Calorie Deficit Too High?

effervescent11
effervescent11 Posts: 39 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

I've been on a Keto diet for almost a month now. I've lost quite a bit of weight. I was knocked out of Ketosis twice, but I'm usually back in after two days or so. In the beginning, I would eat around 1400 calories, which is around a 20% deficit for me and I was losing weight quite steadily. I was also doing IF at the same time. I lost around 10lbs and then upped my deficit to about 45%, so I was eating around 925 calories. I was knocked out of Ketosis around that time due to a cheat day.

I've gone back into Ketosis, but so far, I haven't been losing weight. I haven't lost a lb in two weeks now. I stopped IF last week, because it was making me lose sleep. Fast forward to yesterday, I was feeling super hungry and cranky throughout the day, so I upped my intake back to around 1400 calories and for some reason, I lost weight.

Does this mean that I'm consuming too little calories?

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    Your body will naturally fluctuate from day to day, even week to week. Just monitor trends over a 4-6 week time period. But if you are lethargic and tired, more calories will definitely help. But eating 925 calories is not going to be enough calories, even if you don't exercise.

    Personally, i have seen some weight loss after increases to calories, but I suspect it was water retention or hormone related.
  • christinalong1991
    christinalong1991 Posts: 74 Member
    Why would you cut 45% of your energy needs? Your feelings of being run down and cranky should be a clear indication that you are not eating enough!! Even if you have a significant amount of weight to lose, you shouldn't be going below 20%. 925 is not nearly enough calories for the day, you may lose weight but you won't get the nutrition to be healthy, you likely won't have the energy to workout, so by the time you reach your goal, you won't even look that great because your body hasn't been fueled.

    Go back to 20%, if you don't have much to lose, go to 15% even, this isn't a race. Do things the right way and you'll be happier with your outcome in the end!! Good luck!
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    Carbs don't make you fat. you've been losing water weight, and now that you're eating too few calories, your body is unhappy.

    Recalculate your TDEE from a website like scoobysworkshop, exrx.net, or health-calc.com and subtract 20% from the TDEE they give you (you could average them out if you'd like and then subtract 20%). And then DO NOT EAT LESS THAN THIS.

    And honestly, unless you decide to eat "in ketosis" for the REST OF YOUR LIFE, stop it and eat normally. You might not lose as much water weight by eating more carbs, but you won't lose more fat by avoiding carbs.

    Oh, and like Christina pointed out, 15% deficit is just fine as well. I might switch tot hat actually, 2200 instead of 2100 as my max calories.

    And also, you're likely less energetic/cranky etc because of both the too-few cals AND not eating enough carbohydrates.
  • Tisiwa
    Tisiwa Posts: 46 Member
    eat to little and you are sure to gain, or maintain, get weak, and it's challenging to focus, or workout. You need to eat, clean when possible, and your sure to loss weight with the right balance.

    Good luck.

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