Evaluate Me!!!!!! xD

Help me out herre!! i just wanna see how many calories i should be eating daily!

• When im doing ABSOLUTELY nothing, just laying in bed the entire day, i burn around 1500 calories.
• I'm 166.5 cm and I am 62 kg. (5'4, or 5'5   &   134-135 lbs?)
• I work out 3-4 times a week.
  • Lift weights = 2-3 times a week, 30-45 mins.
  • Cardio = 3-4 times (practically every time i work out, 1-1.5 hours.
• My goal is to eat around 1300 calories, but that's really not working for me.
  
  • MAIN REASON ::: EVENING SNACKING!!!

That's it!! I'm really trying to stay positive, even though i've been working my butt off exercising for almost a month, but i haven't lost a single bit.

Could you guys please help me out here?

MODERATORS!! HELP ME OUT ALSO!!!

I chew gum late at night when i feel like having a snack. it really helps.

It takes your body 1500 calories just to lay around in bed all day, doing nothing. Yet, you have a goal to eat only 1300 calories. What's wrong with this picture?

You are eating at least 200 calories too little. When you do that, when you eat less than your body needs just to do its basic functioning, your body starts doing things to survive on just 1300 calories. It starts moving less. It starts being more efficient at extracting calories that you consume. It may cannibalize your muscles to produce the glycogen your brain needs to function. And (as you've discovered) it starts whispering and then yelling at you to EAT, darnit, EAT MORE!!

Add into that, the fact you are actually doing a heck of a lot more than just laying around in bed all day. You are lifting weights (which demands glucose) and doing cardio (which also demands glucose). You're telling your body to build stronger muscles and bones, but you're not giving it any of the materials it needs to do those things. It can't build stronger muscles and bones from the fat on your body.

Yes, cardio will burn some fat - but it needs circulating glucose to get the fire burning. And by eating 200 cals less than your body requires just to lay around, you have no circulating glucose. Your brain (which can only run on glucose) is sucking up all of it (thankfully, otherwise you would be foggy headed ... or dead).

You need to stop fighting against your body, and instead, learn to work with it. Start by calculating out how many calories you need to not only lay around doing nothing, but to fuel the exercise you do every day. Take that number, then, if you must lose more weight (you really don't need to), carve off no more than 300 calories to create a deficit. No more than that!! You are at a healthy BMI and if you want to lose a few more pounds, you aren't going to do it by creating a huge deficit. You will only do it by creating a tiny deficit, and then being patient. The closer you are to your goal, the less of a deficit, and the longer it takes.

For example, I've been working on "the last 10" and I can tell you this: when i go above a 300 cal deficit, my weight loss slams to a complete halt. Yet, stick to a 150-200 cal deficit, and the weight comes off. Slowly, but surely.

Your other alternative is to actually *increase* your calories a little. No more than 300 cals per day. By increasing your cals, and keeping up with the weight training (assuming you are lifting heavy weights and not just trying to "tone" with high reps of small weights), your body will take those extra cals and build more lean mass. You may plump out a bit at first (or not). But then, with higher muscle mass, your body will burn more cals doing nothing, so it'll start burning off the excess flab next.

::: jenmcc :::

- jen, thank you soo much for ur support!!!!!!!!!!!!

but still, im not really getting the picture here... =[

but to lose weight, u need to eat less calories. (duh haha)

i was going on a 1200 calories thing, until several weeks ago, when i thought 1300 calories would be better and more safe.

jen, how much do you think i'll burn on days when i don't work out? im a high school senior, so yeah.. i still got o school, so im guessing i'll burn some while walking to classes, talking, eating, etc. i don't do any extra-curricular activities, so after school ends, i just go home, and usualy im on the comp or something like that... so like.. if 1500 was my base, then how many calories more do you think i burn on normal days? (no going to the gym stuff lol)

i don't know... im really afraid to eat a minimum of 1500 calories... i really do want to lose weight, yes, but....  what if eating 1500 calories will only slow me down? or worse, make no progress?? =[

my lowest was 56-57 kg... last year.. but that's because i was anorexic and i had like.. 1000 calories a day.... but at least it worked, right? (heh, then i went up to 62. f***!!! :'( )

please please please please please help me pleeeease...

im going to the gym today, and im planning to burn around 900 calories. oh, here comes another problem. recently i've been hearing that the number of calories the cardio machines say u burn is really not right... and some ppl even said that you gotta minus 200 calories from it to get the approx. # of calories you've burned!!! is that true?? cuz in that case... then the most i would have been burning when i do 1 hour and half of cardio is like... 800..... that's sad... :(

thank you soooo much for reading this, jenmcc, and please help me out as soon as possible!!!!

im so scared && worried.... 

Weight loss is kind of simple - eat less calories than you burn. Ive been told to never go over a 500 calorie defict. So, burn 1800, so eat 1300.

eating 1200 is fine if you only burn 1500 calories

brush your teeth, floss, and use mouthwash. extra clean mouth. or hide everything.

::: sara-tink :::

whoaa?? 500 calorie deficit??

duuude... i was told never to go under 1000 cal deficit!!

whoa whoa whoa!!! what's going on?!!!? 

 

Well I would say you can definitely eat your 1500 calories and still lose weight.  In order to lose a pound a week, you need a 500 calorie deficit each day (3500 calories per week = 1 pound weight loss).  Since you are working out and burning 800 calories, right now you have that deficit of 1000 calories (1500+800= 2300 calories burned.. then subtract that 1300 you eat... leaves you with a deficit of 1000).  That deficit of 1000 should mean you lose 2 pounds per week if you do it everyday.  However, I think it would be hard to keep that up for longer than a week.  Your body will get very tired and (probably very hungry!) since you aren't eating much.  I heard you aren't supposed to go lower than your BMR (1500 in your case).  Hope that helps a little!

::: bballstud34 :::

- aawww.....!!! am feeling some love around herrre!!!

- yes, thank you thank you thank you!!! im really thankful i found && joined this site!!!

- yeah i agree... i guess a deficit of 1000 calories is... well, possible, but probably not that healthy nor easy... im thinking about... like in the range of 500-700 calories deficit... what do you think? is that still too... much? 

- i have another question..... by how much are cardio machines off on estimating the amount of calories you've burned? i've heard a lot of scary stuff like.... that they could be off by 200 calories and such!!!! wooahhhhhhh!!!

- because when i do cardio.. for like.. (well the maximum is 90 minutes for me. 30 mins + 30 mins + 30 mins - && like 2-3 mins breaks in between)... in the end, the numbers add up to like...  900 - almost 1100 calories, but yeah... maybe that's too much and not really accurate? so how much???

Hi.  It is possible that you are not eating enough.  True story.  You probably know that your body can go in to a preservation mode if it isn't getting enough calories.

I would experiment with having taken in, after exercise, 1500 calories.

You seem to be getting plenty of exercise (yea! weight training!!) As far as cardio machines, nowadays, if they have you put in your age, and weight, it will give you a fairly good idea of how many calories you are burning.

ALWAYS eat breakfast!!  Make sure you have a small healthy snack before lunch, and one in between lunch and dinner.  That way you won't be so hungry at night.

God Bless!

::: workitxyz :::

~  i think that was the reason why i wasn't losing any for almost a month. it was probably because i was feeding my body tooo little.  

- I would experiment with having taken in, after exercise, 1500 calories. <- what do you mean by this??

- oh yeah, i want to ask about that!  at my gym, all the cardio machines ask me for my age, weight, and then the usual speed, resistance/level, time.

- so would these be pretty much accurate? 

- I would experiment with having taken in, after exercise, 1500 calories. <- what do you mean by this??>>

what i mean is that let's say you eat 1300, then do cardio for 90 min. burning oh,  approximately ...between 450-600 calories depending on your intensity. You would have only around 850 calories (1300 - 450).  As you probably know, you shouldn't be eating under 1200 calories.  It slows the metabolism way down.  Your body needs those nutrients to build muscle (which burns more calories than fat) when you lift weights, as well as those carbohydrates for quality cardio.

Also, don't forget, muscle weighs more than fat, but takes up much less space.  That's why sometimes we weigh ourselves and find we are around the same weight, but our clothes are fitting looser.

As far as the cardio machines go, the calorie count is much more accurate on the newer machines than the ones 20 years ago.

But, for the sake of your sanity, don't freak out over calorie intake too much.  Make sure you are getting quality food in you.  You know what that is ;) no fried anything or munching on too many processed foods.  If you eat fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads and pasta, lean protein, and a bit of fat thrown there you are well on your way to getting where you want to be.

Do the weight training, slowly progressing to heavier weights about every 4-6 weeks. you don't want to get stagnant.  An hour of med./ high intensity cardio 4-5x a week should be plenty.  You are way ahead of many high school seniors already.

This is going to take a little time, like Jenmcc said, it doesn't happen overnight.

Don't stress too much, o.k.?  Now THAT's not healthy! ;) LOL

Are you okay with your anorexia?

Because I used to have an eating disorder.

And I know when I start to relapse with it, I get scared to eat a lot or eat at all.

Sorry, I'm an over-caring person with a hero-complex that wants to save anyone who's ever had an eating disorder.

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