Losing weight/fat advice

ryanodonnell1942

Need some help please.

I’m 24, weight 76kg and am 5 foot 7. I’ve been on a strict 1500 calorie a day diet for the past month or so have managed to lost a stone but feel like I may have plateaued.

I’ve been reading online about TDEE and BMR and how eating too little can be damaging and want some advice. I calculated my BMR and got 1700 and my TDEE was 2700.

My question is how much should I eat to expect weight/fat loss? I work out 4/5 times a week, usually and am fairly active. I’m scared of increasing calories as I don’t want to put weight on. Any advice would be much appreciated.

janejellyroll

When you say you "feel" like you have plateaued, what does that mean exactly? You lost 11 pounds in a month, if I'm reading correctly. Nothing about that says plateau to me.

ryanodonnell1942

Hi Jane, when I say I feel like I’ve plateaued I mean weighed myself this week and where I’ve been losing weight constantly I stayed the same this week.

janejellyroll

ryanodonnell1942 wrote: »

Hi Jane, when I say I feel like I’ve plateaued I mean weighed myself this week and where I’ve been losing weight constantly I stayed the same this week.

It's completely normal to have weeks when you don't lose weight, especially when you've been losing weight rapidly (which you are). I do recommend you think about upping your calories though. Basically in weight loss, you want to find the amount that makes you lose without cutting back way too much on what you need. There are lots of reasons why you'd want to do this: it minimizes the risk of muscle loss, it makes weight loss much more pleasant, it helps you develop habits to maintain your weight loss once you're done, it helps make sure you're meeting your nutritional needs, it gives you more energy, etc. With you weighing 76k, you don't have a ton of weight to lose, so you can choose a deficit that is more moderate. If your TDEE is 2,700, I'd be looking at something like 2,200 calories a day or even 2,450. 2,200 would be a pound a week for someone with a TDEE of 2,700 and that's a very reasonable rate of loss.

ryanodonnell1942

janejellyroll wrote: »

ryanodonnell1942 wrote: »

Hi Jane, when I say I feel like I’ve plateaued I mean weighed myself this week and where I’ve been losing weight constantly I stayed the same this week.

It's completely normal to have weeks when you don't lose weight, especially when you've been losing weight rapidly (which you are). I do recommend you think about upping your calories though. Basically in weight loss, you want to find the amount that makes you lose without cutting back way too much on what you need. There are lots of reasons why you'd want to do this: it minimizes the risk of muscle loss, it makes weight loss much more pleasant, it helps you develop habits to maintain your weight loss once you're done, it helps make sure you're meeting your nutritional needs, it gives you more energy, etc. With you weighing 76k, you don't have a ton of weight to lose, so you can choose a deficit that is more moderate. If your TDEE is 2,700, I'd be looking at something like 2,200 calories a day or even 2,450. 2,200 would be a pound a week for someone with a TDEE of 2,700 and that's a very reasonable rate of loss.

Thank you for your response. Will definitely look at upping my calories!