what to do? up or lower the cals?

S

skyler1

New member
cant figure out how many calories i should be eating per day. i burn roughly 2000 calories through cardio, weight train 4x a week and am baffled! i recently joined a gym to make sure i 'change it up'. i am stuck b/w the same 5 lbs bouncing b/w 140-145 and i cant get out of it. (i'm 5'5'', age 30, female - goal is 130 & toned!~ need to get my BF% tested but havent yet, eat 5x a day as yall have recommended).

i know i cant lose weight and build muscle at the same time b/c of the whole calorie deficit to lose weight and calorie surplus to build muscle so i'm going for losing weight first (deficit) and building after...

i've used calculators and i get 2000 as maintenance...so subtract 500 and i'm at 1500 cals/day to lose...however, i've been eating at 1500 cals for about 5 months now and nothing has changed!

i lost 20 lbs by eating 1200 cals / day.....i know it is so low and i didnt know about starvation mode then either...how long will it take for my body to realize i'm eating?

do i up the cals or take them down a couple hundred / day to see a change?

i also ate at 1750 for 1 month within this 5 mo. period and saw no change either..just loomed around 140-145.

help,please?
 
skyler said:
i burn roughly 2000 calories through cardio
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That's ALOT more than most people would do. What are you doing, and for how long? It would take 3 hours straight of very high intensity spinning, or 2 hours straight of high intensity swimming, to burn that much. I just wonder if you're not burning quite as many calories as you think you are.


skyler said:
i know i cant lose weight and build muscle at the same time b/c of the whole calorie deficit to lose weight and calorie surplus to build muscle so i'm going for losing weight first (deficit) and building after
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I'm not sure this is true. Building muscle is based off of protein, not excess calories. If you're working out and building muscle you should still be able to lose about a pound per week if you eat right. It's not like you're trying to be a bodybuilder.
 
the 2000 calories are burned through a week. sorry if that was confusing. (and i know its pretty accurate due to a heart rate monitor)

and it may not be true but i still don't know do i up my calories or do i lower them?

i tried 1500 for a few months and lost nothing.

i tried 1750 fora month and maintained.'

should i lower the cals again? i fear starvation mode....

THANKS
 
Try doing your cardio first thing in the morning before you eat. Try to drink like a gallon of water a day. Maybe incorporate soy protein. When you eat 5 times a day, are you hungry? I'd probably say back off of the serving size so that when it's time to eat, you're starting to get hungry but aren't starving.
 
so, what do you think about the calorie intake?

1500 still? but change exercise routine/time of day?

or up or lower the cals and keep the exercise the same?

i think your supposed to try and change one thing at a time....to make it not too confusing.

thanks again!
 
skyler said:
so, what do you think about the calorie intake?
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Somebody else will have to comment on that. I never count calories unless I'm racing. I have no idea how many calories I consume per day. I've found that as long as I'm hydrated properly and eat healthy natural foods, just paying attention to hunger cues and eating only enough to satisfy them and keep my blood sugar up is all that is needed to keep myself right on the edge.

Like yesterday:

7:30 AM - bowl of Kashi Autumn Wheat with soy milk
10:00 AM - one small banana
12:30 PM - one small to medium sized bowl of deer chili
3:00 PM - half an orange
5:30 PM - one slice of cheese, very small portion of mashed sweet potatoes
7:30 PM - BBQ sandwich, beans, 1" round slice of sweet potato


I would normally have no idea how many calories that is, but now that I look everything up, I'm guesstimating about 1,500. I just know that if I pay attention to my true hunger, I can eat like this and keep myself right on the edge. If I need to perform athletically, I'll eat more. Otherwise if I eat like this, as long as I work out, I lose weight.

I'm only mentioning this because there's a chance that doing something similar might also work for you, instead of having to calculate everything all the time.
 
Don't live in constant fear of starvation mode. You'll see and feel that when it happens. I can pretty comfortably lose at 1200 calories a day, and don't start to go into starvation mode 800 calories a day.

Everybody is different, so try experimenting. Try dropping 100 calories per day for a week and see what happens. Then drop another 100 and see what happens then. If you ever feel like you are very hungry, or if you start to feel like you don't have enough fuel to do your workouts then by all means go back up!

Also realize that everybody has a healthy ideal weight, and your body will naturally work to try to maintain it. It may just be that yours is 140. Of course I don't know you or your body, but take some time to evaluate and listen to it. Perhaps it is time to start working more on toning rather than weight loss.
 
Everybody is different, so try experimenting. Try dropping 100 calories per day for a week and see what happens. Then drop another 100 and see what happens then. If you ever feel like you are very hungry, or if you start to feel like you don't have enough fuel to do your workouts then by all means go back up!
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so you agree that i should try dropping cals some versus upping them??

ugh. confused! thanks.
 
skyler said:
so you agree that i should try dropping cals some versus upping them??

ugh. confused! thanks.
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It's confusing because we're being vague... because some things can only be answered by you. Theoretically you want to drop the calories until you're right on the edge where if you dropped any more, you would be constantly hungry, would feel weak (especially when working out), feel lightheaded and have small headaches due to low blood sugar, etc. If you get to that point, then raise the calories. Otherwise, either lower the calories, or work out harder and/or longer.
 
Try fasting for a few days. Its really good for your body. Then after fasting, eat a 3500 calorie day, and hten go to an average of maybe 1500? But don't eat 1550 every day, like do one of 1200, and one of 2000, but just average 1500.
 
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