Women who eat more than 1800 calories a day !!!!

This is a really interesting thread!!! MFP gave me 1500/day + 500 for exclusively breastfeeding. Checked out BMR calculator and it tells me my BMR is 1557.... timed the value for exercise (I started doing track sessions 2/week, zumba 1/week, pilates 1/week and go for 30-70 min walks almost every day) is coming up to over 2400 for maintenance! So does this mean I could happily eat 1900 and still lose weight?
(aiming for a bout a lb a week - currently I'm 5'4 at 175lbs and I'm 34 - anyone want to do me the favour to check I calculated things right please?)

If fattofitradio.com says my BMR is 1430 ... ( i think MFP puts it more in the 1300's)... should I be eating roughly 1400? I don't have a lot of weight to lose. I am 5'6, 133 lbs and hoping to get down to 125 (but want to start strength training properly, so might weigh more than that which is ok as long as I look good!)

OR should I be eating more than 1400? My TDEE is somewhere around 1700 (sedentary) or 1900 if I am moderately active (which I am, but I take exercise into account afterwards and eat these calories back on days that I work out).

If I eat NET 1450 a day I would lose 1/2lb a week, right? Does this sound reasonable? I can't imagine eating 1800 calories a day and not gaining weight, although it seems like those of you who eat that many calories do a lot of weight lifting which will increase metabolism. Maybe once I get into the weight lifting more!

Question to those who are eating 1600+ and losing...what are your macros? Where are most of your calories coming from - protein or carb??

I came back and read all the posts plus it has been a few days since I upped my calorie goal. I had really plateaued whatever my goal was set at or whatever my exercise was. Usually do 6 days of between 60-90 minutes of exercise with a mix of weight training and cardio. I do walk run intervals one day a week. I have been here for a year and a half. I have lost 30-35 lbs. I am 58 and 230 lbs seems to be where my body wants to stay at. I recently upped my goal to what Fat2Fit radio recommended 1685 and am letting MFP figure out exercise calories. I used to have to exercise to make my calorie goals now I can make it if I execise or not. I have already lost 2 pounds from my high monthly (230) in these last few days. I am at my most recent low. Already I have noticed that I don't seem to be going up and down so much. I still need to see if I will go below my lowest weight in the last few months and continue but for now I need to stop the insanity of eating below my BMR and doing anything I could to get out of my plateau. Well I can't really go under 1340 calories consistently if I tried. I already feel I have done the right thing for me. I always thought that I wasn't losing with my goal set at 1 pound per week which is what I truly want to do because it was set too high. Now I can not help to wonder if for this whole year and a half that it was set too low. However one thing I am sure of it is now time to try it up higher.

I don't feel so worried about my logging. I think I am more accurate than I was before. If you were in a plateau the suggestion is always are you logging your food and exercise accurately enough. You felt somehow like it was your fault. I thought with a higher calorie goal I would have to be even better but somehow I feel freer. There is just less feeling of restriction.

Welcome to Food Liberation

I hope this breaks your plateau and you really start to see results again that you can feel good about.

I love that!

I've shed over 130 pounds and decreased my body fat from 56% to 23%

I eat an average of 2000-ish calories/day now - usually more.

Then:


Now:


**Please ignore the ugly tummy skin (side effect of shedding massive amounts of weight after being obese for years after having a 9 pound child at the ripe old age of 18)

Well, you're freakin gorgeous too, so that certainly helps! Love the red!

You officially just made my day. Would it be creepy if I virtually hugged you over the internet? I'm still new to the whole not being considered ugly thing, so THANK YOU!

You so deserve the compliments, you look incredible !!

Did you always eat 2000 calories or did you start out really low ?

I think at my lowest I was probably around 1500-ish.

You should read this thread. It really explains why plateaux happen and how to fix it. Basically the closer you get to your goal, the more you should eat closer to your TDEE (maintenance) calories.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/501511-great-read-on-plateau-ing

Inspiring thread! I have sent some friend requests, as I need them

I haven't really hit a plateau yet, but haven't lost in weeks. My question for all of you (my apologies if it has been answered, but I only have gotten through the first couple pages of responses so far), are we talking 1800+ net, or before excercise? I have been pretty close to 1800 before workouts, but am considering upping a bit, just to see if I can ge tthe scale to move again

most days i try to net 1845... so im eating closer to 2400 before exercise some days

This is one of the best posts I have seen here. I get nervous about eating too much but I try to eat 1400-1600. Getting my fitbit made me more comfortable upping it as it showed me that I was more active than I had thought so I changed MFP from sedentary to lightly active.

awesome thread! i would never be able to make it on 1200 cals a day doing my Insanity workouts.

My starting cals on MFP is 1700. I'm 6' tall and weigh 189. I work out (bike, Zumba, Leslie Sansone DVDs) 5-6 days a week 30-75 minutes/session. BMR is basic metabolic rate, right? What is TDEE? Someone help a girl out?

I haven't seen any taller gals stats on this thread, so I'm not sure if I'm way off base on my numbers? I usually eat most of my exercise calories...saving my family from being cannibalized.

Thanks OP for starting the discussion!
Lori