When to start adding calories?

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morihay
morihay Posts: 50 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
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?

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  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300324/most-helpful-posts-goal-maintaining-weight-must-reads#latest
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,986 Member
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    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.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Two pounds a week is too aggressive for what you have to lose, especially as you're set to 1200. Change it to a pound a week, and remember that you can eat back your Fitbit calories as well.
  • Blueseraphchaos
    Blueseraphchaos Posts: 843 Member
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    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.
  • morihay
    morihay Posts: 50 Member
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    My weight range is 110-135 and I'm small framed I'm just trying to get to the top range so reality I could lose up to 60 pounds more I'm happy at 30 pounds more what I don't understand is I'm eating 1200 and I eat all my exercise calories fitbit adds if any if I Chang it to 1 pound a week I'm still going to end up eating the same because I have negitive turned on the exercise for the fitbit I never eat under 1200 but some days this is only a 600 calorie deficit sometimes less so if I set it to 1 pound a week loss MFP gives me 1701 calories to eat I would have a 100 cal deficit it would take me 5 weeks to lose a pound not going to do that
  • morihay
    morihay Posts: 50 Member
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    Maybe when I get down to 5 pounds to lose...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
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    If MFP gives you 1700 to lose a pound a week, that means it's estimating you burn 2200 calories a day without exercise at your set activity level. It sounds like you should either lower your activity level if you aren't on sedentary or try to move more so Fitbit gives you more calories.
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
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    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.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    morihay wrote: »
    Maybe when I get down to 5 pounds to lose...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

    blame genetics. taller people burn more calories.
  • morihay
    morihay Posts: 50 Member
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    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
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    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

    It is a guessing game, you have to play with the numbers. No one here will know that answer for you.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    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.
  • trswallow
    trswallow Posts: 116 Member
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    If you are losing an average of two pounds a week then you must have an average deficit of 1,000 calories a day.

    Height has nothing to do with weight loss. It doesn't matter if you are 5, 6, or 7 feet tall it still takes 3500 calorie deficit to lose a pound. So at 1 pound a week that would be a 500 calorie deficit each day, regardless of height.

    Just so it is clear you say that you have set MFP to a 1,000 calories deficit (2 lbs/week) but that you are typically actually eating at only a 600-900 calorie deficit. So are your Remaining Calories showing in red between -100 to -400 on most days or is it showing in black as having 600 to 900 calories remaining?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,986 Member
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    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
  • morihay
    morihay Posts: 50 Member
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    I'm in the red 2-3 days a week when I say I have lost an average of 2 pounds a week i,guess I didn't know I needed to be so clear I have tracked for 80+ days I had higher numbers loss in the beginning and it's slower now but my app shows an average over time I have had, obviously as I lose my deficit gets smaller because im smaller I know this
    thank you lemurcat12 that's what I was looking for.
    I understand how weight loss works
    I am eating heathier so I'm never hungry in fact find it hard to eat 1200 heathier choices I have MORE energy then I have in 20 years and my blood pressure is finally getting under control
    I simply wanted to know other people's plan for eating more closer to maintenance



  • trswallow
    trswallow Posts: 116 Member
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    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.

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