5'3" girls at healthy weight who eat over 1700 Help!

stephaniethomas80

About a week ago I wisened up about how much I should be eating. Throughout most of my journey I ate between 1200-1400 cals daily. I was hungry and cranky and had no motivation to workout. I realized if I am to maintain this lifestyle I need to make some big changes. I've read IPOARM several times but was too afraid to be a follower. I decided to up my cals to 1700 and I eat back exercise calories (generally 200 a day via HRM). I'm aware I will gain some weight and it will be awhile before I start to lose again. I am 5'3" 128.5 lbs. I do 3 to 5 days of strength training (CLX) and about 3 days if cardio ( jogging or HIIT). I would like to hear some experiences other girls similar in size have had with upping calories. How long before weight started coming back off and how many calories a day you all consume. My goal weight is 120 lbs. thank you

lin7604

well mine never did i upped mine and i also am doing clx and i still haven't reached my goal weight. I don't mind as long as clx is getting the body fat off, but i haven't seen much improvement with that either yet i too was doing around 1400 and now i am doing min 1400 on no exercise days and i try 1600 on exercise days, i have gone up to 1800 if i am super super hungry.

stephaniethomas80

I've read it can take weeks sometimes months for the body to adjust to eating more. I'm close enough to goal where I'm not too concerned with putting on a few lbs for awhile but I do eventually want it to come off along with the rest of my goal pounds

bnorris2013

I am 5'2 and while i still have a ways to go but here is my experience
Keep in mind everyone is different so everyone has to do figure out what works for them

Its rare that there is a day that I don't exercise as I exercise 7 days a week - For light days I might just do 20 minutes of cardio

But now if I were not to exercise for the day or only do 20 minutes or less of exercise then I eat just what ever or at least within 100 calories under what ever MFP gives me so I will try and eat between 1270-1370 calories

On days that I do 30 or more minutes of exercise then I like to have a surplus of about 500 calories - So if I burn say 1100 calories in cardio I will eat my 1370 that MFP gives me and then I will eat back about 600 of the calories I earned

THIS Is what works for my body
You will need to figure out what works for yours

Yesterday not only did I eat my 1370 calories but I ate an additional 1917 calories and woke up this morning and lost .2 lbs
Because I busted my hump and worked out to where I burned 2444 calories for the day (I am way heavier then you so my cardio burns alot more then yours would)

Don't starve yourself to where you are cranky figure out what calorie intake makes you feel good and then figure out how much exercise you need to compensate for eating more this way you can still lose weight but eat more

lin7604

I've read it can take weeks sometimes months for the body to adjust to eating more. I'm close enough to goal where I'm not too concerned with putting on a few lbs for awhile but I do eventually want it to come off along with the rest of my goal pounds

i have been doing this for a good 6 months now ( eating more). i just go up and down the same few lbs. I did gain 1.5 lbs that has never come back off no matter how hard i tried. I was close enough to goal too but really need to lower my body fat!

stephaniethomas80

Bump

stephaniethomas80

Anyone?

carchie94

I'm 5'4-ish. Around your weight. My calorie intake varies. A lot. Sometimes, like today, I have to force myself to eat. Othertimes, I will go over my calorie intake drastically. But, before last week, I ate around 2000-ish calories a day. Maintained around 127 since October last year. I've only put on more muscle, according to calipers, so I guess I've lost fat.

From what I've read, you're supposed to slowly up your calories in 100 intervals. Do that for a few weeks, check gain, add 100 more until you're at maintenance. I've never done it, though. Perhaps I should.

Asterie

Hey! I consume around 1800 calories a day and exercise 6 days a week (Beachbody Insanity). It took about two weeks for the weight to start coming off again, but I don't know if that's because of the increase in calories or because of my muscles retaining water from Insanity. Either way, I've stopped depending on the scale as much and I measure myself every week--I've lost inches every week. So if the scale isn't budging, I recommend measuring yourself; it might be that your muscles are just retaining water but you actually are getting thinner! Hope this helps. (:

ETA: I'm 5'3", too!

neandermagnon

I'm 5'1" I'm at a healthy body fat percentage (22ish) and I eat a lot of calories in a day. I'm maintaining my weight and working out with the intention of getting strong. i was eating 1850 cals/day and losing weight very slowly at this number, I'm currently eating more than this, probably around 1900-2000 a day. I'm doing heavy lifting and I'm trying to gain a little weight, although I'm not tracking my food, I'm just eating lots of protein when i'm hungry. I'm doing weights 3x a week (stronglifts 5x5) and no cardio presently.

SarahSmilesCA

There are people on the board who have been successful at your weight with a similar protcol, the reason I know is I am at your height, and I look for people like you who have "made it" like you that are in my height category doing the MFP program and it seems to work, though it is really scary to up the calories and everyone remarks about it until it starts to work. Every time I approach more than 1800 calories I get nervous, even if I have been working out hard and earned extra calories (my work out schedule is like yours)

I really think you are on the right track. Cranky is NEVER a good thing, well except maybe during fasted training (do you do Intermittent Fasting?), so adding calories was probably the RIGHT thing for you. Only time will tell.

Maybe more people will respond in the morning.

SarahSmilesCA

BTW you look great and your results are very inspiring..

stephaniethomas80

There are people on the board who have been successful at your weight with a similar protcol, the reason I know is I am at your height, and I look for people like you who have "made it" like you that are in my height category doing the MFP program and it seems to work, though it is really scary to up the calories and everyone remarks about it until it starts to work. Every time I approach more than 1800 calories I get nervous, even if I have been working out hard and earned extra calories (my work out schedule is like yours)

I really think you are on the right track. Cranky is NEVER a good thing, well except maybe during fasted training (do you do Intermittent Fasting?), so adding calories was probably the RIGHT thing for you. Only time will tell.

Maybe more people will respond in the morning.

Thank you I used to do intermittent fasting but I'm finding I feel better if I spread my meals out

stephaniethomas80

Hey! I consume around 1800 calories a day and exercise 6 days a week (Beachbody Insanity). It took about two weeks for the weight to start coming off again, but I don't know if that's because of the increase in calories or because of my muscles retaining water from Insanity. Either way, I've stopped depending on the scale as much and I measure myself every week--I've lost inches every week. So if the scale isn't budging, I recommend measuring yourself; it might be that your muscles are just retaining water but you actually are getting thinner! Hope this helps. (:

ETA: I'm 5'3", too!

I measure once a month in several places

estelle74uk

Hi im 5'2 and eating around 2000, and am maintaining at the mo at 111lbs and have done for a few months now. Im heavy lifting and doing 3 x spin per week.

stephaniethomas80

Hi im 5'2 and eating around 2000, and am maintaining at the mo at 111lbs and have done for a few months now. Im heavy lifting and doing 3 x spin per week.

Amazing! I want to be able to eventfully maintain at a calorie intake like this

estelle74uk

Its lovely because i get to eat loads!! I was always on and off with 1000/1200 cal diet and it was rubbish! Always ended up going over all the time. Its not sustainable at all. You will get there Im just finding that as long as I do the cardio, which is very intense, i can not put on. Sometimes I even go over the 2000 mark, but at least now I know that im not going to be starving when i go back onto eating properly.

Eating more fats as well

xampx

I am 5ft 3 but not at a healthy weight.
I eat about 1650 plus 80-100% of my exercise calories (my main exercise is weight training) and I lose fairly consistantly.
1650 is my BMR

JustMQ

I am 5'3", currently around 130 llbs, and eat about 1700cals/day. Like you, I ate around 1200 cals/day (I was previously on Weight Watchers). Although the weight did initially come off, I hit a giant plateau and was craaaaaankyyyyy! I got fed up, found MFP and quit WW. I started on their recommended 1200 cals/day but still didn't lose weight no matter how much I exercised. Then I started reading about my BMR and TDEE, thought why not, and started eating more. Guess what? The weight started coming off again!! Oh, I guess I should also mention that I exercise 3-5 days and week, doing cardio and weight everyday, alternating my weights from upper to lower body.
I don't eat back my exercise calories because I have already factored them into my TDEE. Saying that, if I have an extra intense workout, I will eat if I am hungry. No more starving myself!

Kst76

I've read it can take weeks sometimes months for the body to adjust to eating more. I'm close enough to goal where I'm not too concerned with putting on a few lbs for awhile but I do eventually want it to come off along with the rest of my goal pounds

Hmmm, it should not take months for your body to adjust to a couple of hundred more calories. If you gain weight you are eating too much.

stephaniethomas80

I've read it can take weeks sometimes months for the body to adjust to eating more. I'm close enough to goal where I'm not too concerned with putting on a few lbs for awhile but I do eventually want it to come off along with the rest of my goal pounds

Hmmm, it should not take months for your body to adjust to a couple of hundred more calories. If you gain weight you are eating too much.

Even the IPOARM guy says that with strength training weight will increase a bit