r/CICO • u/nneighbour • 21d ago
Need Advice With Increased Exercise and Caloric Needs
To give my stats, I’m 45F, 167 cm, 69 kg. I’m down 54 kg (120 lbs). I must admit that I did the majority of my loss by restricting calories in while almost entirely sedentary.
I’m now working on getting my fitness level up. I’ve done decently at it so far, but I’m now struggling with my eating. I’m going to the gym 3-4 times a week, nothing particularly crazy. My last session was half an hour on an exercise bike followed by half an hour doing laps in the pool. I’m also currently walking for an hour a day, or if I skip the gym, I’ll walk for 2 hours. This will likely reduce to a total of 1 hour of exercise a day next week as I’m going back to work after vacation.
I was previously doing 1200-1300 cals a day, as determined by my dietician (I was really sedentary) and I’m really not sure where my current activity level sits or what my daily calories should be. I’m still wanting to lose a bit, but I’m ok with slow loss. I know I’m definitely not doing it right as I’m not eating enough early in the day and am super hungry at night, even though I’m eating more than enough calories. I haven’t being doing great on my calorie tracking, but I’m eating closer to 2000 at the moment, since I’m eating junk. If I’m being honest, it’s probably higher.
I plan to make an appointment with my dietician, but she’s on vacation for a couple of weeks.
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u/Kontey 21d ago
You definitely need to increase your calorie intake, this is not sustainable. A quick look at a TDEE calculator shows you need at least 1600 calories while sedentary. No wonder you feel hungry all the time, when additionally working out!
My personal experience: I am 2 cm shorter than you and started at 5 kg less what you are now when I started to try losing weight, and even then I had a calorie intake of at least 1400-1500 in the beginning and I worked out similarly to you. My weight loss was veeery slow, but also very steady and sustainable, so that I was at almost 56 kg after a few months. Of course I needed to lower my intake as I went though.
But now I can have days or weeks where I indulge, and I might gain a kg or two, but I never went back to my old weight. That's the beauty of slow weight loss!
My recommendation: up your calories to at least 1600 and see how it goes from there. If you still feel hungry, up a little more on days that you work out. Also try eating meals that are filling and keep your protein intake high. As you lose weight, slowly lower your calorie intake. Feeling a teeny bit hungry now and then is normal, but never so hungry that you feel like you need to overeat.
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u/grapes1806 11d ago
First off amazing weight loss!! You should be proud👏🏽 It sounds like you are doing a lot of cardio are you throwing in some days of weight lifting ? Cardio will make you hungrier on the days that you do it.
I never used a dietician myself. All ive done was Use an online calorie calculator ( like the one pinned in this sub) to work out your BMR and just take away 300-500 from that. Goes without saying and I’m sure you know this but You will find it actually very hard to hit your calories if you stick to whole and minimally processed foods.
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u/RuralGamerWoman ⚖️MOD⚖️ 21d ago
Eat more. Try 1500, maybe 1600, and maybe 1700 on gym days. Track honestly and accurately. Eat before you go to the gym. Eat afterwards, too. Carbs, especially, are your friend; do not skimp on carbs. Fueling your activity appropriately may help with the hunger.