~2000 calories a day and losing women? Or did you start losing then and decreased as you lost?

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charlenekapf
charlenekapf Posts: 309 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Could use some motivation from women using MFP eating more than the 1200-1400 avg. of others on here and still having success. Maybe it's not possible but I think it may be..just slower...I believe my maintenance at this weight (170-10) is around 2200-2700 depending on the amount of exercise I do.

Health-calc.com gives me a calculation TDEE of ~2700 when I enter my cardio/activities of daily living.


I admittedly struggle with binge/compulsively overeating but am working with an RD on that issue and that's a story for another day. I struggle with horrible insomnia and it actually began years ago when I was trying to eat 1200-1300 calories and workout hard...my body was waking up starving and my brain is still wired this way so I have some sleep issues preventing me from eating amounts that low...at least for now.

What I am looking for is experiences from women who have at least started losing weight on +/~ 2000k calories daily with or without exercise. I understand women starting <150 lbs will probably not have much luck at this amount but I know there are a lot of women above that range on here that may identify with this post.

I am beginning consistently eating lower calories than I was when overeating (2500+) but I also put on ~50 lbs this year alone after falling off the fasting, somewhat extreme diet I was doing. So, I know I wasn't maintaining at the amount I was eating....meaning I won't automatically lose by eating less. However, I'm hoping by not binging and overeating that I will slowly get back down sustainably.

I'm sorry this is long and if you can get through it and share your experience please do. Also if you have an open diary that is helpful to. Thank you :)

Replies

  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
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    I lost successfully from 230 to 170 eating 1400-1500 calories. I've been maintaining 170 on 1800 calories.
  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
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    I started at 215 lbs, 5'1" eating 2100 calories and losing a pound per week. If I was tracking accurately and adhering to my deficit, I lowered by 100 cals after a few weeks of the scale stalling.
    After I got to 185 I took some time off and was up and down a bit (I also struggle with binge eating). I tracked at maintenance for a few months and determined I'm around 2600 right now.
    Starting up a deficit again and I'm currently at 1800 and aiming to lose a little over a pound per week now. I assume I'll have to make a few more decreases as my losses stall, but hopefully that won't be for a long time!
    Anyway, I calorie cycle, I'm currently eating 1600 on rest days and 1900 on workout days to average about 1800, and my diary is open. :)
  • charlenekapf
    charlenekapf Posts: 309 Member
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    Thank you for this. Very insightful. And helpful to know others have similar struggles but can be successful and get back on track.
    TresaAswegan wrote: »
    I started at 215 lbs, 5'1" eating 2100 calories and losing a pound per week. If I was tracking accurately and adhering to my deficit, I lowered by 100 cals after a few weeks of the scale stalling.
    After I got to 185 I took some time off and was up and down a bit (I also struggle with binge eating). I tracked at maintenance for a few months and determined I'm around 2600 right now.
    Starting up a deficit again and I'm currently at 1800 and aiming to lose a little over a pound per week now. I assume I'll have to make a few more decreases as my losses stall, but hopefully that won't be for a long time!
    Anyway, I calorie cycle, I'm currently eating 1600 on rest days and 1900 on workout days to average about 1800, and my diary is open. :)
  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
    edited February 2017
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    I started losing just over 2 pounds/week eating ~1750 cals/day. (I did not intend to lose as fast as that. I followed instructions and chose "lightly active" as my activity level. Turns out that was very very wrong.)

    Raised my calories to 1900 cals/day. Still lost faster than I wanted. (Was aiming for 1 pound/week.)

    Raised my calories to 2000 cals/day then bit the bullet and jumped to 2200-2300 cals/day. Am now losing at about 1 pound/week. I expect to have to drop back to 2100ish in the fairly near future (or accept a slowdown in weightloss to 0.75 pounds/week) since my TDEE goes down as I lose weight.

    Activity level matters. I am on my feet a *lot*. I weighed 190 when I started counting calories. I now weigh 155. My average calorie burn is currently about 2600 cals/day on nonworkout days and closer to 3000 on workout days.
  • tgcake
    tgcake Posts: 59 Member
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    I am not logging at all; I still eat what I want, though I am trying to control portion sizes and pay more attention to what I eat. My caloric intake is probably around 1900-2300. I am doing nothing but exercise, and I have lost 6 lbs in about a month. I have yet to meet my exercise goal of walking 40 minutes, 5 times a week. I doubt my weight loss will be consistently this high but I will continue to increase my exercise goals as I meet them.

    I don't know if/when I will bring actual calorie counting into the picture; I may just go with trying to eat better food but not bother with calorie counting. I'm sure my caloric intake will start to fall as I develop better food habits, but exercise is my main tool to getting fitter, and losing weight.

    So yeah, with exercise, it's definitely possible. I went from no activity to a slow build up of activity. If you're already fairly active, you'd need more intense exercise that I am doing.
  • julie_broadhead
    julie_broadhead Posts: 347 Member
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    Hi:-) I went from 174 to maintaining at 153lb eating around 2240 calories per day. I am really active and I breast feed. It took me around 9 months to loose the weight, but I have found maintaining my weight to be easy.
  • charlenekapf
    charlenekapf Posts: 309 Member
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    breast feeding also burns a LOT of calories. I have friends who have been through it and were eating around 2700-3000 a day with some activity and were able to lose. But very inspiring!
    Jtalaskamom wrote: »
    Hi:-) I went from 174 to maintaining at 153lb eating around 2240 calories per day. I am really active and I breast feed. It took me around 9 months to loose the weight, but I have found maintaining my weight to be easy.

  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    Try it. If you CAN lose on the higher calorie intake, then that's the best way to do it, especially if you have struggled with binging in the past - you will find that less of a problem if you're eating more. Try eating to that goal for two or three weeks, and if there's no loss, reduce it a little and try again.
  • hlektra28
    hlektra28 Posts: 84 Member
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    I m eating above 2000 cal and losing but only when i go walking which i try to do it as often i can .... i m losing at a very slow pace but i find it difficult to eat less than 2000 cal i dont know if i ever manage to eat less than that but i must find a way (probably walking more) because i cant go lower than 95kg
  • kpkitten
    kpkitten Posts: 164 Member
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    I'm eating 1800-2200 (based on the day's activity and any socialising) per day.
    5'2 SW 270lb, CW 260lb - GW 140
    I'm not planning to drop my target intake below 1800 unless my weight loss stalls for at least a month, and that's unlikely to happen for a long time given my CW, based on the fact that the TDEE for my goal weight with my current level of activity is about 2000 calories, and I hope to increase my activity a bit as I get fitter.

    I certainly don't intend to drop my calories below 1500 at any point, ever, because that is just not going to be sustainable for me and I'd undo all the good work I'll have put in to get to whatever weight I'm at. If it means I lose my last 10-20lbs really slowly, or I have to rethink my activity levels to get to goal, so be it.

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