A question on the best way ...

[Jeroniymo]

Hi

I know that losing weight / getting fit is best done in a slow fashion.

Inlost 2 1/2 stone in between August and xmas last year and have kept all bar a couple of pounds off ... I am now on my second challenge of losing the next bit ...

I have a flex and have set my targets at 10000steps a day, 5 miles walking 30 mins active and 3200 calories burnt a day.

my current stats are 5 foot 6inches and 17 stone five pounds at the age of 35.

I have just started tracking my intake as well and yesterday was 1500 calories lower than my burnt calories.

Today I will be in a similar position.

is this too much of a difference to be sustainable?  Would I be better aiming at being only 1000 calories less and worrying less about the situation?

i want this to be sustainable, not just a quick fix.

thanks

martin

[Dominique]

You may want to keep things at the current level (estimated deficit of 1500 calories) for a few weeks in order to see whether the weight loss is what would be expected with such a deficit.

Your calculated BMR would be 1980 calories (I’m using this online calculator). 1200 calories burned on top of that with 10k steps / 5 miles walking / 30 active minutes sound a bit high. Hence my suggestion above.

[Jeroniymo]

I went through multiple websites - on all I am currently eating under my BMR in the dyas so all exercise calories are considered net loss as well,

I just want to ensure I lose no more than a pound a week on average, otherwise I know from experience I will struggle to keep going.

[Jeroniymo]

I am actually beating my targets on every day and the last one to complete is the calories, I suspect that if I hit the calories taget I have hit the others and about a quarter to a third again

[iMike]

I think @Dominique summed it up pretty nicely.  Besides, you can always make adjustments after a few weeks if you need to.

[GershonSurge]

Thanks to a serendipitous injury, I've learned more about weight loss. If you look at my profile, you will see my step count is quite low. My calories burned are also low, but I've maintained a deficit. The average deficit has dropped from about 1,500 a day to 750 a day, and now I'm losing more weight for some reason. I've also gained lean mass since I am lifting weights.

Can't say a reason for any of this, but it has shown me that instead of recommending a "best" answer, I should encourage you to experiment. Generally, if someone has a feeling something isn't right, it isn't. In your case, you have a feeling a 1,500 calorie deficit isn't right for you. Given that, you might try 1,000 or even 750. I wouldn't go lower because of the possible measurement error in the Fitbit. 

Give any changes at least a week or two to see the results. If you don't like the results, I suggest adjusting your deficit by 250 one direction or the other. 

Another option is to eat the same number of calories each day and let the deficit fluctuate. This makes meal planning simple.