I am stuck!

gabrielleelliott90

Hey guys. I just want to quickly go through my bg. I'm Gabby, 21, from England, 5'3. Two years ago from being quite skinny I ended up at 180.5lb. I decided to join slimming world, which is a weight loss club consisting of 300 calories of junk food and the rest unlimited healthy eating- lean meats, veg, fruit. I got down to 155lb, then I quit, as it was not that cheap - I didn't stay for the group when I went for once a week because I'd have hardly anything to eat so I could get an accurate weight on their special, really expensive scales. I was basically paying to weigh on the scales- nearly £5 for that one day per week.

I decided to join MFP. It worked well for me for awhile- I have lost 12lb. I weigh once a week on my home scales and I've lost half a lb when I looked today. I have found my TDEE and BMR. And for me to have maximum of 5-10lb to lose it has put me at 1522 calories a day. I only have 5lb to lose now to get to my goal weight of 143lb. I aim to get there before my 22nd birthday on October 6th. However, eating 1522 calories a day when compared to a similar amount on MFP, will only allow me to lose half a lb per week. To me, it has to be more.

I volunteer in a charity shop twice a week, and with walking around in there, walking up and downstairs, putting bric a brac on shelves, putting clothes and taking off clothes on racks and also having an hour break where I walk around town, does burn quite a few calories. So those days I eat at maintenance calories which is 1760, as I don't track my calories those days- unfortunately my fitbit flex died on me a few months back, and I'm not trusting my cheap £5 activity tracker, and I can't use my phone as not allowed- that also most likely would not be accurate. The rest of the week I want to eat 1200 calories, but I've tried numerous times to eat 1200 calories and stuck to it for a few days, but as I'm a calorie switcher, meaning I switch the amount depending on the day and also if I've run out of calories and cba to exercise, I may up it. But I try not to. I am also terrified of undereating some days, so that contributes to me switching it up too.

Basically, I just want to get to my goal weight before October 6th, but it's been really hard for me to lose weight recently, apart from 0.5lb. And I just do not know what to do. Please be nice as I have not got good self-esteem or confidence, and I just really need help.

ana3067

If you only have 5lbs to lose, then a 20% deficit from your TDEE is just too aggressive. Give your body a break, maybe eat at your maintenance/TDEE for a few days to a week and then cut down to a 10 or 15% deficit (if the 15% still seems like too few calories then go to 10%). You may not reach your goal as early as you'd like, but mentally and physically it will be much easier on you.

Have you recalculated your TDEE since you've lost weight? I like exrx.net and scoobysworkshop. The former lets you input hours spent doing certain types of activities, so that might be helpful to give you an idea of where you should be eating. I find that exrx.net estimates a bit lower too, but it's probably more accurate than many of the standard drop-down TDEE websites which will estimate up to 200 calories more for me.

Do you use TDEE then or do you use MFP's net method of eating back exercise calories? If you put in yuor own calorie goal then I'd say stick to your TDEE-10 or 15% and do that daily. Your TDEE is an estimate of your average weekly activity anyways, so you should be trying to account for your more active and less active days when calculating your TDEE.

mandez19

I don't think you need help. You seem to have everything perfectly under control. Keep eating more on days with more activity. Just eat healthy, drink lots of water and be happy. It wont be the end of the world if you don't reach 143 lbs on your birthday.

Also, think about the weeks after your birthday. If you stress yourself out for the next 6 weeks trying to hit a number on a scale you might have a problem transitioning into a successful maintenance plan.

You look great.

gabrielleelliott90

@ ana3067 No I haven't since I lost half a pound. Probably will do later after I come back from volunteering. I use MFP's calories for maintenance on a day like today when I have no way of knowing how many calories I've burnt, so I just eat 1760. The other days I will put in how many calories I burnt when I'm doing proper exercise. I don't tend to use MFP's version of calories burnt as I have been told they are higher than they should be. I use my phone on those days to track my calories burnt. I know I said in my original post that I don't use it for walking usually but for other exercise it seems pretty accurate. Thank you.

@mandez19 Thanks very much. I will take your advice into heed. You are right, it won't be the end of the world, I'm an alright weight right now I guess