Am I eating the right number of calories?

Piqueaboo
Piqueaboo Posts: 1,193 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been on this forum for a few years now, a few years ago I successfully lost around 80lbs but then re-gained some, I'm now working on getting to my goal weight (SW 249, CW 192, GW 143).

I'm struggling with my weight loss recently, I "re-started properly" during confinement but the weight has been moving very slowly compared to what I knew before - maybe this is normal, maybe not, hence the post today. I need some advice.

MFP put me on 1200 calories a day, but when I used TDEE calculator I entered by fat percentage (I have a Lidl scale that gave me 46%) it says I should be on 1163 per day. I stick with this most of the time, I don't log exercise on MFP but have a Fitbit, so if I go over my calories it should be compensated by my exercise calories as it's always around or less than half of the calories my Fitbit indicates.

What I do:
  • I weigh all my food
  • I drink 3 litres of water every day
  • Sleep is an average of 6 hours per night
  • I work out 6-7 days a week, 3 days bodyweight training (Kayla Itsines), 3 days cardio (average 30 - 40 minutes running each time)
  • On average I burn 300 - 400 calories from sports a day (Fitbit calculation)
  • I walk 8000 - 12000 steps per day

Here are my stats:
  • Female
  • 192lbs / 87kg
  • 46% bodyfat
  • 5`7 / 174cm

My most recent start weight was 204 - when I started working out as defined above - on March 29th, so I should lose around 2lbs per week, but now, 12 weeks later, I'm at 192 and the weight fluctuations are real and I'm concerned I'm doing something wrong.

Any help/advice is appreciated!



Replies

  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    If your body needs ~2163 calories daily (to maintain) then a 2 pound per week goal is too aggressive/not realistic based on your current stats. When your originally started at 249, your maintenance calories were higher. As we lose weight, our smaller bodies uses less energy so our deficit decreases somewhat.

    Congrats on the 12 pounds lost.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    I guess I should add...eat more than 1163.

    Reset your Goals to "Lose 1 pound per week."

    Log and eat more on Exercise days.

    I lost the last 30 pounds (I'm also 5'7") on 1500 PLUSEexercise cals. I'm older and retired so pretty sedentary.

    On exercise days (5 days per week) I was eating 1800-2000.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,941 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    I guess I should add...eat more than 1163.

    Reset your Goals to "Lose 1 pound per week."

    Log and eat more on Exercise days.

    I lost the last 30 pounds (I'm also 5'7") on 1500 PLUSEexercise cals. I'm older and retired so pretty sedentary.

    On exercise days (5 days per week) I was eating 1800-2000.

    What this cat with green stuff said!
    One more thing: make sure you track properly with a digital food scale and check the database entries for consistency. There are some real stinker entries in there.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,941 Member
    Awwwww! <3
  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    @yirara

    It's wheat grass! This was a kitten up on the countertop at the pet store. It was playing hide and seek and tipped over the display. :lol:

    So cute. :)

    116c2bded2739ca4cd179a1ab20115147b98.jpg

    Thank you for that explanation! I always “see” one of those funky LEGO trees when I look at it so now my brain can refocus :D

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