Help with Calories!
 

I am trying to figure out what is going on. I re-started by weight loss journey at the end of March. I wanted to “kick start” my goal by doing the Military Diet for 3 days and then transitioning to Medifast. I lost 15 lbs in less than two weeks going from 322 lbs to 307 lbs. (This is to add to my previously maintained weight loss on Medifast from 367 lbs to 322 lbs (-45 lbs) a couple years ago.

I am diabetic and found that even though Medifast is low-carb it wasn’t getting my blood sugars low enough. So I tweaked my plan and started something that I have been able to live with very well; counting calories and eating lower-carb.

I drink 3 Glucerna Hunger Smart Shakes daily plus eat one Medifast Peanut Butter Crunch Bar a day as my base plan. The total for these all combined is 650 calories (61g carbs, 56g of protein, 27.5 g. fat and 100% or better of all daily values of vitamins & minerals). Then, depending on the day, either my lunch or dinner is 500-600 calories of low-fat protein and non-starchy vegetables… for example a salad full of veggies and a portion of salmon or a skinless chicken breast with a veggie stir fry. So I average 1,100-1,250 calories a day. (When I was doing Medifast I was getting about 1000 and when I did the Military diet that was 900-1100 each day.)

Since I transitioned from Medifast to my calorie based plan almost 6 weeks ago I started going to the gym also. I burn at least 300 calories doing 60 minutes of recumbent cycling at 12 mph every day. I also do very low weight, high repetitions weight lifting twice a week. I also log all of the food/calories I eat and the calories I burn.

I used several online calculators to determine what my estimated Basal Metabolic Rate is on average about 2,560 calories per day just to “operate” my body at rest). I’ve also learned that I need to cut 1,000 calories a day to lose 2 lbs a week. Depending on what calculator, the average calories I should be eating in a day are 1,500.

After that initial 15 lbs loss I have only lost 6 lbs going from 307 lbs to 301 lbs. However, for the last 3 weeks I constantly bounce each day between 303 lbs and 301 lbs and can’t seem to go any lower. My goal weight is a BMI of 24 at 180 lbs. (I am 41 years old and 6’0” and have a sedentary job.)

Everything I am reading online is saying as a woman not to eat less than 1,200 calories a day.

So all of these many, many words to ask these questions…. If I should average 1,500 calories a day and instead tend to be between 1,100-1,250 most days is my body in a ‘starvation’ mode and that is why the scale isn’t budging? I’m really scared to eat more because I am afraid of gaining back the 20 lbs I’ve lost. Do I need to somehow also eat more to account for the 300 calories I burn a day for exercise?

I am having plenty of NSVs. I fit better in chairs, I can tell there is some toning going on, I feel stronger, have better endurance, better mood, less exhausted, my blood sugar is EXCELLENT, and so is my blood pressure; and even bath towels fit better.

Thank you for reading my novel. ;)

I'm going to focus here for a moment. You've lost, if I have done the math correctly, 21 lbs in about 5 weeks, +3 weeks of "stalled" weight.

There are a lot of things going on in your body with that kind of drop. A lot of the initial 15 lbs was probably water, then you started going to the gym, which puts back some water. Maybe there is muscle grown, maybe not, but even if there is not tissue mass, the muscles are probably holding a little more fluids (whether or not you can build muscle while losing is greatly debated and appears to mostly be a factor of how out of shape you are)

It seems like you are feeling good and your blood sugars are good. Online metabolism things are often quite out of whack for the obese - we dont burn as much to support our sedentary fat as we would for healthier tissue and also being diabetic can alter the metabolism.

I personally would just keep on keeping on. Check with your endocrinologist to make sure they are ok with your diet and be patient for a little bit. It is quite likely that your body is responding to the sudden change with a bit of confusion and is shuffling fluids around. Give it a couple more weeks and then you can look at tweaking something.

You should be subtracting your deficit from your TDEE, not your BMR. Make sure you're being accurate about what you're taking in, and don't worry about "starvation mode." I think what you're referring to is metabolic adaptation which really takes years and years of severe undereating.

Ennay is right on about the water retention. If it's a new workout program, you may stall or gain a few lbs just from that. You're doing more than great if you've averaged 2.6lbs a week. That's amazing!