Accurately tracking calorie intake - what next ?

Nothing to add that's not been said already. Just agreeing and adding that time and patience will be your friend. Read the scale fluctuations article it's really helpful.

Also, just to add, 1kg a week is fairly ambitious for your stats, 0.7-0.8 would be good going but expect that to slow as your weight drops.

In theory, but as your weight gets lower, the deficit required to maintain that weight loss becomes too low to be sustainable or healthy.
I'm sure MFP recalculates your calorie goals as your weight changes anyway, just enjoy the hay days of fairly rapid number dropping to start with whilst they last!

jameskent2017 wrote: »

Thanks both, hmmm interesting

So key Takeaway

1. Get more dataset minimum a month

2. Don’t reduce calorie. Intake but get closer to the recommenced of 2200

Point 2 is what I am a bit more anxious to do. I am weary of increasing calorie closer as don’t fully know the benefit of doing so as you mentioned sijomial starvation mode is a myth.

The benefit of getting a sensible minimum of calories (not trying to lose weight too fast) is that it (1) reduces the risk of bad health consequences that can occur due to persistent undereating, (2) helps maintain your energy level in ways both subtle and profound so doesn't let fatigue sap calorie burn out of your daily life, and (3) gives you a better chance of actually sticking with the process long enough to lose weight.

To lose any really meaningful amount of weight is a long term proposition, months to years. So, you need a process that will stay workable that long - that's just being realistic.

A really common scenario is to start off trying to lose weight as fast as possible, white-knuckling it more as time goes on, and then when over-deprivation kicks in, succumbing to over-eating. Usually, averaging a half kg a week loss for 52 weeks will give better results than lose 4 kg in a month, give up and overeat for a week or two and gain back 2kg, back on course for week, fail out again . . . for a year.

I read the article Lietchi which if I interpreted correctly my actual weight loss could be for example 0.7kg +\- 0.3kg depending on other factors.

Your actual fat weight loss could be anything. You don't know, numerically, especially in your first week, especially when adding exercise at the same time. I'm a fairly small li'l ol' lady, like 59kg, and my scale weight will bounce around by a kg or more overnight sometimes, without any actual change in my underlying fat levels. You could've lost 0 kg of fat if you happened to be at a high water-weight point on the first weigh-in (though that's unlikely), or you could have lost multiple kg of fat after a starting weight that was low-water-retention and adding exercise so that multiple kg of water are hiding fat loss. There's no sure way to know, based on one week.

Stick with it for a month, you'll have a better idea.

Also to that point why I don’t want to out eat more close to the calorie recommended by mfp as if my actual weight is on the higher end then I am in essence overeating.

Huh? If your actual weight is currently high, you burn more calories than a lighter person. If you set your MFP profile up correctly (accurate activity level based on your life without considering exercise, right age/weight/etc.) and told it you wanted to lose weight at X kg per week, it's already built your weight loss into the goal it estimates for you. Can that estimate be incorrect? It's close for most people, but yes, it can be incorrect. It can be overestimated, or underestimated. (MFP dramatically underestimates my calorie needs. Until I figured that out - nearly 5 years ago now - I underate accidentally, even while eating what it said and eating back all exercise, and got weak and fatigued. That's very rare, but it can happen. No one wants that.)

So agree with both that I should carry on logging review intensively after a month but for now not make any major changing just monitor that fluctuations are not too wild.

Eat close to your MFP-generated calorie goal, if you did the set-up honestly and correctly, and monitor for a month. The only fluctuation to worry about is if you seem to be losing too fast, and simultaneously start feeling tired or weak. That would be a sign you should eat more. Otherwise, just stick to the goal given for a month. Then you'll have a better idea what adjustment to make.

Strudders67 wrote: »

Eat what MFP tells you to eat - and log / eat about 75% of your exercise calories on top of that. Your body will thank you for it in the long term.

Eating back those 75% of exercise calories is only step one of two steps. The second step is monitoring his weight and eating back less or more of his exercise calories, depending on if the weight loss is quicker or slower than intended.

jameskent2017 wrote: »

This is first time I’ve actually logged calories to this detail and I want to use the data to drive decision making. I understand as most have stated I will hit plateau and a feeling of tiredness in coming weeks but for now feel fine and energy levels good to train. I don’t just want to eat because MFP says hit this goal but tap into that reserve when feeling tired or starting to see a decrease in progress and training.

If you persistently undereat, and become fatigued as a result, it isn't necessarily the case that you just eat more the next day and poof, everything's fine again.

I accidentally under-ate at first (because MFP underestimates my calorie needs). I felt great, and not hungry . . . until suddenly, I hit a wall. It took multiple weeks to recover normal strength and energy. Some people find that a few weeks after that - even if they've corrected - they start experiencing things like unusual levels of hair loss, or brittle nails. At that point, there is no explicit remedy, except to get past it. Worse things than those can happen, too.

Will horrible things happen? Not necessarily. But I think you're being naive about it not being a big deal, ever, at all. We're trying to give you experienced advice, to give you better odds of staying strong and healthy while achieving weight goals, that's all. We're not trying to stop you from making progress.

Best wishes, on your own course!