I have a question...Do I need to increase my calories? I am losing weight, but I feel that being the weight I am and having cut out so many calories and increasing my exercise so much, that I should consistently be losing 2-2.5 lbs per week. Maybe I am being impatient...I don't know. When I first joined, a few members told that maybe my calorie choice would be too low b/c of the high weight I am at, what does everyone think?

Right now I am usually between 1700 and 1800. I walk 4 days a week for 30 mins and 1 day for 50 mins, all on my lunchbreak. The reason I am asking is I noticed something peculiar this week. One day this week I kind of blew it with calories, going over by about 250; I lost 1 lb. The rest of the week I was OP, drank all my water, ate around 1750, the scale didn't move. Then yesterday I didn't walk b/c of the rain, went out to eat for fondue, splurged on the chocolate, but got the veggie platter cooking the veggies and gnocchi in beef broth, which I am sure had tons of salt, this morning I had lost another 0.6 lb. It seems to me that I tend to lose after days of eating more than my allotted calories. Could this be a sign that maybe I am not eating enough? I am also going to start adding a day of walking on the weekend and maybe switch my walking to mornings, when I can workout more intensely since I will be showering before work, instead if at lunch when I have to stay in the same clothes. Anyone have any opinion regarding this?
*Just a note, I am not eating meat right now. I don't know if this has anything to do with it or not.

Yes!

Ok, a few things:

One: What you eat or don't eat yesterday is NOT going to show up on the scale tomorrow. It will show up in two or three or five days. So if you binge on Saturday and show loss on Sunday ... that loss is not about Saturday, it's about what you did on Tues, Wed, Thurs, etc. That binge from Saturday will show up next Wednesday or so.

Two: 250 calories on one day is not going to have that much effect. A pound = 3500 calories. That 250 calories is less than 1/10th of a pound in effect.

Three: You cannot expect consistent 2-2.5 lbs every single week or you're setting yourself up for disappointement. Your body is not a calibrated mechanical device, consistent to that degree. Some weeks you may lose that much. There will also be weeks that you'll only lose 1 lb. And there will (I guarantee it) be weeks that you'll GAIN 1 or 2 lbs for whatever weird and bizarre reason your body decides to not co-operate this time.

As far as where you are - I would say at 313, cutting your calories too low might not be a good thing. I would say that 1700 to 1800 is a good range. If you want to maybe drop to 1500 for a few days and then jump back up you could try it ... but I wouldn't go that low permanently yet. Not until you're into your mid-200s. (Disclaimer - not a dr or a nutritionist, just based on my research and experience!)

Hang in there. You will make progress ... it just never comes the way we WANT it to come!

.

This is just my experience but I started counting calories when I was about 255 lbs and started with 1900-2000 calories. I worked out about 5-6 days a week and had a consistent loss.
Calorie counting really is trial and error. Maybe try just increasing for a week but like 100 calories. See how it goes then maybe you'll need to go back down or maybe you'll be better at that level of calories.
I have heard that some people lose well shifting they're calories throughout the week, I have not tried it. The theory is then your body can't expect a certain number of calories and it keeps it guessing. So maybe one day eat 1600 and then eat 1900 calories the next, just have it average your calories range.
As far as meat goes, I'm not a meat person, I eat vegetarian a lot of the time. As long as you are getting protein from other sources it shouldn't matter. Use things like veggie burgers, peanut butter, nuts, and beans.

I think you are doing fine. Try upping calories, try going down, whatever you want. It's trial and error and everybody is different. I cut my calories way back in order to shrink my stomach. I have suffered a little over the 2 week period being hungry, but my hunger is not NEARLY what is use to be. I trying to stick within 12-1300 calories a day. If you are losing weight I wouldn't worry about changing too much.

It is very much trial and error. I was losing consistently on 1600, continued to eat that and have now gained a few pounds back for no reason that I can figure. Could just be hormonal too, or too much salt, I have no idea. All I know is that I've continued with 1500-1700/day as it is what satisfies me. Less than that I am starving and more than that and I feel guilty.

I was going to say a lot of what PhotoChick said! Weight loss isn't instaneous from what you ate the day before.. and it's not linear. Lots of issues affect our weight. There's a great sticky on the Weight Loss Support forum about why the scale fluctuates.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=115826

As for your calories, you are probably at a good level to lose consistently, and maybe could lose steadily eating a little more (I started lower than you and ate a little more than that -- 1800 to 2000 and lost on average a couple of pounds a week). But as others have said, this is trial and error for each of us. I would encourage you to focus on eating healthy foods to get enough nutrition.

As for the exercise, if you're ready, being able to up the intensity is a good thing!!!!

I'm a member of selfdietclub.com and when you type in all of your stats and your exercise level, it tells you how many calories to consume based on losing 2 lbs a week (or if you want, 1 lb a week). I don't know if there are other sites out there that calculate that, but that has been working for me. I know it's hard, you want to see results quicker after all your hard work, but I think slow & steady is your best bet for keeping it off!

Fitday.com does that for free...but all online calculators are estimates.

Now matter how cutting-edge web-site technology looks, you need to remember that all these calculators use averages and there is no average body. You may need more or less. In the end, it really comes down to a period of trial and error to determine what works for you.

Mel