Help deciphering my calorie goal using my stats

lucycw87

Hi all,

I've been focusing more on calories/exercise since the 10th January, so 8 weeks. In that time I've lost 5lbs, but have stayed the same for the past three weeks. I've sat down and worked out all my calories for the entire period (excluding one week where I went away for the weekend for my boyfriend's birthday so there was a day where I couldn't log as we went to an all you can eat buffet!) and need some guidance as to deciphering the stats and where my calories should be sitting (ideally using TDEE method).

As an aside, I started at 162lbs, currently at 157lbs, am 5'5, female, 26. Fat 2 Fit puts my BMR at 1522 calories. To maintain at sedentary - 1826 cals, lightly active - 2093 cals, moderately active - 2359 cals. Therefore I'm working on the basis that lightly active minus 20% is 1674 cals and moderately active minus 20% is 1887 cals and trying to eat between these figures.

I started off running for 30 minutes 3x a week but have since progressed to doing either running or kickboxing/plyometrics/high intensity type workouts for 30 minutes 5x a week. My HRM says that I burn between 250-300 calories for 30 minutes. I also have a fitbit which calculates extra calories (above sedentary) for daily movement.

Here are the stats:
10th Jan - 17th Jan
Average 1808 cals per day
91 minutes of exercise (1379 cals burned including exercise and extra daily activity (fitbit) above sedentary)
Loss of 1.25lbs

24th Jan - 30th Jan
Average 1613 cals per day
74 minutes of exercise (1353 cals burned including exercise and extra daily activity (fitbit) above sedentary)
Loss of 1.2lbs

31st Jan - 6th Feb
Average 1615 cals per day
121 minutes of exercise (2217 cals burned including exercise and extra daily activity (fitbit) above sedentary)
Loss of 0lbs

7th - 13th Feb
Average 1662 cals per day
124 minutes of exercise (2291 cals burned including exercise and extra daily activity (fitbit) above sedentary)
Loss of 1.75lbs

14th - 20th Feb
Average 1710 cals per day
144 minutes of exercise (2084 cals burned including exercise and extra daily activity (fitbit) above sedentary)
Loss of 0lbs

21st - 27th Feb
Average 1738 cals per day
215 minutes of exercise (2694 cals burned including exercise and extra daily activity (fitbit) above sedentary)
Gain of 0.25lbs

28th Feb - 6th March
Average 1717 cals per day
158 minutes of exercise (2056 cals burned including exercise and extra daily activity (fitbit) above sedentary)
Loss of 0.25lbs (gained last week)

Should I be upping or lowering my calories? I have lost some inches in terms of measurement, but this was more noticeable during the first 4 weeks than the last 4 weeks (I don't know if this is normal, or whether it's linked to my slowed loss).
Or should I just start ignoring the scales and stick with what I'm doing?

Thanks in advance for your help :-)

SezxyStef

do you weigh your food? measure liquids...

and have you taken measurments? taken pics for comparison?

I often take measurment (inches lost) over lbs lost as the indicator I am doing what I need to do.

editorgrrl

You only have 10 lb. to lose. Set your goal to .5 lb. per week, and be patient.

Log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly. Weigh your food. Give it two weeks, then reevaluate. If you're still not losing, eat back half your exercise calories.

Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

WBB55

It looks like everything is going fairly predictable.

If your TDEE is 2000 ish. And you're eating 1750 ish. And you're losing on average 0.5-0.6 ish per week, on average.... Seems to me like you're on track.

Keep it up!