Conflicting advice

I did 15% less than TDEE which makes for a slower loss but slower loss is better unless you are very big.

yeah i definitely agree.. i think most of the conflicts come in the details.

everyone agrees that the way to lose weight is to eat less calories than you use. the conflict i guess comes in when the things like the following are taken into account

- if we're talking changing body composition then that can mean different dietary (and workout advice) than if you just care about losing scale weight
- how fast you want to lose
- how much work you want to do once you reach maintenance
- what your history is with diet and weight loss.


for me personally, food and portion has always been my main issue, so this past year i've focused on not eating out as much and not really worrying too much about portion size. cooking for myself has resulted in a loss of 20 pounds/5 pant sizes . so next year i'll focus more on portion sizing, sticking to 10-20% below my TDEE and hopefully i'll be ale to lose the next 45 pounds

There is always going to be lots of conflicting advice. The best thing you can do, is figure out what works best for YOU. It may not be the same thing that works for everyone else. It's good to research and ask for advice, but you have to use your own judgment on what you think is the best way to go. If you try something and find it's not working for you, try something else. You begin to figure out what works and what doesn't, and you start to make tweaks where you need to. Always listen to your body. Unfortunately it's all trial and error. Lots of trial and error. I'm sure you already know the basics, so from there... it's just a matter of figuring out whats best for you.

I was confused as well. Everyone on MFP said I needed to eat my exercise calories (which puts me at around 1500 cals a day) to lose weight. That seemed odd to me since less calories= more calorie deficit. So, I asked my Dr. And she said to alternate. Eat 1500 one week, and 1200 the next. She explained that will keep my metabolism on its' toes and result in a greater weight loss.