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

I think most of us (definitely me at least) generally adhere to the 80/20 rule. Someone else specifically mentioned it in an earlier comment. Meaning we eat pretty healthy for the most part - good sources of protein, nuts, fresh fruit and veggies, protein shakes, carbs of all colors (at least for me). A lot of us skip the diet food and eat full fat dairy, real salad dressings, cheese, olive oil or butter on our veggies, nut butters, etc. There's plenty of healthy foods that are higher in calories. But if I want ice cream or, heaven forbid, cheese puffs? I can make it fit into my overall goal too. That's the problem I see with eating 1200 calories a day - there's no room for 'life' to happen.

80/20 is me exactly. I eat healthy all week, dark chocolate every day, full fat everything, avoid as much processed as possible, and eat french fries every Saturday.

Also is everyone eating super duper healthy when they are upping to more than 1800 calories or are you just eating anything and everything??

I think most of us (definitely me at least) generally adhere to the 80/20 rule. Someone else specifically mentioned it in an earlier comment. Meaning we eat pretty healthy for the most part - good sources of protein, nuts, fresh fruit and veggies, protein shakes, carbs of all colors (at least for me). A lot of us skip the diet food and eat full fat dairy, real salad dressings, cheese, olive oil or butter on our veggies, nut butters, etc. There's plenty of healthy foods that are higher in calories. But if I want ice cream or, heaven forbid, cheese puffs? I can make it fit into my overall goal too. That's the problem I see with eating 1200 calories a day - there's no room for 'life' to happen.

I completely agree with this.

MOST of what I eat is healthy and good for me, but if I want some cookies (which I will tell you I have EVERY single day!) or some cheese puffs - I eat the dang things. This is the only life I'm going to get. While I love being thinner again, I refuse to go without the foods I love.

I think most of us (definitely me at least) generally adhere to the 80/20 rule. Someone else specifically mentioned it in an earlier comment. Meaning we eat pretty healthy for the most part - good sources of protein, nuts, fresh fruit and veggies, protein shakes, carbs of all colors (at least for me). A lot of us skip the diet food and eat full fat dairy, real salad dressings, cheese, olive oil or butter on our veggies, nut butters, etc. There's plenty of healthy foods that are higher in calories. But if I want ice cream or, heaven forbid, cheese puffs? I can make it fit into my overall goal too. That's the problem I see with eating 1200 calories a day - there's no room for 'life' to happen.

^this 10000%
though lately my diet has been more 50/50 than 80/20 >.> after tuesday that should go back to 80/20

I'm convinced! I've been eating around 1400 kcals. I love working out & do so 5 - 6 days a week. I eat some to most of my exercise cals. MFPs has dropped my goal kcals as I've lost (as I knew it would), but I haven't been happy at the lower numbers. Plus, I want to start lifting heavy again (used to be a gym rat back before marriage & kids) So, I went in and added 100 kcals to my goals today. I'm going to add more in slowly. I am extremely glad I clicked on this thread. Thanks so much to everyone who gave advice & encouragement.

This whole thread makes me so happy to see women that are eating/trying to eat at reasonable deficits (even happier to see those willing to eat @ surplus to put on muscle).

To those on the fence, if you're not making progress where you are now, what do you have to lose? To those who feel they are making progress now, what will you do when you hit a plateau, go down further? Therein lies the problem, even if it seems like it's working at first, the results are temporary and almost sure to backfire.

Anyway, I'm around 5'2, 31 yr old, 118 lbs and maintain at about 2020. Right now I'm bulking at ~2400.

@Kay_bear52 - if you're not losing now, then I would definitely up the cals. Even if your body seems sensitive to the increase at first, you should ride it out, just to allow your body to do a metabolism reset, so that you can begin losing again. It often seems like it's too much at first, but your body becomes accustomed to it, just as it became accustomed to the lower intake.

So what are your net calories?

I am unable to exercise due to knee injuries that I am having addressed. I don't know how much I should be eating w/o exercise.

I am 37

5'5

183lbs

I am SO confused at this stage. I am currently netting about 1400-1450 and am usually hungry.

Any suggestions?

Don't know if this questions has been asked but...How often do you workout and what types of workouts? I haven't starting strenght training yet but that's on the plan for next week. Any workout suggestions would be apprciated... Thanks all!

Im 25years old and weigh 251lbs.

I've recently upped my calories from 1200-1400 to 1500-1800 cals. The first week i gained but as of today i saw a huge decrease in my weight (losing about 3lbs in 3 days) i dont know how that happened but i am glad. I've also been stressed the past two weeks so i haven't worked out at all except for a couple of brisk walks and i've still managed to loss weight.

If trying to up your calories i suggest a hearty breakfast to start the day. Seems like after breakfast every 2-3 hours i want something to eat (its like my body is on autopilot when it comes to food...i dont have to think about it, it just lets me know....ITS FEEDING TIME!!!) which is helping me keep the calories up higher.

bump

First off - thanks again to Tabitha for the this post, it has been sooo helpful to me. I have been reading it every day and then re-reading it again. It is so hard to change this habit of having the scale as ONE SINGLE method for measuring my progress and it is so scary to see the number creep up, I got a little panicked this morning so I immediately brought this thread up for another read through!!!

As I have been reading through some posts I see that a lot of the women who are doing this are what I refer to as my 'After Goal' - you already look great and seem incredibly fit. Did you start that way?

The reason I ask is that I am 5'8, 35 yrs old, 186 lbs. My weight has been fluctuating 3-4 lbs this past month. I work with my trainer 3 x a week doing strength training and have been working hard at committing an additional 2-3 cardio sessions in per week as well as trying to eat cleaner so far in 2012 (for a yr prior to that I really only did 3 strength training sessions per week without additional exercise and just tried to keep calories low).

This year I upped my cals to 1500/1600 because I was so tired and I also noticed a BIG difference with my strength training when I was well fueled (felt stronger, lifted heavier and my trainer commented on it). Now I am upping them again as I read more on here about the benefits. However I am still at that stage where I am looking to lose fat as well as build lean muscle mass. And the thought of eating over 2000cals just seems counter intuitive to losing weight. I know building lean muscle mass takes a looooong time - but can any of you give me some feedback on your experience? Did you eat these amounts while trying to lose fat and build muscle? What was your body composition when you started, meaning where you always fit?

I am also really interested in hearing from some of the ladies who have been at this for a longer period of time and it would be great to hear more about what your exercise program is like, as per the below question...?

Don't know if this questions has been asked but...How often do you workout and what types of workouts? I haven't starting strenght training yet but that's on the plan for next week. Any workout suggestions would be apprciated... Thanks all!

I appreciate the responses and think they may benefit others who are silently watching this thread too!!! :flowerforyou:

First off - thanks again to Tabitha for the this post, it has been sooo helpful to me. I have been reading it every day and then re-reading it again. It is so hard to change this habit of having the scale as ONE SINGLE method for measuring my progress and it is so scary to see the number creep up, I got a little panicked this morning so I immediately brought this thread up for another read through!!!

This is why I want to comment, so I can keep coming back and reminding myself that it works :happy:

I started late in the summer last year at ~1300 cals as per MFP guidlines and lost pretty steady for ~3 months but then nothing. I tried to tell myself it was because of the holidays, etc but half way through Jan when I was back on track and STILL no loss, not even the 6lbs I had put on coming off, I decided to increase my cals. I raised it to 1500 and lost 2lbs in 2 weeks. Starting in Feb, I raised it to 1600 after deciding my BMR is more like 1580 rather than 1420 that MFP estimates. I've only lost another 2lbs in Feb but I was really ill for a couple of those weeks and not exercising at all. I still have 2lbs to go to catch up with my ticker but I measured this morning and I've lost a few inches from where I was before the 2011 holidays.

I'm 5'1", 32 yrs old, CW=170;bs, GW~125-130lbs. I exercise regularly, mostly walking/interval running and the occasional kettlebell workout. I think I'll stick with 1600 for another month but will not be scared to raise it to 1800. Thanks!

Oh, and the 1600 is NET not GROSS. I eat my exercise calories and also follow the 80/20 rule as much as possible

Thanks to OP, this is such a great thread. Great information!

So for those of you who are eating at about 1800 calories - does everyone on here lift? Or does it work if you don't lift as well?

I'm not lifting at the moment other than a few injury-prevention bodyweight exercises such as planks and squats, because I'm training for a marathon. Over 2,100 calories yesterday.

So what are your net calories?

I am unable to exercise due to knee injuries that I am having addressed. I don't know how much I should be eating w/o exercise.

I am 37

5'5

183lbs

I am SO confused at this stage. I am currently netting about 1400-1450 and am usually hungry.

Any suggestions?

If you are sedentary then 1892 is your estimated TDEE. What you'd burn in a coma multiplied by 1.2 (sedentary). So you take that number and subtract 500 for a pound a week loss.