how do you know how many calories you were eating "before"?

I tracked a day or two before I started eating a deficit ... and I was eating about 2100 cal. That's how I know what I was eating "before".

If you really want to know, for the next 3 days, eat like you did "before", and track it. What was a typical day like "before"?

Then resume eating at a deficit.

BTW - I presume you've done the following ...

- Entered your stats into MFP.
- Set yourself as sedentary.
- Selected how much you want to lose each week (eg. 1 lb/week).
- Looked to see the max calories MFP gives you.

If you eat just that amount, and stick with it, you should lose weight. But you have to make sure you are indeed eating just that amount which means weighing and measuring your food carefully and meticulously. And logging every single bite.

Does the number your dietitian suggested agree with what MFP gave you based on your stats and activity level?
If you eat 1600 calories a day and don't lose any weight for 3 weeks then maybe lower your calorie goal gradually until you find the level that you start losing at the rate you want. When you find the right calorie level you will lose weight. It is very possible.

I don't know how many calories I ate before exactly. Above my maintenance level obviously or I wouldn't have gained so probably 1700-1900 calories a day. It doesn't really matter how much I ate before. That isn't how I determined my deficit.

I gave MFP my information and set my goal for 1 lb a week when I started. As a sedentary, 179lb, 5'4", 41 year old woman I was given 1330 calories. I didn't find it super hard to stick with that and I lost weight. After losing a bit my calories were lowered to 1270. I decided I didn't want to go lower than that. I recently changed my goal to lose .5 lbs a week and was given 1440 calories.

Like other people I Logged for a while before I made any dietary changes. It helped me see where the nasties were. Now it's something I actually suggest to newbies so they can create a baseline of data to start with. The most important thing is to be brutally honest in your dairy entries.

Lounmoun wrote: »

Does the number your dietitian suggested agree with what MFP gave you based on your stats and activity level?
If you eat 1600 calories a day and don't lose any weight for 3 weeks then maybe lower your calorie goal gradually until you find the level that you start losing at the rate you want. When you find the right calorie level you will lose weight. It is very possible.

I don't know how many calories I ate before exactly. Above my maintenance level obviously or I wouldn't have gained so probably 1700-1900 calories a day. It doesn't really matter how much I ate before. That isn't how I determined my deficit.

I gave MFP my information and set my goal for 1 lb a week when I started. As a sedentary, 179lb, 5'4", 41 year old woman I was given 1330 calories. I didn't find it super hard to stick with that and I lost weight. After losing a bit my calories were lowered to 1270. I decided I didn't want to go lower than that. I recently changed my goal to lose .5 lbs a week and was given 1440 calories.

+1

When I started MFP gave me 1250, so I netted that for a while, and after losing some, MFP dropped me to 1200. That was just too low for me, so I manually upped it to 1250 again.

I hit my first weight goal mid-June, and then upped it to 1350. I'm heading toward my second goal a little more gradually.


But yes ... if you @kae612 stay on 1600/day for a few weeks and lose nothing, drop the max calories to 1550 and try that. Still nothing over the next 3 weeks, drop it to 1500. And so on until you find an amount where you are losing. But don't go lower than 1200.

If you ate a typical american diet, you probably reached at least 2000 calories. For example, a Starbucks frilly coffee & breakfast sandwich, a full-dressed sub for lunch with sauce and cheese, for dinner maybe half a pizza, or a typical restaurant serving of a cheesy pasta with garlic bread to start - that would put anyone way over 2000. Try the suggestion above to enter a typical day. (I think mine from when I was overweight would easily reach 3000+ - lots of restaurants, often, wine, big breakfast, lots of higher cal preferenes.)


My view is that it's ideal to eat as much as you can while losing. You're less likely to have a bad day or week if the deficit is small, that's definitely been true for me. Also, if you exercise, that's energy you need. It's a fine balance, but you can get it so you're fueling your workouts AND losing.

You can try 1600 for 3 or so weeks, and if it doesn't work, cut back a little more, or add a bit of cardio. (If it doesn't work, that doesn't mean anything's wrong with you, it just means the rules need to be tweaked a little bit.) Trust the process. It will work - if you do it in a way that makes sense for you. (Which means: you're actually full on what you're eating; you like the food you're eating; you don't feel deprived because your target was set too low, or because you've completely denied yourself any chance of a treat.)

People differ on what works for them. I have a big appetite, so I focus my food choices on satiety - lots of meat and veg. Also, I personally found, and a few people here have also talked about this, that eating lower carb, higher protein for a period recalibrated things so that it was easier to approach previously "trigger" foods with moderation. Yet other people are completely miserable if they don't make room in their budget for beloved foods, even if they're high-calorie.

Try different approaches, if you want, to see which makes the most sense for your taste, activity, and life. If one doesn't work, that's no reflection on you, it just means you should try another strategy. It is going to be trial and error for a while, it is for everyone It still is for me, as my body and life change

But - if you stick with it, and don't get caught up in judging yourself, you'll find a way that works for you.

There are many people here who were always overweight - check out the Success Stories section for inspiration.

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Lounmoun wrote: »

Does the number your dietitian suggested agree with what MFP gave you based on your stats and activity level?

If you eat 1600 calories a day and don't lose any weight for 3 weeks then maybe lower your calorie goal gradually until you find the level that you start losing at the rate you want. When you find the right calorie level you will lose weight. It is very possible.

I don't know how many calories I ate before exactly. Above my maintenance level obviously or I wouldn't have gained so probably 1700-1900 calories a day. It doesn't really matter how much I ate before. That isn't how I determined my deficit.

I gave MFP my information and set my goal for 1 lb a week when I started. As a sedentary, 179lb, 5'4", 41 year old woman I was given 1330 calories. I didn't find it super hard to stick with that and I lost weight. After losing a bit my calories were lowered to 1270. I decided I didn't want to go lower than that. I recently changed my goal to lose .5 lbs a week and was given 1440 calories.

Cosigning the bolded.

Too much.

I'm confused though because after entering my info in Scooby it says my TDEE was lower than it is now to maintain my weight... which I maintained for 10 years eating way more than I do now.

Very confused. I'm guessing I only remember the bad days and some days I didn't eat that much? Hard to believe.