Exercise and Calorie Intake

Hi Everyone,

I've been working out 2 hours daily (usually burning 400-800 calories depending on the exercise) and eating around 1200 calories. Am I causing my body to go into starvation mode? I really want to drop my weight but I don't want to ruin my metabolism in the process.

Any advice or tips?

I need tips too. I'm the same. I consume 1200 - 1500 calories a day and burn alot of it. I eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. I eat pretty healthy and I'm never really hungry.

Your net calories should always be at least 1200

you need to be eating A LOT more. Losing weight is not simply about calories. Micro nutrients play a huge role. at 1200 calories you are barely getting any as it is and if you are working out on top of that you need a whole lot more to function. If you are working out for 2 hours a day get in at least 1800 calories and even that is a large deficit.

Do a search either on the boards here or the internet for TDEE. I was doing net 1200 and did drop about 20lbs (over about 8-9 months). I started doing Insanity and training for my first half marathon. While I always ate back my exercise cals I found I was gaining weight, losing stamina, feeling tired, light-headed and generally not well. I backed off on the exercise and increased my eating and my weight leveled off and after a few months of learning what worked for me (really increasing my protein and adding lifting) I am finally back to feeling more like myself. I am mixed with the 1200 cals as it did help me lose but it wasn't realistic long term. Looking back (and after some research) I don't believe I should have been eating below my BMR at all.

This is the post that helped me: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/538381-in-place-of-a-road-map

Mine is about 1700-1800 for light exercise which seemed so off the charts considering I'd been doing 1200 for so long. My BMR is around 1332 so now I NEVER eat below it. You need to remember your TDEE includes those exercise cals you normally eat back. So, if I do a hard workout or long training session (starting to consider marathon training) I'll need to eat more. I'm probably not doing a very good job of explaining things so hopefully the above post will help. Fat2Fit also explains why you need to eat more. For me I just know when I don't my body lets me know and it isn't pretty.

well you're certainly not eating enough, that's for sure. and you won't lose weight if you're not eating enough - unless you do it long enough to do serious damage to your body. eat more. and rest more. rest is VERY important for your body. take at least two rest days a week. it will benefit you!