How Many Calories Do I Need?

[ButterCupMakeUp]

Posted this in weight loss, but then remembered this area is more active. So here it goes, hopefully I can get some thoughts and opinions.

 

Hello everyone! I am buttercupmakeup and I am not a novice when it comes to weight loss. I've actually lost 61 lbs so far, but unfortunately have been stuck for a while. I would like to take you on a journey into my back story so that all pieces of evidence can be considered!

 

So my weight loss has been over two years of actual active weight loss. I achieved this through heavy lifting and basically keto. Well one day the platue monster decided to rear it's ugly head and has been siting guard over my coveted goal weight since that time. I am now in year three and making some changes.

 

It took me a while not be afraid of carbs, and to have a healthy relationship with them. I would eat junk carbs when i did eat them, because carbs are bad so if I am going to be weak might as well be bad to, right? WRONG! I realized that this thought process was rather dysfunctional, and over the past month started focusing on getting my carbs from a healthy source, such as fruit, veggies, and whole grain sources. I have also started eating less meat.

 

So a few other quick details is I started doing roller derby! this is what made me start eating carbs, because a few times I have been close to passing out from too few carbs. I also lift 3 days a week and have started doing HIIT (8 minutes not alot) 3 days a week. I know my plateau is due to A) drinking alcohol too often and not logging it (I have since cut back) thinking "hmmmm the mini kitkat isnt that bad I don't need to log it, C) not counting my oils, and D) Not actually weighing and measuring my portion sizes. All things have been rectified, and now I am starting to lose some weight, so here is my question... ARE YOU READY?
 

I am maintaining around 1500-1600 calories a day, my mind is still stuck on 1200 calories as the golden number, BUT i don't think I can keep up the intensity of derby and HIIT at that low of an amount (oh and I am training for a 5k so I can get my cardio endurance up). I am 5'1" 191 lbs and my job can be any where from sitting all day to brutally active depending on the day. Do you think 1600 is too much on my extremely active days? (extremely active days includes the following: 10 minutes of cardio with sprints, 12 minutes HIIT training, 3-5 laps jogging around the track, and then 1.5 hours on my skates practicing).

 

Please feel free to ask me anything about my current nutrition and offer me your opinion!  

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

There's no good hard and fast way using an equation to figure out how many calories you need because our metabolisms vary so much based on our personal genetics, lifestyle, sleep, etc.

 

The best way to figure out how many calories you need, if you are maintaining weight, is simply figure out the average calories you're eating per day with your current lifestyle. including your workouts and such, don't deduct those calories.

 

If you're losing weight at a somewhat consistent rate, figure out how long it takes you to lose a pound. During that time you were about 3500 kcal short. Divide that by the number of days it took, and that's how many calories a day short you were on average. Add that to the average calories you ate each day, and that's you base calorie needs to maintain weight with your current lifestyle. Again, this includes your workouts, you don't deduct calories for them. Our bodies act differently during big swings, so this will be more accurate the more consistently your calorie intake is day to day. You can take exercise into account if you want to, you just need to track that somehow, but if you're being consistent with how intense and frequently you workout, I find its more of a bother than its worth.