According to this website's allowance/expenditure tool, it says I burn 2000 calories a day and should lower this number to 1500 to lose weight.  The problem is, on a normal day I eat anywhere from 1500-1800 calories and usually walk for 45 minutes and I just maintain.  I'm only 20 years old, so my metabolism shouldn't be shot just yet.  What's wrong with me?  I eat healthy, by the way, so I know it's not the food.

Is 1200 the magic number like everybody keeps saying?  I have yet to be able to do this.  When I (try) to diet, I just feel like I'm eating too much.  I can usually be at around 900 calories by the end of the day and, of course, never lose any weight.  I know this has probably been asked a million times, but do I have to have 1200?  Even if it means shoveling food into me after I exercise?

It's been asked a million times and the answer is, YES.  You have to eat 1200.  It's not that 1200 calories is a magic number for weight loss, you just happen to fall into a category of people who, by burning 2000 calories each day, will lose weight eating around 1200 to 1500 calories.

Eating anything lower can be considered too little for your body and you will retain weight.  Please, read through this.  It might make a little sense why you're not losing weight.

You need to have at least 1200, your body needs this many calories to function. Eating less the 1200 cals a day can do really bad things to your system. If you don't lose weight at 1200, try upping your calories gradually and see if you lose anything. Your body may be in starvation mode, in which case more calories will bring you out of it and allow you to lose weight.

But I'm not a chronic dieter. (Thanks for the article, by the way cellulitedelight...I like your name, too).  The longest I've ever lasted is 3 days before giving up (I know 3 days isn't enough to really move the scale, but I should at least see the needle move a tiny bit...).  The article said she lasted months on low calories.  And I exercise 4-5 days a week, so I'm not sedentary.

It says on Calorie-Count my body burns 2000 calories a day, but I don't even eat that much normally.  Does that mean that my metabolism is just slower (which is fine, since I wouldn't want anymore food than that anyway...)?

Thanks for the help, by the way (all of you).

 

I think it's kind of trial and error to figure out what YOUR body needs in order to lose weight. A nutritionist can help you pinpoint it more accurately if you're able to see one. But yes, you are supposed to consume at least 1200 calories a day. I have some days when I consume less, but they're pretty rare. I know that Calorie Count says I also need to consume 2000 to maintain, but I've averaged about 2100 calories a day for the past month with about 6-7 hours of vigorous exercise a week and have lost 8 pounds. Even with the calories I've burned through exercise, I supposedly should've only lost 3 pounds, so who knows? Some people need a little more, some a little less. If 1500-1800 calories a day isn't working for you, trying 1200-1500 would probably help. Or you could try zig-zagging, because that helps some people keep their metabolism on their toes. I usually blow it on the weekends, but that somehow seems to work for me.

Maybe you can take a few days to look at the numbers carefully--food and exercise. If you are walking 45 minutes at a snail's pace, for example, it doesn't help all that much. I can walk 45 minutes and burn 200 calories or over 400-it all depends on my pace. I use a heart rate monitor to track my burn, but you can also figure out how far you walked in 45 minutes and do the math to get your pace ( 3 miles in 45 minutes = 4 mph, for example).

As someone else said, unless you are weighing/measuring and looking up the calorie content of everything that goes into your mouth, you cannot be sure of your actual calorie intake.

Once you have a handle on those numbers, it is a matter of experimenting to find what works best for you.

And to reiterate the main point. YES. You must eat 1200 a day--your female body needs this as a minimum to function well. No matter what the temptation, don't go below. It will be a short term fix with potentially devastating long term consequences.

 

i would also suggest trying to up your exercise-for some people this is much more doable than lowering their cals. if you walk for 2 hours a day, you burn more than 45 mins, etc.