Is 1600 cals really enough? Please read and advise.

Here's a simple way to look at it, weigh yourself once a week at the same time in the same circumstances each week, if you lose 1 to 2 lb your eating enough if you lose more that 2lb up your calories a little. As your body changes adjust accordingly... I find I need to eat around 2500 calories to maintain weight, 2000 I lose, at the moment i'm trying to gain so am eating around 3000.

Everyones different but 1 to 2lb loss per week is ideal for muscle maintenance and fat loss... in my opinion.

Hope this helps.

Edit: as long as you are training hard on weights 3 times a week and eating 4-6 meals per day.

17 POUNDS in 24 days sounds like excessive and would concern me (but of course I am not a professional!). IF you have the opportunity to check with a fitness trainer, doctor, nutritionist or dietician, I would recommend you do so before you go much further. Each person's metabolism is different so it is not a cut and dry answer regarding the 1600 calories question you asked. I would be gaining weight if I ate that many calories a day and didn't work out. Try to seek a more professional review of your situation and then you can customize your goals in MFP to reflect what plan you are going to follow.

maintenance is 2100 the system reduces to 1600 to loose 3500 calories a week to loose 2lbs --if your loosing at such a high rate you could be in starvation mode but takes some doing because i got by on about 800 calories with a goal rate on here of 1200 and i never lost muscle--but we are all different!!

If your maintain is 2900 calories without exercise factored in, and you've set it to lose 2lbs a week, you should be set at 1900 calories a day, before exercise. With Exercise, that would be about 2500-2600 based on the 600 calories you indicated in the post - be careful that those are accurate and not an estimation.

3500 calories is what is required to lose a lb of fat so over 7 days that's 500 calories and if you want 2 lbs a week, you need a deficit of 1000 calories.

The 17 lbs in 24 days doesn't worry me so much although it is on the high side, it's not uncommon for you to drop 8-10lbs in the first week due to water retention prior to the weight loss efforts. That would mean you're at about 3.5 lbs (if 10 was the first week) a week, which means that you're probably not eating enough calories to lose at a healthy rate.

Depending on your current weight though, it might be possible that you are still losing fat and not muscle or anything else you don't want to. The bigger a person is, the more reasonable it is that 3.5lbs is what you're going to lose at the beginning.

If it's still higher than what you'd like to lose, I'd suggest resetting your goals manually. I believe calorie count is one of the things you can change. The TEE number that they used to determine your daily requirements for calories IS an average for someone your height, weight and activity level. Upping it to 1900 calories a day sounds reasonable, it's only an additional 300 calories (which wouldn't account for another lb a week even). Try it, if you notice your loss slow dramatically, you'll know you need to drop it again. Based on what you have provided, the amount of fat the cardio point tests recommended you lose was 1.5 lbs a week, my gut feeling is that you've told MFP you want to lose 2lbs a week. Did you keep your activity level the same for both data points? Has your body changed dramatically since your cardio point test? Your needs will change over time. Maybe getting the cardio point done again.

My personal guess is that the loss will slow shortly and you'll get into your groove. Manually changing your net calories to 1900 though shouldn't hurt your efforts too much. My husband is 6'4 and 275lbs and gets 1800 a day and is consistently losing 1.5 lbs a week. I don't know your particular stats, but I would change them and see what happens.

2. On a healthy lifestyle plan your body needs at least 50 carbs per meal[food/energy for the body]

I do not agree with this......... I do the Primal lifestyle. 50 carbs per meal in not heathly or safe. Protein and fiber are awesome sources of feeling full and getting energy. I do -20 carbs per meal. Average 60 carbs a day. Read the Primal Blueprint. It's very enlightening.

Based on the #s, going to 2400 would cause you to lose 1lb a week. If you want to drop 2lbs a week (I wouldn't recommend 3, although guys can do it safely :explode: ), you should consume a NET calorie count of 1847. Again, the 1900 sounds reasonable. If you go into the goals section on your home, you can increase it to 1847 (based on the information you have below)

Once you factor in 500-600 calories burned from exercise, you will be eating closer to 2347-2447 in calories daily (because the exercise is offset by the calories. You should probably eat a minimum of 450 of these back for maximum metabolism.

Based on these numbers, you should be safely dropping 2lbs a week.

Something I didn't see anyone mention that MAY be of value is HOW you're burning off the calories. When you exercise there is an optimum heart rate for burning FAT calories. Above that heart rate and you're going anaerobic which tears down the muscle and can cost you muscle mass (as I understand it). So do the math... and you can search other threads for this topic:

Subtract your age from 220. That equals X.

Your optimum exercise heart rate for burning fat should be between 65%- 75% of X.

My example: I'm 46.
220 - 46 = 174.
65% of 174 = 113
75% of 174 = 130

So, when I'm working out to burn fat, I aim to keep my heart rate about 120-125 to stay inside that optimum range.

Just a thought... Keep up the great work!

Something I didn't see anyone mention that MAY be of value is HOW you're burning off the calories. When you exercise there is an optimum heart rate for burning FAT calories. Above that heart rate and you're going anaerobic which tears down the muscle and can cost you muscle mass (as I understand it). So do the math... and you can search other threads for this topic:

Subtract your age from 220. That equals X.

Your optimum exercise heart rate for burning fat should be between 65%- 75% of X.

My example: I'm 46.
220 - 46 = 174.
65% of 174 = 113
75% of 174 = 130

So, when I'm working out to burn fat, I aim to keep my heart rate about 120-125 to stay inside that optimum range.

Just a thought... Keep up the great work!

This idea is still being taught, often by well-meaning people, but it has been completely disproved in the past 15 years. The fuel that you use during your exercise session has no effect on either weight loss or your overall ability to burn fat. If, by chance, you burn a higher percentage of fat during a workout, your body burns less fat the rest of the day in response. The opposite is also true. Even if there was a real difference, the amount of fat actually burned during exercise--at any intensity--is so small as to be insignificant.

Endurance workouts are an important part of an overall routine. But don't force yourself into a constant routine of low-level exercise under the mistaken impression that it "burns more fat".