1500 calories at 198 pounds?

I'm 37, 5'5", never eaten under 1650 calories (total) and I'm 3 pounds away from my goal weight.

Keep in mind that you're supposed to eat back your exercise calories, or at least half of them.

It depends. Are you eating 1500 or netting 1500? Are you weighing your food and being super diligent with logging?

When you start out very heavy, you often have enough wiggle room that slight sloppiness with logging and tracking doesn't slow you down to much. But once you lose a certain amount of weight the bad logging/tracking catches up and you need to tighten it up. So look to fix that first.

Mrs_K_ wrote: »

I am a full time cosmetology student and a mother of 4 kids 10 and under so I am constantly on the go. I weigh all of my food on a digital scale and I log everything to the best of my ability. Like yesterday we went to a restaurant that isn't on the database and they didn't have nutrition facts so I found something similar to what I ate. Other than that I log everything. Even if it's one skittle lol. I am also netting between 1300-1500 a day.

So you're decently active and you weigh your food...1500 is to lose 2 lbs a week? It really seems like you should be losing. Are you weighing your condiments, oil? Fruits and veg?

Maybe if you open your diary we could help a little.

We are the same exact stats and I'm losing inches (not pounds Actually the scale is going up ) on 1500 cals. I was the same on 1200 but binge by the end of the night - 1500 seems perfect for me right now and I can feel the difference in my body.

Edit: and I work at a desk all day and workout out lightly about 4 times a week. No kids to run after either.

I eat 1850 calories at 5'6" and 194 pounds, but I don't eat calories back. That's only because I've accounted for my activity level. If you're not, eat at least half of the calorie burn allotment back from MFP.

Or here's a good link to help see how much to eat without eating exercise calories back: http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

Mrs_K_ wrote: »

Friday I got a fitbit charge hr and have been using it since then.

Your Fitbit burn is your TDEE—way more accurate than any online calculator. If you eat at a reasonable deficit from that, you will lose weight.

Hands down, the best weight-loss advice I ever received was to read the Sexypants post: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

Francl27 wrote: »

I'm 37, 5'5", never eaten under 1650 calories (total) and I'm 3 pounds away from my goal weight.

Keep in mind that you're supposed to eat back your exercise calories, or at least half of them.

That doesn't work for everyone. If I ate back my exercise calories, I'd be gaining weight. I lose only a pound a week, and I eat about 1300 calories per day... and do not eat back exercise calories.

If you're not losing (or if you're gaining), you may be eating back too many calories. This app tends to overestimate how many calories you are burning, and I think it causes some people to eat too much or go way over on some of their macros. Try eating what is shown for your goals before entering your exercise... and stick with the 1500, instead of trying to lower your calories. Focus on more healthy fats, protein & fiber... and less sugar.

Eating back calories does not work for a lot of people. You didn't gain or plateau from not eating enough.

allyphoe wrote: »

I'm 5'4, 41, and mostly sedentary. Maintenance for me at ~190 was about 2,100-2,200 calories a day.

If you aren't weighing every day and tracking the trend, you may not be able to tell if you're losing weight. I had a stretch last month where I got an outlier low weight at the beginning and didn't see a lower number on the scale for a full month. Calculated trend showed I lost two pounds over that period, which was consistent with my eating during that period.

This happens to me too! That's why it's nice to have as much accurate data as possible.

Mrs_K_ wrote: »

Will I still be able to lose weight eating 1500 calories at 198 pounds and 5'6? I started this at 279 pounds and I have at 1500 calories for the entire duration. I slipped for a month or so and got back up to 205. In the last couple of weeks I have went back down to 198 and now I'm stuck again. I actually seem to be gaining. I am ready to give up and I'm not quite sure what to do. I tried to drop down to 1200 calories but found myself binge eating when I drop that low. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Yes, you will lose on 1500 calories. How fast depends on your TDEE.

I'm 5'6, 165lbs and I eat around 1700 to lose about an lb per week. Maitenence (aka my TDEE) is around 2200-2300 depending on how many hours I work that week (I have an active job, so a week off means less calories to play with unless I up my exercise, but the TDEE method still seems to work better for me than NEAT).

Basically, go about this one of two ways: change your goals in MFP around and see how much you would lose at 1500 cals per day (I think if I'd been eating 1500 when I was in the 190s, I would have been running better than a 1000 calorie a day deficit, so over the 2lb per week mark). I do recommend if you're going to do the MFP route that you use a few calculators to get an accurate picture of what your BMR is (what you would burn if you were in a coma, basically) and to make sure you're netting above that number on a regular basis. Eating below your BMR can create some health issues long term, but the odd day below it certainly won't kill you. So basically, if MFP sets your goal below your BMR, evaluate if you really need to lose weight that quickly, or could back off by 0.5lbs per week.

Second route: is to determine your TDEE, and the cut by a percentage. 20% is considered "aggressive" weight loss. Someone else has provided you some links above on that.