I need help with calories and exercise!!

1200 is what you would expect to eat without exercise. With exercise you should be eating more so your performance doesn't suffer.

darlamiller wrote: »

Hi , I am 53 and 5 foot ! I exercise everyday over an hour , I try to rest on sundays , I've been really sticking to my calorie goal of 1200 sometimes only getting 1000 calories this week , I just recently up my exercise time from 30 to 40 min. Anyway about wed I started struggling just really tired no energy tough getting through my workouts , but at night I can't sleep !! What do you think is wrong am I not getting enough calories ?? I'm not dropping much weight , oh by the way I weigh 122 !! Help what do I need to do???

What was the MFP recommendation when you filled your info in the profile? Maybe you were inaccurate with the details. You're not eating enough to fuel your body and the additional exercise. 1500 calories may be more realistic, but you can fill this chart http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ yourself and see what comes up.

Just my two cents but honestly I wouldn't exercise to create a deficit.

Reason being I've been there; last year I was able to create a 1000+ calorie deficit a day by overexercising and under-eating. The result? Burning muscle mass, higher than average fat % due to lack of muscle, mood swings and not having the energy and enthusiasm to do normal day-to-day things. To be blunt its no way to live; it's just my perspective sure, but man is subjective and I can't claim anything else.

My advice, for whatever it's worth - exercise so it's enjoyable, sustainable and something which won't run you into the ground. If that creates a deficit so be it, if not there's eating less. From my own experience exercising can assist weight loss, but for me I do it more to improve my mental health and get fit. Used to walk 20,000 steps a day too for over a year, I love walking but with work and weight lifting it ran my *kitten* into the ground mentally and physically so I cut back.

I wouldn't dream of telling you to do, or anything else. As someone who has been there (and adores long walks) I at least feel willing to impart my own experiences, whatever that's worth. I found more results by walking less and eating less - no temptation to binge and ruin all your hard work that way. I took up weight lifting, cut back to 12k odd steps a day and feel way better for it. Still weigh around 120 ibs as well.

You are tired and stressed because you aren't eating enough. You have less than 10 lbs to lose, so set MFP to .5 per week. Eat all of that, plus half your exercise calories.

Hi Darla, I just replied to your post, but seems I lost it. I was just replying to say I'm in a really similar situation. Same age, 5'1.5", 117 lbs ( I would ideally like to be 110 lbs). I've been back on MFP for 5 weeks now and have lost 5 lbs, but I know after this initial period that I will probably drop to hardly any loss. I'm also on 1200 cal (plus exercise which I try to only partially eat back) - for those who think 1200 cals is too little the reality is for those of us at this weight and height - this is all we get!! (according to many calculators - I've tried a few thinking "is this all I can really have").

I exercise 1-2 hours per day (over 10000 steps usually) and I just let my Fitbit add the exercise calories, which may not reflect my real input because some exercise does not relate to steps at all. I don't really have any advice as I do get very hungry sometimes- the only thing that keeps me going is wine and some treats Friday and Saturday night (which I don't really log - I just add 1000 quick calories as it's too depressing to actually add it all up

btw - the not sleeping could be menopause - a friend mentioned this can be symptom (not from personal experience - yet!!)

If you would like another friend, as we are in quite a similar situation, feel free to request,

Cheers, Cat

Hi Darla, I am the same age and have had a similar problem but am a guy 6'0" twice your weight, so I really don't know if my experience sheds any light or not. But I can certainly identify with the struggle.

I started logging my food back in the '90s with just pen and paper. I started logging my food, cut my calorie intake and lost 50 lbs. Then I ran into a couple of sticking points at which point I asked for help from coaches and nutritionists. My powerlifting coach told me to eat more calories and more protein. At the lower level I was constantly wiped, hungry and sometimes shaky. He said I needed enough energy to sustain the workouts. So, I tried it and started losing again. It sounds funny, but at the higher calorie intake I could really attack my workouts and increase intensity, duration and frequency.

Anyway, I hit another sticking points about 20 pounds later and checked in with a nutritionist that teaches at a nearby university. She looked at my food journal and my medical records, especially my blood lipid panels, and told me to eat a bit more whole grains (fiber) and that I was overdoing it with protein shakes. Once I made those adjustments I started losing again and my cholesterol numbers also returned to normal.

I got very close to my maintenance weight and spent the next five years yoyoing up and down. In an attempt at breaking that cycle, but also because of the medical data on the subject, I recently became a vegetarian. It's too early to tell how that will work, but it is now very easy to lose weight and a challenge to eat enough calories to support the demands of sports.

darlamiller wrote: »

Hi , I am 53 and 5 foot ! I exercise everyday over an hour , I try to rest on sundays , I've been really sticking to my calorie goal of 1200 sometimes only getting 1000 calories this week , I just recently up my exercise time from 30 to 40 min. Anyway about wed I started struggling just really tired no energy tough getting through my workouts , but at night I can't sleep !! What do you think is wrong am I not getting enough calories ?? I'm not dropping much weight , oh by the way I weigh 122 !! Help what do I need to do???

1200 calorie target is an aggressive weight loss target and assumes a sedentary lifestyle, not exercising daily. If you're exercising daily, you need more calories...the more you move, the higher your calorie requirements are...kinda like a car that has to commute 60 miles per day is going to need more gas than a car that leaves the driveway to go to the grocery store around the corner.

Only wanting to lose about 10 Lbs sounds like vanity weight more than anything...it's going to be slow going...you don't have the fat stores available for fast weight loss.