[BerkshireGrl]

Dear 3FC,

Hey there chickie-poos!

I was wondering if anyone could guide me towards a website or two, or give some personal advice, on how many calories one should eat to lose weight while exercising A LOT?

I have a 5'6" friend who weighs 180, wants to lose about 40 more pounds to be at 135-140. (She has lost 21 already from a high of 201.)

She likes to do stuff like:
* 4-day backpacking trip on a 70 mile hiking trail (very strenous and all uphill (2000 feet elevation) avg. 2 miles/hour, about 6-9 miles/day total)
* 20-50+ mile bike rides, averaging 12 mph (her last bike ride of 50 miles burned about 2,700 calories! Holy moly!)
* Walk at least 3 miles a day on the bike-free days

The issue here is that she is on a real low calorie diet (Medifast) and averaging about 800 calories a day. Not surprisingly, she is getting stalled out! What do you think is REALLY a good calorie intake for her? What do you shoot for based on your exercise habits? Like if you want to lose 3-5 pounds a week, with all the exercising, what might be a good daily number to eat? Certainly not 800 right?

Thanks for any help!

[almostheaven]

I wouldn't recommend 800 for someone completely sedentary. Sheesh!

[BerkshireGrl]

Originally Posted by almostheaven

I wouldn't recommend 800 for someone completely sedentary. Sheesh!

I thought 800 was too low for her too. But I would like to give her a, um, healthy calorie goal... I mean, she MUST be in starvation mode, no two ways about it, but is beating herself up for "going off plan" and plowing into a plate of chicken nuggets and fries after a 1,000 calorie workout.

When I work out an hour on a rower and burn 600 calories, I am in serious hit-the-fridge mode, never mind going on a 50+ mile bike ride. My mind boggles. The furthest I ever rode a bike was 12 miles, and it was definitely not fueled by only 800 calories a day, heheh!

[Mel]

First, I can't fathom how she can expect to lose 3-5 pounds a week without losing a lot of muscle, no matter how she's eating. At 800 calories, she's probably burning a lot of muscle and conserving fat Probably THE BEST person to anser this question is wndranne who posts on Maintainers, but is currently on a pregnancy sabbatical . She did a lot of long distance biking and triathalons at about that weight, maybe a bit less.

My guess is that on heavy distance days, she should get around 2000-2500 calories, then drop to around 1400-1600 on light training days. If they are "clean" calories, she should lose. Maybe drop to 1200 on rest days, but no lower than 1100 for a day or two. Certainly not 800. I did that for a while years ago while running longs distances and was rewarded with a thoroughly messed up metabolism for years!

I don't think she should keep her calories or her /protein/carb/fat ratios even through the week. If she's doing high performance activities, she needs to feed her body like an athlete, not starve it. The fat will come off if she's fed properly and not starved

Mel

[almostheaven]

Well I know the most accepted answer to NOT go under, for anyone, is 1300 calories a day. Then, if they're working harder than most people, they'd want to even go higher than that. The best way to find out how many calories she needs is to play with her calories. Increase them for a couple of weeks and see if she loses, then increase them some more if that doesn't work. When she starts losing again, it means she's taking in enough calories that she's started burning fat again.

[Irishgirl]

Berkshire Girl you're from the same neck of the woods I am!!!! I am from Berkshire County too! What a small world!