Advise Needed please

Paul699

Newbie here, been using the site and app for 2 months now, and am growing concerned at the plan im following. Apologies for the length.

Dont know if this matters, but I am a 47 year old bloke, 5'4" and was 213 lbs

I don't find it too hard, I just measure and count everything obsessively, taking most of the things I will eat with me to work, so I can control it.

Im currently on 1450 cals, as i want to achieve a 1 - 2 loss per week, I started 02 March 2015 and today have lost 18 lbs. Great news so far, I cant remember the last time I was under 14 stone, and I am over the moon to be honest.

I am though training 3 time per week, mainly doing cardio for the initial fat burn but also throwing in resistance as well, hoping to change the shape under the fat in case i ever make it to my goal of 35lbs.

The thing Im worried about due to people (friends etc) telling me I am going to plateau and will simply stop losing weight as my body will crash and hold onto everything.. I argue that if my cals in and cals out have the right deficit, i have to lose weight, but they say my body will keep the fat and use muscle, and i wont be able to train anymore. They also say when this happens, I will have no where to go, I cant reduce my cals any more.. and to be honest, I don't think I would want to.

I want to avoid this, but dont want to eat more.

P.S I dont usually eat the cals Ive earned from training, I just keep to my 1450 as I don't feel i need to eat more usually, but on occasion have had something extra when feeling hungry, mainly on an evening.

Is all of the above true ? am I going to reach a point of stagnant weight loss where I am controlling my eating religiously and training, for no loss at all ?

Mycophilia

Do not take nutrition advice from family/friends. If what you're doing is working, keep doing it.

Cheri1218

Mycophilia wrote: »

Do not take nutrition advice from family/friends. If what you're doing is working, keep doing it.

This. There are lots of people in the world that like to offer discouraging advice. It's just what they do. Keep sticking to your plan...

callsitlikeiseeit

Paul699 wrote: »

am I going to reach a point of stagnant weight loss where I am controlling my eating religiously and training, for no loss at all ?

as long as you remain in a deficit, you will continue to lose weight.

1450 though seems low for a guy (I'm a 5'2 female and thats what my current calories are set at, but I fluctuate mine anywhere from 1400 to 1700 and eat back some exercise calories - sometimes all LOL), but if its working for you and you're not hungry or having any issues I guess it's okay.

Quasita

I think their concern is absolutely reasonable seeing as the general recommendation for men of average metabolism is that they should not eat under 1500 calories a day. Having a moderately active lifestyle would increase your daily intake need as well. Seeing as your calorie intake goal is set so low, which I'm unsure why it is that way honestly, I don't think it's unreasonable to be concerned or to encourage you to reconsider how you are designing your intake/output goals.

Why don't you want to eat more? There is essentially nothing wrong with eating more as long as it is within your calorie needs for the day. Based on your stats, using a moderate lifestyle estimation, I got 1950kcals/day as a suggested diet for you to lose 1.5lbs/week. So, when you are losing on average more than 2lbs/week, and you've got such a small weight loss goal to start with, I do find the situation overall concerning and wouldn't be surprised if you've already had some muscle degradation. I would discuss with your physician or see a dietician, honestly.

Paul699

i had the setting as MFP recommended and it was dropping my cals weekly to reflect my desired weight loss, at one point it went to 1360 or something. I changed it to manual and set it to 1450 I did a couple of BMR tests, just online ones and it suggested my BMR was around 18-1900 cals per day, so I felt a 400 deficit was doable.

Paul699

Thats really strange as Ive just re-entered it myself, same details, and 1.5 lbs loss per week, and i got 1340, although I did use sedentry as I work in an office seated all day..