higher cals lower loss rate

loulouowens

Hi All

I've been a member since last year and lost 60+ pounds so far, Im 5ft 9" female, currently weighing 199lb and my goal is 154lb my activity level is sedentary (desk job) although i do walk a couple of miles a day with my dog, but this wouldn't make me active.

Anyhow (im rambling) I posted recently about how i was starting to struggle on 1350cals for 1.5lb loss per week, then i lost some more and it dropped me to 1290cals per week to maintain a 1.5lb loss. I was really struggling and went over everyday, so i thought i would slow my weight loss down to 1lb per week (am i too far from goal to do this yet?) but this has increased me cals to 1540 and i feel like im pigging out eating this many, this is my first full week doing it and so far the scales haven't moved? i feel heavy on this amount?

I suppose what im asking is, it is possible to lose weight on 1540 at my height/gender/activity level? feeling worried because it has a really negative impact on me emotionally when i gain.

Thank you for listening to me moan x

MelanieCN77

When you walk your dog how many miles is a couple, is it all at once or multiple short walks, and are you ambling along or walking really briskly and getting out of breath at all? The activity level you set can make the difference between being at a deficit and accidentally eating at maintenance.

I've had my loss set to half a pound a week since I started since I'm so uninterested in feeling hungry or panicked about loss rate, and preferred to settle in for a long haul of better habits and thoughtful choices. I really think gunning for a high rate of loss derails many people.

loulouowens

Hi

I walk 2 miles all at once on a evening when I get home. I don't use the calories earned here, because to be honest i do not move all day, so I class the walk as just getting some fresh air!

On a weekend sometimes we will walk 6 mile and then i do eat back half of these

seska422

You don't have to aim for exactly 1.5 pounds per week or 1 pound per week. You can manually set a calorie amount that puts you between those deficit goals.

If you were struggling at 1350, it makes no sense, IMO, to try for 1290. If you don't feel that 1540 is an amount you want to eat, you don't have to eat that many.

You might want to try 1400 or 1450 to see how you like that.

I experimented to find a calorie goal that worked for me and then I've stuck to that for nearly two years now. My rate of loss automatically gets slower without recalculating and I don't have to re-adjust my way of eating for different calorie goals.

ETA: You asked if you were too far from your goal to reduce your rate of loss. No, you are not. After my initial water weight loss that got me to about 275, I averaged about one pound per week. I'm getting a slower rate as I get closer to goal. This is a marathon, not a sprint. The point is to lose the weight, not that you've lost it by some arbitrary deadline. Having a time goal is just an unnecessary stress factor.

Nappingcat97

What's the hurry? I average .25 pounds a week, over 30 months. Sloooooow, for sure. But it is gone, and won't come back. My advice is, use MFP to make good dietary choices, and exercise, even if it's a fast walk around the block (sans dog), every day. Set your goal at a half pound, and make peace with this being a long term change.

jemhh

You are not going to lose weight every week. It just doesn't work that way.

TavistockToad

jemhh wrote: »

You are not going to lose weight every week. It just doesn't work that way.

this is true.

you need to wait 4-6 weeks to see what the scale does to account for fluctuations.

also, at some point you will be eating in maintenance which will be a fair few more calories, so you need to address the feeling of 'pigging out' now or you'll find maintenance really hard.

deannalfisher

1.5lbs a week might be a too aggressive weight loss for you - why not adjust to 1lb or even .5lbs and see what it gives you for goals - yes, it will take longer to reach your goal - but in my experience, slow and steady is more sustainable over the long-run

serindipte

At 5'4", 42 yrs old, sedentary. I lost from 229 to 179 while eating 1500-1600 calories. I would have lost more if I had stuck with it.

SkinnyGirlCarrie

Weight loss is not linear...that being said I am 5'10" and would definitely lose eating 1540 a day! Sometimes too when you change your calorie intake it takes a week or 2 for your body to adjust - keep doing what you're doing for a bit and watch the scales over a few weeks before making more changes.

loulouowens

Thanks all. I will see how i go over next few weeks (it is lovely having more food )

swingsnatchlift

@loulouowens , just some quick additional thoughts.

Have you calculated your TDEE at all? I'm 5'9" and weigh 207 currently. My TDEE for sedentary is 1998. I could lose easily eating 1600 cal per day with no exercise. TDEE is you total daily energy expenditure. For me, as someone who works out regularly with weights and kettlebells, my TDEE is 2581 and I can lose eating 2065 per day. I totally skip the MFP recommendations, and manually set my calories at based on TDEE.

Of course, what you eat and accurate logging makes a difference. Are you weighing all your non-liquid foods? Maybe you're eating more than you think

Another thing to try is to only change your calories by 100 either direction a week or two at a time. That way you give your body a chance to adjust to the new calories and you can assess your actual results vs that eating level more easily.

That being said, my eating is all over the place on a day to day basis and I keep a spreadsheet of total calories eaten and total calories burned per my Fitbit to have a week and monthly view of my progress.

tress29

My problem is I look at maintenance and try to figure out how I'm ever gonna that that much without just adding junk back into my diet!

TavistockToad

tress29 wrote: »

My problem is I look at maintenance and try to figure out how I'm ever gonna that that much without just adding junk back into my diet!

Peanut butter

loulouowens

luvmy4sps wrote: »

@loulouowens , just some quick additional thoughts.

Have you calculated your TDEE at all? I'm 5'9" and weigh 207 currently. My TDEE for sedentary is 1998. I could lose easily eating 1600 cal per day with no exercise. TDEE is you total daily energy expenditure. For me, as someone who works out regularly with weights and kettlebells, my TDEE is 2581 and I can lose eating 2065 per day. I totally skip the MFP recommendations, and manually set my calories at based on TDEE.

Of course, what you eat and accurate logging makes a difference. Are you weighing all your non-liquid foods? Maybe you're eating more than you think

Another thing to try is to only change your calories by 100 either direction a week or two at a time. That way you give your body a chance to adjust to the new calories and you can assess your actual results vs that eating level more easily.

That being said, my eating is all over the place on a day to day basis and I keep a spreadsheet of total calories eaten and total calories burned per my Fitbit to have a week and monthly view of my progress.

Hi

Thanks for reply. I weigh everything liquids and all!

I will give it a few weeks out ln 1540 and see how i go. Just seems loads from what i did have! Nice though

So if i work out my tdee do i eat at that to lose or less than tdee?

deannalfisher

TDEE is your overall daily energy expenditure that takes into account both activity level and exercise specific - many TDEE calculators will give you recommendations for weight loss goals taking that into account

fitoverfortymom

Please do check back in with us and let us know how it works for you! I am super curious!

You might as well be describing me and I'm curious how your body adjusts to more calories. I've been sensing it's time for me to slow down my rate of loss, but only going by how my body feels. It's kind of annoying because they just kicked off a "biggest loser" contest at work, and part of me is vainly (and in vain) trying to win one of the prizes because I have this whole how to count calories thing down pat. However, I don't want to feel as hungry as I have been feeling this week just to win a stupid contest, when the REAL win is getting to my ultimate goal and staying there.

I am 42, recently weighed in at 199. I'm 5'6" and want to reach 150. I've lost 50 so far, which is AWESOME, but...


I just adjusted my calories and rate of loss to 1.5 (from 2) and went from 1310 to 1220 and I'm not very happy about it. I've done well since September eating between 1200-1300 per day, but it's getting exhausting and I am feeling hungrier. I also only get two 15 minute, brisk dog walks in each day guaranteed and work a desk job, but my time of actually working out is very inconsistent to rely on.

I can only IMAGINE what I would do with 1500 calories a day! It sounds glorious, and it would DEFINITELY involve peanut butter for me!

lemonychild

This is not a newbie .. this is someone that has lost60 lbs. congrats! during this time of your weight loss though u should have taken the time to learn your body and your body's hunger pangs, clearly what worked before is not working any longer so u should reaccess your situation. You're hungry yet you're "scared " to eat 1500 how will u maintain ur weight loss in the long run?

loulouowens

Thank you all for your replies. Like I said I will give it a few weeks and see how it goes.

It just seems such a huge jump, think I got used to feeling hungry most of the time! Now I feel stuffed

CafeRacer808

loulouowens wrote: »

Thank you all for your replies. Like I said I will give it a few weeks and see how it goes.

It just seems such a huge jump, think I got used to feeling hungry most of the time! Now I feel stuffed

That's a good problem to have!

MelanieCN77

My point was you could walk six miles over the weekend and if it's not getting your heart rate up the calorie burn won't be large. It sounds to me like you should be set to sedentary calories tbh, but you didn't expand on how strenuous your walks are. Setting to active AND counting the calories you burn on a walk is doubling up.

loulouowens

I am set to sedentry, i said that the walks i do are just for fresh air, and i dont count them.

swingsnatchlift

loulouowens wrote: »

Hi

Thanks for reply. I weigh everything liquids and all!

I will give it a few weeks out ln 1540 and see how i go. Just seems loads from what i did have! Nice though

So if i work out my tdee do i eat at that to lose or less than tdee?

Once I know my TDEE I subtract whatever calorie deficit I want. Since the TDEE takes into account your activity level, it's essentially your BMR plus activity. To make everything more confusing, there are multiple ways to calculate your BMR. For your reading enjoyment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate

TDEE is calculated by applying a multiplier:

Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise or sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise or sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise or sports & physical labor job or 2 X day training, football camp, etc.)

If you know your BMR, you can adjust these multipliers to your liking. I think it's really hard to pick a category because the descriptions don' take into account how long you are exercising or the effort.

In the past I have used this calculator, and for me it's pretty accurate (just use the total body weight formula). https://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

I also use this one (I just input my current weight and my goal weight as the same) http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/bmr/

Right now, I'm aiming for 1.2 pounds per week, so I shoot for 600 calories per day. I know as I get further in my journey, weight loss will be harder, so I'll be subtracting 500 calories for a 1.0 pound per week loss. That is what I aim for each day as an average. I do have to clarify that I do depend on my fitbit a lot in terms of calories burned for the day. Outside of working out, I'm able to gauge my daily activity and adjust my calories accordingly.

Now, all of the above are just estimates and starting off points. Really, the best way to determine your TDEE is evaluate how much you've eaten and how much you've lost say over the last month, and calculate your TDEE.

For instance, if you've eaten 1500 cal per day for the past month, and you've lost a total of 3.5 pounds, then your TDEE would be 1,908 based on a 30 day month (ate 45,000 calories + 12,250 lost = 57,250 total cal / 30 days = 1,908). The math is easy and reflects you. Now, as you get smaller, you will need less and less calories so you will need to periodically adjust how much you eat.

If you pulled this information together for the last month, I wonder what your numbers would look like. Let your data be your friend. All in all, this is part of why fitbits and other devices are so popular. My fitbit seems to be fairly accurate in terms of total calories burned for the day.

I'm sure all this info is floating around MFP somewhere, but hopefully it has helped!

And congrats on losing 60 pounds so far!

mlinci

For reference, I'm set to lose slowly, about 0.5 lbs per week, but I'm enjoying a very decent amount of food - I'm eating 1,800 calories per day, as a moderately active 41 year old, 5'5".

LenGray

I just upped my calories not too long ago. Don't worry, you'll feel stuffed for a little while, but after a week or two your deficit will start to feel 'normal' again.

AnnPT77

If you were actually losing 1.5 pounds weekly when (accurately) eating at a goal that MFP said would give you 1.5 pounds loss at your current weight, then odds are excellent that you'll lose 1 pound when eating 250 more calories daily. As others have said, and you acknowledged, it may take a small number of weeks for that to settle in and become obvious.

If you're logging accurately & weighing yourself routinely, your own history is always a more accurate guide to weight loss calculations than any online calculator. Calculators are just for a starting point.

WinoGelato

AnnPT77 wrote: »

If you were actually losing 1.5 pounds weekly when (accurately) eating at a goal that MFP said would give you 1.5 pounds loss at your current weight, then odds are excellent that you'll lose 1 pound when eating 250 more calories daily. As others have said, and you acknowledged, it may take a small number of weeks for that to settle in and become obvious.

If you're logging accurately & weighing yourself routinely, your own history is always a more accurate guide to weight loss calculations than any online calculator. Calculators are just for a starting point.

All of this, and to add that while weight loss is not linear (and you probably know this OP after losing 60 lbs already!) its very likely that the increased cals this week would cause some short term stall and likely to start going down again next week.

I am shorter than you OP, 5'2, and lost >30 lbs in just about a year eating between 1600-1900 cals. For me, the slower rate of loss meant that I never felt deprived and it made the transition to maintenance relatively easy. 1 lb/week is the perfect goal for you with about 40 more lbs to lose, and after you lose 20 of those you should probably change it again to 0.5 lb/week.

In the meantime, enjoy the extra food!

loulouowens

Wow more replies! Thank you such helpful positive replies x

Still sticking with the higher cal of 1540 did a long walk today tracked with map my walk and it says I earned 600cals, I take this with a pinch of salt I think they give you way too high cal burn, but I may use 100 of those tonight for a bit of ice cream I've been craving, taking my cals to 1640 today x

loulouowens

Hi All

Just thought I would give you a quick update, I've been eating at the higher calorie amount of 1500. i got weighed today and have lost 4lb! YAY

So there was no need for me to worry, I have been doing a lot of walking, but im feeling so much better on this amount, and i have more energy than before.

so just Thank you to everyone again for your support. Total loss now is 70lb

jemhh

loulouowens wrote: »

Hi All

Just thought I would give you a quick update, I've been eating at the higher calorie amount of 1500. i got weighed today and have lost 4lb! YAY

So there was no need for me to worry, I have been doing a lot of walking, but im feeling so much better on this amount, and i have more energy than before.

so just Thank you to everyone again for your support. Total loss now is 70lb

Good work, OP.

VintageFeline

I'm so glad you trusted the process and are seeing exactly the losses you were hoping for! Sometimes it is easy to panic when increasing calories during the losing phase and then the increase in food in the gut looks to stall progress and more panic. But you've shown you just have to keep being consistent and all will come out in the wash in the end.