[akcher]

I just finished reading the calorie counting FAQ and have questions. I started on a meal delivery program 8 weeks ago. I usually ate 1400 calories a day. I was hungry pretty often but I thought it's probably my body adjusting to the smaller portions. It did get better but still on some days I am still hungry. We stopped the meal delivery because I feel I could cook much healthier. I started to cook this last week. I'm eating low carb low fat dishes. From my calculations of my recipes (I hope I'm adding it up right, can't wait for my mastercook software to get here!!), I'm eating 1300 and I get bigger portions because I'm eating turkey/chicken/salads/whole foods etc.

The FAQ said if you are:
Over 300 pounds: Start at around 2000 calories a day.
Over 200 pounds: Start at around 1800 calories a day.

As you lose weight, your calorie needs will change. You might lose just fine for the first 2 months at 1600 calories a day. 20 pounds down the path, the weight loss stops. You don't lose anything for a couple of weeks. This is when it is time to go to the next level. Drop your calories down by 100 to 1500 to get things moving again.

My concern is that if I hit a stall I don't have too many calories to lower. Should I raise my calorie intake? I have seen good progress so far and I love the new way of eating. My husband has been the same weight for a week and he eats about the same as I do. I hope I didn't screw up by starting off too low.

[baffled111]

I think you've probably started lower than you need to, but it's not a matter of having screwed up. The key here is trial and error: increase your calories to 1600-1800 for a couple of weeks (and take the extra calories in more veggies and lean proteins, not in milkshakes ) and see how you go. If you keep on losing 1-2lb a week, you're fine. If not, you'll need to readjust your calories. You need to figure out what works for YOUR body.

Btw, if you stall and don't want to further decrease your calories, you can always add in exercise, or increase the intensity of the exercise you're already doing.

And just as a point of reference, earlier this year I lost from 155 to 138 on 1800-2000 a day, plus lots of exercise. But it depends on lots of different things, so you need to experiment to see what works for you.

[blues4miles]

There's other ways to jump-start loss besides continuing to lower calories (change workout, increase protein, etc). I'd say if you're still hungry at 1300 or 1400 calories you might have something to worry about. Or if you start working out and you didn't before, you might want to increase. But otherwise, I find whatever you can "stick with" or whatever you are most comfortable should work. If you feel good where you're at, keep eating that. If you feel hungry all the time, try a little increase. Sounds like you are doing great so far, and good job on your loss so far!