Can I just start eating more?

Don't stop. Stalls (plateaus) happen. Keep doing what you're doing and it'll start to drop again.

Here are a couple of tips though. As you lose weight you won't burn the same calories that you did in the past doing the same exercises. Exercise becomes easier when you weigh less, or as you build muscle. So if you're using an app or device to track your exercise calories, make sure you adjust your weight in the device/app so it knows to adjust your calorie burn. All good apps will let you fill that info in on your profile. Most good devices/equipment will also. If you're entering your weight updates weekly in MFP using the "check in" feature then it'll adjust your deficit for you as well (I think, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, you might need to re-run the wizard). I always re-ran the wizard for my weight loss every time I lost 5 lbs and it always lowered my calorie allotment as expected.

Also, when you are severely overweight it's easy to lose weight as the deficit just needs to be there, but as time goes on it's very important to increase your logging accuracy (usually with a food scale). Take a serious look at your macros, because I'm not a big fan of the way MFP sets them. I use iifym.com instead and change my settings based on its calculators. If you're using the free edition you can set your calorie limit and then change the percentages for macros. If you're using the paid version, you can simply set the grams. There's a catch with the free version though...

You can't turn off exercise calories with the free version. So if you choose to use iifym.com's calculator to figure in a steady calorie level per day (so you don't have to eat less on a rest day) then you will have to fill in your info on iifym.com, enter all your information, then DO NOT ENTER EXERCISE on its calculator. Once you have your TDEE and macros using the iifym.com calculator, enter those calories into MFP, set the percentages it gives you, and then let MFP add calories as you exercise. If you're on the paid version you simply enter your exercise in iifym's calc and then turn off exercise tracking on MFP. Alternately you can simply delete exercise as MFP adds it if you want, but honestly, I'd rather be able to eat more on days I work out harder.

Just to cross it off the list, are you sure your logging is accurate. "Stalls" and "plateaus" of more than 6-8 weeks are actually "accidentally eating at maintenance". So logging is the first place to look. if you're not weighing solids and measuring liquids it's probably time to start.

Diet breaks can be useful, I've taken a few but I have also never stopped losing weight as predicted as my logging is good and I have enough data to know my calorie burns from exercise are accurate as per my tracker.

x3livox wrote: »

So I've been on this weight loss journey since May and I've lost 50 lbs, which I am super happy with! But in the past month or so, my weight loss has stalled or at the very least slowed down a lot. I'm not sure why exactly, I'm definitely eating in deficit, and I'm not that close to my goal. I'm at 162 and my first goal is 130, and then I'll decide if I want to lose any more after I get there.
I guess I was very strict over the summer months, I usually ate about 1200- 1300 calories. Since the fall and winter started I still eat about that most days, but some weeks I'll eat one or 2 days a week I'll eat about 1500.
I also work out 5 days a week instead of the six days a week I worked out over the summer.
Like I said earlier, I'm definitely still in deficit so I don't know why I've stalled, but I was also wondering if upping my calories to about 1400 a day is going to drastically alter my weight.
I don't believe it's going to make me start losing weight fast, but I just want to make sure upping my calories is not going to make me gain. I will still definitely be in deficit.
I'm hoping someone with an experience similar to mine could help me out here! I'm not looking for the typical CICO answer of if I'm eating at a deficit I would definitely be losing. I know how much I eat, I don't think I "screwed up my metabolism." I just want to know what's going on with my weight and if I'm okay to eat a little more.

I'm going to assume you're good on tracking.

Do it-- regardless, you're still, as you stated, in a deficit. If it fails, you can always drop again. Give it a couple weeks.

Experience: Stalled. Plateaued. Wasn't going anywhere at the same deficit. Added calories, while still in deficit, started shedding fat like crazy at rates not seen since starting. 800 added calories later, I'm still losing... but slowing. Life is better. I eat more. I have less fat.

That said... I'm not you but unless your TDEE is 1200, you don't need (or probably want) to stay at 1200 indefinitely.

Well, if your maintenance should be about 2000, I vote for setting your goal at 1500 and do that after a bit of a diet break, maybe a week or so at maintenance? Your current goal sounds too aggressive and a bit of a diet break might help you get back in the game with renewed enthusiasm.

I used to really believe that my body didn't want to be lower than 160. I always seemed to stall out right there, but I now think that I just got complacent once I hit that weight and it was my mental loss of focus that made it hard to get below that. I am right around 145 now, so obviously it wasn't impossible lol. And for me it was over 15 years above that weight! I haven't been below 150 since I was 18 and finally at 44 I am figuring this weight management thing out! Good for you getting around to it sooner!

I'll add my 2 cents. I was in a similar situation. I had lost 40 pounds over 2 years. Yes, it took me a while. But consistency, counting calories, and exercise are what did it. Then I stalled out. I could not seem to get over that slump-for months. I was eating 1500 calories per day and my TDEE was 3000. All the math said I should have been dropping weight, I had a huge deficit. A week ago, on the advice of my trainer, I started eating 1800. I have lost 5 pounds. I *kitten* you not! It's too early for me to make a solid conclusion on this. I still have a deficit of about 1000 per day but I am eating more and losing more. That's my story. I would advise eating more. Just give it two weeks and see what happens. I know everyone preaches it is all about CI/CO but sometimes when you are at such a huge deficit it is not that cut and dry. The larger the deficit does not always translate into greater pounds lost. At least not in my experience.

JulieSHelms wrote: »

I did the same as some mentioned here. I lost about 90 lbs at 1200 calories, then hit a long plateau. I upped it to 1450 calories eleven days ago and have dropped 6.5 lbs since doing that. I got the information to do this from the Eat More 2 Weigh Less group here on MFP. According to them, the stopping of loss on low calories has to do with the body going into starvation mode and becoming more efficient at NOT losing anything. Their method actually has me at closer to 2000 cals per day, but I don't have the nerve to raise it that high, plus I'm pretty happy with the sudden progress over the last 11 days.

It's not "starvation mode", it's metabolic adaptation. You move less, become sluggish, and reach a standstill. You drastically deplete some key hormones.

Upping your calories replenishes those hormones which gets your metabolism functioning optimally again. It also gives you more energy, and you move more during the day which raises your TDEE.

That's how raising your calories works.

Starvation mode isn't a "thing" in the way people think it is.

So, OP, this may be happening to you. The best advice is to take a diet break because even if you don't feel like you need one, those depleted hormones do. After the diet break, up your calories, and try to consciously move a little more. The scale should start moving again.