Less or more calories?

[christieouchley 55]

I am really struggling with how and what to eat. Im working out 5X week 2 mi, and with a trainer. Whats in question is diet. Im on a regular diet now bun unsure about calorie intake. I will be 3 months out on the 29th and have lost 40 lb. I really was expecting more, especially since half was in the first few weeks. When I was taking in 600-700 cals I would loose maybe a lb a week. I increased to 1000 lost 5 lb in a week. Ive kept it at 1000 for almost 2 weeks now and nothing. Whats worse is when I increased to 1000 I lost control a little and made it to 1000 with a slice of pizza or 1/3 of a lean hamburger. So I'm actually eating less times in a day but worse foods. Any thoughts? I am pretty tired of trying to figure this out!

[LG1981 111]

Why dont you use My Fitness Pal? It has really helped me stay on track of my food. I think you should relax a little in figuring out a calorie formula for your weight loss. Most of us eat under 1200 calories a day, and we all go through stalls. When we go below that, our body goes into starvation mode and shuts down any weight loss. It is our metabolism's way of keeping us healthy. Best of luck!

[clk 3,519]

There is no pattern to weight loss. We do not get to control our rate of loss with our diet or exercise.

You do what you're supposed to do and sometimes you're rewarded with a big drop and other times you're stuck in one spot or even gain for a bit.

It's normal.

Do start tracking your intake. Calorie-wise, as long as a piece of pizza fits into your diet plan and you didn't go over calories it's fine. Mentally, if it's going to trigger you to eat less ideal choices regularly, you need to address that and make different choices until you're in a different place.

The fact is that the amount of calories you should consume is the number you can eat on for months that will not hinder your loss. My advice is to hang with the 1,000 - focusing on ideal food choices 90% of the time but allowing yourself some flex so you feel more "normal" and less restricted. If you don't lose anything over the course of a month at that level, then think about changing it up.

You're also hitting the exercise pretty hard so make sure your trainer does measurements if it hasn't already been done. Muscle weights more than fat, blah blah blah so you might actually be seeing changes in your tape that you don't see on the scale. If you continue to shrink despite slow progress on the scale, there's no need to change anything.

Good luck,

~Cheri

[nonadona 3]

I am trying to use My Fitness Pal but it's settings are different than what I need as a post sleever. The Protein & carbs specifically. Is there any way to modify it?

[clk 3,519]

I change my goals manually. On the website (not the app, not sure how to do it there) go to the goals section under the My Home tab and you'll see the option to change your goals. I set mine manually. I get the fine print from MFP about consuming too few calories, etc. but this helps me track to my own goals rather than the automatically generated ones.

~Cheri

[nonadona 3]

Thanks, I just tried it and now I have exactly what I want!

[TwinsMama 483]

If you're using the app go to the More section, then Edit Profile, then scroll down to the Net Calories Goal and enter what you want there. Be forewarned that you may have to enter your data twice on the app, as the first time they may assume you made an error with the lower numbers.

You will get the "fine print" about the low calories but ignore that.