Calorie intake question...

[spoiltmom 44]

I currently weigh 160. I have about 20 more pounds to lose. I'm eating 1200-1400 calories a day. I get less than 100 grams of carbs and between 70-100 grams Protein. This week I added exercise. I've been doing 30 minutes on the treadmill daily.

My weight has gone up a pound. A friend told me that I should eat more, but I'm scared to do that because I don't want to gain any more and I have a hard enough time eating the 1200 calories some days.

How do you go about finding a good calorie goal?

[Jennifer Hathaway 12]

I only ate 1000 while losing and now eat up to 1200 to maintain at 146 lbs. U just have to play around to find the right combo for your body.

[TheRealSouthernBelle 22]

I currently weigh 160. I have about 20 more pounds to lose. I'm eating 1200-1400 calories a day. I get less than 100 grams of carbs and between 70-100 grams Protein. This week I added exercise. I've been doing 30 minutes on the treadmill daily.

My weight has gone up a pound. A friend told me that I should eat more, but I'm scared to do that because I don't want to gain any more and I have a hard enough time eating the 1200 calories some days.

How do you go about finding a good calorie goal?

You should find out what your BMR (basal metabolic rate) is. You can do a Google search and come up with a good site that will help with that. You can even use this one: BMR calculator. Once you have that number you would subtract 500 calories from it and that's how many calories you should be getting in per day. The rationale is 3500 calories equal a pound so if we subtract 500 calories per from our diets per week we should lose 1 pound per week, but that does not include added exercise! You can play around with these numbers if you are getting in exercise, which will burn additional calories. For example, my BMR is around 2000 calories, therefore I try to get no more than 1500 calories a day. Most days I have way less calories. I also exercise 3-4 times per week for about 45 min. to an hour, depending on what I'm doing. Since I've been tracking this, the first week I lost 5 lbs., the second week I lost 4 lbs., and the third week I lost 4 lbs. Hope this works for you!

[spoiltmom 44]

Okay according to that my BMR is 1516. So I would eat 1000 calories a day right?

But what exercise calories? If I'm burning say 200 calories a day exercising do I still eat just the 1000 calories?

[TheRealSouthernBelle 22]

Okay according to that my BMR is 1516. So I would eat 1000 calories a day right?

But what exercise calories? If I'm burning say 200 calories a day exercising do I still eat just the 1000 calories?

You would just subtract your exercise calories from the weekly caloric intake total and adjust accordingly. For example, your exercise session burns 200 calories and you do this 4 times a week, therefore you've burned an additional 800 calories that week. Remember your goal is to reduce 3500 calories per week in order to lose 1 pound. So, 3500-800=2700. This would be the number of calories that you would need to reduce from you diet per week. 2700/7 (days per week)=385.71, so you would need to cut back on about 385 calories per day. So with a BMR of 1500 and getting in 4 200 calorie burning exercise sessions per week, you would ideally need to consume 1115 calories (1500-385=1115) per day to lose a pound per week.

[brbm6 6]

If you use myfitnesspal.com it will actually calculate your BMR and adjust your calories per day (including excersise) if you want to loose 1lb. or 2lbs. per week. I know there are other free sites as well.

[spoiltmom 44]

I'm currently using my fitness pal but I'm stalled. It has me at 1200 calories a day.

[CiCiRN 1]

ok, I just joined my fitnesspal..

I think I just might like it~~

and to move myself along..

I just did 75 minutes of Jillian work out..and 15 minutes of wii yoga..

talk about a hot mess.

LOL

move move move~~

[Jennifer Hathaway 12]

I used my fitness pal too and it had me at 1200 but I manually changed it to 1000 myself. I lost very fast and consistently at that level. But again you just need to play around to.find what is best for your body. I know it can be frustrating. Is there anything you have been eating more of or different lately? Are u drinking.enough cal free liquid and watching salt intake. Maybe your body is changing and.shrinking but not dropping pounds. I have been 146-148 since march and people keep telling me to stop losing weight cause I am still getting smaller, I also know this because my clothes are still getting bigger. Sometimes it takes awhile for your body and scale to meet up. Good luck!

[Jennifer Hathaway 12]

Cardio trainer is another good one if you have a smartphone.