Calorie goals 6 months into weight loss

dazsco
dazsco Posts: 6 Member
edited November 16 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi guys looking for a bit of advice here. I'm a 28 year old male 5'7" and started out at 86.2kg last September. I have been dieting and working out religiously since September. I have had mfp calories set at losing 1kg per week which puts me on around 1800 a day. I am now down to 68.6kg but feeling quite hungry a lot of the time now.

Would it be advisable to change my goal on mfp? I'm not yet at my initial target and don't want to hinder my progress as it has been quite a steady fat loss. I'm still losing weight/fat but it's just the hunger. I work a physical job as a vehicle mechanic so I'm on my feet all day and doing manual labour. Usually at the gym I burn around 500-800 calories calculated from my polar a360 and h7 chest strap. I'm at the gym 6 days a week doing a combination of cardio and strength training.

So would changing my goal to 0.8kg (2090 cals) or even 0.5kg (2360 cals) loss per week have a big impact on slowing things down or not? Mfp has my maintenance at 2910 calories.

Thanks in advance

Replies

  • dazsco
    dazsco Posts: 6 Member
    Should have said I normally eat back some of my workout calories but not all.
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    If you are hungry, why not up your calories? No sense in struggling. You will continue to lose weight but just slower.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    dazsco wrote: »
    Hi guys looking for a bit of advice here. I'm a 28 year old male 5'7" and started out at 86.2kg last September. I have been dieting and working out religiously since September. I have had mfp calories set at losing 1kg per week which puts me on around 1800 a day. I am now down to 68.6kg but feeling quite hungry a lot of the time now.

    Would it be advisable to change my goal on mfp? I'm not yet at my initial target and don't want to hinder my progress as it has been quite a steady fat loss. I'm still losing weight/fat but it's just the hunger. I work a physical job as a vehicle mechanic so I'm on my feet all day and doing manual labour. Usually at the gym I burn around 500-800 calories calculated from my polar a360 and h7 chest strap. I'm at the gym 6 days a week doing a combination of cardio and strength training.

    So would changing my goal to 0.8kg (2090 cals) or even 0.5kg (2360 cals) loss per week have a big impact on slowing things down or not? Mfp has my maintenance at 2910 calories.

    Thanks in advance

    Have you taken any diet breaks, meaning a week or two to eat at maintenance, during that six month time period? If not, consider taking one. It can help you feel better physically and psychologically. Once the break is over, you could return to your current calorie level or use a smaller deficit. Here are two articles I like about diet breaks:

    ~~ Diet breaks ~~
    * http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/
    * http://strengthunbound.com/when-to-take-a-diet-break/
  • SCP0914
    SCP0914 Posts: 74 Member
    I was stuck at 150 for about a month and a half. I upped my calories by 200 and found that it was easier for me to reach, and ten pounds melted off after that. Don't deprive yourself. I would deprive myself and then be so hungry that I ended eating something I shouldn't. So a lower calorie goal ended up being less practical for me. If you don't have an issue with going over your calories, just remember that slower progress is better than none, and certainly better than being hangry.
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
    Even though I have lady parts, I was in the same situation a few weeks ago. The first 5 months I spent at 1200 calories (losing 2lbs per week), and at some point my body made it clear that it was no longer enough. I had already lost 60 of the 100 I am aiming for, so it made sense to adjust to a 1lb per week rate, which bought me 200+ calories per day. I took about two weeks to adapt up to the new amount, and I do typically stay under a hair because I'm not a big exerciser.

    Otherwise, I love having a little bit more food in my daily budget and it makes it a little easier to bank some calories for fun meals on the weekend.
  • dazsco
    dazsco Posts: 6 Member
    Not had any diet breaks just a couple of cheat meals not cheat days. On the days I had cheat meals I made space for them by going harder in the gym that day to compensate.

    I think it probably would be best then tonup my calories to 2100 a day first then and see how I get on for a week or so.

    I would never have thought at the start that I would have lost what I have and that I would be so committed to not giving up that deciding to have an extra couple hundred calories a day would be such a big deal in my head!!
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