Getting close to goal.

suzyjmcd2 wrote: »

Cavallaro65 wrote: »

Lost 70 pounds so far, with just 12 more to go. I dropped my MFP from 2 pounds a week to .5 which I should have done much earlier but honestly overlooked it. My calories went from 1,970 to over 2,500. I am not taking in 2,500 calories but that is what MFP has it now. I just hit 2,000 calories today for the first time since starting this healthy eating thing. All my macros are good.
Anyway I used a popular TDEE calculator today. How accurate are they in general? Also since I upped my calories from taking in around 1,700 to 2,000, is that safe? I mean that won't cause any weight gain because I'm still under what MFP set it and my macros are good right?

I've lost just shy of 40 and have 3 to go. It's been a VERY slow go to lose these last 7 pounds or so. I don't eat back any exercise calories, or if rarely I do, not more than 50 -100. Yet as soon as I eat higher, I gain. For example on vacation, or when others were telling me that I should try eating more calories to break a plateau. I gain pretty easily.

I don't imagine that when I reach my goal, I'll be able to eat much more than I do right now. I will be afraid to eat much more.

kimny72 wrote: »

Cavallaro65 wrote: »

Lost 70 pounds so far, with just 12 more to go. I dropped my MFP from 2 pounds a week to .5 which I should have done much earlier but honestly overlooked it. My calories went from 1,970 to over 2,500. I am not taking in 2,500 calories but that is what MFP has it now. I just hit 2,000 calories today for the first time since starting this healthy eating thing. All my macros are good.
Anyway I used a popular TDEE calculator today. How accurate are they in general? Also since I upped my calories from taking in around 1,700 to 2,000, is that safe? I mean that won't cause any weight gain because I'm still under what MFP set it and my macros are good right?

All calculators are just estimates, a good starting point. Honestly, if you're willing to do a little math, you should be able to figure out your TDEE based on your logging so far. You say you were set to 2 lbs per week, but how much was your actual weight loss per week on average? If it was 2 lbs, you were in a 1000 calorie deficit, 1.5 lbs is a 750 calorie deficit, 1 lb is a 500 calorie deficit per day. Add the calorie deficit to the calories you were eating, and that's should be your TDEE. This of course assumes accurate and consistent data. If you're logging wasn't always accurate, then just go with whatever calculator you like ans tweak as you go based on your results.

Congrats on your success so far!

AnnPT77 wrote: »

There's a thread here in the "Most Helpful Posts" about alternative ways to find & move to your maintenance calories:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10638211/how-to-find-your-maintenance-calorie-level

If you add a substantial number of calories all at once, you will be likely to see a jump on the scale. That's perfectly normal: On average, you have more food in your digestive tract than previously; that food has weight while it's in transit. (Full digestive transit can take up to two days, or even a bit more.) Further, probably some of that food is carbs or contains sodium. Either of those will increase water weight temporarily while your body is metabolizing them. That water also has weight. So the scale goes up a little . . . but none of that is fat, so there's no reason to worry about it.

Only if you exceed your actual maintenance calories do you see fat gain. In a very general sense, quick gains you see on the scale are unlikely to be fat gain, and very likely to be water retention or digestive contents. As you're moving to maintenance calories, especially if you add calories gradually, any fat gain would seem more like it was weight gradually creeping upward.

It takes roughly 3500 calories above maintenance calories to gain a pound of fat. If you've been losing 2 pounds a week, you've been eating 1000 calories under maintenance calories every day. Eating 500 calories more a day might lead to a scale jump (the water and digestive contents thing), but there's no way it's going to lead to fat gain. You'd still be losing fat (hidden behind that water/digestive-contents thing) at the rate of about a pound a week. In a week or two, that would be obvious.

Over-reacting to scale fluctuations (that can't possibly be fat) can be easy to do, but it's not very helpful or useful. It's better to try to understand what's really going on.

Best wishes!