Any other girls on a 2000 calorie goal?

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ashleearoha
ashleearoha Posts: 165 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hey guys, I am 21 years old and at the moment I am trying to reduce body fat but increase my muscle mass. I go to the gym everyday doing strength training and cardio most days too. I'm not sure if 2000 calories is a bit too much if I am trying to reduce fat, I am 19% body fat at the moment which I am pretty happy with but I know I could lose a bit more. I just see in some articles that lots of girls who are aiming to lose fat and build muscle only eat like 1600 calories a day. I eat 5 meals a day and each one is high in protein.

I just wanted to get some perspective and see what sort of calorie goals other girls (or even guys, not too fussed) like me are aiming for? Thanks :)

Replies

  • MissGamerGirl
    MissGamerGirl Posts: 187 Member
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    Going to bump this because I'm interested in hearing the answers too. I am at a 2000 calorie goal right now but I'm in the very beginning stages of lifting and am still trying to figure it all out.
  • Myhaloslipped
    Myhaloslipped Posts: 4,317 Member
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    I am at 2050 and doing fine. I am also lifting quite a bit, and I am pleased with my results so far.
  • GypsySoul_74
    GypsySoul_74 Posts: 152 Member
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    i am part of the camp of women who have eaten far too few calories for far too many years. Now that I've been lifting heavy for over a year, I've realized that to gain any ground toward my physique goals, I need to get my body to the point where it can accept more calories in order to have the flexibility to manipulate nutrition for muscle gain or fat loss with any sort of success in the long term. My project right now is substantially increasing my caloric intake to help my body learn to function on a "normal" number of calories again--my thyroid hormone levels are all over the place, but I believe my body is slowly adjusting.

    All that to say--please don't lower your calories just because other girls do! :) If 2,000 is working for you as maintenance, you can use that number as your starting point once you make an informed decision about how to adjust for muscle gain or fat loss. There are some excellent resources available to help you make sense of how much to eat and how to manipulate macronutrients to achieve your goals. Some of the best information I've found on this site (in regards to both nutrition and exercise) comes from the Eat, Train, Progress group. I'd encourage you to join that one! This thread is a great place to start:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read

    Wishing you the best of luck--you already look great!
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
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    Unless you're really new to lifting you won't gain any appreciable muscle while trying to lose fat.

    To lose fat, you have to eat below maintenance. To build muscle, you need to eat ABOVE maintenance - to put on weight (some of which will be muscle and some will be fat). You can get stronger by lifting while eating at a deficit, however - strength gains come from more than just muscle gains.

    As for how much to eat, it depends on what your priority is and your TDEE. Have you figured this part out yet (i.e. your maintenance intake)? If you want to lose fat and retain the muscle you have, then take a modest amount off your TDEE (10-15%) and eat that. If you want to gain muscle, add something around 150-300 calories on top of your TDEE. You're at a very respectable bf% that would be appropriate as a starting point for a bulk if that interested you.

    One other alternative is to do a recomp: eat at maintenance and very slowly lose fat while very slowly gain muscle. It's...slow. If your goal is to gain muscle this is a really inefficient way to do it, especially as a woman (the cards are already stacked against us in the muscle-building department, unfortunately). Bulk/cut cycles are more efficient.

    As for calorie goals there is no "right" number to aim for since everyone is a bit different. Personally, I can maintain on anywhere from 2300 to 2600 depending on my weight and activity level (I lift three days a week, so the only difference would be whether I add some cardio sessions). Most of the women in the bulking group on here (i.e. trying to gain muscle) are eating anywhere from about 2200 to 3000/day. Protein is important - you want to aim for at least 1 g /lb lean body mass - in your case more would probably be better since you're already quite lean.
  • burtnyks
    burtnyks Posts: 124 Member
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    I recently started working towards putting on more muscle and I'm eating 2300 cals per day. I just track my weight on a weekly basis to make sure I'm not gaining too fast (at this point I have yet to actually gain since I was trying to find maintenance for awhle). I figure as long as I'm monitoring it weekly I can make quick adjustments up or down based on how my weight is moving.
  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
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    I have a 2000-calorie goal! I'm 5'4" and 135lbs.

    It's a pretty good maintenance level for me, though personally I think I could lose another 5lbs, so I don't always go for that extra snack when it's midnight and I've had 1800.

    19% body fat is really nice! I was at that before I took a month off for the holidays like a silly person... being away from college meant no gym, but that's just an excuse. I'll be back there soon! Ultimately I think I'd like to have 16% body fat, because I'd see more muscle tone that way. I eat at maintenance. I am rarely hungry enough to eat over that, so sometimes I eat under, which will result in fat loss.

    I pretty rarely do cardio, though I've been incorporating about 10 minutes of it into my workout (more of a warmup than a cardio session.) The rest of my workout is all strength training. I definitely appear fitter and feel stronger. I can work my muscles at higher weights. I always have a small protein shake afterwards. So I'm building strength, which I assume involves some muscle growth, and maintaining my weight, which means I must be burning some fat. I know there's lots of science and method to it that you can follow, but I think eating at maintenance while you work your muscle groups is a simple way to do it and it's something sustainable that you can do forever, and keep getting fitter and stronger and leaner.
  • ashleearoha
    ashleearoha Posts: 165 Member
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    All you guys are amazing, thank you for the thorough answers, I think 2000 calories is working out well for me, as I dont feel as fatigued and shaky as i used to on 1600 calories. And I am building muscle, I would rather build muscle in the long term as then I can burn more calories at rest.

    Feel free to add me as a friend on here, I love looking at other peoples diaries and what workouts you guys do! :)
  • tegalicious
    tegalicious Posts: 629
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    My maintenance is 2800 according to my fitbit! I am slowly moving up to it right now (am at 2500 and am still losing :/). Feel free to add me!
  • GillianMcK
    GillianMcK Posts: 401 Member
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    I'm 1850 a day on my rest days and increase that by 100-300 on days that I'm doing somthing (100-200 where I'm only running or PT, 200-300 days I'm running and doing weights), I try to have 5 smaller meals a day and make sure there's a protein source in each of them.
    I'm 1850 a day as my resting metabolic rate is just under 1800 calories.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    I'm at 2200- and typically eat closer to 25-2700.

    WOOT.
    maintenance for me is around 1800-2000.
    All you guys are amazing, thank you for the thorough answers, I think 2000 calories is working out well for me, as I dont feel as fatigued and shaky as i used to on 1600 calories. And I am building muscle,

    just to be clear- unless you are quiet tiny- you most likely aren't building muscle on 2000 a day.

    You may be maintaining- and getting stronger- but you probably aren't gaining muscle.

    Strength is not the same thing as size.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    I'm set to 1900 knowing that I often go over and end up around 2000-2100 on average.
  • doughnutwretch
    doughnutwretch Posts: 498 Member
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    2500 here
  • sfbaumgarten
    sfbaumgarten Posts: 912 Member
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    My maintenance is set at 1700 and I eat closer to 2000 with exercise cals. I'm slowly increasing my cals as I've still been slowly losing weight. I'd be THRILLED if I could maintain netting 2000... Time will tell.
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    I'm aiming for 2700 at the moment. (5'8, 149lbs and approx 22%ish body fat) Looking to reduce fat % so I have more definition,wherever that lies.

    The amount I'm on is fine for me at the moment, I lose on this (slowly) I think closer to my goal I expect to have to lower it a bit, maybe 2300-2400 as a minimum. I'm quite active, in my job and the gym/lifting so 2000 has me losing a bit too quick from experience but I've seen a lot of women on here lose consistently on 2000+ so sounds like it's worth a try.

    Number of meals for me is usually 3-5 depending on the length of my day and how big/filling those meals are.
  • essjay76
    essjay76 Posts: 465 Member
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    I'm set to 2000 calories. I try not to eat above that (most days) as I've estimated it as my TDEE for the past few years on maintenance.

    I'm a petite person but I run quite a bit. Have been slacking on the strength training though. I keep saying I want to get to the lower end of my weight range and reduce body fat (to get to an ideal race weight), but it's been hard to eat at a deficit while training for long distances. I initially lost weight two years ago by eating at about 1600 calories and not eating exercise calories back.

    Anyone who has responded, feel free to add me. I love having fit females (and males!) on my friend list that aren't afraid to eat.
  • obsidianwings
    obsidianwings Posts: 1,237 Member
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    Not right now, but I was eating a bit more than that for bulking. It's not too much,depending on how much you burn, eat less than you burn to lose fat, eat more than you burn to gain mass
  • phuckingbadasscutie
    phuckingbadasscutie Posts: 1,619 Member
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    I'm set for 2300 on lifting days and around 1800 on non lifting days. I recently started lifting and I am doing the New Rules of Lifting for Women program. That's how I got my goals. I thought it was high at first but I haven't gain any weight yet so I think it's been good.
  • fushigi1988
    fushigi1988 Posts: 519 Member
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    I'm around 2500 calories, that's what I burn according to my Fitbit, and I've been maintaining weight for a bit.
    Working on lowering BF% and adding muscle now.
  • LexiMelo
    LexiMelo Posts: 203 Member
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    I just got the NRFL4W book too! I'm supposed to eat between 2000-2200/day according to the book. It is a big change for me but I'm going to give it a month to see how it goes - glad to see others doing this. I'm a few lbs over my arbitrary goal weight but my real goal is to get stronger! The book says to give it a month and see how its going and adjust if needed at that point.
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
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    I eat a minimum of 2000 calories a day and I'm 5'7", 122 pounds, 41 years old. That has turned out to be maintenance for me. All the calculators estimated 1895-1950, but I found I can eat more and be fine. I'm not counting calories right now because I don't want to freak myself out and fall below that number. I'd rather overeat right now because of my goals (adding muscle).

    I'm going into a slight bulk to add a little more muscle and will start a cut sometime around June. When I cut, I drop to 1700, sometimes 1600 for the last couple pounds. I cut pretty rapidly.

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