Switched calories deficit to 1/2lb/wk

TXHunny84

When I first started on MFP I set my calorie goal at 2pounds/week and ate 1200 a day. I lost weight fast for a week which I was told was mostly water weight. I would measure my foods and eat back exercise calories just like the site said....I tried zig-zagging calories too but mostly my weight just bounced up and down around 4-5 pounds all week long for weeks. Since I only had like 15 pounds -ish to lose people kept saying I needed to up my cals but I was afraid I'd gain weight.... After trying for weeks to just eat 1200 NET cals I decided I needed to "trust MFP" and do as everyone here was saying and change my goal to a 1/2 a week which meant 1640 NET cals a day. I have been doing this a couple weeks now and have not seen my weight go down.....it actually went up!!?? Just as I was afraid it would.... Has anyone else had this happen? What did they do to fix it?... Is my body just adjusting to the new calorie intake and will go down 1/2 as it should...? I,m at that nervous point where I want to drastically cut calories again to se my weight go down. I've had eating disorders(anorexia and binging) off & on since I was 16 (which has now slowed my thyroid a LOT) and I want to over come it but when I see that I am gaining it's making it HARD not to revert back to my old ways....

MissMaryMac33

I have the same problem... 1200 seems too low and I think I'm in starvation mode... 1600 was too high... currently I'm trying a happy medium of 1400 and it seems to be a little better. I think finding your own magic number is just trial and error -- and lots of frustration! Guess I wasn't much help

lindsaylove07

Bump. I'm having this same issue. I went from 2 pounds a week and ate 1200, now I'm at 1.5 pounds a week loss, and eat 1320. I'm feeling better, but I haven't lost anything YET

Grimmerick

im gonna bump this for later

mckshowie

bump.

i haven't had success at any calorie attempt. started at 1200, tried 1300, am trying 1400... nothing. i just sit pretty at 138-140.

lauristewart

How much are you exercising? I would stick to 1400 to 1450 calories a day. I think that is a good medium and if you are exercising should give you enough calories to get through your workouts. That is what I did and have hit my goal weight, so I am gradually adding calories back in.

HoLLyZ82

hey hun. i recently upped mine from 1200 to 1400 and have since seen a 2lb drop. i wasnt losing anything for weeks. give it a couple weeks too. your body might be adjusting to the calorie intake. like someone had mentioned, its trial and error but you have to give it time to take effect. are you going off what your BB is telling you are burning?

Gsc122

what is "haven't lost anything yet". mean? How long? I've been losing weight for over a year now, and sometimes I'd run into a wall where I just don't lose weight for a week or two, even up to a month. Then all of a sudden I drop almost 10lbs.

Losing weight isn't a direct horizontal line downwards. There's water weight, ,muscle weight, waste, what time of the day you weigh your self, etc. etc.

Edit: Just recently joined MFP. The weight in my signature is just from when I joined. ;-) I used to be 330lbs.

HoLLyZ82

open up that diary woman

Rae6503

I'm at 0.5 pounds a week and losing, slowly but losing.

Try 1 pound a week, or up your exercise (and keep eating the calories). Or try to really pay attention to your ratios. I've got mine at 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein.

Don't weigh in so much. Once a week is good and then don't be upset by being up a pound or two. I've actually tracked my weight for the past year in excel. I have one series that plots all the little ups and downs and one that only tracks the downs. It's nice to see that red line do nothing but go down.

maureendonahue

My understanding is that your body needs to trust that it will be fed the right amount of fuel to keep it going. When we drastically reduce calories (and don't have a lot of weight to lose), the body holds on to those calories, just in case it may need them. So when you provide appropriate levels of fuel, it doesn't quite believe it will continue to be fed and hangs on for awhile. Once your body believes that food will continue to be provided appropriately, the weight will come off.

Keep eating the right foods, in the right amounts, and it will work.

Good luck!

mandeiko

I eat 1200, never eat back my exercise calories, and I've been losing 2 pounds almost every week! Granted, I do vigorous workouts every day, with no days off. Idk if this helps? Just sharing my experience.

Just promise you will not give up on us!! Stay strong and healthy!!

joejccva71

First of all (like I have posted in my threads), you must make sure:

1. Your MAINTENANCE per day is ACCURATE or is as accurate as humanly possible using different methods to find it. (Spend the money and buy a Bodybugg or Bodymedia FIT, it is worth the investment.)
2. You are eating at a 20%-40% calorie deficit under that maintenance level.
3. You are hitting your MACROS every day within your caloric intake that should be at that 20-40% deficit.
4. You are drinking ENOUGH water everyday. More water in = More water out = Less water retention.
5. You are NOT overtraining in the gym. Yes this means the folks that love to run 60 minutes on the treadmill 300 times a day.

Not trying to be sarcastic with #5 but seriously.

Also you have to give it more than just 1-2 weeks. Give it 4 weeks and if you don't see weight loss then you need to re-evaluate.

My opinion is that your maintenance level isn't correct, and above all your MACRO intake isn't where it should be.

For some odd reason, there are alot of people on this forum that think they need to have a TON of protein per day. To be quite honest, FAT intake is probably the most important macronutrient in regard to weight loss.

mikeyrp

How much and how often do you exercise... When I was loosing I had the following program...

Weights + 30 min CV 2x per week (aprox 600 cal)
Short run (5K -7K) once a week (Aprox 500 cal)
Long run (7K-10K) once a week (aprox 800 Cal)

Typically I ate back my 2/3 of my exercise calories. The day after my long run was always the day the scales moved.

Lesson: if you have one big CV day a week, it can have a really big impact.

SHBoss1673

You can't measure weight loss in terms of "weeks", especially when you're talking about small amounts to lose. 4 or 5 lbs is well within the range of daily fluctuation, give yourself 6 weeks to 2 months, if you don't lose by then, tweak by a few dozen calories, then give it another 6 to 8 weeks, check again, ...etc. There's no magic formula, you just have to trust yourself, and stick to the plan.

TXHunny84

hey hun. i recently upped mine from 1200 to 1400 and have since seen a 2lb drop. i wasnt losing anything for weeks. give it a couple weeks too. your body might be adjusting to the calorie intake. like someone had mentioned, its trial and error but you have to give it time to take effect. are you going off what your BB is telling you are burning?

Yep- I am going by both MFP and my BB....my bodybugg gives me a smaller calorie burn than mfp does so I usually change what MFP programs as my calorie burn to what my bodybug says....and eat that smaller amount of calories back. it's been a couple weeks now that's I have been doing this....nothing...and none of it is muscle believe me....my clothes are tighter....

How long would a body on average take to adjust to a new calorie intake?....anyone know?..

SHBoss1673

hey hun. i recently upped mine from 1200 to 1400 and have since seen a 2lb drop. i wasnt losing anything for weeks. give it a couple weeks too. your body might be adjusting to the calorie intake. like someone had mentioned, its trial and error but you have to give it time to take effect. are you going off what your BB is telling you are burning?

Yep- I am going by both MFP and my BB....my bodybugg gives me a smaller calorie burn than mfp does so I usually change what MFP programs as my calorie burn to what my bodybug says....and eat that smaller amount of calories back. it's been a couple weeks now that's I have been doing this....nothing...and none of it is muscle believe me....my clothes are tighter....

How long would a body on average take to adjust to a new calorie intake?....anyone know?..

depends a lot on you, each person is different, but generally anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks depending on the size of the change, calorie type, and body type.

joejccva71

TX how long have you been wearing the Bodybugg now? How many weeks/months? You wear it everyday I presume including weekends, yes?

mikeyrp

First of all (like I have posted in my threads), you must make sure:

1. Your MAINTENANCE per day is ACCURATE or is as accurate as humanly possible using different methods to find it. (Spend the money and buy a Bodybugg or Bodymedia FIT, it is worth the investment.)
2. You are eating at a 20%-40% calorie deficit under that maintenance level.
3. You are hitting your MACROS every day within your caloric intake that should be at that 20-40% deficit.

Agree!

4. You are drinking ENOUGH water everyday. More water in = More water out = Less water retention.

People over play this in my opinion: Water retention will impact your weight, but not your fat loss... so the scales will not be terribly accurate if your hydration levels are inconsistant but this really will not impact anything in the long run. This is not to say that hydration isn't important for general health - not least of all because it impacts your performance when you work out.

5. You are NOT overtraining in the gym. Yes this means the folks that love to run 60 minutes on the treadmill 300 times a day.

Not trying to be sarcastic with #5 but seriously.

Lets say that if you are doing more than 90 minutes if working out in a gym per day then your target should be to achieve competitive fitness, not to loose weight. Then again, walking and gardening and other low-impact exercise you can happily do all day and have great results... Biggest problem with over training is that it leads to injury and that is bad news because there is a chance you will not be able to do anything at all.

Also you have to give it more than just 1-2 weeks. Give it 4 weeks and if you don't see weight loss then you need to re-evaluate.

So true - even more for women than men: My own loss was inconsistent week to week but averaged out over time to look pretty linear. I would only change something if you are +4 weeks without change.

My opinion is that your maintenance level isn't correct, and above all your MACRO intake isn't where it should be.

For some odd reason, there are alot of people on this forum that think they need to have a TON of protein per day. To be quite honest, FAT intake is probably the most important macronutrient in regard to weight loss.

I have to call BS on this one: loosing fat is simply a question of calories in vs calories out. Again - not the same as being healthy - for that you need your macros. Protein makes you full and is really good for recovery after exercise - especially strength/bulking work.

TXHunny84

Do you think having a slower thyroid could be contributing to this?...

Joejccva71 I've had my bodybugg since early July and average 1900calories burned each day with out exercise and around 2200-2300 a day burned with exercise. I have my body bugg set to sedintary but had MFP set to lightly active since MFP says my maintenance cals would be 1890 and that's about what my bodybugg says.... According to MFP being a bank teller I should have it set to sedintary....but that was a lesser maintenance that my bodybugg was showing....??... oh- and yes I wear it ALL the time!!

melsinct

I think finding your own magic number is just trial and error -- and lots of frustration!

I completely agree. I rely on MFP to give me numbers to aim for and if they don't work for me, I change them. If you are gaining, slowly back down your calories and give your body a chance to adjust for a couple weeks before changing again. After I plateaued for two months it took a number of weeks with me fiddling with calorie numbers to find the "sweet spot" where I started losing again.