1401 calories a day? Should I go that low??

I usually try to eat within 1500---1700 calories a day. 15 is my real goal. anyway, I changed my goal today:

I weigh 187 and my goal is to get down to 165 by Christmas day. CC Says to eat 1401 calories a day to meet that goal.

My height is 5'5 and 1/2

Should I go that low, or is that too low?

How do they calculate those numbers anyway?

Original Post by fluffymonkeyem:

I usually try to eat within 1500---1700 calories a day. 15 is my real goal. anyway, I changed my goal today:

 

I weigh 187 and my goal is to get down to 165 by Christmas day. CC Says to eat 1401 calories a day to meet that goal.

My height is 5'5 and 1/2

Should I go that low, or is that too low?

How do they calculate those numbers anyway?

1401 sounds pretty reasonable.  Did you set your activity level properly?  How active are you?

Has 1500-1700 been working for you? If so, I'd stick with that. No reason to change something until it stops working, and although it's great to have goals, setting goal dates can make you feel like you are in a race, and you aren't.

Hey. I'm the same stats as you. I use the phord calculator because I'm a big believer in eating no less than your BMR. The number it gives me is 1600 cals a day. I just started my weight loss, so I haven't seen results yet. However, I've done this before and I believe I was undereating at 1200-1500 cals a day. It all depends on how you feel. If you feel better at 1700 you might have to take a little longer on your weight loss.

http://www.phord.com/cc/

oops this is his girlfriend logged in on the wrong account! sorry. I am female, 5'5", 21 yrs, 185 pounds.

Original Post by amethystgirl:

Has 1500-1700 been working for you? If so, I'd stick with that. No reason to change something until it stops working, and although it's great to have goals, setting goal dates can make you feel like you are in a race, and you aren't.

I've been stuck at the same weight for months now, so I'm really not so sure it is.

Fireye00: I'm pretty active. I exercise several times a week, and I try to move often.

I have been trying it. It seems to be good for me. I have trouble actually getting up to 1500 a day, and then I realize I haven't eaten enough and I binge.

1400 sounds too low. if you find you are not losing on 1500-1600, i would try zig zagging a little bit, or upping your exercise levels.

but you know your body best, perhaps a bit of trial and error will tell you exactly what works best

Original Post by monkfish998:

1400 sounds too low. if you find you are not losing on 1500-1600, i would try zig zagging a little bit, or upping your exercise levels.

but you know your body best, perhaps a bit of trial and error will tell you exactly what works best

I've been trying the 1400 this week. It's about all I can eat anyway, without binging. I always wind up having to force myself to eat more than that, and then I wind up binging. So, it seems like it's been working so far. I feel really energized. I think I'll keep on it for awhile, and see what happens. :)

Edit: I rechecked, and now it's telling me to eat 17,00 which is much to high for me. I must have done something different, anyway, like I said, I'm going to try to stick to 14,00 a day and see how it works. I guess I might just wind up losing more than i need to reach my goal then, going by what cc is saying.

Original Post by fluffymonkeyem:

Original Post by monkfish998:

1400 sounds too low. if you find you are not losing on 1500-1600, i would try zig zagging a little bit, or upping your exercise levels.

but you know your body best, perhaps a bit of trial and error will tell you exactly what works best

I've been trying the 1400 this week. It's about all I can eat anyway, without binging. I always wind up having to force myself to eat more than that, and then I wind up binging. So, it seems like it's been working so far. I feel really energized. I think I'll keep on it for awhile, and see what happens. :)

I'm wondering why you were questioning it in the first place really.  1400 isn't that low of a number, especially if your higher numbers haven't been working / have made you unhappy.  22lbs in 3 months isn't an easy goal.

It seemed to be a pretty low number. That's all. But it's been working. Either I did something wrong, or the system glitched, ebcause when i rechecked it told me 1700.

Original Post by tealparadise:

I'm wondering why you were questioning it in the first place really.  1400 isn't that low of a number, especially if your higher numbers haven't been working / have made you unhappy.  22lbs in 3 months isn't an easy goal.

1400 calories/day isn't a low number for someone who weighs 120-130.  It's a very low number for someone (like the OP) who weighs 180-190.  Too low, if the OP does any exercise at all.

Edited to note that I just checked the OP's profile and she appears to be a teen.  In that case, 1400 is WAY WAY WAY too low.  You need to add 300 calories/day to any number given to you by an adult calculator.  That means that CC is telling you 1700 if you're completely and utterly sedentary (no exercise ever).  If you ever exercise (including walking places), 2000 will be a better minimum number for you.

Original Post by susiecue:

Original Post by tealparadise:

I'm wondering why you were questioning it in the first place really.  1400 isn't that low of a number, especially if your higher numbers haven't been working / have made you unhappy.  22lbs in 3 months isn't an easy goal.

1400 calories/day isn't a low number for someone who weighs 120-130.  It's a very low number for someone (like the OP) who weighs 180-190.  Too low, if the OP does any exercise at all.

Edited to note that I just checked the OP's profile and she appears to be a teen.  In that case, 1400 is WAY WAY WAY too low.  You need to add 300 calories/day to any number given to you by an adult calculator.  That means that CC is telling you 1700 if you're completely and utterly sedentary (no exercise ever).  If you ever exercise (including walking places), 2000 will be a better minimum number for you.

I'm not a very young teen, I'm 18, though I don't knw if that wouldmake any difference. 

Not really.  Nobody under 21 should be eating less than 1500 cals/day.  Even if you've stopped growing taller, your brain isn't finished developing yet (and the brain consumes a surprisingly large share of your daily calories burned) plus you've likely still got a little curve-development in the works too.