1 month in, some success, now what? (Recalculation question)

ding30180

March 15th - April 12th (28 days) SW: 250.6, GW: 220.6

At MFP's suggestion I ate 1760 max each day with three weeks of OK exercise, 1 week not so good. I Lost 19.1 pounds.

Today I recalculated a few things - SW(new): 231.5, GW(still): 220.6

1. MFP now says 1640 via its 're-calculation option'.

2. Fat 2 Fit says BMR = 2104; MFP says BMR = 1957

Average = 2031

3. TDDE = Average BMR x 1.375 = 2792

Questions. In order to lose 2 pounds per week;

1. What the heck should I be eating? I'm confused!

2. I assume I should be eating TDDE minus some %.

3. It appears at 1640, MFP has me eating -40% of TDDE! Isn't that really low?

I suppose, if I do the following, it makes more sense;

Assume 1 pound of fat = 3500 cal, then to lose 2 pounds in a week I have to cut 7000 calories in the week, i.e., 1000 per day.

2792 - (7000/7) = 1792

This is closer to 1640, but still....

ding30180

Any ideas, here?

ding30180

Last try - how many should I eat?

jg627

You could start with the average between the two for BMR. If you're dreaming about pizza at night you're probably not eating enough. Or you could try 20% below your TDEE. That's probably going to be about a lb a week, if you're losing more or less than expected then you can always readjust. You have to give it a good 2 weeks to sink in at least. Any time you change your diet, strange and mysterious things tend to happen, like purging water and such.

ding30180

Thanks man. I'm dreaming about beer every night, but I think the advice about trying and adjusting is good! I think if I can come in 20-40% below my calculated TDDE each day for a couple of weeks, I hope I can still lose between 2 and 4 pounds. We'll see.