how many calories should I be eating?

lookgreatfast
lookgreatfast Posts: 106 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone. I am 37 y/o female 4'9". My SW 117.5 ..now down to 111. My GW is 105. I started off 1000 cal/day. Then slowly increased to 1200/day. Through out I have been doing some form of Jillian Michael workouts. Now after a 2 week break..I have restarted with ripped in 30 and 20 min. on the elliptical. But I have gained 1-2 lbs. I have increased my cal to 1350-1400/day. I am a stay home mom so aside from exercise probably lightly active. Could I be eating too much? I do drink 9 glasses of water/day. Why is the scale not moving? How come my weight loss is so much slower than others? I mean I only lost 6.5 lbs over 4 months and only 1 pant size.

Replies

  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    It's slower because you do not have as much fat mass as persons who weigh significantly more than you. The less fat mass means the less fat that can be oxidized in a 24 hour period. That's right - we all have a limit to how much fat mass can be used as fuel. The closer we get to that max deficit, the more lean body mass is used as fuel. Any fuel after that threshold is crossed is purely from lean body mass.

    Regarding your "gaining" weight, any increases in carb intake will pull in water. Any sudden addition or increase in activity will lead to extra water weight retention. Needless to say, I seriously doubt your maintenance calorie range is 1350-1400 calories a day. So any "gain" you are experiencing is likely due to extra water due to becoming active again.

    Lastly, the closer you are to your goal, the smaller the deficit should be (back to the first point I mentioned). I will emphasize this again - no, you are not eating too much based on activity level. You should be eating about 250 to 300 calories under your actual TDEE, though. So if your TDEE is about 1700 calories to maintain doing your present activity, then you ought to eat between 1400-1450.
  • castell5
    castell5 Posts: 234 Member
    Unless you are a cat, you should be eating more then 1200 calories a day. Especially if you are actively exercising. Get too extreme and you'll be fighting a food disorder. Be sensible.
  • heidicockburn1
    heidicockburn1 Posts: 2 Member
    Unless you are a cat, you should be eating more then 1200 calories a day. Especially if you are actively exercising. Get too extreme and you'll be fighting a food disorder. Be sensible.

    Why more then 1200 calories??? My fitness pal has mine set at 1200 calories a day......
  • tryclyn
    tryclyn Posts: 2,414 Member
    Unless you are a cat, you should be eating more then 1200 calories a day. Especially if you are actively exercising. Get too extreme and you'll be fighting a food disorder. Be sensible.

    Why more then 1200 calories??? My fitness pal has mine set at 1200 calories a day......

    I would suggest reading a bit more. There are some very helpful people in the group sections.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
  • lookgreatfast
    lookgreatfast Posts: 106 Member
    Thank you everyone..that's a relief to know I'm not eating too much cuz i wouldn't be able to survive lower than 1400 anymore.

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