I started off at the end of September doing Medifast, which was average 850-900 calories per day, high protein, low carb. Since then, having lost right at 20lbs, I have changed and really doing my own thing with calorie counting, low carb while still using protein shakes and bars.

My issue is that I seem to have a mental block when it comes to eating over 1,000 calories per day. I'm pretty sure I SHOULD be, but when I write my food down for the day (I do so every morning after breakfast) and I get to round around 900-1,000 I draw a mental line in the sand and say "that's all I am going to eat"

I am not losing fast, average is 1.5 to 2lbs per week.

My average calories per day is 1,048,
I exercise an average of 3x per week between 20 and 40 minutes, heavy on the cardio with some strength training thrown in. With net calories (eaten minus burned) being an average of 889 per day.

I don't know if I even really have a questions, I just have to find a way past this mental block and eat a bit more I guess!

I hope you can start to eat more. Also, I just wanted to comment that your "average" is actually on the high end of fast! You're doing great.

A lot of people (me included) don't lose 2 lbs per week, even with a big deficit.

A loss of 1.5 - 2. 0 lbs a week is excellent no matter what plan you are on.

for the sake of your metabolism, you should really try to consume at least 1200 cal per day.

How about you try adding 50 or 100 extra for a couple of weeks. If you see that this either doesn't make you gain or even makes you lose more (which could very well happen), then it might make you a bit more flexible in this area.

And maybe eating some super healthy but small things might be an easy way to kick up the calories without triggering your mind to start thinking it's too much. Putting olive oil on your salad, have 11 almonds (1/2 oz), an extra fruit or throwing some frozen fruit in your protein shake.

The whole dieting thing is mostly mental. Maybe the best way to get past it is to really do your research into what is healthy and the most effective long lasting way to lose weight.

When I first started losing weight, I had the same mental block you did. I'd eat 1,000-1,1000 calories a day tops. I'd exercise 3-4x a week as well. And then snap from being hungry and tired and consume 1,800+ calories on the weekends haha. I lost 1-2lbs a week like that, but it probably would have been better if I'd eaten more during the week, so that I didn't feel the need to eat more on certain days.

I have been averaging 1500 calories a day since late October. Today is my sixth week of being on plan and exercising and my scale showed me at 220.2 today (I won't change my ticker until I've seen that weight "stick," though), so my average loss is also two pounds a week.

You and I are a similar weight, though you (lucky! ) are a bit taller. While every body is different, your body could more than likely continue to lose at a good clip on more than 1200 calories a day. Giving yourself a few more calories, assuming you still lose on that amount, may be a good idea because you'll likely need to drop your caloric intake as you get closer to your goal weight; if you're already at a low level, there's just not much lower you can go without feeling blah.

It's easy to fall into the mindset of, "If lowering my calories makes me lose weight, then lowering more means losing more weight!" It's only true to a point, and past that point you really run up against diminishing returns. It becomes hard to fit all the nutrients you need into triple-digit calorie intake unless you're on a medically supervised plan. Your body also adjusts to the smaller rations and loses less as you slim down.

I do get what you're saying, though. I told myself I was going to aim for a weekly average of 1500 calories a day, but I hear warning sirens go off in my head whenever I eat over 1500 even if I'd eaten 1400 the day before and they'd just balance out for the week. At this point I have to make a conscious effort on some days to get close to my target instead of feeling virtuous for being under it.

If you really can't get past the mental block of eating over 1,000 then why not give yourself some "free" foods like they do on WW and many other programs? If you made fruit and veg free then you eat 1,000 of all other foods and ignore how much is in fruit, and so long as you've eaten a good amount of fruit it should come up closer to 1,200 without you ever seeing the numbers.

Thanks everyone! I went out with some friends last night and even though I'd had a sandwich when I got home from work I had a goat cheese and french bread tapas and a drink and ended up at about 1,500 calories for the day and felt pretty good about it.

RoseRodent: Sneaky! I like it!