Try to never eat less than 1200 calories on any day. The 1200 calories is meant to be the lower limit for women generally but it's really for women who are about 5 feet tall and 100 lbs. So it's likely that unless those are your stats you should be eating more anyway. So it's best not to go under 1200 if possible. It's easy to make up 100 or so cals at the end of the day, just eat a small handful of almonds for example or have a glass of milk or soymilk. If it happens once in a while it won't be bad though so don't stress about it too much.

Also is your maintenance calorie target really only 1400? That is very very little so unless you are under 5 feet I doubt that you have an accurate number there, it should be significantly higher.

I'm 5'2 and my cal target ranges from 1295 - 1400. I think they are asking if, at the end of the week if you add up your weekly cals, then divide by seven, you should get about 1200. which is a nice way of keeping track of things remember that 1200 isn't a number to live and die by, go up and down from 1400-1200 and you will benefit a LOT.

Original Post by nycgirl:

Try to never eat less than 1200 calories on any day. The 1200 calories is meant to be the lower limit for women generally but it's really for women who are about 5 feet tall and 100 lbs. So it's likely that unless those are your stats you should be eating more anyway. So it's best not to go under 1200 if possible. It's easy to make up 100 or so cals at the end of the day, just eat a small handful of almonds for example or have a glass of milk or soymilk. If it happens once in a while it won't be bad though so don't stress about it too much.

Also is your maintenance calorie target really only 1400? That is very very little so unless you are under 5 feet I doubt that you have an accurate number there, it should be significantly higher.

Actually, my calorie target range is 1200 calories and I'm 5'5. I weigh 145 and according to cc and my alli program these are the max number of calories I can consume if I want to reach my goal of 135 lbs. Of course, that's without exercising. If I throw in some exercise every few days I adjust my caloric intake accordingly.

valcatraz - I'm an inch taller than you, and when I was 145lb, I was eating 1500 and losing weight (I'm now at 135, and to get here, I was always aiming for 1500) - you don't have to eat 1200 to lose weight - eating more could make you lose a little slower (although exercise will bump up your burn rate), but at least my experience was that eating less than 1400 made my weightloss slow to a grinding halt.

Just my experience - hope that helps. Good luck.

Oh i generally dont go under 1200- I am on maintenance mode- 5ft6", weighing 118 lbs and CC tells me that I need ~1500 calories a day to maintain.

I was just asking if on some odd day I'm not hungry its ok to eat less than 1200 right..especially if i've eaten a 3000 calorie dessert the night before! The peanut butter/ nuts snacking just to come upto 1200 is not very appealing to me on the whole..

Original Post by fat2fit77:

Oh i generally dont go under 1200- I am on maintenance mode- 5ft6", weighing 118 lbs and CC tells me that I need ~1500 calories a day to maintain.

I was just asking if on some odd day I'm not hungry its ok to eat less than 1200 right..especially if i've eaten a 3000 calorie dessert the night before! The peanut butter/ nuts snacking just to come upto 1200 is not very appealing to me on the whole..

Hmm, I want to check this for you as to the best of my knowledge CC target meters are only for weight loss, not maintenance or weight gain. I am 5'1" and lost 20 lbs (from 120 to 100 lbs) from May to September by eating 1500 cals a day so cannot imagine at 5'6" that is your maintenance. Let me look into it ........

Original Post by nycgirl:

Hmm, I want to check this for you as to the best of my knowledge CC target meters are only for weight loss, not maintenance or weight gain. I am 5'1" and lost 20 lbs (from 120 to 100 lbs) from May to September by eating 1500 cals a day so cannot imagine at 5'6" that is your maintenance. Let me look into it ........

thanks for checking up for me nycgirl. I got these numbers from CC by putting my lifestyle at sedentary and keeping my current weight and target weight the same- 118lbs.

fat2fit - nycgirl is right. I'm maintaining now, but if I use the calorie target tool, and say 135 starting, 135 goal, it tells me that if I eat 1400, I'll reach my target by... tomorrow.

Use the burn meter tool to get your maintenance calorie target - what you burn is what you should eat.

okay ladies so maybe you could help me. I have started out on this site back in early April and thought that since I lost weight by severly restrciting my calories before that i shouldn't go over 800 or 900 a day. I am 5'2" currently weight 136 on a good day. I was told by posters to not go under 1200, but that i actually should eat about 1400 according to CC to get to my weight loss goal of 125lbs. I am a bit confused though because at first i thought maybe i am no burning enough in exercise and not eating enough when i do exercise, but feel so stuffed it if i consume 1400-1500 calories a day! The other day I was around 1400 calories and i had a good exercise regime 30-45 minutes, burning about 300-400 calories during that period. I try to exercise four times a week, but seem to get a little more in even on my rest days when i'm trying to relax because i have toddler twins and they keep my heart rate going on off days. BUt my questions are: Am I eating enough? ON off days what should my caloric intake be? on exercise days what should it be? And why am I not losing at 1400-1500 calories? I have been trying to stay at this rate for about two weeks now and i know that after you starve yourself your body is storing the food you finally eat, but I thought that my body would get used to the boost and finally start losing!  I have been on here for a month and have lost what 1.2 lbs!  UGH!  What the freak?!?!  HELP ME!

So I have confirmed it. You should not use the calculator to estimate the amount of calories you need to maintain. The way it is AT THIS MOMENT is that it is for Weight Loss only. However, I believe the Team is working on that so it might change soon. I agree, you need to use the burn meter (if it's set to sedentary you must plug all your stats into it).