Is1300 cals too many for some people?

veganbaum

One thing you should also consider based on your last post - weight loss is not linear. Weight fluctuates.

These are my last weights (in lbs):

Wed 168.5
Thu 167
Fri 167
Sat 166
Mon 170
Tue 169
Wed 169
Thu 167.5
Fri 167.5
Sat (today) 165

Monday's 170 is likely some water retention due to the fact that I eat higher calorie on Saturdays. Weight fluctuates based on many things like higher sodium days than normal, higher calorie days than normal, where you are in your cycle, your exercise routine, etc. If you are only weighing once a week, be aware that you may simply be weighing on a high day and you missed a low day.

I'm not suggesting you should weigh every day, some people cannot handle those fluctuations. Others find the data useful or simply interesting. I actually find it places my mind at ease because I have all of that data to show me that one day doesn't matter, only the trend over a reasonable period of time matters. I also track my weight on trendweight.com. You are losing at a reasonable rate so far. The fact you saw "0" loss on the scale this week when you only weigh once a week isn't something to be concerned with yet.

ETA: My recent weights are actually a faster loss than I usually see. I have been off my usual exercise routine for about 4 weeks due to injury. So I actually consider the above kind of fast for where I want to be. I am, unfortunately, quite squishy and have no desire to lose more muscle than I have to. Even though, like a lot of us, I sometimes have days when I really wish I could speed up the process, I'm good with small losses that show a downward trend because I know that's important for my goals.

ummijaaz560

Your husband is very possibly UNDER EATING.
No way should a man be eating only 1400 a day. With his amount of exercise he's probably not even netting 1400! Is he eating back some exercise calories?

I think you both need to slow down and adjust your expectations and view this as a lifestyle change and not dieting.

PamelaW41

This is not scientific it's just my own personal habit....If I am not seeing the results I desire, I cut 50 calories a day out for a week (350 calories a week) and see if that helps, if it doesn't I cut another 50 the next week until I start losing again. I exercise religiously, I'm in the gym for cardio and strength training daily. On the other hand if I don't want to lose I NEVER just eat the recommended calories, I increase my calories 50 calories a day until I stop losing weight. What one person can eat the next person can't.

rankinsect

Frankly, I'd say you're doing better than your husband here. Weight loss isn't a race, and a whopping 6 lb/week - even accounting for some initial water loss skewing numbers - is too fast for someone that is around 250 lb. 1400 calories and "a lot" of exercise just isn't enough for a man.

Very rapid weight loss tends to be loss of lean mass, because your body can only physically burn fat so fast. That's why 1% body weight per week is touted as an upper limit - it tends to give you a rate of loss where you lose mainly fat and less lean mass.

Further, it's really not about the time you spend losing weight. All weight loss eventually ends. Weight maintenance lasts forever. You need to build habits now that will help you maintain the loss for your lifetime. Going at an unsustainable pace doesn't teach you good habits.

kimny72

OP, 1 lb per week is kind of perfect, so you are doing great! If your husband really lost 18 lbs in 3 weeks, he must have lost a ton of water weight.

I think you've realized now, but just wanted to emphasize that the only issue is your expectations . Also wanted to say, if your hubby keeps losing so quickly over time, he needs to eat more. Losing crazy fast like that is a recipe for losing muscle mass, and unless he is morbidly obese, there is a chance of nutritional deficiencies as well.

And don't compare your progress to other people! There are so many factors involved, and even if your perfect, you won't lose weight every week. Just stay on plan, keep track of your progress over time (not week to week), and keep your eyes on the prize, good luck :drinker:

robininfl

amusedmonkey wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

3 weeks is nothing in the great scheme of things and far too soon to start projecting if this rate of loss is going to continue. Just normal daily or monthly fluctuations will completely skew your results over such a short time frame.

Raise your sights from day to day or week to week - think long term progress not seeking validation from what could be a fairly random number on your bathroom scales.

1300 cals is very low compared to what is often stated as a 2000 average for a woman to maintain their weight - but no idea if you are average of course!

This always boggled my mind. What average woman maintains at 2000? This has to be some tall, overweight or exceptionally active woman. The "average woman", defined as 5'5 and 140 lb, maintains at about 1600-1800 if sedentary to lightly active. The average woman does not do 400 calories worth of exercise every day.

I'm tall but not THAT tall (5'9") and maintain around 135 on about 2,000 calories a day. Desk job, work out about once a day for between 30-75 minutes, try not to use elevators and remember to get up and walk around at work but I don't do anything extreme. I'm 48. This doesn't seem like a whole lot to eat, either. I would be happy with more calories!

dahliagrower11

Thanks for all the insightful comments.... I learned a lot from reading this.

Last week I noticed for the first time that there is a difference in the tracking of calories burned based on your activity level (sedentary, lightly active, active, athlete etc) .... I had thought that walking for 30 min at a moderate 3.5 pace would translate into the same calories burned for anyone....not so! So this week has been a huge learning curve with understanding the calorie in/calorie out nuances.

For me - office job - and workouts 3x 30 minutes a week a weight loss calorie target is 1200 .... .and a maintenance target would be 1500-1600..... 5'7' (CW 169 and GW 138) age 50+

kshama2001

verycherrypie wrote: »

Wow what a lot of fabulous responses.. I feel quite emotional about that as I'm really struggling.. It's taken me literally months to start as I really struggle with motivation and past diets have only ever lasted a couple of days so as I seem to have found the motivation to start I don't want to give up now.. I will go and check these calculator things.. I am 5' 6" and I weigh 16stone 8lb.

verycherrypie wrote: »

And I am 45

I'm your height, a few years older, and was about your weight when I started. I need way more than 1300 calories. For the first 30 pounds, I lost at about 1 pound per week, and now am going for 0.5 pounds per week for the next 30 pounds. I just plug my stats and goals into MFP.

I would be miserable if I tried to lose two pounds per week. Because I'm losing slowly, I haven't fallen in to the trap of undereating and erasing my deficit with a binge.

I've increased my activity level a lot. Not just for the calorie burn benefits, but because I feel better and sleep better the less I sit around.

That's it for now - off to the garden center to buy some plants.

verycherrypie

Thank you! So many helpful and insightful responses.. I have never posted before and feel really glad I did. I feel like maybe I am on the right track after all and my perspective has maybe been a bit skewed by the comparison with my hubby.. Which wasn't really an intelligent comparison as he is a guy being super strict and doing a lot of exercise!

Thank you so much xx

LazyButHealthy

verycherrypie wrote: »

Wow what a lot of fabulous responses.. I feel quite emotional about that as I'm really struggling.. It's taken me literally months to start as I really struggle with motivation and past diets have only ever lasted a couple of days so as I seem to have found the motivation to start I don't want to give up now.. I will go and check these calculator things.. I am 5' 6" and I weigh 16stone 8lb.

It's not easy, but try not to despair.

My partner is down almost double the weight I am, in the same space of time.
I plateau'd for almost 3 weeks when he has been steadily losing 3lbs a week. It can be quite tough and frustrating, and sometimes i feel like I"m failing.

BUT.

Our bodies are very different, as are our activities.
He eats significantly less than I think he should, and I'm not prepared to compromise to the point of starvation.
He goes through meal substitution with protein shakes (again, I won't).
He is also more militant about the gym, whereas I try to build walks/jogs in to my daily commutes and the occasional swim as I want to change the way I beahve and move daily for longevity and not the speedy loss he is focused on.

In the end, he is happy doing it his way, and my scales finally moved again this week, so I have descended from the plateau!

Keep on doing what you're doing. Log your food, keep and the exercise, and weigh everything.

You'll get there!

lemurcat12

verycherrypie wrote: »

I think I do have to accept that being older it just must be harder but the poster that said adjust my expectations was wise.. My expectations were simply higher. I have never lost weight this slowly. First week I weighed I lost 0lb second week -2.5lb and third 0lb. I am trying to weigh once a week and to see another 0lb loss after a week of all that logging was just so disheartening.

How often did you weigh before? I did not know how much I weighed (I had an idea, but it was a rough estimate) before I started. The first week I started weighing I weighed every day and the number jumped around a lot. If you were unlucky you may have gotten that first week's weigh-in on a low day, which would mask the loss. Other things are starting to exercise can cause water retention and women can have a lot of weigh fluctuations throughout the month -- I've found there's a pattern, but everyone's is different so you just have to know it.

I'm 46 (was 44 when I lost most of my weight), and did 1250 + exercise calories/Fitbit adjustments at first (so I ate more than 1300 most days once I figured out how MFP worked). I'm 5'3.

The most important thing is staying with it and being consistent--don't get frustrated with the fluctuations and the non linear results. If you lose 2.5 every two weeks (not saying that will happen, but some people lose nothing for a few weeks and have a bigger whoosh -- the body is weird sometimes), that's the same even if the loss doesn't show up in every week as losing less every week, after all.

I found it easier to do two things -- one, focus on goals other than the scale that I had more control over (hitting my calories, eating well, exercise goals, for example), and two, while this does not work for everyone, it helped me to weigh every day and see the weird fluctuations, as I got less focused on/emotional about the weekly weigh-in. You have to not worry about those fluctuations, though -- for me this was about teaching myself not to be scared of the scale.

amusedmonkey

Just to show you that weight fluctuations are normal, and how you can find yourself losing nothing or even gaining, I'm going to post my weight loss progress bar. Look how it has ups and downs. Women are especially plagued by changing hormones, and it affects how much water your body retains, not to mention sodium, carbs, muscle repair, food in the gut and all the other reasons you really need to stop looking at weekly changes and just keep an eye in what direction your overall weight is going:

blues4miles

OP are you using a food scale? Are you eating back exercise calories?

LivingtheLeanDream

Your husband is heavy at 18 stone, weight will practically fly off him for a while, he could lose eating more than 2000 a day because of his weight ....it'll slow down for him too at some point when he's about 15lbs from goal - par for the course.

Perhaps you have less to lose?(I only scanned briefly through this thread so may have missed that)

Stick with your 1300 if as you say you are logging accurately you will lose. Move when you can so you create more if a deficit as that will help.

I'm 5ft 2 /46 and maintaining on 2100-2300 cals- (I'm active) - when I was trying to lose, I lost 1/2lb a week eating 1800 gross cals.

Most women need more than 1300 calories. For someone old (much older than 45 I mean), small and sedentary then yes, that's probably enough.

LivingtheLeanDream

Your husband needs to eat more than 1400 cals at his weight - that's too aggressive a deficit. His health will suffer if he sticks to that.

AspenDan

The biggest hurdle for me, even after 100lb lost, has been managing expectations. I suggest maybe going 1 whole month without weighing yourself at all..that has helped me in the past.
Also, try to remember it probably took you at least a few months, or maybe years to put on the extra weight, so it might just as well take that long to take off.
Keep at it, good luck

LivingtheLeanDream

Another thing, weekly weigh ins - you could step on the scale tomorrow and 1/2lb would be gone...our weight fluctuates alot from day to day. Moyne you would benefit from tracking your daily weight so you get to understand how your body works. Ie if your weighing heavier a day it's because you had that high sodium meal.. or its your TOM. So many reasons that the scale doesn't show progress so you need to measure too....and in time you'll know by your clothes getting looser.

Don't give up. Keep going, as slow and steady does win the race . It took me a year to lose the 21lbs I needed to. I've kept it off 3 years+ and feel great.

So remember - you're worth it!

SandraSchraut

I am older and while I have lost some weight (37 pounds) I also have gained muscle so sometimes you are changing from fat to muscle and then you will see loss in inches which is great as well. I found being as active as possible is the secret for me that tends to take pounds off, and I can eat about 1500 calories and still lose weight. Good luck! you are going in the right direction but if you eat too few calories your body will go into a starvation mode and you will not lose as much. Eat good healthy food, increase protein, and avoid processed and fast food which has tons of fat and sodium.

LivingtheLeanDream

Starvation mode is a myth @SandraSchraut there are 1000s of threads on here which debunk that theory.

Well done on your weight loss to date Sandra.