<3 support group for women eating 2000+ calories per day <3

Until I upped my calories to 2450, I would be hungry for whole mornings at a time, I think, now, because I hadn't quite eaten enough the previous day. Because I was on maintenance, I would eat until I stopped feeling hungry (lots of nuts) and then eat a lot less in the evening, then the cycle would repeat.

For me, if I'm maintaining, hunger is to be obeyed; if losing it is to be embraced as a sign of caloric deficit. My body isn't stupid, and it won't be convinced that it's not hungry unless it actually gets enough food.

Wondering how much of a defecit do you all usually have??
Also for those of you doing the new rules of lifting for women, how do you like it?? I am doing 2nd round of p90x but looking for something else...

When I was losing I was only ever at a half pound a week.

And yeah, I really like New Rules so far (I've only done 2 weeks), but it is easiest with access to a gym. The book has a lot of really good information and honestly might be able to help convince you to eat more.

Such a refreshing thread!!! I'd love to join your group. I too get VERY grumpy when I'm hungry!

I just upped my calorie intake last week. I have a BodyMedia Fit and I've finally compiled enough info to know that I'm creating a larger deficit than I intended and I'm NOT losing weight as one would expect at that deficit. For the past month my calories burned = 2659 and my calorie intake = 1944 (deficit of 715) and yet my weight/inches have gone unchanged. HMMMM.... so, decided to set a goal of 2200 cal/day for the next month to see if that helps.

Background: I'm 46 yrs old, married for 25 yrs, three kids (25, 23, 21) and 3 yr old twin granddaughters (joys of my life). I have rheumatoid arthritis (20+yrs) and finally found a drug combination that works for me about 6 years ago. Prior to that was surviving on steroids. I've been on a journey to "health" since. Lost 50 lbs and kept off for 2 years then decided I could do better. Joined MFP in March and have lost 20lbs since then. But the weight loss has been sporadic at best...steady for 2 wks - then drop 1-2 lbs...steady again. Yes, it's been coming off but I just didn't feel so great. Hoping that changing my calories will help! I know these last 10-15lbs are much tougher...just need to feel that I'm doing it the right way! :-)

I'd love to join this group, please!
In fact, after catching up on all the posts I feel like this is the place I'd like to be, because I felt like hugging every single one of you for your awesome attitudes toward eating. I've had that pissed-off-because-I'm-starving feeling in the past and I don't want to have that attitude toward food. No eating disorder issues, and I want to keep it that way.

Background on me:
38 yrs old, SAHM with 3 young kiddos.
Ht: 5' 2.5"
SW: 158
CW: 121
Lost 22 lbs before joining MFP in July, lost the other 15 lbs after joining.
I started MFP at 1200cal because that's what everyone did. Over time I was always so hungry and pissed off at everyone, so I upped my cals to around 1375-1400. I've hit my goal weight and am supposed to be in maintenance mode. I have done the 30 Day Shred, Ripped in 30, and am working on the belly fat with alternating 6 Week 6 Pack with some Ripped, as well as running on a track for 30 minutes 2x/wk. I've read the NROLFW, loved the philosophy and want to get better at lifting, but don't have a gym membership; we're looking to improve our weight system at home. I am also open to trying new exercise DVDs or systems.

I'm not looking to lose weight anymore. I want to maintain OR get to the weight that is healthiest as long as I can banish this belly fat AND improve my overall strength/musculature. I'm a work in progress learning how to eat better and learn how to fuel this body, and I'm beginning to make the right choices. My current calorie goal is set to 1500, but that's only because I'm in this sea of uncertainty on how to move forward with strength training and eating. I can tell that I am still HUNGRY and want to eat more, so I'm going to move that figure up really, really soon. Just playing around with the numbers for now, and still logging. The Fat2Fit calorie counter put me at 2,711.88 daily calories! That sounds gigantic to me, because I don't want to jump in and start eating like that and gain weight. My workout calories push me closer to 2,000 anyway so maybe I'll just start there.

Sorry for the novel. I'm learning a lot from all of you already! This thread is the first one I have read thoroughly from page 1 to 7, because it's got the right vibe, motivation and intention. :bigsmile:

Welcome to all the new people! It makes me so happy to see more and more people interested in eating! Haha all the posts about eating just 1200 calories make me so sad and hungry by proxy.

I had a great day yesterday, food and exercise wise and I think today is gonna be awesome as well. I'm making one of my favorite dishes for the first time, it's a Korean beef called Bulgogi, served with kimchi and rice. I normally don't eat rice, but I'm gonna make an exception today. I had it while I was in China in September and loved it, so I searched out recipes.

And I'm so pumped, I've been looking for a bench and set of weight plates/barbell for the longest time and I finally found a set on a local online message board. I'm going over to their house tonight to pick them up. I'm getting so close to having a fully functional home gym. Woo hoo!

Also as a side note, to anyone who's afraid of upping their calories. I'm trying to maintain and eating at least 2000, more like 2200-2400 and I'm actually still losing some weight. When I reached my goal weight and started to maintain I went on a serious shopping spree: bought 6 pairs of jeans, new work trousers, new suit, new blazer, 2 new dresses, new skirt, 8 new blouses, etc. And now my brand new perfectly fitting jeans are getting loose. Boo! So I really think that if you're eating the right things and exercising you can still lose weight and maintain at higher calories.

Hey all,
Well I'm only just starting to eat proper FOOD since I had my wisdom teeth out a week ago! I also went for my first run in over a week today and boy was it great!! I really missed working out while I was recovering!

Having to get creative to get my calories in as my mouth is still sore. Adding almond butter and avocado to my shakes, using full fat everything helps too! I've lost 3kgs since I had my teeth out and I'm peeved about it! It's too much too fast even though I made sure I was hitting my calorie targets each day. I'm completely prepared for it to come back once I'm eating normally again. Haha if you'd told me a year ago that I'd be fighting to eat enough calories and upset about losing 3kgs in ten days I would have laughed! Still the longer this journey goes on, the more I learn about what helps me move forward in the direction of my goals, and what doesn't!

I love this group by the way!! So glad to have found likeminded ladies, I really was questioning myself after reading the plethora of 1200 a day posts. I just couldn't live on that amount!

Oh and a little NSV for me today: had to buy a dress for a friends wedding - I ended up buying an NZ size 10!!!! Holy moly I have never ever been this small before! It's strapless and DANG my guns look good in it!

For those who have tried NROLFW, what kind of equipment would I need? I really need something to spice up my training!

I am most definitely in!! Those of you that are using protein powder, help!! I bought one from my local whole foods store and i have to fight to hold it down. What brands do you use? I would love to get one that was unflavored.

Hi! i Use MRM or Jay Robb....I buy them at Jimbo's...but you can get online also. I get chocolate or vanilla. They are tasty! No fat, 1gram of carbs and about 15-20 grams of protein per serving.

FFCLawson:

I'd let MFP do it's thing to figure out how many calories you should be eating. Let it do the guided goals. Set your activity level to lightly active, first enter your weight loss goals of 1lb per week. See what it tells you. Then when you do exercise, enter the exercise from the activity list and eat those calories. If this still isn't enough food you can change it to 0.5 lbs per week. Your loss will be slower, but faster than if you try to eat too litter and give up. I also track in excel so I can pay more attention to the weekly average, that way if I go over a day, I'll stay under another.

What MFP does is figure out your BMR which is what you'd burn in a coma. Then it multiplies that by something to figure out your maintenance, which is what you'd burn on a normal day without exercise (other sites include exercise but then you don't get to eat your exercise calories). It then takes your weekly loss goal and figures out how many calories a day deficit you need to achieve that. 1 pound = 3500 calories, so one pound a week = 500 calories a day deficit. So MFP takes your maintenance and subtracts 500. Now if you exercise and do NOT eat your exercise calories suddenly your deficit becomes larger than 500. This can lead to excess hungry, lack of energy, and even slower weight loss. So this is where net calories come in. You need to NET what it tells you to in order to maintain the deficit you want.

Make sense?

Rachel, yes it does make sense. Thank you. After reading your post and looking at a couple other threads on this topic, it looks like it would kind of go like this:

According to MFP, to maintain with no exercise, I would need 2420 calories/day.

In order to lose 1lb a week, I would need to have a calorie deficit of 500 calories/day.

On days I work out, I would like to do a combination of eating less and working out. Once I am able to burn more calories through exercise, this will change. But my plan is to do something like: eat 2120 calories and burn 200 calories through exercise. That is a 500 calorie deficit. So if I worked out more then I could obviously eat more calories, but this is just a guideline. The goal is a 500 calorie deficit.

On days I don't work out, then I would eat 1920 calories which would be a 500 calorie deficit.

Does this all look right? Am I understanding everything correct?

Sounds like you've got it! Good luck.

FFCLawson: I agree with what Rachel said and that is more or less what I did myself. I'm set to .5lb/week right now.

Also to answer a few of your specific questions:
1) should you eat less on the days you don't work out? If it helps you to track how much to eat then yes but from a scientific perspective my understanding is that your body kind of manages its own burns and intakes over a few days not just a set 24 hour period. So if you don't workout monday and you want to eat more go ahead and then just don't eat as much on tuesday. When you enter your workouts into MFP it adds those calories to your daily amount so what I do is if I want to eat em, I eat em, and if I don't I don't - but I don't sweat going into the red on nonworkout days unless I've been getting close to the limit every day for several days in a row.

BUT most people seem to find it easier if they stick to more regimented daily amounts - do what works for you.


2) Deficits - There is an old saw that 1 pound of fat = 3500 calories. I read an article recently that this is only roughly true and varies by person but its a good starting point and its what everyone uses. So if you want to lose 1 lb per week, you need to eat 3500 calories LESS than you burn during that week right? So MFP says 3500 calories/7 days a week = 500 calorie deficit per week. Its good to know this number because that also lets you know when you DO go over if you are going over your daily maintenance amount or not. For example if you are set to 1lb a week and eat 300 calories over your daily goal then you are STILL eating a deficit for the day and you shouldn't feel bad. In my opinion as long as you are 1calorie under maintenance you are succeeding - its just that your success will be slower.

3) Net calories and exercise calories - the total calories you ate after your workout. You shouldn't reeaally need to worry abotu this - it comes up when there are people who go to the gym and sweat for 2 hours to burn 800 calories and then only eat 1200 calories a day -- they only ate NET 400 calories that day because they burned 800. NET calories are what you are giving your body to maintain its normal daily functions. If you have a lot of fat to lose your net can dip pretty low (although 400 calories is TOO low) because your body will tap into your fat stores (thats what they're for!) to make up the difference. If you don't have a lot of fat to lose instead of your body burning fat reserves it will just SLOOOOOW your metabolism down so that it burns less.

Exercise calories are just the calories you burned while working out. So Total calories consumed - Exercise Calories = Net. MFP will do Calorie Goal + Exercise Calories = Amount of calories you should eat.

For me to maintain, MFP has me at 1,680 Calories / Day... if I create a deficit of 500 cals to lose 1lb/week, then that's 1180. (I currently aim to net 1200-1400.) If I burn 300 cals in exercise, I eat those back, to maintain that deficit. It has worked pretty well over the last 5 months to create about a 1 lb loss per week as long as I was working out and logging my food.

In order to make the shift to eating more, I need to wrap my head around how to make eating more work without gaining. How much should I aim to be eating? At 2000 cals a day, even if I'm burning 300 of that in exercise, I'm still above maintenance, according to MFP. Should I scrap MFP's calculations and go by the Fat2fit calcs, which seem to be higher, and rely on increasing calorie burn and lean muscle mass?

Sorry, I know that this is probably the most simple thing in the world.

The point of this group is not to suggest that eating 2000 calories a day works for every one. It probably won't. If your maintenance really is 1680 (that seems REALLY low, are you sure?) and you are trying to lose weight, no I wouldn't suggest 2000 calories a day unless you are burning 570 calories a day (that'd bring you to a half pound loss a week). For you I'd just suggesting "eating more" but switching your goal to 0.5lbs per week.