How many calories do I really need &&&&

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  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    Kinda embarrassing but I need to know...

    Im
    22
    5"2
    233 lbs
    & work out 5 days a week for at least 1 hour,,, sometimes I go as far as 3hours mostly on the elliptical bc Im still nursing a sprained or strained ankle...
    I typically burn 600-650 calories in an hour and sometimes up to 1000+ when I go for up to 3 hours...

    Im currently doing the 1200 calories a day thing but when I was looking up different calorie counting websites, it was saying to lose weight I need to up my calories to around 2000 or 2000+... WTH??? Is that for real?! Does anyone know if this is accurate or know the best site to see how many calories I actually need?

    Also, on a serious inquiry...

    I've been pretty good with the 1200 calories,,, sticking to it and not eating over it unless I've worked out enough calories to do so... eating healthy with no junk... But,,, I would hardly do the #2,,, i think I pooped like twice in two weeks eating healthy and working out...

    Well yesterday and the day before I had cheat days where I had plenty of junk food and I could not stop needing to fart and poop... I would have thought eating healthy and working out would increase my metabolism and force me to poop on a regular basis at the very least... Can someone take a crack at explaining this to me? Why did I poop while eating JUNK food but not while I was working out and eating healthy?

    I am working with and being monitored by a dr that specializes in weight loss and nutruition. When I first started, was 223 lbs, and the same height as you. The dr tested my BMr and did my calculations for me. My metabolism was slightl higher than expected based on my stats, I was not doing any exercise, and my target was about 1600 cal a day.

    After dropping some, and then gaining, and stopping for a while, I stared on Mfp a a weight of 217. It had me on 1200 cals. I was doing this fairly loosely, and closer to 1400 a day. My doctors have gone through my food logs, retested my bmr which has dropped as I am now down to about 185 and thought the 1200 was really low for a day to day basis, and think t 1400 should be my min with and it should be closer to a target of 1600 day. I have been told theres no need to eat my exercise calories, as my exercise is infrequent, and I am only burning a couple hundred cals a session very few weeks. I was advised if I did be a bigger workout in and was feeling extra hungry to add another serving of protein with a fruit or veggie. They would reevaluate my exercise calories if I increased a lot.

    For you, I would think that you would target at least 1600 cals, plus add some back for excercise as a minimum.. I would guess probably close r to 1800 or 1900 plus some excercise calories would be closer. I do think1200 is way too low.

    Wow - a doctor that actually took readings before just randomly throwing out the 'eat 1200 calories' standard. I must say, you were sensible to get one that specialized in weight loss and nutrition.
  • macx2mommy
    macx2mommy Posts: 170 Member
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    Kinda embarrassing but I need to know...

    Im
    22
    5"2
    233 lbs
    & work out 5 days a week for at least 1 hour,,, sometimes I go as far as 3hours mostly on the elliptical bc Im still nursing a sprained or strained ankle...
    I typically burn 600-650 calories in an hour and sometimes up to 1000+ when I go for up to 3 hours...

    Im currently doing the 1200 calories a day thing but when I was looking up different calorie counting websites, it was saying to lose weight I need to up my calories to around 2000 or 2000+... WTH??? Is that for real?! Does anyone know if this is accurate or know the best site to see how many calories I actually need?

    Also, on a serious inquiry...

    I've been pretty good with the 1200 calories,,, sticking to it and not eating over it unless I've worked out enough calories to do so... eating healthy with no junk... But,,, I would hardly do the #2,,, i think I pooped like twice in two weeks eating healthy and working out...

    Well yesterday and the day before I had cheat days where I had plenty of junk food and I could not stop needing to fart and poop... I would have thought eating healthy and working out would increase my metabolism and force me to poop on a regular basis at the very least... Can someone take a crack at explaining this to me? Why did I poop while eating JUNK food but not while I was working out and eating healthy?

    I am working with and being monitored by a dr that specializes in weight loss and nutruition. When I first started, was 223 lbs, and the same height as you. The dr tested my BMr and did my calculations for me. My metabolism was slightl higher than expected based on my stats, I was not doing any exercise, and my target was about 1600 cal a day.

    After dropping some, and then gaining, and stopping for a while, I stared on Mfp a a weight of 217. It had me on 1200 cals. I was doing this fairly loosely, and closer to 1400 a day. My doctors have gone through my food logs, retested my bmr which has dropped as I am now down to about 185 and thought the 1200 was really low for a day to day basis, and think t 1400 should be my min with and it should be closer to a target of 1600 day. I have been told theres no need to eat my exercise calories, as my exercise is infrequent, and I am only burning a couple hundred cals a session very few weeks. I was advised if I did be a bigger workout in and was feeling extra hungry to add another serving of protein with a fruit or veggie. They would reevaluate my exercise calories if I increased a lot.

    For you, I would think that you would target at least 1600 cals, plus add some back for excercise as a minimum.. I would guess probably close r to 1800 or 1900 plus some excercise calories would be closer. I do think1200 is way too low.

    Wow - a doctor that actually took readings before just randomly throwing out the 'eat 1200 calories' standard. I must say, you were sensible to get one that specialized in weight loss and nutrician.

    I am pretty fortunate.. My dr and her clinic will only accept patients through dr referrals. She specializes just on weight loss, diabetes and has a strong background in nutrition and really focuses on lifestyle changes rahe than just dieting. I had to wait more than 6 months to even get in for an initial assessment., but now that I am in, I get to meet every other week or so.

    Apparently, this clinic has really high success rates over time as they focus on diet, nutrition, behaviors, strategies, and little therapy. She Taylor's a plan for the individual based on what works for them. I was really impressed when I told her that I started Mfp, and it recommended 1200 cals. She explained how that's generally the lowest for anyone, but that based on my numbers it wasn't right and why. Iits been very helpful to validate what I read here.
  • Hickyvikki69
    Hickyvikki69 Posts: 371 Member
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    first ... get a heart rate monitor ... because MFP's #s and the machines you use to tell you what you've burned are WAY WAY off.

    After that ... I would recommend talking to a nutritionist ... a REAL nutritionist. one with a degree and all that fun stuff.

    Wow seriously?! All this time Ive been using the machine thinking its legit... I need to look into getting one, any suggestions on which one to get?

    Are the machines typically over or under? LOL curiosity is killing me on this one

    i just bought the sportline sx from walmart. best 50 bux i spent. it has a chest monitor and is great. i can even take it in the pool...major plus! im cheap so im satisfied. my first experience i walked 11 mins at an incline, the treadmill said i burned 89 calories and my heart monitor said the time i started to the time i stopped walking completely i burned 106!
  • Hickyvikki69
    Hickyvikki69 Posts: 371 Member
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    Kinda embarrassing but I need to know...

    Im
    22
    5"2
    233 lbs
    & work out 5 days a week for at least 1 hour,,, sometimes I go as far as 3hours mostly on the elliptical bc Im still nursing a sprained or strained ankle...
    I typically burn 600-650 calories in an hour and sometimes up to 1000+ when I go for up to 3 hours...

    Im currently doing the 1200 calories a day thing but when I was looking up different calorie counting websites, it was saying to lose weight I need to up my calories to around 2000 or 2000+... WTH??? Is that for real?! Does anyone know if this is accurate or know the best site to see how many calories I actually need?

    Also, on a serious inquiry...

    I've been pretty good with the 1200 calories,,, sticking to it and not eating over it unless I've worked out enough calories to do so... eating healthy with no junk... But,,, I would hardly do the #2,,, i think I pooped like twice in two weeks eating healthy and working out...

    Well yesterday and the day before I had cheat days where I had plenty of junk food and I could not stop needing to fart and poop... I would have thought eating healthy and working out would increase my metabolism and force me to poop on a regular basis at the very least... Can someone take a crack at explaining this to me? Why did I poop while eating JUNK food but not while I was working out and eating healthy?


    the same thing is happening to me! glad u posted this tread! but i really dont want to eat my calories burned back....my weight loss is going good just not the bowel movements....
  • Always824
    Always824 Posts: 111 Member
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    Sarauk2sf: Im really not sure but apparently its really healthy and command fitness leaders are even doing it in my fiancés section...

    Macx2mommy: Thank you for your input... A lot of people agree that it is too low so I went to fat2fitradio.com/tools and input my stats to come up with a 2385 calorie count... Im definitely going to up my calories from the 1200 but I don't think Im going to be hitting that number with the fasting challenge Im taking part in... Thank you for you input though :)

    Hickyvikki69: Interesting,,, I wonder if the polar is waterproof,,, something I will definitely have to check into as sometimes I do pool sessions at the gym... Thanks for your input :)
  • jetman667
    jetman667 Posts: 1
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    what you can find is that if your daily intake is TOO low then your body goes into a kind of starvation mode and this actually slows your metabolism quite a lot......It's a starvation survival mechanism. This can set you up for a catch-22. You then try to lower calories further when the right thing is actually to increase.

    2000 calories a day is a reasonable intake. You should start to see weight loss.
  • Melanie794
    Melanie794 Posts: 4 Member
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    Yes if you burn off that many calories you probally need that many. Like if you burn off 1,000 calories and you take in 1,200 it is just like eating 200 calories your body thinks it's starving.

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