Any ladies 5'8 and up..

Hey Joyous,

I am same height as you and I have a hard time too with the calories.

My reason is this -- I am supposed to eat 1759 per day ( weigh a lot) -- and I CAN"T get that high without going waaaaay over in carbs or fat. That's not including exercise (which I do 7 days per week) that usually puts me over 2000!

I am eating clean and all different kinds of foods -- it is just tough!

Feel free to view my food diary (but ignore Saturday because it is an embarrassment!).

-- Pink

First, congratulations on what you have already lost. Second, my Saturday was an embarrassment too.

On your diary: I have a couple comments. You should probably increase your protein on most days. Having sufficient protein allows you muscles to repair more easily which in turn helps weightloss. I find, for me, the easiest way to do it is to double the amount of whatever is the protein for that meal. For example, instead of .79 cups of chicken on your salad make it a 1.5c.. Of course this means you'll have to cut some where which brings me to my second suggestion. I would recommend you reduce the number of simple carbohydrates you eat. Personally, I believe sugar is fine as long as it's natural and I, generally, eat it will protein and/or fat to reduce the blood sugar spike. However, dieticians recommend no more than 40g of added sugar a day. I wouldn't worry about going over your fat. You seem to stay pretty close to your saturated fat goal so you're eating primarily healthy fats.

I have one more suggestion: spread out your calories over the day more. This allows your body more time to use the calories before you go to sleep rather than storing them as fat.

Hi Joyous -- thanks for the feedback! I do tend to limit simple carbs -- only eating brown rice, wholegrain pasta and wholegrain breads. My weakenss as I'm sure you can see -- is ICE CREAM -- I eat 1 or 2 100 calorie cups a day.

That is where I will make my 1st change if my losing slows down. Currently I am losing at a terrific pace, so won't mess around too much now.

I will try the protein-doubling approach too.

As for your comment abotu spreading otu my calories over the day -- for the most part I do, I eat something about every 2-3 hours and include protein in every meal/snack.

Any of the advice on this GIANT post help you out? It would be good if you could 'summarize' your outcomes for us!

--Pink

Interesting. I'm 5'10. When I was starting out, (almost 240) I was eating 1200 cal's and none of my exercise calories. Losing weight really well....also...dizzy almost to the point of passing out whenever I would stand up or even just starting to walk too fast. Increased calorie intake to around 1600 (this includes some of my exercise cals) and l lose weight at the same rate as before, but I don't get dizzy or pass out. I have purchased a HRM just to I know for sure how many calories I expend exercising, and I'm a little fanatical about weighing and measuring my food.


Anyway for this primarily sedentary 44 year old gal, 1500-1700 consumed, while burning 500 cal most days via exercise, seems to be my sweet spot.

I'm with you. Even at 1400 cals when I started I was getting headaches and feeling dizzy all the time.
I'm 5'11" and 158 trying to get down to 150 and possibly lower depending on how I feel.
I generally eat around 1600 calories a day before exercise and sometimes I eat all exercise calories back, but most of the time around 1/2 back.

Yankee- Of course I’ll be your friend!

The easiest way to increase your calories would be to have larger snacks. I generally have a snack in the morning and a snack in the afternoon with each falling between 200 & 300 calories. I think I already told you I generally do fruit and nuts because they provide a nice blend of carbs, fat, and protein. You could also add a side to each meal. For example, I’ll do two servings of vegetables with a ½ ounce of cheese which adds about 130 calories or if I really want to make it hardy I’ll do two servings of vegetables and a ½ cup of cottage cheese on top. Another suggestion would be to put butter or coconut oil on your rice to add some calories.

It also helps to plan your meals the night before with an estimate of how much exercise calories you will earn and incorporate about half of them in to your plan for the day. Only planning to eat half allows for less of an impact if you can’t work out or don’t get to work out at much as you planned while preventing you from having a huge balance at the end of the day.

Ok, I know I’ve written a lot, but I have one more suggestion. As I told Pinky, I recommend you increase your protein. Your goals are set to MFP’s default which is 55% carbs, 15% protein, and 30% fat which is pretty low (the current recommendation is 50% carbs, 20% protein, and 30% fat). Protein is extremely important for muscle repair especially if you are weight lifting.

Good luck!