Daily calories: where am I going wrong?

jmidd97

Hi everyone!

I'm having a bit of trouble with my daily calorie intake, and figuring out how much to consume. I've been using MFP for the past 70ish days, and lost 8lbs (from 127lbs to 119). I'm 5'4", female. Its not much, and kind of slow but I'm happy with how things have been going. I plan to reach maybe 115lbs, depending on how I feel when I reach it. Anyway, my settings are Lightly active, with a goal of 1lb loss per week. This sets me to 1300 calories a day.
The problem is, I'm really struggling to keep to it. I get hungry very quickly, I'm tired a lot. My LifeTrak activity tracker tells me I consistently hit between 12,000 and 15,000 steps a day. To me (I might be wrong) this seems fairly decent, and I considered resetting to Active. But, the tracker also tells me that I only burn between 1500-1800 calories a day. And 1800 only if I do a lot more walking. If I'm going to hit a 500 calorie deficit each day, that should be roughly 1200 a day? But I'm already struggling with 1300, so how can that be right?

Sorry for the long post; if someone could tell me where I'm going wrong, that'd be great.

pebble4321

I think you have a deficit that is too large for your current weight. Try having a smaller deficit, close to your maintenance calories (eg 1500 - 1600 cals or so). Sure, you won't lose weight quickly, but you really have very little to lose, so it's not going to happen overnight.
I'm the same height as you, and you already well into the middle of the healthy weight range for this height.

There is no point going with an aggressive deficit that you can't stick to, that's just going to set yourself up to fail, and if you are getting tired and hungry, I think they are good markers that you aren't eating enough.

dirtyflamingo81

Hi there!

I have similar height/calorie intake stats to yours. I am currently eating a low carb, high protein diet and am finding that I don't get as hungry or as tired as I used to in comparison to a month ago, when I was high carb, moderate protein. On my days off from fitness-related activities I average 16,000-18,000 steps on my Polar Loop and 20,000-21,000 on days I work out. Perhaps a deeper look into your food intake and activity levels might be a good starting point. I hope that helps a bit!

LivingtheLeanDream

When you are down to the last few pounds a less agressive deficit is better, aim for 1/2lb a week so you're not feeling hungry all the time.

At your current weight it already sounds you've reached a good weight for your height.

I'm 5ft 2 1/4" and maintaining 130lbs for 3 years, and I'm really slim at this weight.
I average 18k steps and have MFP set to active.

amusedmonkey

If you are doing 12-15k steps consistently every single day, it's right in the ballpark of active. You may want to consider lowering your weight loss rate instead though to 1/2 pound a week. It's much more muscle sparing at this point since you don't have much to lose.

rosebarnalice

Try the "two week test."

Whenever I have felt stuck or wasn't feeling that my food/extra plan was in balance, I'd make an adjustment b for two weeks and then reassess. I figure my body needs at least two weeks to actually respond to any change.

So, for example, try upping your calories by 100 to 200 calories per day (I'd focus on protein) and see if that helps with how you feel.

If not, you can look at your weight loss stats and decide whether to drop 50 or add another 100 for the next 2 weeks.

Eventually you'll find a sweet spot!

noon1200

*70ish days, and lost 8lbs (from 127lbs to 119). I'm 5'4", female. Its not much*

Nope, losing a pound a week for someone close to their target weigh is a lot! Sounds like you are you doing everything right. If you ate 1300 cals a day and lost a pound per week, then we know your calories burned per day are around 1800.

If you're getting hungry a lot, I'd bump your calories up to 1500. Should take a couple months to get to 115, then increase your calories a little per week until you're maintaining where you want to be.

Also, 120 is a fine weight for a 5'4" lady, probably time to consider switching to fitness based goals.