i don't post on this section of the board often, but i figured you calorie counting veterans could help me out with this one. i also posted this in the thread i usually post in, but would like a lot of feed back on this, so i'm hoping that's not considered spamming.

a bit of history: i started losing weight via calorie counting in march, and in the following months i managed to lose around 50 pounds. well, through the end of july anyway. i haven't lost much of anything in august or september. august i expected, because i was highly stressed, got really sick, then packed and moved. september however, i was back on plan and hoping to see the mere 3 pound gain (yay for no huge gains!) from trying to make good decisions with the fast-food options i had. today i weighed at 251.3. august 1 i was at 252, september 6th i was also 252. i've been (mostly) on plan since september 6th, and have not even lost a pound. it's has caused me more than a tiny bit of frustration (we'll pretend i didn't scream at my husband that i was going to eat all the [bad word] cookies because it didn't matter since i wasn't losing anyway).

so i've been thinking about my calories. i use myfitnesspal right now, and before, when i was working... i was losing about 2 pounds per week so i didn't think much of it. now that i'm no longer working, i changed it from 'lightly active' to 'sedentary' and it dropped me down around 200 cals per day (from 1620 down to 1430).

i've been following this, however, i haven't been losing much of anything. so i'm wondering if maybe those cals are too low for my body? so i went to different sites to do some research. i set all of these to 28 years old (because that will be true in 2 weeks), sedentary, and to lose either 2 pounds per week, or to be at 165 lbs by my 29th birthday (october 9, 2012).

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livestrong's daily plate says i should be eating 1774 per day.

fit day estimates i should be eating 1803 per day.

about.com's calorie counter says 1527.

a site called "healthycalculators.com" gives me 1468.

caloriescount.com has me at 1817 if i don't exercise AT ALL to lose a pound per week (i couldn't change that setting - and i'll use it here since i *do* exercise 3-4x per week and that estimate was over 2000 cals)

freedieting.com has me all the way up at 2003 for 'extreme fat loss' when i put in that i exercise 3x per week.

myfitnesspal has me at 1430 per day.

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that's a very large range of numbers. 1430 all the way up to 2000. crazy.

so average of all 7 of them is 1689 calories per day.

average of the 5 middle numbers (tossing out the highest and lowest) is 1678.

when i change myfitnesspal to 'lightly active' it changes my calorie goal for the day to 1620 per day. which is still lower than the average of all the other sites i looked at.

i try to give myself a range of calories to work with, and i'm thinking that maybe my range shouldn't be the 1300 (without exercise) - 1500 (with exercise) that i've been using. especially when i think back to the fact that when i was working, even though it was retail, i wasn't moving around as much as most retail people do... since i had to sit down because of my ankle injury. and the fact that business was slower when i worked, i was seated fairly often.

i think i'm going to leave the 'lightly active' setting, even though i'm home all day, because i think it's closer to where i should be. i will be changing my range from 1600 (on days i don't exercise) to 1800 (on days i do) and see if that helps me out any.

thoughts?

First of all, I think cycling the calories is a good idea. Second, you state you've had a lot going on and gave yourself a break for what...2 months(?) and gained 3 pounds. You've had some stress in your life recently, which causes hormones to kick in, one being cortisol, which tends to wreak havoc with weight. That you've been back on the diet for a couple weeks, and saw a small loss, is a victory. It is too soon to lose your mind (I don't mean that in a bad way, but you know what I mean) over not losing more. You're losing, so you're moving in the right direction.

I use calorie count. I found that no matter how much I tried to skew the daily caloric need, it was spitting out 1200!!! I played with a few other sites and decided for me, after the first week at 1200 to make that my target, but place a ceiling of 1400. I'm more satisfied, certainly. So you need a balance between satisfaction and calorie deficit.

I think it is a good idea that you averaged all of the results. Personally, I would use that average as my daily target on the days without exercise, and give yourself some leeway upward on the exercise days, but set a ceiling, and allow your real hunger to be your guide.

There are sites that tell you it really is calories in/calories burned and as simple as that. That doesn't factor in, however, hormones, stress, etc.

It also is about the choices we make too, i.e. 2000 calories of icecream vs. 2000 calories of veg, fruit, healthy carbs, fats, etc. Then again, I had a co-worker who set 700 calories a day for a while and there were days when she didn't eat all day, but would have 700 calories of sweets for dinner...and she certainly did lose weight that way, but we all thought that was nuts of her.

Anything that is too drastic is not sustainable. You already know how to do this, because you've done it. I think the approach you are considering is very smart. Choose your target by averaging them all, aim for that daily, set a ceiling on the days you exercise if you feel you need more on those days based on your hunger levels, and don't drive yourself crazy if the losses are less than you desire. Your body might need to take a break after losing 50 pounds, just like your emotions did.

Lastly....why oh why are there cookies in the house?

Good luck to you....you got this!!!!!

thank you for your input!

there were cookies in the house because they were leftover from an event we went to, and my husband likes them.

after looking all this up, and talking to my engineering/logic minded husband... he agrees that the number MFP gave me is probably too low. he figured it by looking up BMR and calculating what i need as a deficit for the week to lose 1.5-2lbs per week and my new range seems to be more accurate. the body is a machine. it requires energy to function (in my case ~2200 per day), and when you give it less than it needs, it takes from the stored energy - predominantly fat. the simple mechanism of weight loss.

i've been back on plan for almost a month now, and have stayed between 251.5 and 252 for that entire time, eating around 1400 calories per day, a little more on work out days. so after a month of fast food and sodium laden boxed meals: 252lbs. from 248.7. and after about a month of eating ~1400 cals per day... 252lbs. it really just doesn't make much sense to me!

martini - i measure out my food using the cups and spoons, unfortunately i don't have a scale for the meats, but i do measure it out to the "approximately the size of the palm of your hand" on the lean cuts, and separate the ground meat into equal sized portions and divide by the amount from the package. it's how i've always done it, and it worked well for several months. "mostly" on plan means i've had a couple days where i was not on plan, at the beginning of the month, when i was getting back into the swing of things. and when i went over, it was rarely more than 100-200 calories.

i record my food every day, to the best of my ability (friday nights are always a guess because it's a potluck/cookout thing). and i can say with 100% accuracy that i have not been consuming over 2200 calories per day, which is what my 'maintenance' number is, at 250 pounds. so i should at least be seeing *some* loss per week, instead of a steady 252.

i weigh every day, on the wii fit, in just my underwear. my cats are probably traumatized. (did i answer everything?)

The others have left such good responses that I agree with completely.

My thoughts: you've already lost 50lbs successfully. You know how to do it. The weight loss will slow down a bit, as always, but you are on the right track. Do what you did before.

Also, it has only been approx. 20 days..... are you getting ready to have your period? What about bowel movements? Are you eating more pickles? So many factors can play into why a potential 2-3lbs. loss hasn't shown up. That number is hardly accurately register-able on a scale anyway.

I love all the research you did to determine your calories! I really liked how you dropped the highest and lowest outcome to get the most accurate average!! You are too funny.

Now where else in the world taken out of context would that sentence make sense? I myself was eating too many olives....I cut back from 8 to 4, but of course in my greek salad, they are a must! I never worried about my sodium content before, until a website bought it to my attention...and then I paid attention!

just wanted to pop in and say that after 3 days of this new calorie range, i'm down 1.6 pounds.

and also: i don't like pickles :P (or olives for that matter)... though my husband did read the pickles comment and gave me a look like "wait, are you pregnant?" i almost peed from laughing so hard!

Great work! I must say that I can feel the difference when I am running a significant calorie deficit versus maintaining. When my calories are too high I may still feel hungry and deprived but I don't get that "wonky" "medicine head" sort of feeling when I get when my body is running on stored fat.

As many people mentioned, calorie counting only works if you measure precisely and accurately record everything you eat

i *have* felt much more energized the last couple of days... i wonder if that's because i'm actually eating at the level my body needs instead of below it?

Another thing that I have put into practice which helps is taking measurements of yourself. Usually I take measurements the weeks I've been on plan but don't see a loss on the scale, which ends up being about every 3-4 weeks. Usually, I end up losing at least a couple inches. This is a sign of progress. It helps keep me motivated on the weeks I "should" theoretically lose but don't.
I went to walmart and bought a tape for .99 in the fabrics area. Then I keep track of my measurements via emails to myself. Since June I've lost 10 lbs, but I've also lost about 12" as well.

Awesome job getting back on track after all the craziness in your life! You have done such an awesome job already!!! 50lbs is AWESOME!! Keep it up!

Mandy, yay for you. Your weight was on the downswing most likely and switching your calorie target was probably the push you needed to realllllly see it. Let me say I took a look at your progress pictures and your success is absolutely fabulous. I'm so happy this is working for you, again, and wish you more and continued success. Donna