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

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SolidGoaled
SolidGoaled Posts: 504 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So, I looked over my menu for the past week, and it seems I averaged about 1600/day. I weighed this morning, and have a 2.0 lb gain for the week. I am considering reducing my cals to 1350.

Stats:

38 years old
Female
240 lbs
Goal of 165
Exercise 6 days a week, Turbo Fire.

Should I further reduce my calories? Maybe to 1350? MFP had me at 1350, but I was concerned about cutting too much all at once. After a week with a gain, I am thinking I need to go further down.

I also realized this week I was over-eating my exercise calories. So, I will correct that as well.

But, does 1350 sound reasonable? I was hoping it would work at 1600/day, but evidently that isn't the case.
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Replies

  • mountainwoman98
    mountainwoman98 Posts: 182 Member
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    How is your sodium? If people could see your diary they could offer you better advice.
  • lilcrittert
    lilcrittert Posts: 105
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    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.
  • Ms_Natalie
    Ms_Natalie Posts: 1,030 Member
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    I would guess that you should be losing at 1600 especially with your exercise...

    However, I would go with MFP and try 1350 cals. I found the first couple of days at 1200 a little challenging but after a few days I no longer felt hungry.

    How is your water intake? I cannot stress enough how important drinking plenty of water is. It will help stop bloating, boost metabolism, reduce sodium and encourage the body to lose weight. I drink 6 pints of water a day...my skin is now fantastic and I feel fab!

    It's a little annoying getting up for a wee in the night :grumble: but the weight loss is worth it.

    I have been at a plateau for months and upped my water intake last week and lost nearly a pound! RESULT!

    Good Luck :flowerforyou:
  • lalamcneil
    lalamcneil Posts: 27
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    a 2 pound gain MIGHT be due to building muscle
  • Lsng4good
    Lsng4good Posts: 86 Member
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    I would suggest cutting it down to as close to 1200-1400 as possible. You can decrease it gradually, if you want.
  • marrtini
    marrtini Posts: 75
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    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.
  • eillamarie
    eillamarie Posts: 862 Member
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    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!!
  • jennyjennbug
    jennyjennbug Posts: 105
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    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. :wink:
  • emmaleigh47
    emmaleigh47 Posts: 1,670 Member
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    I actually dont think that you are eating enough right now. With your provided weight, you are just under my current weight and therefore should be somewhat close to my goals, etc.
    I run 3-4 times per week, and I have figured out I need to eat about 2300 calories to lose weight. When I eat less, I actually gain.
    Now I am going to put this theory to test next week when I finally get my Body Media.
    I have suspected for a while that I burn more than what MFP thinks, and thus far it has worked for me.

    Just remember, what you lose at is going to be what you maintain at as well. Wouldnt you like to be able to maintain with more calories?
  • ChefJenn
    ChefJenn Posts: 350 Member
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    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.
  • SolidGoaled
    SolidGoaled Posts: 504 Member
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    I haven't logged any food. I log it at home on paper, but haven't started logging here on MFP. I will try that this week.

    Thanks all for the advice. I am going to drop to 1350 starting tomorrow, and eat back exercise calories so that I clear 1350.
  • flaquitadelafrontera
    flaquitadelafrontera Posts: 40
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    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!
  • Hailz1986
    Hailz1986 Posts: 35 Member
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    I am at 218 and MFP has me at 1250 a day.
  • flaquitadelafrontera
    flaquitadelafrontera Posts: 40
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    Oh, that was @Ms_Natalie
  • Ms_Natalie
    Ms_Natalie Posts: 1,030 Member
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    Oh, that was @Ms_Natalie

    No problem, one of the great benefits of this site!!

    Keep a glass of water next to you while your tapping away at the computer...soon it will become a habit and your body will start craving water...

    It's all good :flowerforyou:

    Good Luck x
  • carollane
    carollane Posts: 39 Member
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    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.:wink:
  • SolidGoaled
    SolidGoaled Posts: 504 Member
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    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.
  • purplespeckle
    purplespeckle Posts: 652
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    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!
  • PhoenixFire975
    PhoenixFire975 Posts: 70
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    bump...

    I wouldn't recommend changing it. I say that should be a fine amount of cals but def don't drop them especially since you exercise. You could run yourself ragged not getting the right amt of cals. Try making sure your net cals (total cals eaten-cals burned) equal 1600 and don't go too over or too under. Of course, you could always not have ENOUGH cals for the day which could be throwing you into starvation mode (yes, it's totally real) and your body is holding on to all the fat you eat.
  • lkm111
    lkm111 Posts: 629 Member
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    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!

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