How many calories should I be eating?

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littlejelli
littlejelli Posts: 7
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm planning on calorie cycling between 1000 and 1300 calories a day while burning 300-400 calories a day. My net calories would be between 700-1000. Is this okay to do in order to lose weight? I eat strictly only healthy foods, so I'm still getting my nutrients.

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  • rob_spitzer
    rob_spitzer Posts: 54 Member
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    It's probably important not to cut your calories to extreme otherwise your body switches into "starvation mode" where it feeds off your fat stored in order to protect you. Your height, weight, age have alot to do with determing how many calories you take in every day, 1300 sounds a little harsh to me, 2000 is a healthy start point, as long as you burn more than you take in then your on your way.
  • littlejelli
    littlejelli Posts: 7
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    The thing is, I've been eating low for a while. I used to eat even lower, but I even increased since then. The past week, I've been eating between 1500-2500 calories. Today, I cut down to 1150 plus exercise which set my net calories at 730 for the day.
  • anubis609
    anubis609 Posts: 3,966 Member
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    It's better to cycle calories to create applied daily deficits through eating your exercise calories still.

    Visit http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com if you need reassurance.

    If you're still somewhat confused, then

    b220196034.jpg
  • LiL_MisS_C
    LiL_MisS_C Posts: 332 Member
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    Since I am suppose to eat 1360 daily (without factoring in excercise), I just make sure that when I do exercise I make sure my net calories (daily calories - excercise) equal at least 1200. :) That works great for me.
  • tweety170
    tweety170 Posts: 167
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    It's better to cycle calories to create applied daily deficits through eating your exercise calories still.

    Visit http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com if you need reassurance.

    If you're still somewhat confused, then

    b220196034.jpg
    lol agreed
  • janski2
    janski2 Posts: 70
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    Since I am suppose to eat 1360 daily (without factoring in excercise), I just make sure that when I do exercise I make sure my net calories (daily calories - excercise) equal at least 1200. :) That works great for me.

    Very good advice. This is what I do also.
  • Kassul
    Kassul Posts: 16
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    our body switches into "starvation mode" where it feeds off your fat stored in order to protect you.
    eh, feeding off fat is kind of the whole point of restricting your calorie intake a bit :P We usually *want* our body to be harvesting energy from fat.

    Cutting your calories too far and too quick is bad because then your body starts cannibalising your muscles as well as your fat to get energy. Losing muscle tissue isn't a good idea, makes you weaker, less fit looking, less strength, less endurance under load, etc, etc...

    Without more info (eg: your height, weight, body fat% or activity level) it's a bit hard to estimate how many calories you should be eating, but it's probably wiser to make more gradual movements littlejelli.

    Jumping from 2500 calories/day to 730 is not ideal, better to go from 2500 to 2000 for a couple days, then 1500 and try that for a week or two, then maybe 1300 or 1200.

    Very few people would be advised to play get 730 net calories / day for very long. Perhaps if you were extremely short(not just a bit shorter than average)?
  • littlejelli
    littlejelli Posts: 7
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    In order to maintain, I need to be eating 1650 calories a day. Last week, I increased my calorie intake to 1500-2500 calories. Yesterday, I ate about 1300. Today, I ate about 1100, but my net calories was 760.

    I'm 5 ft 5 in and I weigh 132 lbs. I'm planning on calorie shifting. So today since my net calories were 760, tomorrow, I'll probably increase them to 900 or 1000.

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