Can we talk it out together?

thisPGHlife

My body doesn't seem to want to level off as far as weight loss rate. I am continuing to lose too quickly. I noticed a dip in my week to week for about two weeks, but overall my rate of loss is still too steep.

I have it set to lose two pounds per week which would be ok since I started my journey at 272.5 lbs and I'm currently still in the 230s. However, my rate of loss over 4-6 well increments still ends up being 2.5-3 pounds per week. With the two week dip it was still only down to about 2.2 average. The two week dip was, as best as I can tell, from adding in a small amount of processed carbs in the form of bagel thins for the iron. I'm assuming the extra carbs and sodium caused some water weight mask because my calories and exercise were consistent. I know to most people this would seem like a silly problem to have since I still have a lot of weight to lose (goal is 125 but may be happier at 130-140 with recomp). I didn't start getting too concerned until the last week or two when it's becoming more significantly over the 1% of my bodyweight. I log everything and I use my digital scale for everything, including pre packaged food with a barcode (stupid bagel thins, weighing more than what the package says they should. 😁).

I was originally eating back about 75% of my exercise calories but bumped it to 100 and even allow myself up to an extra 100 calories on the day after my workout if it was particularly intense. After this week's loss of 4.5 pounds, MFP dropped me from 1460 to 1430 calories. My personal cut off is around 1360 so I'm not into the personal unliveable territory. I guess what I want to discuss is what I feel like are my three best options.

1. Continue to let MFP set my goal, eat back 100% of exercise calories, and mentally tack on an extra 60 calories per day that I'm able to eat. (This one I like the least only because I would still be logging all of my food and part of me doesn't like seeing the negative number. But, I've done it and been ok so not totally out of the realm of possibility.)


2. Set my own calorie goal which increases my daily intake by about 60 calories and continue to eat 100% of exercise calories. I'm not sure if this one would totally work because I don't know if MFP will eliminate 60 of my exercise calories because I've already included them in my daily intake.

3. Change my settings to lose 1.5 per week and eat back 75% of exercise calories and increase to 100% if rate continues to be too fast after 4-6 weeks. I'm ok with this one in theory. While I would be ok to drop down to losing 1.5 pounds per week a little early, I also don't want to cut myself short. I still feel happy and satisfied with a lower calorie goal so to drop below the 1% bodyweight feels a little like I'm holding myself back unnecessarily. But, I also know that my current rate is not sustainable and is unhealthy with possible serious complications.

I just want to try and get myself to the 1% of bodyweight loss as healthily as possible, both mentally and physically. I would like to get this resolved as soon as possible since I also haven't been doing as much physical activity as I would like and I want to have a plan in place before I bump up my workouts. I would love to hear input on my options. Or, if someone has an option that I haven't thought of, I would love to hear it.

Thanks in advance for the input!

annaskiski

How tall are you? Honestly, the heavier you are, the quicker it will come off. 2-3 lbs/week may not be that bad. You will likely level off as you get closer to goal.

That said, if you're hungry, you can bump your calories a bit. (You can set your own calorie limit, was confused by your number 2). MFP won't 'take back' any exercise calories (well, unless you've set your activity setting above sedentary, and then your fitness tracker says that you're not). MFP gives you an initial target to start with, but if you're not losing/losing too fast, just adjust it.

Honestly, you may be overthinking this....

kimny72

I think any of those choices is fine, it's all about what makes the most sense to your brain

The MFP goal is just an estimate, I know several veterans who say their calorie needs are actually slightly higher than what MFP gives them.

If it was me, I would start out aiming for a -60 at the end of the day. But that's what would make the voices inside my head happy. I don't think if you were to manually set your calories that it would mess with the exercise adjustment at all.

I think it's great that you are being so analytical about this at the outset, you are going to be so much better prepared when the going gets tough. That's the way I work through things too. Just don't let it throw you off track or get too lost in the weeds. Good luck!

AnnPT77

Another option would be to lie to the app ( ), set your activity level one level higher than your actual daily life merits, and see how many calories that gives you. I did that for a while, as a convenience. (Well, actually, I set it two levels higher than reality, active (not lightly active) instead of sedentary, because MFP seriously underestimated my calorie requirements).

Any of the options are fine. Just pick the one that's easiest for you.

Once you have 4-6 weeks' results from careful logging, it makes sense to use those results to set your goals, and ignore MFP's estimate. It really, really is just an estimate, close for most people but further wrong for a few, and is really only a starting point until you have enough data of your own to work from.

thisPGHlife

Thanks for the input y'all.