When to start adding calories?

morihay wrote: »

Asked last week but didn't get any replys so trying again with a new title lol
I have lost 30 have 30 to go
Im5'2" start weight was 198 current is 168
MFP at 1000 deficit is 1200 calories although I wear u fitbit HR have worn for ablmost 3 months I know my actuall deficit is between 600-900 rarely 1000 I have lost 2 pounds average a week since Oct 1 and was curious I had planned to start adding calories at half way or should I wait till I get a little closer to goal?

Because you have less than 50 pounds to lose, change your goals to reflect a 1 pound per week weight loss goal.

I upped my calories after i had lost 40 lbs (wanted to lose at least 70). I lost 10 more, then immediately gained it back over the holidays, lol. Personally, I'd cut back to 1 lb per week at this point. Also, the link is great reading.

Keep your weight loss under 1% of your bodyweight per week. Up your calories as needed to maintain a loss of no more than 1% of your bodyweight per week.

If your actual deficit is 600-900 calories/day then you are not losing 2lb of fat per week. There is an estimate, measurement, or calculation off somewhere. The discrepancy could be in logging food, losing muscle instead of fat, in your TDEE calculation, or elsewhere.

morihay wrote: »

why is it ok to have a higher deficit if your taller? So a taller person at 1 pound a week would have a 500 calorie deficit if your short I have to settle for 100? That system seems flawed

Because you still have more total calories and 2 lbs is a lower percentage of your overall body weight.

As for what I did, I let my deficit decline as I got closer to goal by not adjusting it downward.

Basically, I started doing 1250+exercise (I was about 200 when I started at MFP and am 5'3).

When I was around 150 I switched to 1600 (TDEE method, so I didn't eat back exercise -- this was based on my estimate that I should lose about 1.5 lb/week).

As I lost, my deficit went down, but I left it at 1600, moving it up on occasion if I increased overall exercise or wanted to take a diet break. I did this until I got to 125 (back in Feb '15), at which point I decided to do maintenance for a while. By the end I was losing a bit less than a lb/week.

morihay wrote: »

It's just some days some days it's more on days I run its more but I eat more I just don't want to get to goal and start eating at maintenance I'm very OCD about weighing and tracking my food I feel great and have plenty of energy to run every other day I just wanted to know how close to goal people start adding back calories

So that you maintain a safe deficit for your weight, for every 25 pounds lost change your weekly weight loss goal.

100 pounds - 2.0 # /wk
75 pounds - 1.5 # /wk
50 pounds - 1.0 # /wk
25 pounds - 0.5 # /wk

I just wanted to make sure that we were on the same page. I have seen a few occasions where someone doesn't realize that the daily calorie allotment already has the deficit built in, so they are leaving calories on the table and complaining about lack of energy or feeling like they are starving. It kind effects whether the advice is simply eat all the calories you have already been allotted or lets discuss adjusting your calorie settings.

One thing I have considered doing is the non-TDEE version of what lemurcat12 is doing, where I would calculate the maintenance calories for my desired weight and use that as my daily calorie allotment plus eating back my exercise calories. I am a distance runner and triathlete, so when I am training for an event each week my workouts are longer and there is not an easy way to calculate TDEE for that. Plus I really like the feeling of earning dessert, or a beer, or after a really long run earning almost anything I want.

At some point soon I will probably at least calculate what my future maintenance calories are and if I am close enough to want to actually go that route.