Disappointing first week loss! Increase calories?

I found this helpful. Maybe you will too.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

when you go there, click on the original post on page 1

Not sure of your stats but netting 600-700 is not sustainable neither will you lose much with your deficit being that large and having under 10lbs to lose. Set mfp goal to losing 0.5lb/week, choose mod activity if you're fairly active(exercising 3-5 hours/week). This should at least bring your cals to 1500-1700.

If you are working out, you need to eat more.

I agree, you should eat more. I'm pretty small and I actually do better on 1400-1500 net calories a day than I would on 1000-1200. And I don't exercise heavily at all.

You don't sound to me like you're eating enough.

For me I need a goal that I feel is a challenge or I just don't keep going, other people I know need to set something that isn't too hard or they'll give up, neither is better but it depends on the type of person you are. If you're goal driven then I'd say go for 2lb a week weight loss (you won't always hit it), if you can do it more sensibly without giving up then set it at 1lb a week, I'd suggest at the moment you're aiming for about 4lb a week and that just won't work.

As far as exercise goes you can either set your lifestyle to count your exercise or set your lifestyle to what you normally do and log your exercise separately. For me I sit in front of a PC most of my life but about 4-5 times a week I cycle and burn about 1,500-2000 calories so rather than set my lifestyle as active I've picked sedentary and then I log my exercise as and when I ride.

Key thing though is to eat back most if not all (depends on how accurate your calorie calculation is) of the calories you've burned doing exercise. Aside from anything else if you don't you won't have the energy to do the exercise and you'll find it difficult to keep going.

I lost nearly 50lb from last summer to this December and I'm now logging to ensure that I don't bounce back. I'm eating on average around 3300 calories a day so that I can exercise the way I want to and I'm not gaining any weight.

One last thing, I'd suggest weighing yourself first thing in the morning (before eating or drinking anything). You'll still get fluctuations of a couple of pound depending on what is in your digestive tract but it's the best way to minimise that.

I did lose 10 pounds my first week and was eating 1500 calories a day and swimming. But the difference between you and myself is that I weighed 290 pounds at the time and most of it was water weight. I weigh 168 now and only lose a pound about every 7-10 days.

I looked at your profile and you have your goal to lose 11 pounds, so like many of us, the closer we get to our goals the weight loss slows down. If you are only netting 600 calories a day, you do need to eat more.

I've not reached it yet but a lot of people say that the last 10 pounds are the hardest to lose. But dont give up after just starting. All of our bodies are different and will react in a different way.

Maybe see a dietician. I did and have seen her every month since I started to modify calories etc. I wish you luck in your journey to a healthier and more fit you!

Bump

You need to eat 1,200 PLUS your exercise calories for NET 1,200.

It's not healthy to eat so little calories, but for the first week of actively cutting calories to speed weight loss, you will lose weight - which you have.

Don't forget you're not huge, you aren't going to drop half a stone like those that need or want to, so 0.4 is decent.

Again, not healthy to do so and not recommended, but it's a tiring notion on here that "starvation mode" suddenly cuts in after 7 days or something *facepalm*

You should up your calories for health and sustainability of weight loss, but again, the smaller you are, the less weight you will drop. 0.5 lbs a week is a good guide for you, but as you said, you've lost inches and that's A LOT more important.

I've always said, I couldn't give a fig if I was 200lbs, but if I was a UK size 10 (US size 6) then I wouldn't care.

Numbers on the scale mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. It's health, strength and happiness that does.

Good God, you need to eat! You're starving yourself, and your body is desperately trying to hang on to every ounce of fat it has to sustain you. At a minimum, your NET calories should be 1200--that's eaten calories minus exercise calories.

I agree with everybody here, too low in calories.
Besides that I would also take a look at the composition of your meals, at least for me it is really important to cut bad quality carbs or I wouldn't lose a single pound. Focusing on having vegetables, fruits, lean meat and low fat dairy is key.

Good luck!