[kassiebby1124]

My current limit it 1400 and I was thinking about dropping to 1300, but my friend says I should up it to 1500. What is ideal?
I'm 5'4

[chickadee32]

1400/day sounds like a pretty good number to me. Assuming you're lightly active, your current intake should produce a deficit a little higher than 7000 cals/wk, which will result in an average loss of ~2 lbs/wk. As your weight decreases you'll need to either increase your activity or lower your calories a bit if you want to keep losing at a similar rate. Nothing says you need to lose that quickly though.

How would you feel working with a calorie range rather than a single target number? For most of my weight loss I used a range of 1200-1500 calories - which allowed me to eat a little more on the days I was really hungry, and keep my intake lower on the days I wasn't. It's probably similar to what you're doing already, but just a thought.

[JohnP]

Originally Posted by kassiebby1124

What is ideal?

What is ideal is a number that allows you to meet your nutritional needs and feel satisfied enough that you are not always obsessing about food.

If you're getting most or all of your calories from whole food sources including plenty of veggies you could go lower than 1300 and still meet your nutrient needs but would you feel massively deprived which could lead to some serious rebound eating?

Personally if you're feeling good at 1400 I would say if it ain't broken, don't fix it.

[Demosthenes]

How many pounds have you been losing per week, on average? If you are losing 2-3 pounds/week I wouldn't mess with success.

[kassiebby1124]

Originally Posted by Demosthenes

How many pounds have you been losing per week, on average? If you are losing 2-3 pounds/week I wouldn't mess with success.

I've been losing about that much. 2-3 pounds.

And thanks everyone else [: I'll keep it where it's at for now, but when I drop lower, I'm probably gonna lower it a little more and up the activity