2lbs a week when less than 10lbs to lose

stanmann571

Verdenal wrote: »

Current popular theories include: The body needs fewer calories as weight is lost.* The body adopts a new setpoint for weight after weight loss and tries to return to it.** A body that has lost a significant amount of weight believes it has been starved and slows down the metabolism to retain weight. ***

* Yes, a lighter person uses fewer calories than a heavier one(fact not theory)
** That's psychological not physiological... behavioral not metabolic
*** Starved? NO!! Does sustained metabolic deprivation result in a lower(or much lower) TDEE for someone who has recently gotten to 160 from 260 than someone who has been at 160 for months or years? Yes!!! But it takes months to accumulate a notable decrease. Not days or weeks. For extreme dieting, it can take weeks or months to recover... for normal dieting/reasonable, days normally

HardcoreP0rk

GrumpyHeadmistress wrote: »

I think I'll leave a calories at 1200 but keep an eye on it. If I'm still losing rapidly (on average over a period) I'll up the calories based on MFP's recommendation for a 1lb or 0.5lb loss.

Thanks for the advice!

I'm roughly in the same boat as you. I was around 130, wanted to get to 120. I'm 34 and 5' 4"

I think if you stick at 1200 you'll be ok. I would just say that if you're doing a lot of intense cardio, don't cut your carbs too short. Your performance will suffer and you'll feel terrible.

I've noticed that at 1200 I have to eat ridiculously "clean" to get all the nutrients I need for my training and stay well within calorie goals.

GrumpyHeadmistress

WinoGelato wrote: »

GrumpyHeadmistress wrote: »

WinoGelato wrote: »

GrumpyHeadmistress wrote: »

WinoGelato wrote: »

In addition to concerns about losing lean body mass when you are already close to goal, you don't seem to be considering how you are going to transition into maintenance when you do lose the remaining weight to achieve your goal. Many people find that adding back in calories can be challenging if they were eating at a large deficit for a long period of time, and the thought of finding 1000 extra calories/day can be kind of daunting. Another reason to slow weight loss first to 1lb/week, then to 0.5 lb/week, is to make that transition a bit smoother and in my opinion, more sustainable.

Very true. I did really struggle eating at maintenance because it seemed so many calories. I was much happier when I switched back to 1200.

I think next time I'll add calories back in slowly rather than jumping straight to my final figure.

You seem really fixated on wanting to have a 1200 cal target, uncomfortable with a goal that is higher and more appropriate for you. Why are you aiming for the minimum recommended for women, which isn't appropriate for those who are active, not extremely petite, etc? Why continue to push for a 2 lb/week loss when people have given you several reasons why this isn't a good idea for you?

Thanks. Based on recommendations I've dropped my goal to losing 0.5lb a week. It's only upped my calories to 1360 but at least it's an extra 160 a day.

If you are consistently losing 2 lbs/week eating 1200 + exercise calories then you are currently at a 1000 cal deficit from your TDEE (for the total amount you are eating, not the net 1200). You mentioned above that maybe your TDEE is higher than you thought, or higher than calculators would predict. I am in a similar situation, I'm 5'2 and 118, over 40 with a desk job, but because I'm active (averaging 15K steps/day in addition to some light strength training) my TDEE according to my FitBit (and my results bear this) is 2200/day. Calculators put someone petite like me, choosing a sedentary activity level (which I don't do because I know I'm not) because of my desk job at around 1700 for maintenance.

So I would use your actual results and calculate your TDEE and then an appropriate deficit from that. How much weight have you lost total, and over what period of time?

Increasing to 1360 is not going to slow your rate of loss down significantly, so I would disregard what the MFP recommendations are and go with your actual results, adding back in calories slowly so as not to overwhelm your body (and your mind since you said you had some mental struggles with that previously) and once you stop losing then stick with that number for a while to confirm that really is your TDEE/maintenance calories. By the time you find that sweet spot, you'll probably have lost the 10 lbs and, as suggested above, perhaps recomp is another goal to focus on rather than losing additional scale weight.

Good plan. I'll gradually ease it up so as not to freak out again.

GrumpyHeadmistress

HardcoreP0rk wrote: »

GrumpyHeadmistress wrote: »

I know the received wisdom is that when you've only got a small amount left to lose you should aim for 0.5lbs a week. But why? Is there any science behind the idea?

I've got 9.4lbs to go and am happy on my 1200kcal at 2 lbs a week. Am i endangering lean muscle mass if I don't increase my calories?

So...You have a 7000 kcal deficit per week?

Apparently so.