100 Calorie difference affecting weight loss?

castelluzzo99

Okay, I've been here almost a month. During the first half of the month, I lost 2 or 3 pounds (not sure my starting weight was accurate, which is why I'm saying 2-3 lb). Then I lost another pound the first week of this month, and gained one or two back during the second week.

Now, if we disregard the fact that I consistently lost a fraction of an inch every week, here's something interesting.

Using the Scooby TDEE calculator, I get somewhere around 2200 cal for my TDEE. -20% makes 1800, add in 300 for breastfeeding a 10-month old, and I get 2100 needed to lose at a healthy rate.

Well, I just added up my calories from April 19 to 30 and averaged 2157 calories per day. That's just slightly over my TDEE -20%.

Then I added up the calories for May 1-15 and got an average of 2050. My exercise routine has not changed. So now I'm slightly under my TDEE -20%. And if I hadn't eaten an extra 200 calories last night, my average would be a bit lower, maybe 12-15 calories less.

So I'm wondering if I should aim to eat like I did the first month.

I am debating whether to continue counting calories after this week, and I am going to start a new exercise routine, so it's going to change things up considerably. Anyhow, I thought I'd get your thoughts on this.

Of course, when it's all said and done, I am taking my bra in a notch and the measuring tape is consistently making me smile, and I'm feeling really good, so I'm not terribly worried. But I'm beginning to think there really is something to the eat more to weigh less, as long as one is consistent with exercise and doesn't overeat!

Kpablo

How are you calculating how much your baby is consuming?

Remember it's 26 calories per ounce. And at 10 months, 11oz isn't that much milk. I think my daughter was drink about 20 oz a day at 10 months. If you're solely nursing (not pumping) maybe you're nursing more ounces which will mean you're burning more calories.

castelluzzo99

Well, he eats 3 square meals a day now, so breastmilk is more for liquid than for nutrition at this point. He nurses 4-5 times a day, and only really gets a belly-full in the morning now. I was calculating 400 calories for breastfeeding most of the first month, so maybe that's why I was getting an average of at least 100 extra calories.

All I know is, if I'm hungry, I eat. Unless it's really late at night. I'm not the kind of person to say "I can't eat anymore, no matter how hungry I am." I'd rather go over my goal than be hungry for several hours!

Then again, I've heard people indicating that the time of the month affects things, and I must be getting close. I hardly ever have any PMS symptoms, but I know my fertile time passed a while back, so I must be getting close!

I'm not really worried about it, just curious!

affacat

weight loss isn't quite as constant as we want it to be. it's quite possible to lose half a pound one week, 2 pounds the next.

not to mention, there's all sorts of other issues at play -- water retention, amount of food in your system at the time of weigh in, etc.

day to day results approach meaningless, week to week is semi-decent, but month to month is where you start seeing more accuracy.