Adjusting daily cals

honu18

I've been doing this new lifestyle for about 6-7 weeks. Hit a plateau for the last 4..haven't lost. Pretty sure it's due to me not taking in enough cals and exercising too much for the amount I'm eating. Wanted to avoid starvation mode but don't think I have since I've been netting about 800-900 cals for the past few weeks. Want to increase my cals to at least start at netting 1,200 and then perhaps a little bit more to reduce the target loss to 0.5 to 1 lb a week. I think I've already gained a little bit of weight back, and would like to avoid doing so. How quickly should I slowly increase my net cals? Or should I try the zig zag method? (I got a start on this with my intake yesterday..haha)

LessMe2B

bump

abow29

Hi there,
If you don't mind me asking, how much do you weigh now and how much total weight have you lost up to now? If you have already lost a lot of weight (10/15/20 lbs) it is much harder to keep losing. If you have lost only a few pounds, I believe that switching up your diet and exercise plan should help a lot.
Also, it is important to consider what your starting point is: if you are trying to lose weight and you are already close to your "healthy weight," then it is much much harder to see results.
For example, I am a 5'5'' female and started out weighing 180 lbs. I am now down to 154 lbs, but the last 5 lbs have been extremely hard to get rid of. My ideal weight would be 120-125 lbs, and I am sure I will hit plateaus very frequently along the way.
In general, I do not adjust my daily calories with the exercise I put in (I usually consumer 200-500 calories/day exercising). I try to just take into account the foods I eat, and hope the exercise will give me an extra boost since I have a slow metabolism.
Also, have you tried cooking your own meals? For me it made a huge difference to give up restaurant food and start cooking healthier meals that I had more control over. Also, I make my own vegetable soups now, which have helped tremendously in keeping me full, especially at night.

honu18

I weigh approx 122 lbs now. I used to weigh about 140 but dropped about 13 about 8 months ago. But on this most recent bout of losing weight, I'm starting from 126/127 (My scale is not accurate at all..need a new one for sure..). I dropped the 3-4 pounds really quickly, like in the first 2 weeks, but have stopped since then. The goal is to get down to about 115. I don't have far to go and everyone keeps telling me it will be really hard, and it has been. But I still have so much stomach fat and everything--I don't know how that's ever going to go away even at 115 lbs, but anything under that is not healthy for my height (5'4"). I do cook my own meals and rarely eat at restaurants because they are so bad for you.

abow29

You are definitely at a good place to start! Congrats on losing so much weight (from 140 to 126/127, that's amazing).

I am sure the last couple of pounds will be hard to lose, but i am sure you will get there, slowly but surely.