1800 cals for weight loss

K

kariev

Cathlete
do you all think that 1800cals is to high to see weight loss? i'm 5'3 and weight 120-122 and would like to lose about 5lbs of fat. I've been trying to stick with 1500cals per day and i feel like i never have any energy and i'm always hungry which normally results in a binge every 2-3 weeks. So i was thinking instead of keeping with this binge cycle which i end up eating about 4000cals that day, mabe i would do better increasing my cals on a daily basis and see if that helps. Do an of you eat this amount for weight loss? I workout 5 days per week (sometimes 6) for an hour doing cardio and circuit workouts.
 
I eat way more than 1800 calories a day, but I am in a maintenance phase and weigh much more than you. You may want to add in some traditional weight lifting into your rotation; that often makes a difference for women who want to lose those last few pounds and see some definition.

IMO, 1500 calories a day is way too low for anyone that works out for an hour a day.
 
I'm 5'3" also. Exercise is great for health, but if your main goal is to lose weight, I've found that less is more. Long, vigorous, frequent workouts always cause me to gain weight. The exercise increases my appetite, but instead of just eating the extra calories my body needs, I guess I wind up eating too much, and I put on weight. In general, when I'm working out a lot (still less than you!) I weigh between 115-120. When I'm working out less or not at all (not on purpose, just because of time limitations), I weigh about 110. Heavy weight training in particular adds the pounds. A combination of cardio and lighter weight training seems to be ideal for me. Maybe it will work for you too? Everyone is different, of course, but it might be worth a try.

Oh, and I don't count calories, but I'm pretty sure I eat at least 1800 calories most days, maybe a bit more. But my appetite is different each day, and I just follow that. So there are probably days I eat fewer than 1800 calories (maybe 3 or 4 days per month?). I've found that as long as I'm eating pretty clean, and following my body's signals, it's not necessary to count calories.
 
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Nancy, have you done STS? Just wondering how your body did with that since you have found lighter weights work for you. I find myself really bouncing around between wanting to do something like STS and lighter weights. I'm about to start my second round of STS, and I'm excited, but a little skeptical, too (partly because I'm just recovering from an injury from lifting too heavy).
 
bitmover said:
Nancy, have you done STS? Just wondering how your body did with that since you have found lighter weights work for you. I find myself really bouncing around between wanting to do something like STS and lighter weights. I'm about to start my second round of STS, and I'm excited, but a little skeptical, too (partly because I'm just recovering from an injury from lifting too heavy).
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No, I haven't. I love the sound of it though. I keep thinking that as soon as I retire, I'll buy STS. Perhaps I've fooled myself into thinking that when I retire I'll suddenly be a lot more disciplined than I am now. LOL.
 
Well, I actually work out MORE than you do, I'm about the same height & weight, & couldn't even lose weight on less than 1500 cals a day. I suspect I'm older than you are & I think my old cougar metabolism isn't helping, but I'd probably GAIN weight if I ate 1800 cals a day.

I think if you get the binging under control you'll have much more success. In my personal experience, tracking my cals or carbs or whatever didn't help, it hurt b/c I felt so crappy if I went even 10 cals over. You probably know what you should be eating without tracking it. If I were you, I'd focus less on tracking & more on controlling urges & hunger.

Hard candy helps me. During the week when I get the late night munchies I'll pop a sweet hard candy into my mouth & that usually controls the urge. I have more of a problem on the w/e. The only solution for my w/e control issues is to just not buy crap. I think like me you live alone, it's much easier to diet when you just rid your house of the bad foods.
 
kariev said:
do you all think that 1800cals is to high to see weight loss? i'm 5'3 and weight 120-122 and would like to lose about 5lbs of fat. I've been trying to stick with 1500cals per day and i feel like i never have any energy and i'm always hungry which normally results in a binge every 2-3 weeks. So i was thinking instead of keeping with this binge cycle which i end up eating about 4000cals that day, mabe i would do better increasing my cals on a daily basis and see if that helps. Do an of you eat this amount for weight loss? I workout 5 days per week (sometimes 6) for an hour doing cardio and circuit workouts.
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Hi, I'm not sure about eating 1800 calories/day, but wanted to make a suggestion as far as helping you with the binges. Have you ever tried zigzagging your calories? I am 5 ' 4.5", and at the beginning of the year, I weighed 153 (baby weight I never lost). I started (idea from Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle) eating at a deficit I calculated (1500-1600 calories/day, pretty healthy, but not perfect) for 3 days and then at my maintenance level for 1 day, then repeated. My maintenance level was around 2000 calories, but on some maintenance days I ate more.

Maybe that would help if you allowed yourself to eat somewhat more every 4th day. You would feel less deprived, and you could even include a cheat meal every 4th day (at least to start). I went down to around 134 over a few months using this method.
 
Have you tried using any of the caloric needs calculators? You can find them online; you just need to input your height, weight, gender and activity level and it'll tell you how many calories you need to maintain. To lose, subtract 500 from the number. It's good for an estimate of how much you need to eat. I'll stick pretty close to the number. If I'm still hungry by the end of the day and I don't have any calories left, I'll eat something healthy like a piece of fruit or low fat string cheese or popcorn: basically any snack under 100 -150 calories or so. I feel that if I ignore my stomach growling, it sets me up for a binge but if I have a little something healthy, it keeps the calories down and I feel more satisfied.
 
I would say, do the 1800 cals/day and test it for a couple of weeks and see how you lose the weight. if you like the rate of how much you've lost in that 2 weeks, stick with it, if not, change a bit.

BUT, since you said that with 1400 cals you felt like you had no energy...then i wouldn't go lower then 1600 cals.

personally, eating 2000 cals a day for me (clean clean calories!) I still lose weight....BUT!!! everyone's body metobilizes food differently...just test it darlin'!
 
thanks guys for all the advice. I think i may follow what nancy recommended (thanks nanc) and cut back on exercise a bit. I find that its easier for me to do that then increase my cals (its a mental thing) I know diet is most important and i seem to rationalize my binges for the amount and intensity i workout which i know is just not cutting it.
 
Hi Kariev,

Why doncha just try the 1800 cals and see what happens? Other people's experiences aren't really relevant ... you won't know how your own body reacts until you try it. You'll know within a week whether it is too much, whether it helps with the binges, and whether you are seeing desirable changes.

Good luck!

Stebby
 
Stebby said:
Hi Kariev,

Why doncha just try the 1800 cals and see what happens? Other people's experiences aren't really relevant ... you won't know how your own body reacts until you try it. You'll know within a week whether it is too much, whether it helps with the binges, and whether you are seeing desirable changes.

Good luck!

Stebby
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Stebby, it's really nice to see you on the forums again! How are you doing? (Sorry about the hijack, Kariev!)
 
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