Anyone have any suggestions about weight loss?

[Natztastic]

Hello all,

Since Jan 6th I have been trying to lose weight.

I have lost 22lbs so far, it started off well but things have started to slow up.

I am sticking to to a 1400 cals a day diet.

I am exercising 6 days a week, started with a mix of exercise bike, weighted hula, c25k, and walking.

I am mostly now doing walking including hills 5-6 miles a day.

According to MFP, I should be losing 4lbs a week with my reduced calories and exercise, but its just not happening.

That being said it is an average of 2.72 lbs a week, but its just not reflecting the effort.

Any tips?

Weight start 252

Weight current 230

Moderator edit: subject for clarity

[BASILCHIVES]

Well, first congrats on your loss but I think that is a lot of weight to lose safely in that short of a time frame.  I don't know of any healthy food plan that would cause anyone to lose 4 lbs per week.   2 lbs per week is more realistic.   With the exercise it could be that you are either building muscle or your body is just taking a rest.   Give it a week or two and if still not losing anything, it might be  time to see a registered dietician to look over your food log.   If you are counting calories are you counting everything?  Weighing or measuring or just guestimating.  It is very common to underestimate your calories in and overestimate your calories out.

[WilsonFitbit]

Hello @Natztastic, it's nice to see you around! @BASILCHIVES, I am also glad to see you around as well and thanks for the tips! 

@Natztastic, congratulations! Losing 22 lbs isn't that easy, it involves dedication, hard work and a very active life. I'm so impressed to see what you've achieved so far!

I agree with @BASILCHIVES, to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week, burning 500 to 1,000 calories more than those calories consumed each day will help you to safely lose weight. Eating a nutritious diet, combined with increased physical activity, can help you to lose pounds at a healthy rate. 

I know you may probably lose 4 pounds per week but I was investigating and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends slow weight loss for lasting results. 

Let's see if other users can share their experiences and inputs! 😁

Have a great day! 

[Heybales]

You may have over 50 lbs to lose to healthy weight - which makes 2 lbs weekly a reasonable weight loss?

Unreasonable causes stress on body, can easily cause muscle mass loss, causes body to adapt not to burn as much to stop the level of deficit to not be so stressful.

Extreme diets are a sure fire way to be part of the 80% that fail to reach and maintain goal weight for any amount of time - don't become a bad stat year after year.

Sadly at this point with that extreme already done, and the effects you describe - you've likely already caused the body to adapt - hopefully you didn't lose too much muscle mass - very hard to get back, especially for a woman - you'll want that muscle now and later.

It's always better to purposely slow the rate of loss than have a body so stressed out it has to do it first.

When you have 50 lbs left to healthy weight - time to reduce deficit to 750, at 30 go to 500, at 15 go to 250.

And diet breaks are very beneficial there, take a week and eat at maintenance. Let hormones reset, let metabolism and daily activity recovery, ect.

Like every 20 lbs lost to 50 left, and then by 10's.

Your daily eating goal based on a reasonable deficit from what you burn will mean eating different amount daily.

If that is hard for planning and preparing, then keep a weekly running avg for like 3 weeks of what you burned for the week in total.

Subtract the 1000, 750, 500, or 250, and there's your eating goal that week each day.

That way it changes is weight drops and activity changes.

Because think about it - if you are eating in total 1400 for the amount of activity you are doing now - where exactly are you going to go when your weight drops more and you burn much less, especially if getting closer to goal weight?

What if you got sick or vacation or busy life and couldn't be as active - how low would you need to go now?

Sounds like you've had some good dedication and adherence, and that can be used going forward, but I question the ability to sustain this to the end - not because of you, but because statistically extreme diets fail as the body rebels.

[WilsonFitbit]

Hi @Heybales, nice to see you! 

Thanks for taking the time to share your input! This is really appreciated! 😊

Have a great day!