Am I Eating The Right Amount?

arabianhorselover
arabianhorselover Posts: 1,488 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi. I've been on here for two weeks now. I have been eating 1500 calories per day. Trying to lose 1 pound per week. I really don't want to lose any faster.

So far I am down 4 pounds. I know they say that in the beginning what you lose is just water. I don't know how long that lasts. So my question is, should I stick with the 1500 calories per day, or should I increase my calories so as not to lose this quickly? Or is it just too soon to tell?

Replies

  • fuzzieme
    fuzzieme Posts: 454 Member
    Good job! 4lbs in the beginning over two weeks sounds right to me, I'd give it another two to three weeks and it should go down to 1lb, but if you lose 1.5 or 2, you probably won't lose anything the following week, so keep an eye on that too. Good luck :)
  • ratty6276
    ratty6276 Posts: 3 Member
    totally agree there, the first week or so I lost close to 3-4 pounds, then it settled down. So I wouldn't worry to much about it at the moment.

    I find as i'm getting close to my target weight it gets harder to lose that last little bit, but I will keep pushing on..

    Well done, keep up the good work


    Effort Rewards...........it really does
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    I agree that it might be too soon to tell, also if you share your height and weight you might get some better feedback. I did buzz through your diary a little bit and I noticed that there are some days you are 200-300 cals under, usually from added exercise. If you are worried about eating too little then I would start by making sure you get those calories back. You already have your calories set to lose the 1lb/week so calories burned in exercise will add to the loss. If you have a hard time eating after exercise and that is the problem you can try protein drinks or chocolate milk to get them back that way.
  • Snow3y
    Snow3y Posts: 1,412 Member
    To be sure you'd need to tell us your stats|detail regarding bodyweight, age, height etc
  • arabianhorselover
    arabianhorselover Posts: 1,488 Member
    Okay. I am 5'2". I've been going by a scale at the gym that said I weighed 166 when I first started. Other scales seem to show me weighing less, but I figure I'll stick with that scale. I am 52 years old.

    I have been trying to go by the MDEE plan, rather than the MFP plan, so I have not been eating back my exercise calories.
  • arabianhorselover
    arabianhorselover Posts: 1,488 Member
    Bump, please.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    As long as you're not overestimating your activity, it seems good. I'm 35, 5'5" and 154 lbs and I've been losing really well at 1650, mostly walking 5 miles a day in average and weight lifting (bodypump) twice a week.
  • arabianhorselover
    arabianhorselover Posts: 1,488 Member
    I'm not overestimating my activity, but you are walking more than I am!
  • suziepoo1984
    suziepoo1984 Posts: 915 Member
    Calculate your TDEE and eat at 20 or 15% deficit. Check how much weight you lose with that and then adjust accordingly:flowerforyou:

    ETA: I just saw that you are using TDEE method. i did the calculation at light activity for you and at 20% deficit it said to consume 1560 calories. So 1600 calories would be a good place to start i guess and then adjust accordingly as you lose weight or increase activity.
  • jvbrooks
    jvbrooks Posts: 82 Member
    5 miles a day of walking isn't overly much. Get a pedometer and double check; 5 miles is around 10,000 steps (depending on your stride length and so on).

    Figure in your basal metabolic rate, add in the extra calories from walking, and you may find that you're burning far more than you're adding, so you might be able to add some food to your diet without gaining weight.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    Not enough information to determine. With 40 pounds to lose, set MFP to lose 1 pound per week. And eat back exercise calories.

    Is that close to what you were doing before? If not, re-evaluate.
  • arabianhorselover
    arabianhorselover Posts: 1,488 Member
    Thank you for doing that. I used several calculators to come up with my TDEE. They all came out different, so I sort of averaged it and decided on 1500. I suppose I could try 1600....not sure if I will do that yet.
    Calculate your TDEE and eat at 20 or 15% deficit. Check how much weight you lose with that and then adjust accordingly:flowerforyou:

    ETA: I just saw that you are using TDEE method. i did the calculation at light activity for you and at 20% deficit it said to consume 1560 calories. So 1600 calories would be a good place to start i guess and then adjust accordingly as you lose weight or increase activity.
  • arabianhorselover
    arabianhorselover Posts: 1,488 Member
    I'm not walking 5 miles/day. That was someone else. I'm probably doing half that much.


    miles a day of walking isn't overly much. Get a pedometer and double check; 5 miles is around 10,000 steps (depending on your stride length and so on).

    Figure in your basal metabolic rate, add in the extra calories from walking, and you may find that you're burning far more than you're adding, so you might be able to add some food to your diet without gaining weight.
    [/quote]
  • arabianhorselover
    arabianhorselover Posts: 1,488 Member
    I'm not doing the MFP method. It only gave me 1200 calories, which I didn't think was enough.

    ote]
    Not enough information to determine. With 40 pounds to lose, set MFP to lose 1 pound per week. And eat back exercise calories.

    Is that close to what you were doing before? If not, re-evaluate.
    [/quote]

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