Question about caloric intake

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eyestylemom
eyestylemom Posts: 107 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Now...I know that everyone is different. I was just wondering what the average daily calorie intake was for losing weight? I am 5'2" and currently weigh 190. I workout at least five days a week for anywhere from 30 min to 1 hr. Walking, 30 day shred, wii fit...stuff like that. I am a stay at home mom. It listed me at eating around 1300 calories a day to lose 1 lb a week. I have not lost anything in 3 weeks. Yes, I have lost some inches, but I am still wondering why I would not be dropping at least 1/2 a lb...anything. I don't want to throw in the towel. I swore to myself that i would do this this time. That I would not quit.

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  • McKayMachina
    McKayMachina Posts: 2,670 Member
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    Sometimes you'll lose inches but not weight. Just be patient.

    I'm also 5'2" and I've had two plateaus thus far. One was 3 weeks and the other was 4. But I have lost an average of about 7 lbs. per month since January. Just stick with it. You'll see. :)

    EDITED TO ADD: Make sure you eat your exercise calories.
  • eyestylemom
    eyestylemom Posts: 107 Member
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    Truly eat my exercise calories? I mean...yes, sometimes I will eat a few of them, but not all of them. It just seems counter productive. I think I am more worried that I am over estimating how many calories I burn and if I eat all of them, then well...I am not really changing anything. does that make sense?
  • kvolkman01
    kvolkman01 Posts: 15
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    I feel the same way... If I burn them why would I eat them? I work out a lot right now and I can't come close to my regular cal let alone eating what I burn. I think my chart said I was between 2000 and 3000 negative for the week. But I lost albs. I'm not starving. I eat just very carefully.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    Truly eat my exercise calories? I mean...yes, sometimes I will eat a few of them, but not all of them. It just seems counter productive. I think I am more worried that I am over estimating how many calories I burn and if I eat all of them, then well...I am not really changing anything. does that make sense?

    Oh but you are changing things... MFP has caculated a calorie deficit for you to lose 1 pound a week which assumes you will eat your exercise calories.
    If you don't eat them you are creating a much larger calorie deficit - which works out OK for some people, but for others it means you are just not getting in enough energy each day and your body might react by slowing your metabolism to conserve energy - meaning that your weight loss can slow down or stall.

    Generally I think that if you are losing weight steadily then I wouldn't change anything, but as you aren't why not try eating some more of those exercise cals and see what happens in the next few weeks. Don't look at calories as the enemy, they are essential fuel to keep your body functioning and healthy and too few isn't healthy in the long term.

    To answer your original question about "how many calories" I am 5'4" and started out just over 200 pounds. I'm now somewhere in the middle 150's and have been eating anywhere between 1450 - 1600 net calories (meaning I eat most of my exercise calories).
  • McKayMachina
    McKayMachina Posts: 2,670 Member
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    Yup. Do as I do: Use this calculator by taking your heart rate manually: http://www.braydenwm.com/calburn.htm

    That will tell you how many cals you're burning. It is extremely accurate.

    I always eat any burned cals and I'm quite happy with my rate of loss. Hope it helps! :drinker:
  • eyestylemom
    eyestylemom Posts: 107 Member
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    Alright...thank you.. I will see what I can do. :) Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will see a change of some sort. Any sort would be nice. LOL

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