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

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This is a great thread - I just upped my calories from 1300 to 1600 last week when I started running (before that I wasn't really exercising much) Now I'm wondering if I should increase them more. Should it be done gradually? I am one of those people that is scared to death to eat more. I have never had issues with hunger on 1300 calories a day because I eat good food and I break it down into a lot of little meals, but since starting my exercise program I am finding myself hungry a lot. HELP

I have been coming on here every day or two to read the latest posts and have posted 2 times. I upped my calories recently just before finding this. I inched them up a bit more since. I have already seen a loss of 2.2 pounds and yes my calories went up this weekend not because I am yoyoing as I was before upping but because I was celebrating my birthday. I am finding that I am able to do what I couldn't before, change my lifestyle. I find I don't want the junk as much now that I can actually fit it in if I want. I eat when I am hungry or even if I feel there is something I am missing that day nutritionwise. Yes still too soon to tell but it just feels right already. Here are my stats in case they help anyone. 5'6", I am just today 59 years old. My high this year was 232 (before upping calories) and I am at 227.8 lbs this morning. I like to exercise at least an hour a day 6 days a week. I weight train, run, walk ,do cardio machines, and aquafit. I like Zumba but haven't had much time for it lately. I do some interval training. Before I decided to up my calories I estimated my TDEE, my BMR, my waist-hip ratio and my bodyfat %. I found out that my body fat %age is actually in the acceptable range typical of women in the US. Not really that healthy but considering my BMI not bad at all. I realize that when I set my goal the first time on MFP and wasn't losing it was because I had already been exercising alot and 1540 was too low. Instead I lowered them. Everytime I upped my exercise I would stall out even though I ate back my exercise caloreis or as many as I needed to not feel hungry. Thank goodness I was in school at the time and had finals weeks where I would up my calories and exercise less or I would not have lost at all I think not to mention what I was doing to my metabolism which was probably better than I realized when I first started. Go to one of the sites mentioned. For those with questions as to how to eat more. Figure out your BMR and eat above it. 1.2 or whatever works. you can up it slowly. If you aren't exercising maybe lower and if you are then more than 1.2 higher. I am letting MFP figure my exercise calories for me. I have my calories set at 1700 net now which is just above my BMR of about 1686 or more depending on whether you consider bodyfat% or not. I eat back some or most of my exercise calories for now depending on hunger levels. I know that estimating calories and exercise is just that estimates so I tend to leave a little for estimation error. I will let you know if I continue to lose. I will consider whether my setting is high enough later. I need to try this for awhile.

I am getting confused. MFP has me set at 1450 cals. I'm 5ft 6", 189 pounds, sedentary job and exercise 3-4 times a week. I usually do Jilian Micheals 30 day shred or Chalean Extreme videos. I eat my exercise cals back.

So am I not eating enough?? Why does MFP only give me 1450, if I should be eating more?

If you're eating your exercise calories back, you are eating more. But you might be able to go higher. Very few people are actually sedentary according to this site. I have a desk job too, and I had to put my activity setting at 'active' to maintain.

But a lot of us are talking about gross, not net. Your net is pretty good (I was netting about 1450 when I was losing too). Some people eat 1200 GROSS and then exercise on top of that and don't eat back those calories, so they're really getting a NET of 600-900.

can yall add me so i can view yalls diaries!?! lol thank you

I opened up my diary - if anyone is willing to help me out - I'd appreciate it.

Bump to read later

I'm 41 yrs. old & my daily caloric goal is 1830 a day; I've been on MFP for @ a month & have lost 6 pounds; I have 146 lbs. to lose before I'm down to my ideal weight of 150. I've been told that i carry my weight well; you can add me as a friend & look at both pictures of me posted.

all of these strong women are the reason I join this site. I am 38 years old 5'4" and currently weight 182.

last year I did the 1200 calorie a day --- starving and crabby the whole time but excited because I lost over 20 lbs by summer time....shorts and tanks! then Life happened. I didn't learn anything I quickly gained it all back plus some i went from `180 to 160 then up to where I started over at 190. :devil:

after lots of reading and a consult with a personal trainer and I dropped the $$ to see my actual Metabolic rate based on that I am eating around 1600 on day's I don't exercise and 1800-2100 when I do exercise. lately I have been lacking on the exercise however I have been steadily losing a pound a week. granted I am only 7 weeks into this, however during that period of time I went on a long weekend with friends, ate drank and didn't worry.. and come weigh in day I still lost. so I think I am finally learning how to watch what I eat and still be out in the real world.

yes I loved how fast I lost @1200 a day..... but I really appreciate where I am right now, careful about what I eat--- and still eating!! slow and steady is my motto this time, I do not want to be back here again a year from now

I am losing better eating more. And I have more energy. It's a good thing. My net goal is 1400 calories but I'm often eating 1800 or more with my exercise calories added in. I have only started working on repairing my damaged metabolism since late October (or thereabouts) when I finally got it through my thick skull that 1200 calories total (at the time I wasn't eating exercise calories) wasn't healthy or sustainable. I hope to continue adding in more calories as I get closer to my goal and increase my strength and endurance through heavy lifting, HIIT and cardio workouts. I'm also one who is losing inches far beyond what the scale loss should indicate. I'm loving it.

MFP has me at 1200 and I really am starting to think that is not enough for me, since I lost 4 pounds the first week, and gone up 2 in three weeks! I exercise everyday and have finally learned to eat back my calories from that. I lost .4 pounds since yesterday, so I decided to try an up my goal to 1350 to see if that makes a difference in getting past this stall I've hit.
Any suggestions are welcome!

any words of advice, im a personal trainer yet for me consuming the calories is a big number thing. i always tell my clients do as i say not as i do for i know my eating is not where it should be.
im 5'5 and only 107 i run a lot but know i need a higher food intake.


any words of advice, feel free to add me as well.
realistically i need to at least gain 5 pounds.

:[

Not the most orginal advice but I like to eat nuts or peanut butter when I need to add more calories.

I just eat whatever I was eating when I was eating less, but more of it. Or I check my food diary to see where I need the most help, and add accordingly.

When I have a packaged food (Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones, etc.) I tend to add a little something extra to it. Some extra veggies, a sprinkle of cheese, a couple crackers or chips, some rice noodles.

When all else fails, I add protein powder to chocolate milk.

SO HAPPY to find this thread!
MFP put me at 1200 a day to lose, and I have been doing that for over three weeks plus exercising every day (eating back my exercise calories) and have had NO results.
Now I see that I most likely need to eat MORE!
I've figured my BMR to be 1403, and TDEE (sedentary desk job) at 1686, so If I have understood all this correctly, I should be eating at least 1400 a day (plus exercise calories)?
Am I thinking correctly?