For those that calorie cycle or have high days, how high are they compared to your normal days?

I usually eat around 1350 calories.
I have 2 higher days a week, and go to 1500, although I don't always quite make it (and on occasion go to 1600).
I lose about a pound a week. I am not sure if going up that little bit shocks the system at all or not.
Just wondering what others do.

Basically, I have my normal calories and then my calories for work out days. Normal calories are around 1400 and work out day calories are around 1500. Maybe I *should* eat more, but I'm losing very steadily and at a nice rate and I think if I ate more it'd just be junk food considering I'm quite content with the amount of food I'm getting right now.

I pretty much just started about 3 weeks ago ..

I haven't let myself go over 1200 calories. Now, having said that, I haven't started my exercise regimen yet. (I'm going today with my husband.)

I do 1200-1500 most days of the week. I usually get a little extra on the days I really kill myself at the gym (ie: circuit training and some form of cardio) and on rest days I stay around 1200. It's more of an intuitive "how hungry am i?" thing. Then I throw in one "high calorie" day a week of 1800. Sometimes it's hard for me to get to the 1800 but I just remind myself I'm still within my weekly calorie allowance and I can usually find a way

WOW I don't know how you girls do it with such low calories........I tend to be starving if I don't have more....
Although it is hard to stay higher....

MY range is much wider........1600-2100 .........I have lost every week......only 3 weeks 1lb loss all others at least 3lbs to 7lbs!

what do you base your calories on? how did you come up with your figure of calories per day?

My high day depends on exercise and isn't pre-planned. I'm supposed to eat back most of my exercise calories. (I aim for 1000 deficit)

Most of the time I don't go above 2000 though unless I've had a bad day (ahem today) 1600 is fairly average and 1200 on a "rest day".

I used to be able to eat more and still lose weight, but the closer I get to goal, the more careful I have to be about exact calorie measurements.
It's all based on activity level, and how much you currently weigh. The more you weigh and the more active you are, the more you can eat (usually). It's a bit of trial and error to find the right range.

I usually stay between 1400-1600; I try to hit 1300-1350 one day/wk and go no more than 2,000 (my maint. cals.) one day/wk (if I want to). I used this link to ballpark my cals per day. http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Ideal -- why are you suppose to eat back most of your exercise cals? (In my head, that's kind of defeating the purpose.) Do you aim for 1,000 cal/day exercise deficit?

Most of your high days are like my low days! I normally eat 1400-1500. My high day WAS about 2100-2200, but now I'm trying to reign that in because I've plateaud. So now I'm trying to keep it at 1600-1800, and that's hard for me!

BTW if these numbers seem high, I do work out a lot.

I actually don't find I'm that hungry. I do have the occasional day where I'm a bottomless pit but most of the time I'm just fine on the calories. I set my calories based on my basal metabolic rate plus my daily activity on average (I say I only average 500 cals a day in exercise when usually it ends up being closer to 700). I'm trying to create a calorie deficit of 7000/week which would equate to 2lbs in most people and not in me *sigh*. But my basal metabolic rate is ~ 1700... that's if I was just lying in bed all day doing nothing. If I factor in the type of lifestyle I have (sedentary, I'm a student and spend most of my day in front of a computer or textbook) my active metabolic rate is around 1850. Then I add in the exercise. 2350. Over the entire week that's 16450 calories and I just subtract 7000 from that.

Haha. I bet that seems really confusing. It's working for me though. I know it's annoying when people say "I'm really not hungry" but I've been dieting since I was 15 and tend to go to extremes. I've done like 700 calories a day before and my mum almost killed me when she realized that. I guess my stomach has shrunk because most of the time if I'm a little hungry I just down a bottle of water and I'm good to go.

In the past I've done around 1100-1500 and lost quite quickly, 3-5lbs per week. I do walk my dog 30min/almost every day and gym it about 3 days also. However I found I was almost always hungry at the end of the day and after a few months would totally slip back.

This go round I'm just trying to stay under 2200 per day. If I only go to 1600 awesome but if I'm really hungry and go up to the 2000s I'm ok with that also. Of course the weight isn't coming off as quickly but I don't feel like I'm sacrificing anything and I'm actually listening to my body's signals. I'm sure as I move down the scale I'll have to lower the max a bit.

I do notice that sometimes if I go over my max I have a temporary gain the day after but then almost always lose it back plus another 2 days after. Maybe there is something to be said for shocking your system?

-Heather

I don't count calories one day a week but I have gone back to see what damage I'm doing and it's usually around 2000, the other weekend day I don't take off I also go a little high, around 1600 or so. I stay between 1350-1450 during the week though. I am not counting Saturday OR Sunday this week though. I am going to be doing a bunch of stuff up at my sister's barn and I'm going to be burning plenty of calories, I will eat what they have but I will be smart about it. I don't OVER eat anymore. Then Sunday I have a volunteer clinic and it's a "vegeterian potluck". So there's lots of snack stuff, I try and stick to veggies and healthy stuff but I would be at a loss to count calories there.

wow. maybe i'm eating too much? my calories hover around 1700/day. on bad days, they can go up to 2500. on horrible "going out" nights, try 3000+. when i calculated what i used to eat, it was horrible. and i don't eat fast food. i eat lots of lean meats, salads, etc. but still - you add in the couple glasses of wine, full-fat dressing, croutons, crackers, etc - it adds up. guess i need to shoot for under 1500 based on what i'm reading. i do workout an average of 400 cals a day. ? don't have a ticker - can't figure it out. but i am doing well on my blog. i have about 30lbs to lose...

My average is about 1600 calories per day, but it fluctuates between 1200-2000 during the week. I don't plan which days I eat more or less --it just depends on how I feel. On the days when I'm hungrier, I eat 1800-2000 (once a month or so I might even hit 2500). Other days I'm satisfied with 1200 calories and even 'forget' to eat. I find that the big-calorie days actually lead to a slight increase in weight loss in the days following. I'm a firm believer in calorie cycling!