Can someone sense check this for me, please?

I am 35, 5'8 and 140 lbs (my highest wt ever, besides pregnancy). I would like to get back to 125 lbs. I usually workout out everyday for about an hour (alternate cardio and weight lifting) and I would classify myself as moderately active otherwise. I eat ONLY very healthy foods and drink only water.

What is a good calorie goal for me right now? I don't want to be starving myself as I like having energy but I also want to lose the weight at a good pace.

Right now, I have my target set at 1200 calories and am hitting that but I tend to believe that this is too little.

I just want a second opinion. Your thoughts? 

 

 

At 5'8", 125lbs is underweight. Your lowest should be around 135lbs. Your activity is also very high and you aren't eating nearly enough. Your body would go into starvation mode (metabolic slow-down) from under-eating with a lot of exercise.

1200 calories a day is the MINIMUM recommended guideline and usually for very sedentary and short people and/or those with underlying medical conditions. You might lose a few pounds of water at first, but then you will plateau because your body isn't willing to give up anymore as it thinks you are starving it, which you pretty much would be based on your activity level and caloric intake goal for your height and age.

Check out this calorie calculator to help determine more appropriate calories: http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalc alc.htm

and http://www.mypyramid.gov for reasonable guidelines for your age, activity, and gender.

I'm only 5'3" and my goal weight is 150 lbs, then 135lbs. I have a large frame and would not look healthy at a lower weight. I have lost 70 lbs in the past 7 months eating an average of 1829 calories a day, plus 3-4 days of cardio and 3 days of strength training. Under-feeding your body can be as bad as overeating. Your body NEEDS the fuel to sustain basic functions as breathing, thinking, digesting etc. and needs much more for extra activity like heavy exercise.

Less calories does NOT always equal more weight loss, sometimes it has the opposite effect.

You should be able to determine how many calories you should be eating by using the Tools on this site. Just enter your height, weight, and activity level and it should tell you how many calories you should have....

http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/calorie s-goal.php

That is absolutely too low if you are working out on a daily basis. If you look at the guidelines you need 1200 if you are doing no activity at all. If you go to the gym the minimum amount is 1200 +the calories you burn at the gym.

It's fantastic that you are weight training but even more reason to eat properly, you need to fuel your muscles. The trainer at my gym said I should never go lower than 1700 calories on days that I weight train or do cardio. For me 1700 is less than I used to eat but I don't feel like I'm depriving myself, I have to make smart decisions (i.e. chocolate bars) but I'm not hungry either.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the help. I will definitely up my calories as I'm not one of those that want to starve my self. I want to be healthly. I think my problem is that I read too much!!!   Then I get confused on where I need to be.

Anyway, thanks again! I'm off to eat something! 

Whoa!  I'm 37, just over 5'8'' and 140 is my goal.  I've been getting help on another thread b/c I've plateaued at 174.5, even though I'm eating less than a 1000 calories (I've lost 17 lbs. really quickly-my dr. gave me some diet pills)and evidently I need to eat more like it says above b/c my body won't let go of the weight. I haven't had a period since I started dieting. I'm exercising and doing weights like a mad woman and just not getting more off.  At 140 I'm between a size 6 and 8 (I have med-large frame).  We'll both have to try eating and see if that helps-though it seems strange to have to eat to lose!

In regards to the reply above this...no wonder you've plateaued if you're not eating enough.  You obvously haven't read much if you haven't realized that eating too little doesn't give your body enough nutrients and what little it does get, will store it for energy because it doesnt' know it'll get more...go read about metabolic slow-down to understand what it is EVERYONE seems to be trying to tell ppl like you.

onetuffchix:

You misunderstood what I commented up there.  The other thread I was talking about was where I was reading that "I need to eat more," just like the comments on this thread says.  I appreciate what EVERYONE has been trying to tell "ppl like [me]."  Like my post says, I'm going to try and eat more.

It's very hard for (people like me) who overeat, then go overboard trying to get off the weight and find that we need to do the very thing that got us overweight and eat.  I appreciate all the advice and support I've gotten on this site, and I just joined last night!