Has Anyone Found They Had To UP Calories?? - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

HeatherAngel · 02-08-2008, 08:33 PM

As I lose weight, and exercise more - I now run at least four times a week - I am wondering if I should UP my calories to continue to lose effectively without being hungry. I was down to 1400-1500 calories, but I am wondering if maybe that's not enough anymore, based on running 15-20 miles/week and doing strength-training 2-3x/week...

Has anyone been in this situation, where you actually RAISED your calories to continue to lose BECAUSE the amount of exercise you were doing increased?

Heather

scgirl32 · 02-08-2008, 09:48 PM

That's what happened to me. I sat at the same weight for almost a year and couldn't lose a pound. I decided to focus more on cardio and weight training, and still the scale didn't move. Then, around Christmas, I kept up the exercise while not at all paying attention to my calories. I miraculously lost a pound during December. Now, I'm back to tracking my calories. My calories are up to about 1700-1800 per day (I was eating around 1500 before). I also run/walk about 20 miles a week. Since then, I've been pretty steady about losing a pound a week.

BlueToBlue · 02-12-2008, 02:51 AM

Yes, I've done that. I started at around 1300 calories per day, exercising only 3 days a week with a personal trainer. Then I added cardio workouts on my non-training days and eventually got to the point where I now do some from of exercise 7 days a week. Then I went through a period where I increased my cardio workouts from 30 min to an hour. At the same time, I switched to a new trainer who pushes me a lot harder than the first trainer. With all the extra exercise, I was hungry all the time and not losing weight. Finally someone suggested I increase my calories. I bumped them up to 1400 and that did the trick for a while.

Eventually I got up to 1500-1600 calories per day but plateaued at that level. So I did the opposite of increasing my calories; I cut back on my exercise--dropped my cardio workouts from one hour back to 30 minutes--so that I could drop my calories down to 1300 again. That did the trick of getting me off that plateau.

ennay · 02-12-2008, 10:55 AM

I havent necessarily had to up mine, but I eat a lot more than most of the chickies because of my activity level.

HeatherAngel · 02-12-2008, 01:36 PM

Thanks, chicks! I'm currently trying between 1500-1550 a day (was on 1300-1400) and it's made a real difference... I am also trying to eat 'cleaner', and suddenly I feel satisfyingly full most of the time! I have snacks built in every three or four hours, and that's stopped me binging at night, too!