[ChelseaW]

So I know we're not necessarily supposed to count calories on SB, but to help me stay on plan I enter all my food at dailyburn.com, and it automatically tells me how many calories I'm eating. I did an analysis of the past 25 days and I'm averaging 1200 calories a day. That seems really low to me, but I'm not hungry at all. I've never been a big eater as far as portions go. And I'm losing the lbs pretty slowly (<a pound a week) so it must be OK. Right? What do you guys think?

[CyndiM]

That's where I need to be when I'm losing and I work out every day. If you are getting everything you need and you aren't hungry I wouldn't mess with it.

[lisa130]

I think an average of 1200 is okay. But from being on the calorie counter pages, sometimes it may even help to increase the calories a touch to encourage weight loss. i'm not saying to eat if you're not hungry!, but maybe check out the threads there on too low of calories. I was at 1200 not really losing and now that i zig zag between 1200 and 1600, I am seeing a difference! weird, i know.

[jenne1017]

for me, I need to switch it up every few days, between 1200 and 1600. More on the days I work out!

[ChelseaW]

Thanks for your thoughts ladies! I am working out too - walking/jogging 5x a week, lifting weights 3x week and doing yoga on the days I don't lift.

lisa, that's kind of what I was thinking. I guess I can try increasing my calories for a week or so and see what happens, although that scares me a bit!

[WaistingTime]

Originally Posted by lisa130

I think an average of 1200 is okay. But from being on the calorie counter pages, sometimes it may even help to increase the calories a touch to encourage weight loss. i'm not saying to eat if you're not hungry!, but maybe check out the threads there on too low of calories. I was at 1200 not really losing and now that i zig zag between 1200 and 1600, I am seeing a difference! weird, i know.

I have to agree. I think that my body adjusts to the lower calories and sometimes it helps if I "zig zag" and shake things up. I actually learned about that years ago when on Weight Watchers and it was suggested I eat MORE to break a plateau. But IMO the key is to vary... if you eat more, then eat less again.

[ChelseaW]

Hmm, interesting Karen! I'm actually doing some unintentional zigzagging already, some days I'm as low as 900 calories, some days I'm as high as 1700. The super low days only happened a couple of times, and same with the high, most days I'm right around 1100-1300.

My husband has been dieting with me, which is awesome - he's doing a modified South Beach plan (modified because he's too cool to read the book LOL) but allows himself one meal a week to eat whatever he wants - pasta, fries, bread, etc. He's lost 26 lbs since we started at the end of March, whereas I've lost 9. I don't know if I could do the weekly cheat thing because I think it might be too difficult for me to keep it to just one meal - and also, now that my cravings are gone, I don't want to eat that stuff anymore. But maybe I need to intentionally have a high calorie day or two a week. Hmmmm...