If you count calories .....

[gonnabea5]

What's your calorie range while loosing weight with intense workouts like Cathe's?
Please include sample daily menus.

What's your calorie range while in maintenance while doing intense workouts like Cathe's?
Please include sample daily menus.

I'm just trying to gauge where others are. I read and hear alot about keeping calories around 1500-1600 and workout intensely to loose weight, but my body responds better for weight loss at around 2000 per day of good food choices.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Stebby]

For weight loss - about 1800 calories per day. For maintenance - not much more, probably about 2000 calories per day and a bit less cardio. For both weight loss and maintenance I do the same weight training - 2-3 full body weight workouts per week.

My menus vary but I try to stay around 400-500 calories per meal with the rest going to snacks. This doesn't always work; it depends how good my planning has been. For a weekday... Typical breakfast is either a protein shake + piece of fruit, or oatmeal with flax, walnuts and blueberries. Lunch is usually something I reheat at work from my big batch cooking on the weekend (chili, channa masala with brown rice, chicken casserole, beef stew, etc.) with a big bag of cut veggies and hummus. Dinner might be another reheat, or if I feel like cooking, might be something like fish or chicken, a couple of types of non-starchy vegetables, rice/potato/sweet potato, a big salad, and of course some chocolate. Snacks: dark chocolate, veggies+hummus, nuts, Greek yogurt+honey, fruit.

Stebby

 

[Stebby]

I should add that right now I am in weight loss mode! I went a bit extremely nuts for the whole month of December and ate about 3500 calories per day (yep, I tracked it all). I used our March skiing vacation to kick off my weight loss and at this point I'm about 7 lbs down. I'm also in heavy training mode to do the CN Tower climb at the end of this month (extra leg workouts, extra cardio, Step Mill at the gym). Expecting to be down another 5 or so by then. 1800 calories per day is still about the right level for me to do this.

Stebby

 

[ellenj73]

Sparkpeople has me on a weight loss plan of 1200-1550 a day. If I'm honest then I am around 1600-1700. I do a Cathe workout 6 days a week and track them with my Polar HRM. Sparkpeople doesn't take into account your workout calorie burn like some other programs I've used. So even though I can burn ~400 cals with a workout, it's not being taken into account . So I can lose weight at the 1600-1700 level.

I tend to eat two smaller meals for lunch and breakfast and eat normal but portion controlled for dinner. I did find by weighing my food that I was eating larger portions than I estimated. I am VERY bad with snacking and mindless eating. It does help to track/write down what you eat honestly throughout the day.

Breakfast is typically fat free greek yogurt or homemade yogurt with either steel cut oatmeal mixed in or quinoa granola.

Lunch is usually a green salad. Maybe a low cal tortilla with some deli meat rolled up. It's hard to find low cal tortillas without a bunch of preservatives!

Snacks - whatever I can get my hands on Kidding, I make my own hummus and always have baby carrots or celery with it; lots of fruit; nuts; cheese sticks. And I always have one piece of chocolate every day!

 

[Fembot40]

Hi Shereta! : ) Have you done the Myfitnesspal route? I'm currently counting calories through that site. It takes into account the exercise you log in for the day and adds them to the total calories you're alloted for that given day. It allows me 1390 at the start of each day, but after I workout, the total is around 1800 to 2000 (more after a long bike ride). I find if I don't eat some of those extra workout calories, it back fires at some point during the week and I fall off the wagon. A sample day for me is like this:

Breakfast: Greek yogurt, old fashioned cooked oatmeal with oatbran and a tablespoon of walnuts

Midmorning snack: Orange (sometimes two)

Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly on wheat toast, glass of skim milk, cucumber slices and hummus.

Afternoon snack: 100 calorie pack almonds or grapes or granola bar.

Dinner: menu changes everyday. Always homemade. I try to keep this under 500 cal.

Snacks I try to keep in the house are microwave light popcorn, pepper slices, hot cocoa, and loads of oranges for the late night cravings. Another great lunch option is a tortilla pizza, it just an 8" totilla, 1 TLB veggie tomato sauce and 1/4 cup shredded cheese (very filling) and I load it up with peppers. : )

 

[gonnabea5]

Thanks, Ladies . I joined myfitnesspal and am loving it so far.