Help!

First things first: Well done on losing 17lbs so far!

I think you are eating on the low end of the calorie intake given your exercise levels Can you share the following info?

* What is your normal activity level if you take out the exercise: Do you walk or cycle to get to places, or are you a commute by car to your desk job?
* What kind of exercise do you do?
* Do you take any other measurements?

Your weight does fluctuate, so never be disheartened about a small gain. However, based on your height, age and current weight, your BMR matches mine (I'm 5'10" and 170lbs). I do a combi of cardio (C25K) and strength training. Outside of that I have a desk job and therefore very sedentary lifestyle.

If your normal activity is sedentary, and your average workout is 45mins, then your TDEE sits roughly at 2035 calories. At 1480 you are at too big a deficit, and at risk of metabolic adaptation; your body learns to cope with the reduced calorie intake and eating back exercise calories then becomes an issue.

I would recommend you gradually work your way up to around 1700 calories a day. That way you are still in a deficit for fat burn, but you give your body sufficient fuel to exercise and exist on without burning any muscle tissue. Too big a deficit likely prevents muscle building as your body becomes desperate for fuel.

I am steadily losing 1-1.5lbs a week on 1700 calories, doing a similar amount of exercise to you. My normal TDEE is between 1950-2050. And I have cheat days too. I have lost 12lbs so far, had a bad weekend so gained slightly. Never mind, it'll come back off.

Remember that as you are exercising you are building muscle. Muscle is denser than fat, so that can skew the scales. E.g.: You burn 25 lbs of fat, but at the same time build 8 lbs of muscle, you have a net loss in weight of 17lbs. However, you will look much leaner than the number on the scales would have you believe.

gumbyisgrn wrote: »

I am trying really hard to have this time be the time I stick with it and hit my goal weight (I am getting married next year so I wanna look my best!) but it is hard to stay motivated when the scale is not reflective of the work I am doing.

Scales are not reflective: They are merely a guide.

From your further comments I would argue my calculations are pretty reasonable. You need to reverse diet to get up to a reasonable deficit (I stand by 1700 based on your stats - and only eat back some exercise calories if you really need it) and tweak your exercise to be more strength based because muscle naturally uses more energy, and thus having more muscle you require more energy. Keep some cardio, but weight and resistance training will do you more favours. The higher calorie intake will also prevent binges as you are fuelling your body sufficiently.

However, please remember that the scales are not accurate as it doesn't take in to account the difference between fat and muscle. So buy yourself a tape measure and measure your waist, hips and any other parts you wish to tone (thigh, upper arm, bust, neck) and use that as a guide. Also, if you can invest in scales that measure body fat then that might help. It's not the most accurate measurement, but as long as you use the same device it should still show you a trend of the number going down.

Like I have said: I put on weight last week, but I did lose 1.5 cm off my bust. So that is progress, even though the scales haven't told me that.