Exercise Calorie Question, Please Help

Our bodies have what is called a Basal Metabolic Rate - This is a measure of how many Calories are needed to maintain the primary and necessary functions of living - this level is determined by your gender, your age, your height, and your weight. That is why you are asked all those profile questions to begin with. If you live a mostly sedentary lifestyle - work at a desk or are a student (not talking about your exercise here unless thats all you do all day long) then the calories required would be a little bit higher than your BMR but not by much. Weight loss is driven by creating a deficit in the calorie intake below this BMR so that your body is forced to get that deficit energy from other sources (i.e. your fat stores). The more active you are, the more calories you should take in. 1200 to 1250 calories is a fairly widely accepted calorie range for women under the age of 50 who are trying to lose weight. For women who live sedentary lifestyles (again not talking about their exercise) and simply want to maintain their weight (while still exercising the recommended 30 min 5Xwk) it is usually about 1700 and for women who are highly active - ie sports activities or personal trainers for a living they should be around 2400 a day. So if you look at the differences in those values you would need to significantly increase your exercise to continue to see the same results you are enjoying if you maintain a 1500 Cal diet. Also after the initial big weight drop women especially tend to slow down in their weight loss. You may consider changing the type of foods you are eating so that you are eating higher protein foods or if you are type of person that feels cheated if your portion size seems overly small consider finding foods that allow you to eat a bit more proportionally without giving up too much in your daily calorie count. Consider how you are using your calories because there is definitely such a thing as eating or drinking away empty calories that could be more filling if used in other ways. Bottom line by adding 300 calories you have essentially added a 4th meal to your diet and are only 200 calories away from the recommended range for women wished to maintain. Without increasing your exercise significantly you will begin to see a decline your results.