so i have been reading all the new calorie counter threads to get some ideas and make sure i am doing things right... i have been trying to lose weight for about four weeks and have lost somewhere between 8 and 9 lbs... which i thought sounded healthy and on the right path... here is the thing... i use fitday.com to track my calories and try to eat 1200 a day. i got to the gym about 5 times a week for about an hour... do about 40 min of elliptical and/or treadmill and some rowing machine or cycling machine for about 10 min. i started at about 206 and am at about 197... i am 5'8" and 29 years old...so here is my question... did i screw up by starting at around 1200 cals a day? or am i ok? will i plateau? i don't feel hungry or like i am starving... on the contrary, at the end of the day, i am looking for those last 80 to 100 cals to get me to 1200 or close to it...

Well you are on the low side for your height, weight and amount of exercise, but on the other hand, you might never reach a plateau.

My feeling, however, that you might as well eat as many calories as you possibly can while still losing weight at the rate you want. I'd recommend slowly increasing your cals 100/day each week. So, next week eat 1300, the week after 1400 and so on. When you stop losing, then you'd drop your calories back down again. It's not a race, and you want to practice calorie counting in a way that will help you to ease into maintenance.

When I originally lost weight from 185 to about 143, I did it very similar to the way you're doing it: 1200 a day plus 45-60 mins of cardio 5 days a week. I lost very quickly, never plateaued and was happy. Fast forward a year and a half and I started to regain (probably to around 155-8); I hadn't learned to calorie count in a way that ever taught me how to *maintain* my weight (and I stopped counting once I was happy with my weight). So I got back to it, joined the gym, started logging all my food and so on. This time, I shot for 1800 calories a day, plus all my cardio. You know what? The weight came off just the same; slightly more slowly perhaps, but it came off. And because I ate a moderate amount of calories, it was really easy for me to adjust my calories to maintenance and to stick with it.

I don't think you screwed up. I'm pretty sure that rockinrobin ate just 1200 her entire journey (robin, correct me if I'm wrong!!).

I'm 5'8" and I started out around 1400 but am currently at 1200, but with less of a workout than you (3 days running, 1 day walking).

Screwed up? You've lost 9 pounds. That's fabulous.

To answer alinnell, I didn't start at 1200 calories. I was 287 lbs at only 5 feet zero inches. So, no, I didn't start at 1200. I started at about 1600, but quickly took it down to 1400 and have been at 1200 or so for months now. No plateau whatsoever. The few weeks that I haven't lost weight was when I went off plan, which was this summer. So any plateau at all was totally and completely MY doing.

I personally would not raise my calorie level IF you are not hungry. If you're satisfied, I'd leave them where they are. You might want to experiment with 1300 or 1400 nevertheless, see what happens. If you're losing at that level, then why not stay there for a bit? It's worth a shot.

thank you ladies so much for the help, i feel better about it now... i got really anxious thinking i might have hindered the process... i will eat to fill satisfied (which is what i have been doing)... and if some days it brings me closer to 1300 or 1400, i will know that it is going to be ok. seriously, thanks again.

I think your calorie level might be too low. It's great that you lost weight, but you don't want to send your body into starvation mode. If you eat too few calories, your body will quickly go into starvation mode and then you will hit a plateau. You may want to use a calculator like this one to find the appropriate calorie level.

Everyone's different. I started at 186 lbs. and lost on 1800! But I'd be devouring the newspaper if I tried to stay under 1500. Point is, there's no one number that's right for everyone IMHO.

How do you feel at 1200? Do you have energy? Do your skin and hair look and feel healthy? Can you focus your mind? Can you hold your hand steady? Do you believe you can keep up what you're doing for the long term? If one of your answers is 'no', you may have cut down too low.

As far as it being difficult to reach 1200 a day, wow! If I didn't count calories I could easily surpass that by lunch. If eating 1200 a day were such a chore, probably very few of us would be here! But if it is a struggle for you to meet that calorie goal, it's a worthy one. You need at least that much to maintain your health. Gotta fuel up for all that exercise!