HELP-About to give up!

i would stop the splurge on fridays. and also cut out alcohol if you drink. cut out 100%
sometimes it's mental, and "splurging" on fridays might be making your mind think that you're on a diet. you need to live a healthy lifestyle to keep off the weight, so instead of considering yourself on a diet with the need to splurge or cheat, just modify your entire lifestyle to reflect the new weight/body you want.

Personally, i would stay at the 1500 calories. I punched in your numbers quick and come up with a tdee of 1900 and 1533 to lose (which is probably what you were at in the beginning).

I think you just need to be consistent. I don't do a cheat day (at least not on purpose but do have a lot of days where i go over) but i know for a lot of people it is needed. As long as you don't really overdo it you should be ok. I would try to stay around the 1900 on those days which is your tdee anyway and should not gain at that amount.

Just make sure you are measuring your foods to stay at the 1500 and keep working on your exercising. Gradually up your exercises as you are able and you should eventually start to lose again.

Good luck!

If you're splurging on Fridays, you want your weekly average to be your TDEE-20%... So log your Fridays and decrease the other days to make up for it. Maybe eat a bit less than lightly active too... 3-5 workouts of 150-170 calories might not even be considered lightly active.

This. I find I don't need cheat days BECAUSE I eat TDEE - 15-20% and follow my weekly average rather than stressing over my daily. I'm over some days and under others, but my week averges out to my goal. it's much less restrictive and (for me) more successful. If you eat 1600 calories during the week, that will give you 2300 calories on Friday to play with. Surely that is enough for a "splurge".

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1105036-article-on-flexible-dieting-by-armi-legge?page=1#posts-17068746

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1122891-9-reasons-fat-loss-is-always-slower-than-you-d-like

Do this and you *will* lose weight:

1) Eat mostly to get the nutrition your body needs, and less for enjoyment. Establish a healthful diet and learn to enjoy healthful foods, and make eating less a part of your life.

2) Three meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's it. No snacks, and no "in between" meals.

3) Give up sugar. No sugar in coffee, soda, or on cereal. Give up fruit juice -- it's mainly just another form of sugar. Water is the only liquid you need.

4) In the beginning, establish a very regulated moderate calorie diet. Don't follow any sort of fad. Just pick a selection of foods that add up to a normal balanced diet -- whole grains, veggies, fruit, dairy, a little meat, etc. But start out by having exactly the same three meals each day -- the same foods and the same amounts. Weigh the portions on a scale. Consider frozen dinners. Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, Kashi, Smart Ones, and probably other brands have several that are low in calories and saturated fat, 25% daily value or less of sodium, and high in fiber -- no need to weigh these.

5) Weigh yourself every day on a 0.2 lb. accuracy scale. Your weight will fluctuate, but with a constant diet it should trend down over every two or three days. If it doesn't, eliminate items from your diet or reduce the size of portions until your weight does go down. (If you don't have a 0.2 lb. accuracy scale, I'd recommend the EatSmart Precision Plus Digital Scale, which is sold on Amazon.) Don't obsess over the scale — let it be your friend and point the way to a weight losing diet.

6) When you have achieved a weight losing diet, then you can start making adjustments to add variety, but make sure that you keep losing weight.

7) Maintain your exercise program.

I'm in the same boat as you...working at it but not losing...Don't give up . Just some fine tuning and you'll be heading in the right direction scale wise. I also started taking my measurements'. I'm not just going to use the scale as my only monitor of weight loss. Good Luck

Do this and you *will* lose weight:

1) Eat mostly to get the nutrition your body needs, and less for enjoyment. Establish a healthful diet and learn to enjoy healthful foods, and make eating less a part of your life.

2) Three meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's it. No snacks, and no "in between" meals.

3) Give up sugar. No sugar in coffee, soda, or on cereal. Give up fruit juice -- it's mainly just another form of sugar. Water is the only liquid you need.

4) In the beginning, establish a very regulated moderate calorie diet. Don't follow any sort of fad. Just pick a selection of foods that add up to a normal balanced diet -- whole grains, veggies, fruit, dairy, a little meat, etc. But start out by having exactly the same three meals each day -- the same foods and the same amounts. Weigh the portions on a scale. Consider frozen dinners. Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, Kashi, Smart Ones, and probably other brands have several that are low in calories and saturated fat, 25% daily value or less of sodium, and high in fiber -- no need to weigh these.

5) Weigh yourself every day on a 0.2 lb. accuracy scale. Your weight will fluctuate, but with a constant diet it should trend down over every two or three days. If it doesn't, eliminate items from your diet or reduce the size of portions until your weight does go down. (If you don't have a 0.2 lb. accuracy scale, I'd recommend the EatSmart Precision Plus Digital Scale, which is sold on Amazon.) Don't obsess over the scale — let it be your friend and point the way to a weight losing diet.

6) When you have achieved a weight losing diet, then you can start making adjustments to add variety, but make sure that you keep losing weight.

7) Maintain your exercise program.

I weep for you.

3 wks and no loss. 193 lbs and only 4'10. 35 yrs old. I normally workout from home-treadmill and some free weights on my arms and burn about 150-170 calories in 30-40 min. I get light headed etc..after anything over 30 min. I do and will cont to make Fri my days where I can splurge some. Meaning 1 cheat meal that day and IF I want to have a few drinks, that will be my only day to do so. With all that being said, I am not sure if I shld be eating less to lose this weight or eating more to lose this week. Was at 1500 cal for months when starting mfp and stopped losing, then dropped to 1300 cal and stopped loosing, then tried Tdee-20% method which was about 1700 cal for 3 mnths and lost the first 2 wks and then stopped. I am thinking (and I could be wrong) that because I do give myself a little leadway on Friday's, that during the week I need to be low. I am currently set at 1470 cal per mfp for lightly active because when I did it at desk job level it gave me 1320 cal when I did 1300 cal before I was sooo hungry! I also am trying out a new gym by my house and haven't joined just yet, but having more equipment has actually made my cal burns into more like 280-300 in 30-40 min instead of the 150-170 burned normally at home. I will cont to work out 3-5 times a wk but nothing strenuous for health reasons...Because I workout 4-5 times a week and will be burning about 250-300 cal each time, shld I be eating more than 1470..even with a cheat meal or day on Friday's? POSITIVE replies only please! I am serious about not knowing what my calories shld be anymore. I am scared to go back to eating the tdee-20% deficit because it is like 1700 a day and with me having a splurge on Friday's I think that is just too much

If you are really interested in getting an honest opinion, open your diary and let people help you, otherwise it is a waste of time.

Are you tracking sodium?

If you are really interested in getting an honest opinion, open your diary and let people help you, otherwise it is a waste of time.

And THERE it is. Line crossed.

If you're splurging on Fridays, you want your weekly average to be your TDEE-20%... So log your Fridays and decrease the other days to make up for it. Maybe eat a bit less than lightly active too... 3-5 workouts of 150-170 calories might not even be considered lightly active.

This. I find I don't need cheat days BECAUSE I eat TDEE - 15-20% and follow my weekly average rather than stressing over my daily. I'm over some days and under others, but my week averges out to my goal. it's much less restrictive and (for me) more successful. If you eat 1600 calories during the week, that will give you 2300 calories on Friday to play with. Surely that is enough for a "splurge".

Do you log everything, every day, and use a food scale?

Do you even log on the cheat day? Perhaps the cheat day could be cancelling out the deficit, as someone else said. If you go back to 1,700 (I know it sounds a lot but it will shrink as YOU shrink :bigsmile:) you could eat a little under it for 6 days a week, say 1,500.. then on Saturday - enjoy yourself with 1,200 in the bank!

Alcohol has so many calories you would not believe btw - just 3 Margeritas adds up to about 750.

I totally agree with these two posts - I originally monitored my daily intake and stressed like crazy if I went over, but now I look at the weekly and overall calories, and it's okay to go over one day if you make up for it the next day (or over the next two days or whatever is necessary).

And yeah, alcohol - particularly mixed drinks and beer - has an obscene amount of calories. Save up some of those extra calories from the beginning of the week to splurge on fridays, but LOG EVERYTHING every day, including your cheat day!

per http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

my tdee to maintain is 2196
bmr is 1597
tdee-20% is 1757

that is with me being 58 inches (4ft 10), 193 lbs, 1-3 hrs exercise a week, macros at 40% carb, 30% protein and 30% fat & 35 yrs old

So with tdee-20% I was told to eat over bmr of 1597 and close to tdee-20% of 1757 so that is why I chose 1700 in the past...with the amnt of weight I need to lose, I feel 1700 is just too much food...I cld be wrong..especially with a cheat day thrown in there.

If you throw in cheat days you have to account for them. I put all of my cals for the month on a spreadsheet, figure out my average daily intake, add on cals for whatever loss I had, and that's my average TDEE. I make adjustments from there based on what I'm trying to do at that time. After almost a year and a half, I've got it dialed in to almost exactly .5 pound per week loss consistently. I started with the scooby calculator, but adjusted from there based on results.