After a week of avg 1600/day, no loss. Should I reduce more

If MFP set you at 1350 calories, I would stick to that. If you're eating 1600 calories PLUS exercise calories, then I would say, yes you're eating too many. Drop to 1350 and eat your exercise calories....let MFP do the work for you.

a 2 pound gain MIGHT be due to building muscle

Agreed seeing your diary would help us help you more, but definitely make sure you get enough water, watch your sodium and follow what MFP suggests, try it for a week or 2 and then make a decision, if you are concerned about losing too much too quickly, cut a little out each day.

No I would not I would make sure that your net calories at the end of the day is at least 1200. I made this mistake and my net calories were below 1200 and gained 3lbs back in a week. Some one on here told me to make sure my net calories is at least 1200 so my body does not fall in starvation mode. So I changed my to 1600 calories and burn at least 300 calories a day and not eat them back and have lost a pound this week . It's worth the try if you want to do it and good luck on your weight loss journey.

i dont weigh much more than you and the MFP set me at 1240 calories a day and if you go to the Cancer.org site and check to see what a healthy calorie intake for your age,height and dont put in what u currently weight but what you want your goal weight is. This helps me to see that IF I was 175 pounds I would need to be eating 1200 calories a day to maintain that weight. So, If we train our bodies to start eating that now by the time we do get to that weight our bodies will have adjusted and can stay healthy that way.
Im no doctor but unless your burning a bunch of calories and eating that many calories you will gain.

Ok, you totally just sold me on drinking more water especially, since (confession) I love salty food and probably have too much of it. I had started to do so, but stopped when my work as a receptionist (aka can't answer the phone if you're on the pot when it rings lol) and a masters student writing my thesis (aka in front of my computer/head in a book in the library all day) started affecting my productivity! Oh, where is the happy balance?! I'm going to drink some water right now. Thanks for the tip!

Oh, that was @Ms_Natalie

I would first check out how much sodium you have consumed and if you took in enough H2O. I am 6ft and weighed 272 at 45 years old. The first couple of weeks I stayed under 1500 calories and was exercising 3-5 times a week. I didn't see any weight loss at all and would even gain a pound or two. But by the third week I had lost 6 pounds. I think your body goes into shock at first because it is use to a lot more calories so it holds on to it. Give it time and if it doesn't drop then cut your calories. Sometimes it is best to ez into it.

I logged today in my diary and made it public - you should be able to see it now.

The crazy thing is, after all that fried food I had for lunch (not my typical behavior, I was out with Mom for lunch) when I saved it, it said if I kept this up, I would lose a lot in 5 weeks - I am thinking, a fish fry every day for lunch surely wouldn't be smart, even though the calories are where they should be, amazingly enough. Tomorrow, I am going to really try to tighten things up, and log, log, log! I loved loggin all this - soo very interesting.

I would agree with what everyone else says which is just stick to the amount of calories MFP gives you and eat back your exercise calories or at least half of them When I eat my exercise calories I gain So I don't eat mine But another thing would be to watch your sodium levels All that fast food and processed deli meat is very high in sodium Good luck with your goals!

Because of your weight you may be under eating actually! You're only 38 so your metabolism shouldn't have slowed down too much yet. How's your sodium? Anything more than 2,500 is WAY too much for one day. I keep mine under 2,000 most days, and usually under 1,500. Try watching sodium and nutrient ratios (are you going way over on carbs, fat, protein, etc?) If you're good in those areas play with your calories a little. Also, drink water!!

I was going to say the same thing about undereating! If you are doing that much exercising, I would not go below 1700. A 1 lb. per week loss is really the best, and when I put my goals there, MFP had me set at 1750. I only eat back under half my exercise calories, so I eat about 1850-2000 per day. After a plateau (when I had my goals set at 2 lb. per week loss, BTW) I have lost 2 lbs. in the past 2 weeks. I'm also less stressed about calories this way, too. I also started decreasing my carbs, made those carbs contain fiber and upped my protein intake (kind of like South Beach Diet, but less strict).

I hope this helps! I wish you success!

I know you are getting a ton of advice I can just say I've struggled with this and found that I do better losing weight when I leave some wiggle room on calories ( meaning i don't eat every last one. ) there's always a chance that the info you have isn't correct (especially if it's restaurant food.) I would try reducing the calories more and drinking more water. And of course like many said look at the type of food you are eating. As you eat Better quality foods that are healthier for you and cut calories more you will probably see the loss. Play around with it, don't stress. You'll find what works for your body. That's what I had to do ( there's no one size fits all solution since it seems everyones body responds differently ( I know people on here who only lose if they r eating 1800 cals a day. If I do that I gain BIG time.) good luck!! Stay positive!