So confused!

Personally I started around 178, 5'5.5" and lost most of my weight eating 1400-1600 per day.

It can be helpful to have a better idea of how much energy your body uses in a day. Google a BMR calculator and put in your stats. That is what your body burns just to function, keep you alive. Heart beating, body temp regulation, food digestion, etc. etc. etc. Then you also burn some energy to move thru your day, this is where 'activity level' comes in. If you're on your feet constantly you'd burn more thru daily activity than if you sit 16 hours a day. Then intentional exercise is where you can burn a burst of calories doing cardio, as you're moving multiple major muscle groups.

If you have a better understanding of your body then you can be a little more confident of the calorie goal you're given. 1660 sounds very reasonable based on your stats, in my opinion.

While having end date goals can be unhealthy for some I don't think losing 20 pounds by August is unrealistic based on your #s. I lost ~50 between 12-25-12 and 10-11-13. Nothing extreme on my part.

Hey I am 5'7" and started about a year ago at 185 lbs in order to lose weight for my wedding. At that time, I also started at 1200 calories, and that did work, but I felt restricted. I got to 175 and kept my weight around there during the first 6 months of marriage.

I just started up again on Jan 1 2016. I was at 175 when I started this year. Since Jan 1 I have been eating around 1400-1450 cals per day. Yesterday I weighed in at 169, so I feel pretty good about that progress, and I don't feel hungry or anything. I don't work out much aside from walking the dog, and every now and then I get on a stationary bike for 10-20 mins. I also suck at push ups, so I do a few of those each day with the hopes to get better. I do eat at least 50% of exercise calories back.

You can friend or follow me! The plan is to get down to around 140ish. I know it will be slow and steady, but I definitely think your goal of 20 lbs by August is reasonable. I am a bridesmaid in August, so I hope to be down around 20 lbs by then, too. We can do this!

I started at 5'7" and 200 lbs at 1750 a day and lost weight just fine.

The question is, do you want to lose that 20lbs fast (and probably in an unhealthy way) and have it come back a few months later, or do you want to lose it slow and healthy and KEEP it off? There is no quick fix. At your stats (though I put 25 for age since you don't have that listed), entering your stats in another online calculator at desk job (sedentary), your daily calories you need to eat to simply maintain that weight is 1790. Take 20% off of that, which is the most I would ever suggest someone take off, and your lowest calorie limit to lose weight safely is 1432. And if you exercise, that number would be higher. That's why you've been having headaches and fatigue. 1200 calories a day isn't a safe number for you. You not only don't get the fuel your body needs, you're not getting the nutrition either.

20lbs by August might be doable, but your best bet is just to set your calories and go with that. I wouldn't drop below about 1400 a day for you. You might not make 20lbs exactly by August, but you'll be close. And if you add weight training, your body will look more toned and trimmer, and that could make up for the scale number not being where you wanted it to.

I started at 169 and I'm 5'9" and I've lost the majority of my weight averaging 2000 calories a day. For a bit I tried to set my calories lower and I have all the symptoms you're explaining. 1600 calories sounds better.

mrsb461 wrote: »

Dubird thank you for that great advice. I am 27 years old and do moderate exercise 3 times a week. Spinning and Zumba but i try not to eat back my exercise calories. Maybe I should drop my calories to 1400-1500 then????

I would say set MFP to sedentary and 1450 calories. That's a bit low, but if you eat back your exercise calories, you should be fine. Though, be aware that if you let MFP or a gym machine calculate your calories burned, it WILL be off. General recommendation is that if you let MFP calculate your calories, only eat back about half of them, since MFP is notorious for over-estimating! If you want a much more accurate count of calories burned, get a HRM and calculate yourself, then just enter them into MFP as calories burned, no description. Hope this helps!

MFP gave me a calorie count of 1280. I set it to lose 2 lbs a week and am very sedentary. However, I find it hard to stay to that goal all the time and if some days I eat a little more (up to 1600) I really don't get shook. Just the fact of logging keeps me away from those 4000 cal days that I was having. And yes, I am losing without exercising. You might try something similar.

Emmandaline wrote: »

Also, pay attention to your nutrition! If you are restricting your calories, you HAVE to eat nutrient-dense food otherwise you will feel terrible.

^^^^^^yup. get your protein in. Really took the edge off for me.