i should be eating about 1880 calories for fat loss (1-2 lbs per week). i can tell you that at 1880 calories and 3 days of exercise per week (which is what i put into the calculator) i will not only not lose weight, but i have been known to gain.
back when i weighed 145 and worked out 5 times per week i would gain weight on anything over 1600 calories. i ate 1500 just to maintain that weight with regular exercise.
so do i have like a stupidly slow metabolism or are there others who can't get by with losing weight on 1800 calories??
for the record i have recently had my thyroid checked and fasting blood sugar. i'm perfectly normal. unfortunately. ha!
I dunno. I always thought those calories were awfully high too. I would definitely gain on 1800 calories a day. I usually eat between 1200-1500. My calorie intake, according to that calculator, is rediculously high when I put in that I workout 5 times a week- like 2200 or something. I just do what I know works. However, I will tell you... if my weightloss stalls, and I eat 3 days of higher calories, I can usually get my metabolism revved up again- not really sure what that means.
Yeah, the site you are using looks a little high. I put in my stats and it told me I could eat 1900 calories to lose weight, where other sites like this have told me 1500. 1500 seems to be working for me right now.
Yeah right! This is with me working out 5x/week. I actually only work out 4 at the gym but 5 days a week I walk my dog for 30min at a really brisk pace, so I figured I'd go with 5. I WISH I could eat 2500 calories a day to maintain! ha. I'm eating closer to 1200-1400 calories per day with a weekly loss of about 2lbs. I don't think I am being "extreme"
I can't eat that much and lose, either. One day a week I let myself eat more than usual (up to 2100 or so) but the rest of the time, to lose, has to be under 1500, regardless of how hard I'm exercising.
When I see those formulas I get really confused, and sometimes really annoyed. I'd love to be able to lose 2 lbs a week on 1800 calories... but I try to remember our bodies are all different and one formulaic solution won't work for everyone.
who are these wonders who can eat such amounts and still lose? NBA players? ha!
but really it makes me feel better knowing i'm not quite so abnormal. i was really starting to get a complex about why i can't lose weight on 1800 calories a day like "normal" people.
just kinda makes you question all the guidelines they set out for us.
I would lose on 1800 a day, but very slowly. 1600 worked well for the first few weeks but I'm slowing down a bit lately (of course, that could be because I went OP a couple of times, so take that with a grain of salt). I'm thinking a wider range, say 14-1600, might work well for me. So no, you're definitely not alone.
(For reference, it says I need 1720 for fat loss.)
It gave me a high number too. The way I have learned it (and it has worked) is whatever your goal is, add a zero. My goal is 150 and I eat a 1200-1500 calorie diet. Maybe it's not correct for everyone but it's worked well for me thus far.
Last edited by Florida Native; 02-22-2008 at 05:50 PM.
But that is with the activity level set at "exercise every day" - I actually have a job where I am dashing about the place all day and work out for 1-2 hours 6-7 days a week.
I can maintain my weight at around 2000 a day...sometimes a little over but I generally stay naturally around 1500 at the moment and am steadily decreasing my body fat % - the scale is a little slower to move!
calorie conundrum
