Is my current calorie intake healthy?

I started my weightloss journey 3 weeks ago. I am calorie deficit of around 500-600 each day. I also added 45 minute walks every single day. I have lost 9 lbs in 23 days. My TDEE according to fatcalc is 2182 and myfitnesspal is set up at 1320. I have a daily intake of 1450 on average though.
Answers
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I'm not sure how to edit my post…. I have not gone above 1500 calorie intake along the way. If that helps.
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I think you are fine. The first weeks into a diet you generally drop a lot of water weight. Then the weight loss slows down. An intake of 1400-1500 calories sounds perfectly reasonable.
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You really haven't been at it long enough to know, really, but the early results hint that loss is a lot faster than a 500 calorie daily deficit. But you need more data.
After you have 4-6 weeks of experience at a given calorie level and activity routine, or one full menstrual cycle for people who have cycles, your actual weight loss rate gives you a better estimate of your calorie needs and your deficit than MFP, any other calorie calculator, or even a fitness tracker. It's still an estimate or approximation, since things like water retention shifts introduce some randomness, but it's closer.
23 days is a little short for a valid estimate, plus there's not enough data in your post for a precision estimate, but I'll show rough arithmetic based on what you've told us, and you can be more precise with it as you go along.
You say you've lost 9 pounds in 23 days. If that's entirely body fat, that would be roughly 31500 calories worth of body fat (9 pounds at roughly 3500 calories per pound). Dividing that number of calories by 23 days, we'd estimate you have a calorie deficit of 1370 calories per day, i.e., that you've eaten on average 1370 calories fewer daily than you've burned.
For many people, that would be unhealthfully fast loss, if it continues. Someone well over 300 pounds and under close medical supervision might be able to lose that fast, but it wouldn't be ideal in other cases IMO.
However, you really need more weeks of data to get a reasonable estimate, and if you find that the first couple of weeks are wildly different from what follows, you should ignore them and go for another couple of weeks. That's because the start up weight changes can be more distorted by shifts in water retention and eating patterns than later weeks will be . . . but later, you still need enough weeks to average. If you have menstrual cycles, compare body weight at the same relative point in at least two different cycles to calculate the weight loss weekly averages.
Once you have enough weeks of data to average, you can do the arithmetic as above to turn total pounds lost into estimated calorie loss, and get an estimated deficit.
If your calorie intake has varied from day to day, you can also add up add up each day's calorie intake for that same whole time period, add the total number of calories in the pounds that were lost over that time period, and divide by the number of days in the time period. That would give you average estimated daily weight-maintenance calories during that time period. If you want to lose a pound a week, subtract 500 from that estimated daily maintenance calorie number, and make that your new goal. If you want something different, use arithmetic and that "500 calories per day is a pound a week" concept to work out multiple or partial pounds.
I hope that makes sense. I know most people hated story problems in school arithmetic, and that's a story problem. 😉
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Is the 500 calories for a specific reason? I caution against being too radical. I grew up anorexic and I now struggle with so many health problems including never being able to eat more than 1,000 calories in a day or my body gains weight and stores fat. After finding out about pre diabetes I'm afraid to go back to full starvation because it might trigger full diabetes.
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I do not believe my calorie intake to be radical. I am full after meals. I eat when I am hungry.
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I misunderstood I think. When I first read it I thought you were only 500-600 calories a day but after reading the rest you mean a calorie deficit of 500-600 per day eating 1400-1500 calories a day. That is very reasonable and should give you a loss each week with your walking 45 minutes a day. I would also try to stay away from processed foods and stick with healthy fresh foods and stay away from sugars (Stevia is ok) and too many processed carbs getting your carbs from vegetables and fruits. Also healthy oils (extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, ghee). Best wishes!
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I would re read Ann's post for nuance and to understand the limits of your short sample
If your short sample is representative, you believe you are attempting a deficit that is just under 750 Cal a day (tdee 2182 less 1450 calories logged = believed attempted deficit)
Your results, if representative, are 9lbs in 23 days representing a scale reflected deficit of 1369 Cal a day, and an actual tdee of 1440+1369= 2809 Cal a day.
While the truth is probably somewhere in the middle and your tdee is neither as low as 2182 or as high as 2809, the indications are that currently it is probably more than 2182.
If your internal eating compass has always been so accurate one wonders why you would need to manage your weight. Most of us who have found MFP may be a bit less confident in our ability to accurately "FEELZ" our eating cues and can benefit from some outside verification and guidance for our FEELZ.
A 50% deficit off tdee for longer term weight loss is the definition of an excessive deficit
A 20 to 25% (actual scale results reflected) deficit is actually already aggressive for most.
An alternate guidance would be losing 0.25% to 1% of body weight per week for most, with 0.5% or less resulting in better long term adherence.
I hope that you will find the correct for you balance that will enable you to achieve your reasonable goals.
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It sounds like your calorie intake is reasonable, and you’re off to a great start. If you can work in strength training at some point, you’ll feel even better in the long run. Calorie counting does help but I found that the foods I consume makes all the difference, more protein and less processed stuff. Good luck to you!
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