269lbs! Wheres my drop and taper? Suggestions plz?

Prud3nc3

Ok so only been at this for 4 weeks, trying to maintain muscle and drop fat.
Started at 269 and now i'm 259 in 4 weeks. some say great...but i dont think its so impressive for my size and the amount i need to drop considering in the past i've dropped triple in less time (gained that back tho)
MON-FRI
i eat between 1000-1350 cals a day averaging to 1150cals.. i do 20 mins interval cardio on the deadly treadly mill or 25mins dance/hip hop and a 25min Michelle bridges resistance bands dvd ( i already broke the weakest band by trying to get too much resistance lol) I don't eat extra cals from exercise ...

I have a full time desk job 9-5, i'm a Mum of 1x4yr old boy and I study too.
Wake up at 5am,exercise, breakfast get ready, drop my son off at daycare, get to work early to study, get home by 6pm organize the next day, do dinner, showers get lil man to bed 7:30pm study for a bit, bed at 9:30pm
my days m-f are full.

SAT and SUN..
Don't exercise, but we are out and about enjoying being our little family.
I eat more...1500-1800cals we usually have lunch out..
im trying to make life changes.
Also I want to maintain muscle, and lose fat... so i don't end up resembling a bowl of jelly :P
Any tweaks/suggestions?
Was thinking of changing my Tuesday and Thursday cals to 600 to balance out the weekend...break it up because i dont want my metab to slowdown with constant low cals..??

I guess I'm surprised? i'm at what should be a high deficit but not loosing much and being as overweight as I am, i guess I expected more?

Cammy_girl

10 pounds is still a pretty good effort. I have a bit more to lose than you, and I was pretty happy with 5 pounds in two weeks...

Definitely DO NOT go to 600 cal a day at all. This is way too low!

The possible issue is that you are eating pretty low calories during the week, you are not actually that much over on the weekend. You really shouldn't go below 1200 on average. I would suggest trying between 1200 - 1400 during the week, if you really don't want to go too high.
What is MFP suggesting? if it's around 1400, you could safely eat 1500 a day on the weekend and stay between 1300-1400 during the week and still be under calories.

Also, are the amounts you are listing net calories, or not taking into account exercise? If they are before exercise, you would end up having less than 1000, which is waaaay too low for your weight.The 2lbs a week loss is already worked out on MFP in your daily calorie target, so most of your exercise calories should be eaten back. Unfortunately eating less or exercising more doesn't necessarily mean you will lose much quicker.

Hope this makes sense.
Feel free to add me as a friend

born2drum

Sorry to burst your bubble but 10lbs and S***. You wont notice a big difference till you get under 225. You're pretty big. Not sure if you're a male of female but it seems to me that you are in in a huge deficit that will end up sabotaging your goals because it's unsustainable for a long period of time.

Keep going.

Willbenchforcupcakes

Sorry to burst your bubble but 10lbs and S***. You wont notice a big difference till you get under 225. You're pretty big. Not sure if you're a male of female but it seems to me that you are in in a huge deficit that will end up sabotaging your goals because it's unsustainable for a long period of time.

Keep going.

This. So much this

KeepGoingKylene

Eat more! Definately not enough!!

michellekicks

If you want to drop weight quickly, keep going... but a good portion will come from lean mass.

If you want to retain muscle, reduce your deficit i.e. eat more food, keep protein intake to over 1g/day per pound of lean body mass and do a full body weight lifting routine 3x/week with a deficit of maybe 20% from your TDEE.

And track accurately. Everything.

Prud3nc3

I'm Female..
Eat more?
mfp says i should eat 1350cals a day. use to do WW and lost 44lbs in 8weeks of course that was unsustainable and ends up i was eating even less then..

I eat roughly 1200cals a day in total, no i don't eat back my burnt cals from exercise...
I eat more on the weekend to maintain / sustain just in case i feel like a treat or have a social drink or 2.

So you all think i should be eating more.. so if i eat 1350 like mfp suggested and when i exercise i eat those burnt calories back...i will still lose weight because mpf has calculated me to loose 2.2lbs a week as per my initial request when i started?

And i guess as i'm going more weight/resistance training then cardio only, i should expect my loss to be slower because im not dropping muscle as well as fat?

michellekicks

I'm Female..
Eat more?
mfp says i should eat 1350cals a day. use to do WW and lost 44lbs in 8weeks of course that was unsustainable and ends up i was eating even less then..

I eat roughly 1200cals a day in total, no i don't eat back my burnt cals from exercise...
I eat more on the weekend to maintain / sustain just in case i feel like a treat or have a social drink or 2.

So you all think i should be eating more.. so if i eat 1350 like mfp suggested and when i exercise i eat those burnt calories back...i will still lose weight because mpf has calculated me to loose 2.2lbs a week as per my initial request when i started?

And i guess as i'm going more weight/resistance training then cardio only, i should expect my loss to be slower because im not dropping muscle as well as fat?

If MFP gave you a target of 1350 for a loss of 2 lbs/week, it is assuming you are burning about 2350 calories daily WITHOUT any exercise. So it has an automatic 1000 calorie daily deficit built right in. So if you exercise and burn, say, another 300 calories, you eat those in addition to the 1350 in order to continue to maintain a daily deficit of 1000 calories. Now, even if you go over, and you eat 1850 calories daily plus all your exercise calories, you're still set up to lose 1 lb/week. 1000 calories is quite a steep deficit. So yeah... eat more than 1200 if you don't want a decent portion of your weight loss (in my experience, around 25%) to come from lean mass.

Prud3nc3

How do i work out my lean body mass? over a gram of protein per pound?.. that blows me away!
Any suggestions on some good proteins that are not too high in cals?
I really think weights are the way to go for me but don't have a hell of a lot experience in them.. can u suggest any dvd i can do at home or any info i can read up on to see what i need it get?

michellekicks

How do i work out my lean body mass? over a gram of protein per pound?.. that blows me away!
Any suggestions on some good proteins that are not too high in cals?
I really think weights are the way to go for me but don't have a hell of a lot experience in them.. can u suggest any dvd i can do at home or any info i can read up on to see what i need it get?

You can just estimate your protein needs by aiming for 1g/day per pound of your goal weight... that will be a touch higher than you need, but still beneficial.

My protein sources:
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
Ground chicken breast
Canned tuna (any kind of fish, really)
Cottage Cheese
Greek Yogurt
Eggs & Egg Whites
Whey powder
Protein Bars

KeepGoingKylene

I'm Female..
Eat more?
mfp says i should eat 1350cals a day. use to do WW and lost 44lbs in 8weeks of course that was unsustainable and ends up i was eating even less then..

I eat roughly 1200cals a day in total, no i don't eat back my burnt cals from exercise...
I eat more on the weekend to maintain / sustain just in case i feel like a treat or have a social drink or 2.

So you all think i should be eating more.. so if i eat 1350 like mfp suggested and when i exercise i eat those burnt calories back...i will still lose weight because mpf has calculated me to loose 2.2lbs a week as per my initial request when i started?

And i guess as i'm going more weight/resistance training then cardio only, i should expect my loss to be slower because im not dropping muscle as well as fat?

mfp is expecting that you will eat your exercise calories back. So yes definately eat more!
Not sure your height, I'm 5'3", but I started at 270lbs as well and I eat an average of 1800 per day.
Good luck on your journey!

WBB55

A long term deficit of more than 1000 calories/day on average is counterproductive. In one month, meh. Maybe no long-term effects. But if you lose 10# per month for a year, you're setting yourself up for longterm health problems.

4 surgeries later including bone grafts, I learned the hard way about this. #LFMF

00NL

What is your height ??
eat a bit more..
600 No!!
be patient
this time lose it to not gain it back.

Prud3nc3

almost 5.6ft
yes i didn't understand that mfp had already calculated in a loss, so i have started slowly bumping my cals back up

Been eating more quinoa, has heaps of protein and very filling! .. i always go over on fmp recommended amount of protein but try to stay just under in everything else.

And your right 120LNB i need to be more patient because I want to do it the right way, lose and not gain back this time!

Mr_Knight

I guess I'm surprised? i'm at what should be a high deficit but not loosing much and being as overweight as I am, i guess I expected more?

Need more details, like how much you need to lose, etc. That said, assuming you are an average-height female, your BMR is going to be around 1300 and from your description your TDEE should be around 2000-2200. In that case, you are running a deficit of less than 1000 calories a day, which is less than 2 pounds/week. So if we back out the initial water weight, it sounds like you're right on schedule.

michellekicks

I guess I'm surprised? i'm at what should be a high deficit but not loosing much and being as overweight as I am, i guess I expected more?

Need more details, like how much you need to lose, etc. That said, assuming you are an average-height female, your BMR is going to be around 1300 and from your description your TDEE should be around 2000-2200. In that case, you are running a deficit of less than 1000 calories a day, which is less than 2 pounds/week. So if we back out the initial water weight, it sounds like you're right on schedule.

She is 259 lbs and 31 years of age. Even if she's only 5'0" with 1-3 hours of light exercise weekly her TDEE is about 2500 calories. If she is 5'8" and her exercise is closer to 3-5 hrs moderate intensity, her estimated TDEE is as high as 3000 calories/day.

Mr_Knight

I guess I'm surprised? i'm at what should be a high deficit but not loosing much and being as overweight as I am, i guess I expected more?

Need more details, like how much you need to lose, etc. That said, assuming you are an average-height female, your BMR is going to be around 1300 and from your description your TDEE should be around 2000-2200. In that case, you are running a deficit of less than 1000 calories a day, which is less than 2 pounds/week. So if we back out the initial water weight, it sounds like you're right on schedule.

She is 259 lbs and 31 years of age. Even if she's only 5'0" with 1-3 hours of light exercise weekly her TDEE is about 2500 calories. If she is 5'8" and her exercise is closer to 3-5 hrs moderate intensity, her estimated TDEE is as high as 3000 calories/day.

I disagree.

At 269 she is over 50% BF for sure. Probably 60%, which would be the amount of LBM necessary to get to 135 and 20% BF. K-D calc over at IIFYM gives BMR of 1400ish and sedentary TDEE under 1800.

tmauck4472

10 pounds is still a pretty good effort. I have a bit more to lose than you, and I was pretty happy with 5 pounds in two weeks...

Definitely DO NOT go to 600 cal a day at all. This is way too low!

The possible issue is that you are eating pretty low calories during the week, you are not actually that much over on the weekend. You really shouldn't go below 1200 on average. I would suggest trying between 1200 - 1400 during the week, if you really don't want to go too high.
What is MFP suggesting? if it's around 1400, you could safely eat 1500 a day on the weekend and stay between 1300-1400 during the week and still be under calories.

Also, are the amounts you are listing net calories, or not taking into account exercise? If they are before exercise, you would end up having less than 1000, which is waaaay too low for your weight.The 2lbs a week loss is already worked out on MFP in your daily calorie target, so most of your exercise calories should be eaten back. Unfortunately eating less or exercising more doesn't necessarily mean you will lose much quicker.

Hope this makes sense.
Feel free to add me as a friend

Two days a week at 600 will NOT hurt her. SMDH

sinyingying

Well, firstly, That's a good start. 2nd, No diet lasts forever. Good thing you gave yourself 2 days off your overly-strict diet. No matter what, you should eat more. Remember, the heavier we are, the more calories we burn during exercise. I suggest you drink more water instead, include more protein, less fats, sugar,carbs. Might want to consider 1,200 Kcal per day? Eating so little will slow down your metabolism!

Mr_Knight

Remember, the heavier we are, the more calories we burn during exercise.

This is incorrect.

vwbug86

If your goals are to lose fat and keep muscle your deficit can not be more than 2lbs per week.

While you have lost weight quickly in the past you have gained it all back. That is because you where eating to little and when you stopped starving yourself all the weight came back.

Mr_Knight

If your goals are to lose fat and keep muscle your deficit can not be more than 2lbs per week.

This isn't correct, either, for people with large amounts of weight to lose.

CyberEd312

If your goals are to lose fat and keep muscle your deficit can not be more than 2lbs per week.

This isn't correct, either, for people with large amounts of weight to lose.

So your belief is the heavy you are then forget the 1-2 lbs. a week?? Why the rush???

CyberEd312

Remember, the heavier we are, the more calories we burn during exercise.

This is incorrect.

Please explain.... When I was over 500 lbs, I could easily burn 1000 calories in under 60 minutes, 312 lbs lighter now that same 1000 calories takes closer to 90 minutes.........

acogg

Remember, the heavier we are, the more calories we burn during exercise.

This is incorrect.

How can that be incorrect? OP is doing the equivalent of carrying 140 pounds of resistance in every move. One of my female MFP friends has lost a hundred pounds in a year eating 1000 calories per day, consistently. She is not wasted down to nothing except fat. Her lean mass has survived! Phew!

czechwolf52

You need to eat more. I'm only 5'2 and almost 130 lighter than you and I can eat 1500 a day without exercising and lose weight. If you're eating less than 1200 calories a day (which is a big no-no, unless you're doing 5:2) then you need to eat back your exercise calories.

You're also just in your first month, and things can always be whacky when you first start something. Give it some more time. Try thinking of your loss in another way. If you kept on losing 2.5 lbs per week, you would lose 130 pounds a year, that's a lot of weight! Wait until you've lost about 10-15% of your original weight, you'll see a difference. In the mean time, just try to log as accurately as possible and eat back your exercise calories.

neanderthin

Remember, the heavier we are, the more calories we burn during exercise.

This is incorrect.

Please explain.... When I was over 500 lbs, I could easily burn 1000 calories in under 60 minutes, 312 lbs lighter now that same 1000 calories takes closer to 90 minutes.........

I had no idea what your journey was about.....nice work Ed.

czechwolf52

Remember, the heavier we are, the more calories we burn during exercise.

This is incorrect.

How is this incorrect? My dad weighs 90 pounds more than me and he can burn a lot more calories than I can doing the same exercise at the same pace.