Calorie Consumption

wonderwoman

wonderwoman

Cathlete
Everyone seems to say that if you you do cathe's rotations which would be considered very intense you should be consuming 1700-1800 calories a day t0 lose weight. This doesnt work for me. The way for me to lose weight is if I consume 1400-1500 calories day. So my question is does this mean im losing some of my muscle? Thanks
 
Everyone's BMR is different. That is the mimimal amount of calories you need to consume every day in order for your body to function properly. If you are active, you will need to increase your calorie intake to support the activity as well. These numbers can be very different from person to person. I don't think a generalized statement saying you have to eat 1700-1800 cals is fair to say as it may not be true for everyone.

Go here to find out your minimum calorie intake based on your BMR and your activity level! It is going to give you the # of cals you need every day in order to MAINTAIN your current weight. If you eat at a defecit then you will lose weight. If your deficit is no more then 500 cals per day and you are eating enough protein and lifting heavy enough and often enough then no, you should NOT be losing muscle.

http://www.annecollins.com/calories/calorie-needs-women.htm - click on "calorie needs for women".
 
Thank you for the web site the calculater states that I need to consume 2292 calories to maintain my weight (doing heavy activity) so do I have subtract 500 from this number? making it 1792 calories to lose weight?
 
Hi wonderwoman,

I find it too hard to create a 500-calorie deficit by cutting down on my food since I get too hungry, so I try to create that deficit by cutting back on calories by about 250 and by burning at least 250 calories a day (and usually much more) through my workouts. It makes the weight loss a bit slower, but it helps me keep my energy levels consistent.

Hope this helps!:)
 
Just so that I understand correctly and Im sure I sound like a total idiot but I could either make the deficit by burning 500 calories or eating 500 less calories? or do both? So lets say I do a cathe workout and I burn 375 calories, then I eat 175 calories less? Wow I feel like an idiot Sorry !!!! The dynamics of this whole thing really is confusing to me no wonder Im not losing anything!
 
I went to the site and it said for moderate workout, etc. to have about 1980 calories. I'm eating probably 1500-1700/day and working out about 1 hr/day 6 days/week. I do weights mostly and some cardio.

My goal is to lose about about 4 lbs. and gain muscle definition which is coming... Do you think I need to eat more calories to reach this goal? I'd appreciate anyone's input or recommendations. Thanks
Cheryl
:D
 
Cheryl, You are within the 500 cal deficit limit per day so you should be okay. You could try calorie staggering though. It's only slightly more work and may help you to lose those last 4 pounds quicker. Here's what you do:

Eat at your deficit for 3 days in a row and then eat your maintenence cals (1980) for one day. Wash rinse and repeat.

I did this for a while when I was trying to lose my pregnancy weight and was having a very hard time with it. Once I started staggering the weight just seemed to melt off!!!

Good luck!:)
 
Wonderwoman,

You need to burn an ADDITIONAL amount of calories through exercise in order for it to count towards your deficit. This means that whatever your average calorie burn is, you'd need to ADD to that in order to create deficit and then reduce your cal intake by whatever is left so here's an example:

Maintenence calories based on moderate exercise: 2000 calories

The average amount of cals you burn per day while exercising moderately: 300 calories

Eating at a 500 cal deficit would be 1500 calories

So you could eat at a 250 cal deficit and burn 550 calories during your daily work outs in order to create the 500 calories deficit to lose the weight.

You could also just eat at less of a deficit and keep your work outs the same. It will just slow down the weight loss but you won't have as many/if any hunger issues.

HTH and didn't confuse you more!:7
 
Thank you so much for taking out the time and answering my post but for some reason (besides the fact that Im clueless) Im still confused. I know it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure this out but I must be having a MAJOR brain fart. I'll just stick to my original post. Thanks a bunch !!!!
 
>I did this for a while when I was trying to lose my pregnancy
>weight and was having a very hard time with it. Once I
>started staggering the weight just seemed to melt off!!!
>
>Good luck!:)

Wendy,

Did you mean that once you started to use this cal tracking method, your weight started to melt off? Or did you mean that you started heavy weight lifting?

I had a very hard time to lose my 2nd pregancy gained weight. I guess 1st one was easy because I was young.

WantFit

"Become the change you want to see in the world. Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." - Mahatma Gandhi
 
WantFit,

The weight melted off when I started doing the calorie staggering. I was weight training back then but was not into heavy lifting like I am now. :)
 
Yes, I have noticed that if I curb calories for a few days, then my body just NEEDS the food and I eat all day!! I can get on the scale and it doesn't scare me. Weird. That's why I was wondering maybe my body needs more calories on a regular basis when I work out.

I don't want to screw up my metabolism by not eating enough. Then I'll be working out hard for nothing!! :eek:
 
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