Hello all!

As most of you know I am new here and just getting started.

My question is I think I am not eating enough calories. About 1,300 at 5'5", 240 and excerise 2-3 times a week. I also did that on-line calorie thing and it said I should be eating more than 2,000 calories a day for extreme fat-loss. Yikes! That seems like a lot of food!

I feel fine and eat all day. (Meals into little sections)

I just don't want my body to go into "starvation mode"

Help!

I think a lot of the online things overestimate the number of calories we should eat. I tried one and it was telling me to eat more calories than I was eating before I started dieting. (Obviously I had previously tried that strategy and it failed.)

I think it's something that you have to sort of try out on your own. Are you losing weight at the number you're doing now? Do you have energy or are you sluggish? It is important to get enough calories to function and let your body burn through the extras at a reasonable pace, but also not too many, since, well, we all know where that leads.

Check around the calorie counter board and see what other people your height and weight are doing. 1300 might be a bit low, but I don't think over 2K is the way to go. Personally, I do 1400 per day and exercise 30 minutes per day five days per week. I'm 5'10" and at about 185 right now, and this (with slight zig-zagging) has been working for me.

When I was going to the gym, I was about 245 lbs and I got on an eating plan, they wanted me alternating 1400 and 1800 cals.

According to my WW leader (I'm still not convinced if I want to believe her or not ) my body was in starvation mode. My weight loss has plateaued and when I talked with her about it she said it was because I was not eating the right amount of points a day (I had done creative point calculating in an effort to lose weight faster). Unfortunately, I can't go spend the newly found points on ice cream or chocolates, but I have been making a concerted effort to eat a little bit more - I think it's working...at least the fluctuation has narrowed a lot.
I also know a while ago I was eating 1100 calories a day and working out 3-4 days a week and not losing any weight at all...so maybe there is some truth to the "starvation" mode theory.
You should try and see what works for you - If you feel fine at 1300 and are losing weight, than don't worry about it - if you notice that you aren't losing any weight (over a period of a few weeks) then it might be time to reevaluate the calories.

I think you are right Goneriding... I haven't been eating that much, although I've started working out 3-4 days a week. Now I have increased my exercise to 5 days a week, I think I am going to make sure to eat healthier but little bit more too so that I don't get into the "starvation" mode. I did hear that if you don't eat much, your body tries to hold onto what you have, resulting in no weight loss, and slowing down metabolism too.. I guess that's what the "starvation" mode is...?

The only thing that I would be concerned about is that if you ever get to a point where your weight loss stalls, you can't get much lower without it being unhealthy.

Maybe you should up your calories a bit and see if you're still losing weight.

I don't really think that over 2000 calories is the way to go either, not when you're just starting. But 1300 might be a little low. You might wanna try upping your calories to say 1500 or 1600 and see if you're still losing. I plateaued at 1200 calories and over the past few months I had to keep increasing my calories to lose weight (weird huh?). If you're worried that increasing your calories might hurt you, perhaps try exercising a little bit more if you can handle it too. Good Luck!!!

I am a little heavier and shorter than you and I try to keep my calories between 1500 -1700. I am still trying to figure out my best combo...but so far I have been losing 2.2 -2.6lbs a week. I am doing South Beach but have decided to track my calories as well.

I think you're fine on 1300 as long as you're losing weight and don't feel like you're constantly hungry. I also agree that there's some truth to the starvation theory. I was at 1200 and not losing anything and started dropping weight when I upped my calories to 1400. If you start to plateau you could always try increasing your calories by 10% or zigzagging them over the course of the week.

So here's the thing, it is impossible for me to make sense in my mind that if I eat more I will lose more. I have grown up learning that you need to work out more and eat less in order to lose weight, and when I am very careful about my calories I do indeed lose weight. I think a big issue for many people is that they underestimate the calories they are consuming. I keep track of my calories and try and stay at 1200. You may say, 1200 calories that's pretty low! But odds are I am eating more than 1200 calories. Just my opinion though.