am i eating enough??

hi ive been a member of cc for a little while now and so far lost 72 pound,i go to the gym 4 times a week for hour and half and sweat my butt off,i also run 5k 3-4 times a week ,ive been eating 1600 a day but not losing as much as i should for the effort i put in,im 180 pounds and 5ft 2 and aged 45,what id like to no is on days i gym and run how many cals should i allow myself x

I put you through the burn tool as moderately active and came up with 2300, which would make your bottom line about 1800 calories.  THEN add exercise to that.  So you likely need closer to 2000-2500, depending on what you are burning during a workout.

I would increase calories by a few hundred calories at a time, for a week or so at each calorie level, to see when you start losing again, then stick with that.  It's not exactly an exact science, but 1600 definitely sounds a bit low for how much you are working out.

Well done on the weight-loss so far. When you say you're not losing as much as you should are you hitting an average 1- 1.5lbs a week?  That would be good going.  Also, if you've lost 72lbs, how long have you been restricting calories?   It's a feature of long-term dieting that the body can get accustomed to managing on less.  It's also a feature of long-term exercise that the fitter you get the less energy you expend on the same exercise.

I think that you need about 1700-1900 cals a day on a regular basis for weight-loss.  And I'd also suggest that for a day this weekend you increase that to your full energy needs which are about 2500-2600.   A 'maintenance' day like this every so often can offset the effects of long-term dieting and many people find it keeps things moving along.

I'd also suggest you 'shake things up a little'.  If your food choices or exercises have got into a rut and you're doing/eating the same things over and over again, sometimes trying new foods and new exercises can be beneficial.

Good luck

thanks thermal and jane for yor input,ive been healthy eating since july last year,and had a few times where i havent lost or just lost a few ounces,but stuck with it,my gym prog is changed every 3 weeks so i no its not that,

but must admit food has got into a bit of a rut,i thought perhaps i wasnt eating enough as the last few weeks ive actually felt hungry quite a bit,which normally i dont now,

it varies so much jane some weeks i loose 1 pound others 2 or even just half but very rarely more,thats another frustration why cant i regulary loose 2 pound grrr lol

i must admit im very hard on myself both with diet and exercise,id like to do a maintenance day but i no ill feel so guilty after,i find it hard getting my head round that now im exercising so much more i can eat quite a bit when ive spent so long trying NOT to eat so much!

Original Post by thermal:

I put you through the burn tool as moderately active and came up with 2300, which would make your bottom line about 1800 calories.  THEN add exercise to that.  So you likely need closer to 2000-2500, depending on what you are burning during a workout.

I would increase calories by a few hundred calories at a time, for a week or so at each calorie level, to see when you start losing again, then stick with that.  It's not exactly an exact science, but 1600 definitely sounds a bit low for how much you are working out.

 Moderately active already assumes exercise 3-4 times per week.  I'd set sedentary unless jane also has a day job which requires activity.  Unless you don't want to put in exercise separately, then moderate or even the next level of activity would be more appropriate.

Jane!  1-2 lbs per week is GOOD.  I know it's frustrating to go so slowly, but you're getting fit at the same time, which is something you'll have for the rest of your life.  Think of it as a long-term investment instead of a stop-gap measure.

Original Post by xxjanexx:

 some weeks i loose 1 pound others 2 or even just half but very rarely more,thats another frustration why cant i regulary loose 2 pound grrr lol

You're not going to lose 2lbs a week now that you're below 200lbs.  1% of your body-weight per week would be a really, really good average.  Without wishing to take anything away from what you're doing, losing weight is actually the easy part.  The hard part is maintaining the loss.  The longer you spend losing weight the more chance you have to cement healthy eating and exercise habits and therefore make regaining the weight you lost less likely.   That's the real prize.... Keep doing what you're doing, shake up your food choices a little, reset your expectations.  Good luck

just a quick update...i had a maintenance day on sunday and must admit was dreading the scales this week but lost 3 pound!! so now no it done me good and plan to include it more often,so thanks everyone x