Eating *Too* Much and Losing?
 

I'm really worried this is going to come back and bite me. I keep setting my calorie goal for 1200, and sometimes I make it, but when I go over, I usually go over by about 500-800 calories. Yet I seem to be losing no matter what.

I'm not complaining, but I am worried that this is going to have a negative affect down the line. Does anyone know what might be happening that I can lose pretty much the same weight with such a big calorie difference? My exercise habits are pretty much no different.

At your weight, 1200 may be too low so adding in those extra 500-800 calorie days is probably helping you keep a higher average calorie level. It is really your average calories that count, not the day to day 1200 calories.

There is also no way to find out the perfect amount of calories for you to eat, just estimates.

1200 is low for your height and weight, tho I know nothing about your exercise and age. By adding those 500-800 extras every few days, you are probably averaging more like 1400-1600 which would be right in line with losing. Ant chance that those are healthy calories? If not , you might consider upping your daily target to 1500 and then having ONE splurge of 200-300 calories once in a while. :)

Mel

I think you should up your calories. I think that is your answer since you can lose while eating all those calories. Save the 1200 for when you cant lose anymore while eating those extra calories.

I was trying to do 1200 a day, and then I was always hungry- finally I changed my goals to 1500-1800 a day, and while I usually stay in the 1500s area, after the first week (last week) I went down half a pound, so I'm hoping this week to go down again. :) I'm also finding I'm not STARVING anymore and am not feeling guilty about eating 1500+ calories a day- for the most part they are coming from good food.

1. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's actually WORSE further down the line to have lost at a lower calorie number, simply because your body will have a slightly slower metabolism, meaning less calories at maintenance.

2. I believe that 1200 probably would be too low for you, given your height and weight, and that your splurges are putting you at a reasonable average, as the other posters have said.

3. This is sort of a strange version of "Calorie Cycling" where you have high and low days throughout the week, in an attempt to "trick" your metabolism to keep it burning faster. Lots of people here have had success with that.

at Jenny craig they wanted me to be on a 1700 calorie diet, because im 5'11 (was 218 when i started) and i work out five days a week, however, thats not THAT much lower hten what i was eating before, so i was afraid i wouldnt lose anything, so im on a 1500 calorie diet instead. i find it kinda hard to eat the whole 1500 though because im not going to eat if im not hungry... maybe thats why i only lost 1.4 pounds last week. lol

If you go to freedieting dot com, they have a calculator that you can use to calculate your daily caloric needs.
I find it to be helpful :)

I think that you probably need to up your calorie intake, because your body goes into starvation mode if you put your calories too low, and that can work against you.

If you're losing, it's not too much.