1500 calories? I need some success stories!

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elpint0r
elpint0r Posts: 99 Member
edited March 2017 in Health and Weight Loss
A few years back I lost 80lbs working out 45 mins (cardio) a day, and eating 1200cals (not eating exercise cals back). I know this is not the healthiest of ways, but it worked. Also caused me to develop an eating disorder. I received treatment for that, but I gained a whole bunch of weight from binge eating prior to that process. I'd like to lose some weight now and DO NOT want to feel deprived or starving.

I'm 26yo, female, and 143lbs. I want to attempt eating 1500 calories a day but I have a few questions...

First off... any success stories?
Do you eat back your exercise calories?
How often do you work out? (Length, Intensity, Type)

I'd really love any input that you have... especially if I missed anything!

EDIT - I'm 5'5''... Whoops!

Replies

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    You didn't say how tall you are. That's an important part of the equation.

    I'm a 42 year old female, 5'9", 173 pounds, losing slowly and steadily at 2055 calories per day. I lift heavy four days a week.
  • aldavid18
    aldavid18 Posts: 29 Member
    edited March 2017
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    I'm male, 58, 6"2', and my daily calorie goal is 1590 as per MFP. I walk twice a day for 30 minutes at lunch and 40 minutes each night, sometimes more, sometime less dependent on day and weather. I worry most about staying below the 1590 and use the exercise calories as a bonus if I decide to eat extra. I started last August and official weigh in this morning got 64lbs off. Yes you can do it too:)
  • AmyOutOfControl
    AmyOutOfControl Posts: 1,425 Member
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    I am a female over 40 - 5'3" and currently weigh 157. I lost 25 pounds at 1800-2000 calories a day. My baseline is set at 1500 calories a day. I run 5 times a week, do yoga or Pilates once a week and I just added a strength training day in this week. I eat back all my exercise calories. I earned them!
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    edited March 2017
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    I'm female 5'3", maintaining on avg of about 2100cal a day (I have a cycle that I work through given to me by an RD)

    workouts are triathlon training - so cardio 5 days a week, with a couple of strength sessions and a yoga session
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    edited March 2017
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    I'm 5'9", 158lbs. I aim for a weekly average between 1800 and 2000 net. I eat all my exercise calories. I ride my bike a lot and walk my dog. Hoping to add weight lifting back in soon. I have been sticking to this for almost 7 weeks now and have lost 6lbs.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,986 Member
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    How much weight do you want to lose total and what did you set your weekly weight loss goal to?

    I'm 5'6" and easily lose weight on 1500 calories net, which means I earn exercise calories and eat them back. When I focus on filling foods, I'm only hungry right before meals.

    MFP uses the NEAT method, and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back.

    My FitBit One is far less generous with calories than the MFP database and I comfortably eat 100% of the calories I earn from it back.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    ...I'm 5'6" and easily lose weight on 1500 calories net, which means I earn exercise calories and eat them back. ...

    I'm 5'7 and this is basically me, too.
  • marandastuckey
    marandastuckey Posts: 4 Member
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    I'm doing 1500 calories a day and so far I'm down 8lbs. I workout (YouTube videos consisting of cardio, HIIT or strength/toning) 25 minutes daily and get 10,000 steps daily. Some days I eat the calories I've burned, some days I don't. But for just 6 weeks on this program I think 8lbs isn't too bad. It does work for me.
  • PrincessTinyheart
    PrincessTinyheart Posts: 679 Member
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    For context, I'm 44 years old, 5'11", 181 lbs.

    Since Thanksgiving I have lost exactly 4 lbs. That's not gaining and losing again... that's just holding steady the vast majority of the time. Until a couple of days ago, I've been sticking to 1200 calories a day, but have found that it leaves me lethargic, moody and tired. It's difficult for me to find the energy to work out on 1200/day. I've also heard/read from several sources that cutting back calories too severely can actually hinder weight loss, so I've upped my calorie intake to 1400/day. I'm hoping this will help give me some of my "pep" back.

    I'm also interested in hearing some success stories or inspiration from people who are consistently eating above 1200/day. I also once had an eating disorder, so I can commiserate with the OP. At times I feel myself slipping back into that mentality of "starving for success" and I don't want to go back there.
  • MelissaLimeKiwi
    MelissaLimeKiwi Posts: 121 Member
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    I'm 36, 5'3 and currently 146. Last spring I went from 146 to 128 in four months eating 1650 calories per day. I usually walked for an hour or ran for 30 minutes and also did 20-30 minutes of Tone it up workouts on YouTube. I gained it all back after a move and a rough winter :-/
  • RosieS_1980
    RosieS_1980 Posts: 61 Member
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    I'm 5.4" and eat around 1500. I do half and hour circuits with weights 5 days a week and an hour of cardio 6 days a week and walk my dog for about 90 mins a day. It does mean I have a large deficit but when I upped my calories I gained weight... Everyone is different! I've lost 14lbs since the end of January this year
  • WickedPineapple
    WickedPineapple Posts: 698 Member
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    I'm 5'1" and ~125 lbs. I lost the last 10 lbs or so eating 1500 calories per day (on TDEE so technically eating exercise calories back). Whenever I want to lose a couple lbs I aim for 1500, because if I go lower than that my workouts suffer. I will lose at a very slow pace (~1 lb per month), but that's okay with me.

    A typical week for me includes cardio 3x (usually running 30 min), vinyasa yoga 1x (60 min), strength training 1-2x (30 min), and occasionally a hike on the weekend >1 hour.
  • HeliumIsNoble
    HeliumIsNoble Posts: 1,213 Member
    edited March 2017
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    I'm 5 foot 2 and I have it set to 1530+ exercise calories, although I frequently go over because I know I'll lose weight, however slowly it may be, without staying below that figure. I mostly eat the exercise calories, unless I'm not hungry.

    I use MFP sporadically, because I like to put my dieting on hiatus and go back to maintenance while I focus on increasing fitness/on something in my personal life, so over 16 months I've dropped approximately 15lb. I'd like to think that is a deceptively low figure, as (although I'm very, very far from ripped) I've visibly developed muscle as well as losing fat.

    Exercisewise, I have basically overhauled my lifestyle- over the last 16 months, according to the weather, I've tried a mix of martial arts classes, practising picking heavy things up and putting them down, cycling, teaching myself how to swim (very badly but I'm not sinking so it counts) and even playing the drums. At the moment, since Christmas, I've been doing more bodyweight exercises (like press-ups) a night, for about five minutes. (Amazingly effective- ate loads over Christmas, ignored the scales, and after Christmas found I was holding steady at a weight I'd been trying to get to for ages.)
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,661 Member
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    5'5", started at 183, lost most of 60ish pounds eating at 1400-1600 net calories. I've been ovo-lacto vegetarian for 43 years, and eat lots of fruits, veggies, and other single-ingredient foods. (I don't think that has any particular advantage for weight loss, BTW.)

    I've exercised 45 minutes to an hour or so daily for the last 15 years, and didn't change that much while losing weight. Calorie count for that now is much lower now that I'm in the 120s - it's now typically somewhere in the 275-400 calorie range daily, used to be quite a bit more for the same activities. My summer routine is rowing on water about 4 days/week, spin class 2 days, and occasional random bike rides or longer walks. In winter, it's spin class 2 days, machine rowing one or more days, and a mix of other things (swimming, biking, walking, weight training, etc.) so that I'm doing something probably 4-6 days per week minimum, usually. I'm definitely less active in Winter, because on-water rowing is just more fun. I eat back all my exercise calories, but estimate them carefully.

    (I'm 61 now, 59/60 while losing, but seem to be a bit of a statistical outlier as to calorie needs, for my age. I 'should' maintain at 1500 net, but it's really more like 2000 net).
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,066 Member
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    The only way I can lose weight at 1500 cal/day is if I'm exercising.

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