Calorie counting & exercise?

[Nikkia2112]

I just started my phen today. Yippee!! I'm shooting for 1200-1500 calories/day. I exercise 5 days a week and wear a heart rate monitor to track calories burned. If I burn 400 calories jogging, should I be adding those to my calorie bank, thus eating 1600-2000 calories for the day? I don't want my body to go into starvation mode by not eating enough, but I certainly don't want to over do it either. What do you all suggest?

Thanks!!

[angelea]

Do you know how many calories you ate prior to dieting? For example, if you were eating 2000 a day before dieting, 1200-1500 would be reasonable. If you were eating 2500 prior to dieting, 1700-2000 would be a better starting point. The extra 400 you're burning with exercise would still be healthy with either- you should see a 1.5-2 pound a week weight loss with a 500 or 600 calorie a day reduction and 400 calories burned with exercise. It's not as exciting as seeing 7 or 8 pounds that first week, but long-term, you won't go into starvation mode, and it's a way of life that you can continue after you've hit your goal weight.

[Nikkia2112]

Depending on the day, I think I was eating between 2000 and 2500. I was eating healthy meals but snacking waaaaaay too much!! I am a slow loser by nature. Last year when I took phen I never lost more than 2 lbs per week. Once I lost 3, but I'd just had about 4 inches of hair cut off. I remember being very disappointed those first few weeks when I only lost 1 or 2 lbs. when I kept reading about these huge losses. I just kept on and finally did shed those 35 lbs I set out to lose. Now I need to get rid of about 20-25 more to meet my goal.
Thanks for the input!

[Sus65]

Sounds like you've got a good plan. I'd stick to somewhere between 1200-1500 calories. To be sure you can google basal metabolic rate and enter your info. and it'll figure it out for you. Good luck and welcome to the forum!