Need/Help Advice

chunksnorris

I just noticed I probably posted in the wrong Topic.

I started my diet on 7/20. One month I lost 28lbs. Got excited. I went to 1500 calories. One week later no loss. Stay determined. Now onto my second week at 1500 calories. Did my weight in and did not lose. Need some advice.

I'm 6 feet [≈ average height of a human] tall. I weighed in on 7/20 at 456lbs. Now 428lb. eating 1500 calories. I have 4oz meat and veggie breakfast. Vegetable soup for lunch. Lean cuisine, carrots and protein for dinner = 1500 calories a day. Its hard and 4 days a week I even bike for 30min.

Any time considering this would be greatly appreciated.

stacyhaddenham

Couple of questions, 1) How did you come by 1500 calories as your daily intake? 2) How many calories did you eat when you lost the 28 lbs?

needtoloseafewpounds

Have you started any type of new exercise as of recent?
Also sodium increase and/or inefficient water intake may affect your water retention.

Rayman79

I'm not at all surprised by the large weight loss you experienced, that was mostly water weight (though some of it will have been fat too). The fact that you have not lost any weight the following week is also pretty common. Weight loss is very seldom a linear process, you can go sometime with no movement on the scale, then a sudden drop of a few pounds.

The most obvious thing to note here is that you are probably eating too little. You could eat that much and do NO exercise, or add another 1000 calories per day to your diet and, at your current size you would still lose weight.

You can keep it at this level for a while IF YOU CHOOSE TO, but do you realistically think you can continue eating this way forever? Probably not - I'd wager that you are battling with hunger and cravings already! I completely understand you wanting to progress as quickly as possible but please try to take a longer term view. Having a reasonable intake every day and sticking to it will work a lot better than having a great diet for a month then being overrun by cravings and spiraling into a three week camp out at McDonalds. :laugh:

If I can impart a couple points for you to consider, they are:
1. Have a moderate deficit (rather than a huge one)
2. Start resistance training of some kind NOW (this will spare your muscle tissue and focus on FAT loss rather than weight loss). The scale may move a little slower but the results will be completely worth it - I can not stress this enough!
3. Find something that you can stick to - don't get caught up in diet meals and living on steamed veg & salad. Work in some of the food you enjoy, just not too much of it). If your diet is 80% wholesome foods and 20% treats, as long as it is within your caloric limits you will still lose weight - I guarantee it.

daftthoughts

I'm a 6'1" 265lbs female, and 1500 calories is WAY TOO LITTLE especially if you also exercise vigorously so often. You will experience serious health issues at your height and weight if you eat only 1500 calories a day. I'm eating approximately 1,800-2,000 a day (with the last week having been quite low due to female things) and am losing 1-2lbs a week.

It's best you calculate your BMR (the calories you'd burn if you were in a coma) and TDEE (the calories you burn daily when you get out of bed, do your thing during the day and go to bed at night). If you pick TDEE - 20% you will have what they call 'an aggressive weight loss plan'.

I used this site to help me:

http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

I calculated my TDEE as completely sedentary (because I really am, I mostly sit at my desk all day, every day), then divided the resulting calories by 100. Multiplied by 20. I subtracted the resulting number from my TDEE and that's the number I go by.

For example, this is my output from the calculator after I put in my data:

Your BMR is: 2082 CALORIES/DAY
Your TDEE is: 2498 CALORIES/DAY

I divide 2498 by 100 = 24.98 (which is 1%)
Multiply by 20 to get 20% = 499.6 calories
Subtract that from my TDEE = 2498 - 499 = 1999 calories a day.

I rounded it up to 2060 because psychologically this helps me to stick to this limit much better than a silly number like 1999, but this is quite a bit more than what MFP recommended to me. I feel a ton better, so don't get too caught up with the number MFP sets. I recommend you give the TDEE - 20% or -15% a go.

You can keep going with 1500 calories a day, but you'll probably feel very crappy in the long run. Your body will also adjust to getting less fuel and be more efficient, therefore burning less fat and muscle to get through the day. Increasing your fuel intake will benefit you greatly.