Calories – Weekly Weigh In

I was expecting a big old fat gain on Monday.  I was out of town three days last week and then busy, busy, busy, all weekend.  I just knew I had gained.  So…

I was shocked…

to say the least!

Down 1.2.  Wow!  My total since January 1 is…

18 pounds!  YAHOO!!!

I am telling you, this year is flying by!  How is it the middle of March already?!?

So, I debated about what to talk to you about tonight and then I had someone leave me a comment asking how many calories I am eating so I figured I would talk to you about that.

First of all, let me tell you that my diary on My Fitness Pal is wide open.  Anyone that I am friends with can see what I am eating at any time during the day.  That opens me up to a load of vulnerability but I feel like it helps some people and also keeps me honest.  Friend me if you want to be nosy or just see what I consume on a daily basis.

As far as calories go, I eat around 1500-1700 a day.  I know that is high.  I tried to lower it to 1200 and guess what?!?  I didn’t lose any weight.  So, I went back in and had the program (that someone paid tons of money to develop and do the research behind) recalculate my calories for me.  It calculates me around 1500 a day.  As long as I do some form of getting my buttocks off the couch (doesn’t happen every day on the weekends!), I will get more than 1500.  Some days I eat the extra calories it gives me and some days I do not.  Most days I stick to right around 1600.

THIS IS FOR ME!  It is for my weight and my height, age, activity, etc.  The program (MFP) will calculate it for you.  I also want to lose around 1-1.5 a week.  Some weeks I lose more and some weeks I lose less.  It all depends on how “on” I was with tracking that week!  The more “on” I am, the better I do.

I do not think eating 1200 calories a day works for me.  I think my body goes into some sort of starvation mode and starts storing up food for winter.  My body seems to lose weight eating the calories I am eating.  I know that because I have consistently lost weight since January 1.  Actually, there has only been one week I DIDN’T lose weight.

So, I am going to stick with what I am doing because it seems to be working.  If you have manually changed your calories and you aren’t losing, maybe try a week or two back at what it tells you to eat.  I can tell you one thing, you won’t be starving anymore!

How many calories a day do you typically eat?