sparkleNshine - geez, you have a great smile!
First off, I'm very sorry to hear about your grandmother, but I'm also super impressed with your progress so far!
So, a few things right off the bat - calorie cycling is a great tool, but also a pretty challenging one. The stuff I've read indicates that some people are better off with a larger discrepancy between 'high' and 'low' days, and it's also sometimes more effective to do several days in a row of each. So, for example, 1,200kcal for 3 days, and then 2,500kcal for 2 days (which gives an average of ~1,700kcal). Then back again. Not sure if that helps, but maybe something fun to play with.
The second thing I can absolutely recommend is to
make sure you pair up your 'high' days with your most active workouts (probably your Zumba class, as opposed to a nice walk outside). An even more sophisticated tweak would be to also cycle your carbs - if you
eat the majority of your carbohydrates in the meal following your physical activity for the day, you are most likely to use the energy to replenish muscle glycogen, as opposed to possibly converting a bit to fat storage. There was a study a few years ago that showed having 2 'restriction' days (60% of average kcal, <50g carbs) a week (AKA 5:2) accomplishes the same thing as following a constant ketogenic diet. But this is all getting pretty complicated, so I tend to just focus on
most of my carbs after exercise.
I try not to stress out too much about macronutrient ratios, but personally I tend to do better with a good bit of protein in my diet every day (I like ~g protein/kg of lean mass, to aim for). Plus, if you're increasing your physical activity, you might even start to put on a bit of extra muscle (which is a GOOD THING!
) - protein is pretty important for that process. I've come to really enjoy strength training, so that might be something you could choose to explore in the future, if you're interested.
Just quickly plugging your info into a few calculators, I'd guess that you probably 'maintain' at ~3,000kcal a day, and can start to lose well at ~2,500kcal a day - so with an average of 2,000kcal you're probably realistically looking at ~1.5lbs lost every week. That's ideally fat loss, but not necessarily weight loss.
It's possible, yes, that 1,700kcal is just a hair too low to aim for - you want to make sure you keep up enough energy to do those great workouts you're talking about! Maybe a cycle of 1,400kcal/2,800kcal? The idea of cycling is to 'trick' your body into thinking it's not being deprived - so you want to make sure your 'high' days are high enough to keep your 'body brain' happy, so to speak.
Try not to stress too much over the scale, and maybe consider using a tape measure instead. I like to weigh once a month, and use clothes/tape measure to figure out my progress for the weekly update - but that's just me.
Also, personally, I always really struggle with calorie counting because I'm so bad at estimating. It might be worth weighing your food for a 'high' and 'low' day each, just to check in that your estimates are reasonably accurate.
You're right, there is a classic issue of 'restriction contradiction', dictating that over time our bodies can adapt to new stresses, and stop losing weight at the same rate - which is what I'm assuming you're asking about, when you say 'not eating enough'. However, you're pretty early on in your weight loss journey, so if I had to guess I'd say that your metabolism hasn't 'adjusted down' yet.
If that is a concern though, I know some people have success with 'taking a break' from dieting 1 week out of every 7-8 (ie. once every two months). Where you eat at 'maintenance' calories (for your current weight, not starting weight) instead of trying to lose for the week- this helps give your body a break, and 'reset' itself, so to speak. Something to consider for the future, maybe.
I'm not a doctor/dietitian/fitness professional or anything - I just read too much. Please make sure to do your own research, and make good safe decisions for YOU.
It looks like you're doing really well! Keep going babe