Losing weight on 1300-1500 calories

I’m aiming to just maintain from Thanksgiving to New Years. I’m usually at 1200 plus half my exercise calories (another 100-150 calories). I’m 5’2” and 63 yo. Weight is 129 (GW is 124 but I got stuck a few months ago). You’re doing great!

I totally know how you're feeling. I'm not saying it will work for everyone, but here are some changes that I've made that helped me to "lose weight" (more on that further down) and still feel as if I've been eating a lot:

• I upped my calories to about 1,450 and changed where those calories come from
• I have eliminated all "obvious" sources of carbs (e.g. granola, muesli, bread, rice and potatoes)
• I am eating a lot more fat than I used to (think smoked salmon, poached eggs, full fat cream cheese)
• I make sure I hit my protein goal for the day (if you're a carnivore this will be fun but there are also good vegetarian and vegan options )
• I have stopped weighing myself more than once every two weeks but take body measurements once a week which consistently have shown progress (which wasn't always reflected in my body weight)

If you're exercising and depending on what type of exercise you are doing, you might be gaining weight in muscle which would then lead to you not seeing any difference or even an increase in weight on the scales. Try taking your measurements instead as you'll see your body "shrinking" even when you're not losing weight.

I found changing from the scales to the measuring tape the one key thing that keeps me going as I used to beat myself up over not making any progress when actually, my body composition was probably changing and I looked smaller but it just didn't show on the scales. Nevertheless, I would get discouraged and fall off the wagon because I felt as if all of my efforts were for nothing. When I started measuring myself, I was able to celebrate every millimeter lost when I knew I had stayed on track food-wise but didn't see a change on the scales.

This is now turning into a lengthy post, but I just want to finish by saying that it sounds as if you're doing amazingly well. Don't beat yourself up. We're so used to being promised "diet wonders" of "lose 7 pounds in 7 days" which all aim to get us to invest in the multi billion dollar industry that's weight loss that sometimes we lose sight of what's realistic, healthy and sustainable long term.

You're doing this for you (and you're doing well!) so be kind to yourself, trust the process and think positive. You can do it, lovely!!

At your weight you could probably still lose at 1660 which is my calorie goal. I am 221 at the moment but 1660 was a calorie goal that was given to me when I was here before and just under 200 pounds.

As @TavistockToad mentioned, weight loss is not linear. Here is an interesting article by Lyle McDonald: https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/.

Several MFPers have mentioned that they use a trending app. Here's an example from the web app (https://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/HackDiet/) that I use:




The white diamonds are my daily weights; they are all over the place. The red line is my weight trend.

As others have mentioned, do the right things and trust the process. The weight will come off. :-)

kshearer13 wrote: »

Honestly, it sounds like you are doing great!
It's taken me quite some time to learn to trust the process but I finally have. Some weeks I lose a pound. Other times I'll go three or four weeks without anything and then a large jump. Some days I am starving and craving pizza or ice cream and other days I want nothing more than to eat a salad or a smoothie or something. You should be setting yourself up for a healthy life, not a diet (which it sounds like you are doing). If your body is much happier eating around 1300 or 1400 calories then do that. I've found my sweet spot is about 1600. Much less and I'm starving and weight loss stalls, much more and weight loss stalls and I feel sluggish. If you need to eat breakfast then do that.

Ditto this! My body is happiest when I eat around 1600. I'm also 5'4" and I (re)started this October at 191. (After almost meeting my goal weight last year at an average of 1600 calories, I gained a lot back when I stopped running AND counting calories this year) So since October I had been eating between 1200-1400 and I've lost a good amount of weight, but I then stalled for two weeks. I was also suddenly getting hungrier more often. I decided to listen to my body, upped my calories to 1600,and Bam, the scale went down two pounds within a week. So really I think the best thing you can do is to look at this in the long term. Take the time to listen to the cues your body gives you. If you have been feeling hungrier and hungrier, maybe your body is missing essential nutrition. Even though it might sound counter intuitive, go ahead and aim to eat 1500 calories (The high limit you set) for a week and see what happens. Don't just mind your macros, but take a look at the vitamins and minerals that you are taking in, healthy fats, etc. Last year I was unable to even start my weight loss process until I learned that I had a pretty bad vitamin D deficiency and went about correcting that. Once at healthy levels it was SO much easier for me to get my head into losing weight.This time around I felt pretty foggy headed the first few weeks until I realized I was not getting enough potassium. I Started taking a daily electrolyte mix high in potassium and that fixed that. So sorry, I'm probably giving more advice than you asked but I have learned to just listen to the cues my body gives me and if something feels off, I read, read, read until I'm able to figure out the problem. As you've probably learned from reading the threads, everyone has advice to offer, I'm just humbly submitting mine. Hope some of it helps.

If you ate something with a lot of sodium, could also be water retention. I am 5'4" currently at 204 (a bit heavier than you) but I've been losing at 1500 calories. According MFP, I can lost 1 lb. per week eating 1650. I'm 52. You look younger than that in your photo, so definitely you ought to be able to eat a bit more than 1200 at your current weight.