Here's a question :)

kymm196

I have been on the plan for 50 days...for the first 30 days I stuck rigidly to the 1370 calories and lost 12 pounds.
The following 20 days I have dropped to 1200 calories and not stuck to 1370. And I have lost 1 measly pound.
So my question is.... is it advisable/best to actually partake of the amount calories it says... or cut a bit below?

People's experience is this situation would be helpful to read. Losing the will a bit!!!

Thanks in advance.

kommodevaran

It's best to eat the suggested calories, but for real. If you aren't dropping weight as expected, check 1) are your expectations too high, and 2) are you logging correctly.

Sunshine_And_Sand

Also, know that as you are getting closer to your goal, your rate of loss will slow down.

kymm196

Oh I'm no where near it. Another 28 pounds to go ideally 😊

thisPGHlife

Was there a reason to drop to 1200? Have you started moving less? Did you change your weight loss rate? If you started moving less, and it isn't because of an injury or illness, why did you start moving less? Did you arbitrarily drop yourself down to 1200 calories because you wanted to see even faster progress?

If you are eating fewer calories because you started moving less, and it's not because of injury or illness, I would ask yourself why. Moving more doesn't contribute to weight loss directly but it does have a correlation to health to a certain extent.

If you changed your weight loss rate, maybe ask yourself if that's an appropriate rate for you. Is there rate more than 1% of your body weight? That may not be the healthiest option and losing that quickly over a longer period of time can do more harm to your body than good.

The other thing to think about is that a portion of the first 12 pounds was water weight. Make sure to put your information into MFP accurately and choose a rate of loss that is healthy for you which is usually recommended to be at or below 1% of your body weight or 2 pounds per week. If you have less than 75 pounds to lose, it's recommended to be between 1 and 1.5 pounds per week. The last 20 or so pounds should be closer to .5 a pound the closer you get to goal.

Make sure your activity level is set at the right level and, if you have one, connect an activity tracker. With ALL of that information, MFP will calculate how many calories to eat per day. It's usually pretty good at figuring it out. Then stick to those calories. Don't think of it as something you have to be rigid about. You're creating a lifestyle for yourself and sometimes life happens. Stick to your calories 95% of the time and for the other 5% of the time, do your best but also forgive yourself.

The other price of this is making sure you are logging correctly. Are you logging EVERYTHING? You should be. Are you weighing it all? You should be. The caveat to that is liquids which, unless you have a scale that will measure fluid ounces, you can usually get away with using measuring cups and spoons. Also, make sure you are picking entries that are correct. For things that you can scan the barcode of, make sure to still weigh and then make sure that weight maybe the started weight per serving on the package. It might not and you may have to do some math to enter your serving size. Also, for the things you can't scan, make sure you actually look and are honest with yourself about whether the enter you are using is valid. You can compare the entry to the USDA website for nutritional value.

If you are doing that, you will lose. So either you are eating more calories than you think, which can happen if you aren't logging everything or aren't logging accurately. Or you changed something, like eating less and moving more, and your body reacted which takes patience to let your body normalize into the new routine. Three weeks isn't really a plateau and it can happen because of those changes or water weight, or because it's your TOM.

I don't know your stats (height, weight, age) so I don't know if 1200 is too low for you but if you entered everything correctly, I would go with what MFP gave you as far as calories and trust the process. I know this is long but I really hope you succeed. Part of that is filling your body so it has the energy to do everything you do in a day. And there will be times when it's frustrating and not linear. It's a struggle at first to find the balance and we all go through it to some extent at the beginning. I hope this helps.

88olds

13 lbs in 7 weeks is pretty good. Why did you cut your calories when you had a working plan?

kymm196

Because I was cycling a lot and then had a back injury and could barely move. So figured I'll drop them lower.
I'm pretty rigid about the recording etc. I go back to work tomorrow so will be moving more...thank Heavens!!

kommodevaran

kymm196 wrote: »

Oh I'm no where near it. Another 28 pounds to go ideally 😊

But you are closer than when you started. The maximum rate of loss drops as you lose weight.

GaleHawkins

kymm196 wrote: »

I have been on the plan for 50 days...for the first 30 days I stuck rigidly to the 1370 calories and lost 12 pounds.
The following 20 days I have dropped to 1200 calories and not stuck to 1370. And I have lost 1 measly pound.
So my question is.... is it advisable/best to actually partake of the amount calories it says... or cut a bit below?

People's experience is this situation would be helpful to read. Losing the will a bit!!!

Thanks in advance.

Why are you using MFP to tell you how many calories in the first place if you think their number is wrong? I do not think I have ever eaten less than 2000+ calories promoted by the USA authorities.

dejavuohlala

Why are you
Losing the will when you have done so well. That is an excellent loss, you will never continue to lose weight at the rate you do at first, if it were that easy we wouldn't need sites like this. Good luck

smolmaus

kymm196 wrote: »

Because I was cycling a lot and then had a back injury and could barely move. So figured I'll drop them lower.
I'm pretty rigid about the recording etc. I go back to work tomorrow so will be moving more...thank Heavens!!

If your body is trying to heal from an injury you will possibly be retaining more water which can mask fat loss. Once you get up and about again you might see a sudden difference in the scale.

Apart from that though, when you're trying to heal the last thing your body needs is a more aggressive deficit and 1200 is pretty aggressive. I would be doing the opposite and switching to sedentary maintenance if I was injured. We're all here generally trying to lose weight for a healthier body and a healthy body needs food and energy to properly repair itself.

sijomial

kymm196 wrote: »

is it advisable/best to actually partake of the amount calories it says... or cut a bit below?

The ideas of a goal is to hit the goal not undercut the goal.
Hope as a person who is normally "cycling a lot" you are eating back your exercise calories?

You were injured and your activity dropped so your total calorie burn dropped which slowed your weight loss, you may also have had some inflammation and associated water retention from the injury which may have masked some fat loss.
It shows the importance of being active though. The phrase relating to weight loss "eat less, move more" isn't just about dedicated exercise.

Well done on not actually gaining while injured, that's a success not a failure to lose more.

intrigame23

Maybe check how you're logging food. Are you logging everything? Are you weighing? Weighting is more accurate than using measuring cups. Example: 14 chips is the serving size but they're all broken. A slice of cheese is 70 calories but if its thicker, it could weigh more and be 140.

belladamjc

Stay the course!! Plateaus happen even early in the process, keep to your regimen and the results will come. It will be frustrating and difficult emotionally to maintain the motivation on a daily basis and setbacks will occur. Weight loss is like a distance race, trying to sprint (by dropping calories below the goal) may give you a short burst but it drains you and could be to your detriment in the longer term. Pace yourself, maintain a steady pace and know that in the long run you're succeeding. I think I've just broken through a 3 week flat period after 2 months of losses, so I'm not just feeding you a line.

jgnatca

I think it’s natural to expect extra losses from extra misery. But weight loss doesn’t work that way. I think you will see better results from your old routine.

WilmaValley

I agree, stay the course. It will happen.