Hi Jude,

You were doing great at 1200 calories and should return to that program. Eating extra calories never worked for me. In fact, I started to gain weight that way. Perhaps it works for younger individuals. I am 63.

You list your goal weight as 145 pounds. If we assume 25% body fat, your lean body mass would be:

LBM = (1.0 - 0.25) x 145 = 109 pounds

Calories = 109 x 10 cal/lb = 1090 calories

However, smaller people should eat more than 10x their lean body mass because their energy loss from heat is greater per pound than for larger people, like me.

So, your 1200 calories would be about 11x your future lean body mass. Your present LBM is probably not much greater because one tends to lose LBM in the absence of carrying around the extra bulk. The only was to increase LBM is by body building methods and that doesn't work very well for people our age.

Keep up the good work.

Kent