The more i've been reading here, the more i've been surprised to find loads of people saying that they couldn't lose weight until they started eating more. or upping their calories is what got them off a plateau.
so how do you figure out how many calories you need to maximize your weight loss without sending your body into starvation mode? yes i know that it's individual to the person, size, and goal, but i feel like i've seen a wide variety of calories ranges thrown out there and am confused.
as background, i can only get to the gym max 3 times a week. right now, my workout routine is as follows:
on mon/wed i am doing 2 to 2 1/2 miles of intervals and then 2 to 2 1/2 mile tempo jog, for a total of somewhere 4 1/2 miles. with a 5-10 minute walk afterwards to cool down. i'm trying to work up to 5 miles jog. and then free weights for about 10-15 mins.
fri is my short gym day so i might do a slow warmup jog of 1/2 a mile to a mile to warm up, then try a faster mile (about 8:30), then walk for a while until i get antsy. (anywhere between 10 and 30 mins depending upon what time i'm supposed to go out that night). then maybe 10 mins on the free weights.
on other nights when i'm not going out (maybe 1-2 nights a week) i try and do situps, pushups, butt exercises in front of the tv for maybe an hour, but at a very leisurely pace. (i AM watching tv, after all.)
fitday recommended something like 1600 calories for the mon/wed type gym days. and 1250 for those non-gym days. i've been using this more as a guideline than a hard and fast calorie prison. so basically just keeping to a range between 1200 and 1800, trying to keep non-gym days at the lower end of that spectrum. does this seem reasonable? am i doing this right??