Am I consuming enough calories?

I try to average 1200 calories a day, net after exercise. So if I consume 1600 calories and burn off 400 through my workouts, I net 1200 calories. But sometimes I only eat 1200 calories and I will still burn 400-500 calories, so my net calories for the day is 700-800 calories.
I know you are not supposed to consume less than 1200 calories a day. Is it bad for my health and my metabolism if my net calories are less than 1200 after working out?

Also, if I consume 1000 calories 1 day and 1500 the next, does the average calories per day count over the span of a week, or should I still stick to the minimum of 1200/day?

Tue. Dec 6, 12:18pm

It sounds like you're doing just fine!!

Tuesday, December 6, 2005, 2:06 PM

I'm not a professional on this issue, but I have read that you must burn 3,500 more calories PER WEEK than you consume to lose 1 pound a week. Therefore, I think that may answer your question about calories averaging out.

Tuesday, December 6, 2005, 5:16 PM

all calories are not created equal. 100 calorie hunk of cheese is much different than a 100 calorie apple. Because of fat/fiber content, this makes calories very different.

Tuesday, December 6, 2005, 5:20 PM

The activity-calorie calculator on self.com actually tells you how many gross and how many net calories you burn for your fitness efforts. They call it an "energy deficit". In other words, you should only subtract the amount of calories above and beyond what you would have used watching TV....so perhaps your 400 calorie workout is only worth an extra 320 calories of food. Just a thought, in case you find your efforts with your current regimen aren't panning out.

Also, when I did Weight Watchers a few years ago, you could "earn" extra food/calories/points by working out, but they capped it (worked out to be 600 calories a week). I misunderstood and thought that was a daily maximum, and I wasn't losing.

Link

Tuesday, December 6, 2005, 6:41 PM

The Best Answer...

..would be to know your RMR (resting metabolic rate) and you could estimate your caloric requirements from there.

A very rough guesstimate is to take your body weight and multiply by 10 to get an estimate of your daily caloric needs.

Do you keep a food journal? After a few weeks, maybe you'll have a point of comparison?

I have read that it is best to not have more than a 500 calorie deficit per day, but I would want to verify that.

Tuesday, December 6, 2005, 9:15 PM

Original poster here. My recommended caloric intake is 2270 calories per day, so I've been shooting for 1K calorie deficit per day to lose 2 lbs per week, which is supposed to be an OK amount to lose per week.
What I'm really trying to get answered by this post is if a net calorie intake after exercise below 1200 is too low per day.

Wednesday, December 7, 2005, 1:36 AM

Is 2270 calories your RMR? if so, then you could cut back to 1770 calories and make sure to burn 500 calories during exercise that day. that way you'll still have a 1000 calorie/day deficit. A 1000 calorie/day deficit seems a bit high. if you cut back on calories too much, your workouts won't be as productive and you'll start buring muscle tissue. i'd shoot for a 500 cal/day deficit, which is about 20% of your caloric needs. i've heard that a deficit great than 20% isn't "healthy", but you'd need to verify this. So if your RMR is 2270 and your daily activities and exercise require 500 calories, you need 2770 calories/day. eat 2270 calories to reach your 500 cal deficit. And if you skip your workout that day cut back to 1770 calories. If you lose weight slowly by making small changes, you'll be more likely to keep it off.

Wednesday, December 7, 2005, 1:12 PM

OP here, thanks for the post above, that is what I needed to know. I think I'll try to see a nutritionist to see if I'm going to0 far with my calorie deficit. I know I'm not at risk of anorexia, I love food to much! It's taken me a while to get used to eating only around 1200 calories, but I'm eating healthier food.

I want to lose 2lbs a week but I don't want to lose muscle in the process. I am trying to eat more protein and I'm working out, so I should be gaining muscle. I do keep a food journal. Orginally I was just tracking calories, but now I'm trying to track carbs and protein. I'm shooting for 100g of protein, but that seems hard to do some days.

Wednesday, December 7, 2005, 2:28 PM

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