What is your calorie range?
 

Hello All,
I am doing OA (over eaters annonymous) and my food plan is to chart my calories, fat, carbs, and protein. I write down every bite I eat. I stay between 1,200 and 1,500 calories a day. I try to eat lower fat, whole grains, good carbs, lean meats, and lots of veggies and fruits. I just wanted to see how many calories each of you allow yourself for the day?
I also want to mention that I am under supervision of a nutritionist on my calorie amount. It is low for most people, but I struggle with weight loss and produce no results on a 2,000 cal/day diet. This is the amount the nutritionist set for me and finally i am loosing some weight. :)

My calorie range is around 2000 - 2200 for weight loss. although it varies because of the program I'm on. Nutritionist or not, that's not many calories for someone over 300 pounds. Anyway good luck with your weight loss goals, and post often so we can keep up with you, yummymummy! :)

You are probably right. She had me doing 2,000 calories and I didn't loose, then 1,500 calories and still didn't loose. Maybe I didn't give it enough time? 1,200-1,500 does seem way too low. My main fear is that I will loose lots of weight at this then hit a plateau and have no healthy range of calories to drop to. :?:

Have to agree with kimmieone on this one. I just looked at 2 different publications, and they both said 1800-2000. The more you weigh, the more you should eat to lose weight in a healthy way. Have you been to a physician about your weight loss?

I know that it is your decision, but please reconsider going so low on the calories. Slow and steady is the name of the game.

How were you tracking your calories, just curious? Is it possible you were consuming more calories then you think? 1500 calories per day really should have resulted in weight loss. How long were you doing this for? What types of food were you eating?

Were you doing any sort of exercise?

Robin asked some important questions to consider. I think when we're used to overeating we train ourselves to underestimate our true consumption.

I'm currently losing at 1500-1700 cals per day (on average). When I weighed close to 190 I was losing at 1800-2000 per day.

I currently aim for 1800-2000 calories. I was put on that by my nutrition coach at the gym. At first I thought it was way to high but I am losing with that. Though I do burn 400-700 calories a day, 6 days a week working out. When you were on the higher calorie plan did you try to add in some exercise, like some walking? That may help you lose and still be at a more heathly calorie range.

I have always stayed consisently around 1350-1500 although I am closer 1500 these days and still losing.

Lori

Then I was using food lables and books and working out 3x a week. I may have not been very accurate as suggested. I did this for about a month. Now I use a website that I'm not allowed to type on here....something about Spark...if you know which one I"m talking about. Every time I type that one it deletes the word. I use it to track my calories. I think I need to go up on calories as suggested though. I am feeling weak some and shaky before meals.

Remember that food is fuel for your body - if you are feeling weak or shaky, your body is clearly telling you that it needs more calories.

Lori

I try to stay at about 1200 calories. This may seem low, but I am currently 139lbs and am not very active. If exercising, I will increase it in order to give myself more fuel.

hi

i've lost 12 lb in a week....800-1000 cal/day...i also exercise about 30-45 minutes a day, drink plenty of water.....and spend a lot of time reading succes stories form 3fatchicks.com to encourage myself....

Michelle, have you seen a doctor to see how many calories you should be eating? 1000 and below is way too low. Losing 12 pounds in a week is great, but at first you are losing water. If you are exercising, you will still lose at a higher amount of calories, but it will be slower and probably a longer lasting loss.

YummymummyOA, that site that shall remain nameless was sending spammers over to 3FC for awhile, so their name got banned. ;)

I agree with others that you (a) need to track more carefully, and (b) see someone else about how many calories you should be eating, e.g. a doctor. And, it could be that you didn't give it enough time--I don't know.

We can only guess... which is a good reason to see someone else in the real world. :yes:

Jay

I'm 5'6 and 130 lbs and I maintain at the same calorie intake as you - that just can't be the case. You should deffinitally be losing at a higher calorie intake. I'm surprised your nutritionist lowered you to that small of an amount? It is possible that there are other health issues involved in your lack of weight gain - my mom was dieting and was not loosing the weight she should have been loosing. Turns out I think she had something wrong with her thyroid? I'm not really sure but once she got treated for her medical problem she dropped like 10 lbs instantly.

The success stories certainly are inspirational. But have you checked out some of the other information available here, like the calorie counters FAQ? Your intake is far too low for your weight and activity level. Instead of fat you're losing water and muscle because you aren't nourishing your body. Twelve pounds in a week may seem great, but it's not a long term, sustainable, strategy!

I'm 5'7 and I'm on a 1460 calorie a day, to lose weight.

Michelle

The concern with eating too few calories is that long term your weightloss will likely stall and it will become even more difficult for you to break the plateau.

Eating less than 1000 calories will definitely work in the short run but there are few success stories where someone maintained this over the course of their weightloss journey.

You risk mucking up your metabolism only to create more frustration for yourself later on.

Lori

I agree. I'm at 175lbs and at 1500-1600 calories per day and I workout about 6 days a week. I'm losing with this. I would check with a doctor and maybe have some blood tests. I have hypothryoidism and before I got on meds I couldn't drop any weight.

You may be suprised about how many calories your eating if you don't keep very close track. I know I was suprised when I started keeping track.

And you shouldn't be feeling shakey or anything like that.

I am 5'5 and weigh 233. I started counting calories a week ago and started at 1600-2000 to feel where I need to be. I haven't lost anything, so today I reduced it to 1400-1600 a day. I'm hoping this will help me.

A lot of people seem to stall when not eating enough calories too... something to think about. I agree with tracking more closely and make sure you're accounting for everything that goes in your mouth. Little things add up.

At your weight you don't want to go too low. You risk all kinds of issues. I had Gallstones from a 1000 calorie a day diet a few years back. Trust me they aren't something you want.

Measure and weigh when you can until you have a good handle on what amounts look like.

I eat about 1400-1800 but I also exercise 6 days a week

Eating too little almost never works out for anyone. First of all its unrealistic, you can't live your life like that. You'll end up going crazy one day by such restrictions. Last year for like 5 months I was living on 700-800 calories a day and it was HORRIBLE I was losing so much weight though and I was so happy. Then when you realize you can't live the rest of your life like this you just gain it all back. On top of gaining it all back you have damaged your metabolism. Not cool!

Earlier this year I was eating less than 1000 calories a day- it wasn't hard to do, I didn't get hungry or shaky. I did come to my senses a month or so ago, and now do my best to aim for 1200 calories, though I go over by 100 calories or so sometimes. Unfortunately, my previous undereating means that I'm not really losing weight this way, despite pretty vigorous 7-days-a-week exercise. I'm sure if I hang in there my metabolism will decide to fix itself- if it's easy to screw up, it must be possible to fix, right? Or that's my hope.

I started at 264 and lost pretty consistantly between 1200 and 1400 calories a day. But I wasn't exercising very intensely - just walking every day.

There's been a lot of great comments here. I just wanted to remind people that sometimes you need to give yourself a little time at a particular calorie level to see if you're losing. One week may not be enough!!

Also, think about your long term goals. Yes, most of us are here to lose weight (or maintain a weight loss) but do you want to be healthy? Do you want to be able to do this long-term? It really helped me to think about the strategies that would enable me to do this FOR LIFE. I lost weight eating 1800-2000 calories/day on average (higher numbers when I weighed closer to 300 pounds) and did lose consistently. I also increased my exercise as I lost.

Finally, as has been mentioned, these numbers are all estimates. All of us differ. If you in particular have a lot of questions and concerns about weight loss, it may help to see a doctor. Know, however, that not all MDs know a lot about nutrition and weight loss (they have a lot of other things they need to know!) and a good dietician might be really useful too!

The only thing I can really say is that the dietitian/nutritionist told me no one should ever take in less than 1200 calories a day. There are a certain amount of calories needed just for the body to preform properly. Sure you will see giant weight loss but is that good for the body is the real question.

I lost the bulk of my weight at 1000 cal/day (meal replacements + 1 healthy meal of lean protein & low-carb veggies). I would periodically take real food diet breaks & then my calories were about 1100-1200 calories a day. It's been about 15 months & this has been working for me.

It is key to find out what is the right range for you. I am older which means slower metabolism among other things. My maintenance calorie range will be around 1200-1400 calories. Not really thrilled with that but that's what it is.

I found the best success breaking plateaus was not so much changing the calorie level but changing the foods I ate in that calorie range. Leaner meats, more fish & poultry, less starch worked better than changing the calories too much.

I use FitDay to track EVERYTHING. It was amazing to see how little things like condiments, sweeteners, & those little teaspoons of fats could add up & easily push me way over what I was supposed to be having that day. Some people also use CalorieKing or The Daily Plate to track their foods. Might be worth looking into. :)

My understanding is that the 1200 calories a day isn't necessarily for the calories themselves, but for nutrients. You can't get the right amount of protein/calcium/vitamins/carbs/fat/etc without 1200 calories a day. Is that true?

I guess it doesn't matter, because whatever the answer is I'm not going to eat under that, but I'm just curious :)

I don't know if this has been mentioned but adding weight training and gaining a little bit of muscle to your body improves your metabolism. Some people lose muscle and fat then fall off their program and gain nothing but fat back which in turns slows your metabolism and makes losing more difficult.

This happened to me, I keep dropping 15 to 20 pounds, gaining it back and each time I had more body fat. When I finally reached my highest weight I was over 50% body fat. Women need to weight train. It doesn't have to be all hardcore or anything, but a simple and sound program will help.

There is no reason, other than a medical condition, that someone over 300 pounds should be eating 1000 calories. This will completely fail in the long run, of course imho.

I agree with Heather, we all have to set ourselves up to succeed for life or else we are going to have to keep starting over, fatter than before.

I have been eating between 1200 and 2000 calories per day for the last year. I never go below 1200... and if I am on plan, I never go above 2000. There are days I mess up, but I just start over the instant that I mess up. I had a net loss of 63 pounds in one year on this plan. (I would have a bigger loss, but I had some cirumstances over the last four months that took me out of the gym and blew it all up for a while). I'm back on plan now and working out now so I'm hoping to see a change again soon!

Best wishes!

I lost my weight on 1400-1600 calories during the weekdays and 1600-1800 on the weekends, with 5 days/week of exercise. It took a few weeks when I first started for the ball to start rolling, though; I think my body panicked and tried to cling to everything it had! ;)

I started at somewhere between 1700-1800 calories per day. I wasn't tracking to accurately in the beginning, so I'm not 100% sure.

I then went down to 1600 and then to 1500 per day. The last few pounds I took off in between 1400-1500 calories.

My only exercise was (and still is) walking.

My goal is to eat around 1200 calories a day. However, the past few days I have only been taking in around 600-800 calories a day. I seem to not be hungry at all anymore. I think all this diet stuff has made me lose intrest in food. Since I have been put in the ICU for anorexia before I have to sometimes force myself to eat anything to get up to the 1200 calories.

Dawnsky - 600 to 800 calories a day is not enough to fuel your body. All it will do is trash your metablism and make you lose muscle. Please take care of yourself - we want you to be successful. Unless you are under a doctors supervision, 800 calories is not healthy. Force yourself if you have to - but get that 1200 calories in. :hug: