What's your calorie range?
 

I'm curious as to what other peoples' calorie ranges are. Do you eat less on days when you don't exercise much/at all? Do you eat the same number of calories regardless? Exercise calories -- do you eat them back or leave them for a bigger deficit?

Indulge a relative newbie, would ya? I'm nosy. *L*

I started at 1600 calories/day. I work out hard every day (Sundays off) so yes, I eat back my calories burned...or I try to...I burn a lot and it's hard to eat it all back.

I recently dropped to 1500 calories/day and am doing well. Once I hit a plateau I think I'm going to try going back up to 1600, but not counting my exercise deficit and see what that does.

For my no exercise, sedentary lifestyle diet, my calorie quantity is supposed to be 1400 but i am eating over that the moment. I"m not worrying about it too much this month. Today i counted just over 1700 before dinner which probably added another 300 i guess.

But for the first three months, i tried to stay around my allowance which was originally 1650 and then sometime in march i dropped it to 1400.

I don't seem to have put on any weight and all up until about beginning of april i was steadily losing.

I need to get a bit remotivated in May. I'm hoping to do that anyway. Until my main aim is to eat healthy food and not too much over maintenance calories, whatever they are.

I know this is a bit cryptic and probably won't be of much help.

It's about 1200 for me. I don't eat my exercise calories back, either. I average a 1.5-2 lbs. loss a week.

I did just start calorie counting this week and my goal range is between 1200 to 1400 a day. I don't eat back my burned calories, I just let them be extra. There may be some days I take advantage of those extra calories, but as of right now, I'm not doing that.

I tried doing 1200 for a bit but holy crap, I felt like a complete slug. *L* I'm envious of people who can manage it!

I also tried doing 1200 calories once and it did not work for me. I was constantly hungry, I felt weak and sluggish and was barely able to work out. I completely ignored the fact that my BMR is ~1400 calories/day.

I like to average 1200 calories or so a day. I also follow Weight Watchers so I look more at the week as a whole rather than trying to rigidly eat the same amount each day.

As far as eating exercise calories, I have 2 answers.

In terms of WW points, I eat my weekly points before eating activity points. I very rarely ever eat any activity points.

As a practical matter if I exercise really heavy on a particular day I may eat a little more that day but I try to stay within my desired average calorie range for the week regardless of exercise. I also mostly focus on having a 500 to 750 calories deficit each day and if I do that (I use a Fitbit to see what I burn) I am happy.

Snoofie--I am used to it now. I rarely get ravenous and my energy level is much better than when I was eating more (off plan). I think my body just needs less to keep it running at maximum efficiency!

Regarding to my high weight by BMR (?) is at about 1650 (calculated with the adapted formula for very heavy people, as fat needs no energy) - and due to most modern believes around here I try not to eat a lot less than that. Normally I end up at around 1400-1550 on normal days, which so far leaves me confortable, full of energy and without great hunger.

I didn't start with doing sports already, but normally I wouldn't eat my extra calories.

Mine is between 900-1000 (the old WW points - I count both) with one day a week around 1300. I don't eat back exercise calories and I don't really make any progress, just maintain for years and years.

My range is from 1200-1400. On days I do light exercise I keep it closer to 1200 then on days when I exercise or am going to be active a lot I hit closer to 1400, but I do my best to listen to my body and define when I am hungry so most days I don't consume the extra calories burned

I intended to start at 1500, but I ended up doing 1200. I try not to go lower than 900 on days when I don't feel like eating.

On the days I don't work out, I only eat 1200 or less. The calorie tracker I use automatically adds calories burned from working out to overall calories allowed for the day; some days I eat them, some days I don't. It's a matter of whether I feel like eating and what I'm craving - two nights ago I "splurged" on some peanut M&M's (69 calories for five!) because I had like 300 calories left for the day and it was almost bedtime.

I would say if you're aiming to be under a certain amount - like 1500 - then burned calories absolutely counts towards your calorie allowance for the day. If you don't exercise, then stay under your alotted amount. If you do, eat those calories if you're hungry and you want to. Or go WW style and bank those extra calories for later in the week/for cheat days.

On a normal day I try not to exceed 1200.

But because I'm trying to lose weight now- until the end of my diet- I won't be going over 500/day.

I'm really shocked by the super low calorie counts people are posting, I would feel awful eating that little and definitely wouldn't be able to exercise as much as I do. I try to stay around 1400 on non-exercise days, 1600 on normal exercise days, and on long exercise days(3+ hours of hiking) I don't really have a goal but try and not get too crazy with eating. I'm working with TDEE and don't eat back my calories. I'm also pretty close to goal and very active. When I started at 200+lbs I lost weight exercising by lifting heavy 2x/wk and cardio 1-2x/wk and eating 1800-2300 calories a day. I slowly adjusted down and for a long time was still losing on 1700/1800 calories but recently have had to drop again.

I don't CC, but the last time I retroactively tallied, it was 1400. That was probably at the low end of my range, which I would guess is about 1300 - 1700. Whenever I eat out, I probably go even higher. But I'm losing weight very slowly (by choice). When I was CCing, I used to eat between 1200 and 1500.

These days I try to stay under 1200, but sometimes, if it gets too hard for me, I eat 1500 and still call it okay. When I exercise, I usually eat half of the calories I burned as a little reward.

I too am appalled at the very low calories. Been there, done that. You folks need to check out the books Calorie Queens and Fat 2 Fit. I eat eucalorics style, meaning I eat my maintenance calories while I am losing. The way I eat now is the way I'll still eat at maintenance. It works! And it's a lifestyle you can live with!

Mine's currently 1530, which is about 522 below my BMR and 932 below the level of maintaining my current weight. 1530 is also what my BMR would be at my goal weight, so I'm basically teaching myself how to eat where I need to be at for maintaining.

I eat between 1100 and 1300 calories. I exercise and have an active life, my energy level is more than adequate, and I am never hungry beyond the normal "it's meal time" hungry. I really cannot imagine eating any more food than I do.

I'm intrigued by this. You say you eat your maintenance calories while you are losing? So...what do you do, exercise and just leave those calories to be your deficit? This sounds like something I'd like to try (eating at my maintenance calories) as I exercise at least 5 days a week for an hour and a half at a time and I find myself utterly FAMISHED afterwards....but I don't allow myself to eat back the exercise calories because I figure I'll go overboard. If I were eating maintenance calories to begin with, though, maybe I wouldn't be so friggin' hungry all the time. *L* So yeah....mind going into a bit of detail on that? I'd really love to hear how you're doing this. :)

This is what I have always wondered. It makes sense to me that if you want to be a certain weight for the rest of your life, that you would figure out how many calories it takes to maintain that weight and then just eat that number. I don't understand why people need to do the very low numbers. Unless they are just impatient and want to lose the weight faster. But, in order to be sustainable it seems like a good idea to me. :)

Some people are perfectly fine with 1200 calories. I have days, like yesterday, where I have to force myself to eat 800. I can live with what I'm doing just fine, else I wouldn't be doing it - and I imagine others are living with what they're doing just fine, else they wouldn't be doing it, either. It's what works for me, but I wouldn't push it on you or anyone else because of that.

It's a shame that your attempt at keeping lower calories didn't work, but it's great that you did find something that does work for you. I've found something that works for me; it worked for me years ago when I was trying to maintain my current weight and eat healthier, and it's working for me now that I'm trying to lose weight. I guess I don't see what the problem is.

I've been eating this way for probably 6 years or so and haven't had any issues with straying from it, it's honestly just the way I eat and I've been maintaining for all this time after losing my pregnancy weight. I really want to lose 10 more lbs, but my calories seem to just maintain my weight, so I have to kick up my exercise routine.

What's funny is that my meals are inherently lower in calories because I make everything with vegetables, so now my boyfriend is complaining because he's losing weight (and definitely doesn't like it), but he loves my cooking.

My goal is about 1500 a day. I burn about 400-600 a day in exercise (more on Saturdays when I do 10+ mile runs). I try to stick pretty close to the 1500 and use my exercise calories as cushion or for special occasions. Like tonight, we're meeting friends for pizza and beer. Most of the 7 mile run I did this morning will go toward offsetting that. On long run days, I do try to eat back at least half of the exercise calories or I don't feel like I recover properly.

I strive to have calories left over at the end of the week. To me, that's more important than the daily over/under.

Mine is 2800 to maintain my weight and 2300 to lose. Right now I'm just eating my 2300 and then when I exercise I eat a 100 calorie granola bar (which is less than I work off)

I'm eating around 1200, but it just "happens" to fall there, not that I plan it to be. I eat when I'm hungry and sometimes it means I eat a bit more, sometimes it means I eat a bit less. Today will probably be a 1000 day as I wasn't very hungry for lunch and it's 4 pm and I'm still not hungry. I think it's because it's an extra warm do, so I just don't feel like eating.

You mean each individual person has their own unique caloric needs? Who would have thought! :)

Poor boyfriend, haha! My husband is "lucky" to be deployed right now. I keep telling him he would starve if he were home right now because we've switched from a diet heavy in red meat and starch, to fish, seafood and vegetables. He's a steak-and-potatoes guy, he is going to be in for a shock when he gets home!

I've always has trouble with not wanting to eat when the weather warms up, even as a child. It doesn't help that we now live in Texas, where it's not officially summer until it's 100+ degrees :) A few years ago, I started drinking fruit smoothies on those days, which are easier to handle when you're not hungry and can be anything you need: low-calorie, high-calorie, full of protein, and so on. I've been making low-calorie/low-fat strawberry smoothies the past couple weeks for lunch, with low-fat vanilla yogurt, frozen strawberries and a splash of water. I make protein shakes with oatmeal, chocolate protein powder and banana for my husband after he finished PT and a "vitamin milk" smoothie with Carnation instant breakfast, bananas and milk for my 6-year-old who has problems with being underweight. You can literally add anything you want and tweak it to match your current needs. I use my magic bullet, but you can use any bullet blender, regular blender or even a stick mixer to make it! I pour it into one of those melamine straw cups you can get at the dollar store and take it with me so I can sip on it all morning :)

Hi there, I'm new to the calorie counting forums :)

I have been using My Fitness Pal, it seems to be a good way of tracking calories. I took yesterday and today off from it but I plan to get back on track tomorrow. I like the calorie counting because it's free, unlike so many diet programs.

Have a good night!

Amy :)

Hey seabiscuit! Glad to see you trying calorie counting. I enjoy it. Allows me to eat things I like, but I'm learning a lot about right portion sizes. Makes me feel empowered. Since my portions are smaller, it has also taught me to eat slower to enjoy it more.

I may be tweaking my calorie goal sometime this week. I plan on weighing in tomorrow morning to see where I'm at. If I haven't seen progress from last week, I think I will increase my calories to 1400 and make sure I get to 1400. Right now I like to fall between 1200 and 1400, but feel my workouts have been pretty intense. I don't want to be accidentally starving myself. Though I have been satisfied with my food intake, I don't want to be hurting myself unknowingly.

I allow myself 1200 daily...I start the day by writing 1200 on an erasable board that is attached to my fridge and then subtract the calories I eat throughout the day from it until I reach zero or close to it.

Hi, my number is 1780 calories a day (sedentary lifestyle/287.4 lbs/ to lose 1 1/2 lbs. a week) these were set for me by My Fitness Pal, and I'm fairly happy with this number. I am scared of the day when I have to work with less than 1500 calories a day to maintain my weight loss goals.

Mine is 1640 as worked out by myfitnesspal and I aim to stay under that daily.I'm not adding my exercise points at all.

Hi there! Hi Fleur! I took some time off of calorie counting, I'll get back on track soon.

Take care!