Do I need more calories, really ??

I'm female, obviously, 270? lbs, 5'5" and my DG on the site says 2300 cals and after logging my daily intake, it's only around 1539 cals. I think I'm eating a lot, I'm not hungry at all, I feel my meals are nicely laid out. Am I really doing this wrong, that I should start much higher and then work my way down. I want to lose weight the healthy way, the diet I have works for me, but for my weight, is this 1600 cals a day starvation mode for my body ?

I can list my whole diet if I really need to.

**Edit, Thank you all for you input. I am not really trying to lose 100 lbs within a year, I just put that there as a goal. I mean, I'm not even weighing myself. I'm just doing the work and I'll see the progress through dropping sizes. I've recovered from my ED long ago, it's not a number game for me anymore. I'm really happy with my body and with my curves, I could be extremely happy being a size 9 or 11 (12 sizes smaller). My weight loss is just apart of my healthy lifestyle journey. I'm not here to do things wrong/unhealthy, thus the questions. So here it goes with my food log to help the answers be more specific and then maybe some could suggest a good 500 cal healthy meal to be added into the mix.

And I do work out 6 days a week for an hour doing Burn it Up from the Slim in Six series. I also walk 10,000 - 14,000 steps at work.

This is seriously what I eat everyday, unless I have one of the 3 bad meals a week I allow in my diet, which will substitute my dinner meal.

Breakfast
Bananas - Fresh Fruit B+ 126 110

Multi Grain Cheerios B+ 29 110

Milk, Nonfat, Fluid - With Added Vitamin A (Fat Free Or Skim) A 245 83

Cream Cheese Light B 32 60

Nature's Own Double Fiber Wheat Bread B+ 28 40

Egg, Whole - Cooked, Hard-boiled B 50 78

V8 V Fusion Vegetable & Fruit Juice, Light Strawberry Banana A 224 50  

Lunch
Spinach and Mushroom Pizza Deep Dish D+ 172 340

Spinach - Packaged Salads, Fresh Discoveries A 85 20

Classic Romaine - Packaged Salads, Fresh Discoveries A 85 15

Fat Free Ranch Dressing B+ 35 48

Carrots, Baby - Raw A 15 5

Dinner

Nature's Own Double Fiber Wheat Bread B+ 56 80

StarKist Chunk Light Canned Tuna C- 56 57

Reduced Fat With Olive Oil 14 45

Lettuce, Looseleaf - Raw A 10 2

Tomatoes, Red, Ripe - Raw, Year Round Average A 149 27

V8 V Fusion Vegetable & Fruit Juice, Light Strawberry Banana A 224 50  

Snacks

Activia Strawberry - Available in 4 Pack 4 oz. cups B+ 100 110

String-Ums Cheese Mozzarella - String Cheese C 28 80

Chex Mix Bars Turtle B- 35 130

Total Calories Consumed 1,539

Give or take with the servings, I'm no more than 150 cals more than this. Even if I'm up to 1800 cals, is that still bad ?? And this is still a lot of food to me. So if there's some great magical dish out there that is high in cal but low in sodium/sugar/carbs, through it out there people. Thanks. <3

You know the answer yourself.

Eat more. Especially if you're exercising.

With the stats you just gave, you have about 750 cal deficit. That is ok, if you are not exercising. But with approximately 30-60 minutes of exercise, you will quite easily cross into the no-no 1000 cal deficit range. In the short term you may see some rapid weightloss but then your body will hit the brakes and you will likely plateau. Plateaus are dreadful. Exercise and diet with no results can wear a person down, to the point of giving up. This can start a yo-yo cycle of weight loss, weight gain.

I'm being particularly negative here because I see from your profile that you have a goal to drop from 22-16 in 2 short months, and also to drop 100 pounds by May next year. THESE ARE UNREALISTIC GOALS and you are setting yourself up for disappointment! Even at the maximum healthy weight loss rate of 2 pounds per week, you will need 50 weeks to lose 100 pounds. Do the math - it's close to 1 YEAR.

I don't want to discourage you, but you need a reality check. It's not impossible of course, just read the 100 pound loss success stories. It takes time, a complete lifestyle change. It's a marathon, not a sprint. And if you're thinking like it's a sprint, it'll be impossible to get to the end of the race.

Do the numbers again with the CC tools, and this time let CC pick a weight loss time frame for you to achieve your target. THAT will be the realistic target. And if it seems like too far away, start by achieving mini-goals. 5 pounds, 10 pounds at a time.

It's not hard to get a few hundred more calories in.  Cook with olive oil or canola oil.  A tbsp of natural peanut butter is almost 100 calories. 

The gap between the energy you use up and the energy you take in as food should be around 700 cals.... this is the most efficient point.

Make sure, if you're using the CC calculator, that you set your activity level to something realistic. If 2300 is your total burn that would mean you'd opted for 'sedentary' - which few people are.   If 2300 is your calorie intake recommendation from CC then that's the amount you should get.

Rather than guessing, try to work out your meals in advance.  Plan how to split down your calorie intake in even-sized meals and regular snacks.   As said above..... add back some energy-dense foods like peanut butter or cooking oils so that your meals can be more calorific without being very large.

1539 calories is far too low.  You need to bump up by at least 500 a day, if not more, especially if you're exercising.

well i never follow that thing.. it says im suppose to eat 2400 a day but thats like.. way to much... if ur exercising yes... eat a littlemore then ur 1600... I can see if you were like 140 or something, then i would stick to what the thing says.. that way u wont undereat.. but if ur overweight and inactive then nahh i wouldnt eat 2300 cals.. i think ur 1630 is good... but thats jus my opinion

Original Post by tasha21217:

well i never follow that thing.. it says im suppose to eat 2400 a day but thats like.. way to much... if ur exercising yes... eat a littlemore then ur 1600... I can see if you were like 140 or something, then i would stick to what the thing says.. that way u wont undereat.. but if ur overweight and inactive then nahh i wouldnt eat 2300 cals.. i think ur 1630 is good... but thats jus my opinion

 Opinions and advice based off of her actual stats and calorie calculations are two different things completely.  She needs to be eating 2000 or more calories, or she can risk her body going into starvation mode.

well i guess some people on here would know better than i would.... so do what you feel is right for you.. if 2500 cals is alot and u dont meet it every day then i wouldnt worry to much about it.. my friend lost 120 lbs in a year and she had a certain amount of cals that she would eat during the day.. she didnt screw around or stress about calorie or starvation mode and has kept it off for a while...  i know that to keep ur body out of starvation mode u have to eat a certain amount for cals.. but im 300 plus lbs so my body isnt going to go into starvation mode after a week of 1000 cals deficit.. or maybe it will who knows... what do i kno

Tasha, at your weight (300 lbs), your calorie deficit should be no more than 1500 a day (equaling 3 lbs per week, or 1% of your body fat).  If you go any lower than this, you could risk your body going into starvation mode.  You should keep it under 1000 for better chances of keeping the weight off. :)

If you're 300lbs+ you can probably get away with a higher than 1000 cal deficit.  However, there are some danger signs associated with undereating that you should be aware of and look out for along the way.

• Too-rapid weight-loss.... defined as more than 1% of your total body-weight each week.   If weight-loss is too rapid this can put too much stress on the body
• Loss of appetite....  If you're not ready for a meal at mealtimes, if you find yourself feeling ho-hum about food generally or pushing food around your plate then that's generally not a good sign
• Weight-loss slows right down (usually follows too-rapid weight-loss).....  Chronic undereating can mean it becomes harder to lose weight or it stops all together
• Malnutrition issues..... hair-loss, fatigue, menstruation stops, blacking out, feeling cold all the time, difficulty concentrating etc.

to queenb: Great that you do have healthy goals. Given that all we can know about you is in your profile, maybe edit it otherwise it doesn't reflect your real goals? Take care and all the best!