'm pretty close to my goal.

    When I started with like 15 to lose I set the goal to lose 1 lb per week and I was eating about 1330 cals and exercise cals. I lost weight every week.

    I would set your goal to lose 1 lb per week and that will let you eat more and you most likely will still lose.
    Also I calculated my BMR and TDEE online ( http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html) just to make sure MFP was giving me an accurate number.
    BMR let's you know what calories your body needs for organ function (like the calories burned if you stayed in bed all day) and TDEE is what your body burns daily based on activity.


    ETA: I just found this post and this should help a lot- it explains everything really clearly http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833500-what-do-i-do-common-sense-cliff-notes

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