Congrats on the weight loss. First 1200 calories is the theoretical minimum number of calories a woman should eat in a day. You said you don't go over 1200 most days, that's actually dangerous. You should try to eat at least 1200 calories.
Strange things can happen when you eat too few calories. My wife for example is very active. I didn't know how active she was until she got a Blaze. And I see she walks 8000 to 15000 steps a day doing work around the yard with our animals.
She's been gaining weight, and had a bad habit of only eating once a day, around 400-800 calories...
She's now eating around 1500 calories and lost 25 lbs. No other changes have been made to her activity. She's just not starving herself any more, and now she's losing. I had a hell of a time to get her to eat more. She didn't understand that eating more would lose weight. But our bodies are designed to survive periods of low calories diets. To do this it holds onto fat, and burns fat, lowering calories burned. So don't eat too few.
I don't know things like your height, or age. Go see a nurtrionist, 100% covered on most medical plans, and talk her about your diet. If you are 4'10" 1100 calories might be ok. But if your 5'8" even 1200 calories probably isn't enough.
When you eat too few calories our bodies do bad things. First they try to hold onto fat. Second, and worse, then tend to burn more muscle than fat. And the more muscle you lose, the fewer calories you burn in a day. If you setup a 1000 calorie deficit in the Fitbit app, it won't care if your diet is too low.
During the first couple of weeks I worked out, I lost about 10 lbs in water weight. It's hard to imagine, but yes we are technically big bags of mostly water. After that loss, you start to lose fat.
I suspect that this will drop down to 2 or 3 lbs lost per week at the most. And even that will slow down to 1, and then 1/2 lbs per week.
As my doctor is fond of saying, "it took you years to gain the weight, it's going to take you months, or even years to lose it." My doctor shook his head Monday when I saw him. He could not believe I've almost lost 60 lbs. He said, "I have patients that gastric bypass to do not lose as much as you. I have other patients lose this much, but it took them five years." So don't expect to lost 7 lbs a week, for 10 weeks and be ready to hit the beach. Very unlkely to happen. 7 months from now, much more likely.
Keep in mind several studies have shown high caloried deficit diets as you get closer to your goal burn mostly muscle and very little fat.
Right now at 60 lbs from goal, you can safely run a 1000 calorie deficit. This should produce around a 2 lbs loss per week. I started at 281, and need to lose 98 lbs. I ran a deficit around 1500 when I started, and lost 3 lbs most weeks.
But now that I'm down to 221 lbs, I'm running a 750 deficit, and only lose 1 to 1 1/2 lbs per week.
Once you get to 40 lbs from your goal, you should drop your deficit to 750. At 20 lbs from goal, switch to a 500 calorie deficit, and then at 10 from goal, switch to 250 deficit.
But choosing a slower and safter deficit, this gives your body to adjust to the diet changes. Which makes it easier to maintain your weight once you reach your goal. Also choosing to lose your weight slowly is better for your metabolism, and will help give your body time for your skin to shrink. If you did manage to keep loosing 7 lbs a week, you would end up with a ton of extra skin that you would probably have to have surgically removed. IE a Tummy tuck, a chin tuck, etc. To avoid that you need to lose your weight slowly so you skin can shrink.
If you watch shows like the biggest loser, they have straps holding the extra skin in place after when they win. Because they loose the weight too fast.
If you loose too much weight too quickly, your skin will not shrink and you will be left with a ton of extra skin. So slower is better in the long run.
So log all your food, eat healthy, eat enough calories, run a calorie deficit. Lower your deficit as you get closer to your goal. Exercise every day.
You'll your reach you goal. You probably won't reach it this year, but you will reach it. It took me 7 1/2 lbs to lose 60 lbs. I'm 38 lbs from my goal at 183. These last 38, maybe 6 months, maybe more. But I'll get there.
Most of my skin has shrunk nicely. I still have loose skin under my chin to my adam's apple. It may or may not shrink. Extra skin on the bottom of my biceps. But my belly has been shrinking nicely. My legs and arms, even my fingers have all gotten smaller. Once I get to my goal, I should be able to bulk up my biceps, and that will take care of the loose skin there. Leaving just the loose skin under my chin. Considering I was 100 lbs over weight, that's not too bad.
Good luck and keep stepping....
John | Texas,USA | Surge | Aria | Blaze | Windows | iPhone | Always consult with a doctor regarding all medical issues. Keep active!!!
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