Hello, so I just started really doing this diet last week and i'm really happy so far with the results. Just a little about me, I have been on a mission to lose 78 lbs since new years. I don't care how long it takes I will do it. My starting weight was 278 and that was my heaviest ever. My goal weight is 200lb. I am 6ft male and 39yrs. I did the low calorie thing for several months and as expected I lost pretty fast at first. My calories were usually between 1500 to 1800 and I did not eat back exercise which I did a ton of cardio(60 to 90 mins 3-4 days week).

So I got tired of starving all the time and I joined the spike group and at some point upped my calories to 2000 day, still never eating back exercise. So I finally hit a plateau about a month ago at 245. My weight would fluctuate daily between 245 and 248. It was really depressing because I was working harder then ever and I could never get the scale to go under 245. Even after getting food poisoning and losing tons of water over 3 days(it was bad) I still didn't go under 245. Even not eating for some of those 3 days and no loss. If that is not a plateau I don't know what is :sad:

So I found this group and decided to half *kitten* it and up my calories to 2300, still not eating back exercise and still doing way to much cardio. I did that for a few days and didn't get any results.

So I finally upped my calories to TDEE-15% using my bodymedia fit numbers and bam I lost 2.6lbs since last saturday's weigh-in. I actually weighed 243.8 yesterday which I was happy about but this morning really shocked me because I lost even more and weighed in at 242.4 this morning. Normally I only weigh myself officially on saturday morning, but that was to much of a loss to ignore so I'm counting it.

Here's my numbers per bmf for the last 7 days if it helps anyone to make up their mind whether upping their calories is a good idea or not. Oh and btw I cut my cardio to 30-45mins 3 times a week(started c25k) and weights 2-3 days.

TDEE average=3303
Calories eaten=2723(little less then planned)
deficit=580 per day
steps=9118


Now I doubt I lost 2.6lbs of pure fat due to my deficit only shows about a 1.2lb loss, but I beleive I also lost a lot of water I was retaining. Since low calorie diets cause us to retain water due to high cortisol. So when the body is happy(not hungry) this equals less stress and less cortisol. I can't wait to see how I do over the next week, but I'm hooked and so glad to not be hungry and feel great! Btw sorry for the huge post, I like to talk:drinker: