Please help- I'm all over the place

FrustratedYoYoer

We are similar. I'm 31, 5'8, 146 lbs and run 3 x per week (started with C25K back in Dec) and strength train 2 x per week. Up until Feb I was prob only netting 1000 a day after exercise but I made more of a concious effort to get it up to 1200. Then I upped it to 1400, 1500, 1600 week by week. Then I settled there for a few weeks, and once I could see I was still losing I upped it by 50 cals a week til I got to 1700. I sat there for a while and 2 weeks ago upped my net to 1850 cals.

My weightloss has been slow and steady. Some weeks I gained, some I lose, some I stayed the same, but the overall trend is that I'm losing at a rate of 1-4 lbs each month. I've had 3 consecutive weeks of staying the same since I've upped to 1850 net but my body fat has dropped so I'm not too concerned. What are you netting at the moment? My advice is to experiment. Maybe start netting at 1500 or 1600 which you could do with your stats and activity level and still be losing. Stick at it for a few weeks and then add on 50 - 100 cals each/every few weeks until you reach a level you are comfy with.

It may take a while but at our height and weight we have little to lose so have to be patient. I am 3 lbs away from my goal and don't expect to hit it until August at the earliest but it's a marathon not a sprint and should be about lifestlye change. Just hang in there

I change my net calories constantly. The trouble I feel is, my number will depend on what system I use to calculate my TDEE- MFP, BMF, Fitbit, Scooby calculator etc and I keep changing my mind on that. I need to choose one system and stick to that for a while. I think I will use MFP and my Fibbit, using MFP calculation for strength training. I will set my deficit at 500. Is this a good idea?

I should have added that I use my own custom settings on MFP, not the standard ones. And I don't work off TDEE calculations. I've worked through experimenting. Net X amount for anything from a week to a month. See how it affects my weight. If I lose, add on 50 or 100 to my net and repeat. If I had of gained on 2 consecutive weeks 1 lb or more I would have gone down by 50 cals and then repeated. That way you can see for yourself what your TDEE is. Simple as that, no fancy calculators needed. Bear in mind, you have little weight to lose you are bound to see fluctuations in weight and it make take a couple of weeks after upping your net for your body to adjust and settle before you start to lose again. Patience and consistency are the most important things. Hope that helps

EDIT: Also, I think a 500 deficit is too great. I personally could not cope with a 500 deficit now I'm down to this size, otherwise I'd be binging every 5 mins like I used to. This is the smallest of been size-wise and the most consistent I've been since I used the method I mentioned so I'd recommend it. For my macros I only focus on fats and proteins. For me this is a minimum of 100g of protein and a maximum of 146, and fats are a minimum of 47g and I limit myself to 100g a day, although I never get that high. It's usually around 70-80g on average with about 75% of that coming from good fats. As long as I hit those targets it doesn't matter about the carbs.

But what if my activity levels vary from day to day depending on if I'm working, if I'm exercising or if its me or my partner who walks the dogs?

My activity levels also vary. I workout Sat-Weds and have Thurs & Fridays off.
It goes something like run, weights, run, weights, run, rest, rest. Some periods I am highly active outside of my workouts, other periods I am sedentary aside from my workouts. The same principles would apply. If I had 2 consecutive weeks where I gained 1 lb or more I would cut my net the following week by 50 or 100 cals depending on how much I thought I needed to tweak.

Keep things simple and consistent. Have 1 day where you weigh and record your weight (my day is a Saturday). If u want to weigh in between that's fine but don't record it. And also have 1 day where you change things if you are going to. Again, the day I do this is a Saturday if I want to up my net of change macros or whatever. I'm well rested and less likely to be retaining water weight from sore muscles and will have eaten less the 2 days before the weigh in with them being my rest days where I eat 1850 cals rather than 2000-2600+ which I do on the other days. Then you can see the effect of your tinkering over the next 7 days.

jaz050465

I fluctuate a lot though so think I will have to give it longer than a week before I adjust things. Thanks for your help

MelStren

"But what if my activity levels vary from day to day depending on if I'm working, if I'm exercising or if its me or my partner who walks the dogs?"

If you are using MFP, you could set your activity level to your lowest day. Say, set it up for calories needed on a day you are least active. THEN when you do exercise or walk the dogs or work extra hours, you plug those into your "exercise" tab on MFP and it will tell you how many extra calories to eat on THAT day.

melaniecheeks

A week? I'd give any new settings at least 2 weeks before changing them. As for activity level varying day to day - of course it will. Take an average over a week.

jaz050465

Thanks so much for all your advice.