I have a question...
I went to a few calorie calculators to see if my calories are in the right range and was very surprised to be told that I am quite a bit under!! it estimated that at the weight I am, for 2 lbs a week I should not be going below 2448 calories a day! That is 500 calories more than I am eating! Is it possible that it could be off that much?? I have been losing pretty slowly and now I wonder if it is b/c I dropped my calories too much, especially since I did it all at once. One day I was eating around 3500 calories, then I dropped down to 1800 from then on.

I really try to eat between 1800 and 1900 calories per day and I am successful 90% of the time. I walk about 1.5 miles at 3.1 mph up and down hills in the area where I work 4 times a week and between 2.5 and 3 miles the other day in the same area. I also usually get on my rebounder at least once on the weekends. I was bouncing 5 days a week, but my weight loss stalled when I did that (maybe I needed to up my calories?). I just bought some dumbbells and plan on adding some arm, chest and shoulder exercising to tone up for the strapless dress I will be wearing in my sister's wedding.

It also calculated my BMR as 2133. I just want to make sure that I am not doing anything to actually hinder my weight loss. Any input would be really great! Thanks!

IMO 1800 - 1900 seems like a good number for you. How do you feel on the 1800-1900 calories? I don't think your calories could be too low to the point of hindering your weight loss... as long as you NEVER drop below 1200. That can slow your metabolism down significantly. If you're not starving and losing weight at a steady pace I wouldn't be too concerned. If you increase your exercise further or start feeling really hungry then you might want to play around with them a bit more (ie: maybe eat a little higher on days you workout and a little lower on days you don't) and see if you can get better results...but realistically, I wouldn't expect much more than 2lbs/week on average.

blueyedlvrgirl,

I think 1,800 Cal. is very reasonable, if you can really stick to it. The 2#/week guideline is aimed more at the moderately overweight, and I don't think it would be unhealthy for you to lose 4#+/ week right now.

Will eating too little slow your weight loss? Not in my experience, unless you are eating so little that you are too weak to exercise. The gastic bypass patients lose weight like crazy on severely restricted diets.

Of course, if you are close to goal, you really do have to worry about your metabolism slowing down with severe calorie restriction, but I have never been thin enough to experience that.


Robert

I am losing anywhere near 2 or 4 per week. I usually lose 1 one week, 0 the next, then maybe 2 after that. With all of the weight I have to lose, I thought I would at least average out at 2, but 1?? I work my *** off (or at least I wish I was...LOL) wokring out and I am just not seeing the results I thought I would. Who would've thought that cutting your calories in half and increasing from zero to 4-5 hrs per week would only yield an average of a 1 lb loss? I just don't get it.


Robert---LOL...me either!!

If you are averaging a one lb. loss per week on 1,800 calories a day, you will have to cut down to 1,300 to lose 2#/week or add 500Cal worth of exercise each day (better choice). It sounds like your metabolism is very slow. I burn about 4,500-5,500 Cal/day depending upon how active I am.

What does your doctor think? Could there be a hormonal problem? We weigh about the same and I am losing 1#/day on 2,000 Cal.

I don't have any hard data, but I suspect that when we overeat our bodies process the food less efficiently, because otherwise i would be able to eat like I did before minus one can of coke each day and lose 26 # in a year. I don't think that would happen.

Everyone is different and those calorie calculators are, at best, just an estimate (they're based on averages but we all know that, in the real world, metabolic rates vary from person to person). In my experience, figuring out the right number of calories is an art, rather than a science. Sometimes you have play around a little to figure out what the right calorie level is for you.

Personally, I always think it's best to eat at the highest calorie level that you can and still lose weight. That way, if your weight loss stalls, you have room to drop your calories. So, if a calculator is saying you can eat more and still lose weight, why not try it for a few weeks and see? If it doesn't work, you can always go back to the level you are eating at now.

I would not, however, add 500 calories to your diet overnight. Maybe add 100 calories this week, and 100 calories next week, then stay there for a couple of weeks and see if you are losing weight at a faster or slower pace than you are now. Then you can decide from there if you want to adjust your calories further.

There is absolutely no way that I could survive on 1300 calories a day! I exercise 5-6 times a week, walking up and down hills and/or bouncing on my rebounder. I don't know what an add'l 500 calories of exercise would be, but it sounds like a lot. When I was using the rebounder and walking, but kept the calories the same, I started losing nothing. I thought maybe it was b/c my body thought I wasn't eating enough, so I stopped doing both in one day and voilà, one pound a week again. It's extremely frustrating to work so hard and not see the results though. I have never yo-yo dieted, so that wouldn't be a reason for having such a slow metabolism. I don't know where I would be if I had. Maybe I will have to start looking into some metabolism boosters of some kind. If I am having this much trouble now, what is it going to be like when I get closer to goal??

I guess it is time to talk to my doctor about it. I hoped that maybe it would improve as my body got accustomed to things, but apparently, it's not.

I'm with Barbara on this one. I'd try raising cals a little and see what happens. Being as active as you are, 1800 sounds low to me for your size. I've had to up mine to keep the weight loss going...it's not going this week because I am retaining water, having just started the weight training, but when it stalled out before that, upping my cals seemed to be the trick for kicking the weight loss back into gear. If it doesn't help, it still might shake things up when you cut back down to your current level. There's really no way for anyone to tell you what will work for your body...you'll just have to try something for a couple weeks, see what happens, assess and go from there. Good luck, and let us know how it's going.