is it possible that 1200-1380 calories a day is somehow to little and making me stop losing weight??

i use MFP and had it set to lose 1lb a week (i ended up losing 2lbs every week) i was eating 1640 calories each day and it seemed like a fair amount of food and i wanted to see if i could lose more a week so i went down to 1200 calories and totally stopped losing weight so i went up to 1380 calories and still couldnt lose any weight at all for the last 2 weeks. i got kind of fed up with eating what i consider to be so little and not losing weight so i pigged out like 5 days ago and probably ate like 4000 calories and i gained 2.6lbs in one day and its been 5 days of going back to 1380 and i havent lost any weight or the extra 2.6lbs i somehow put on in one day. yesterday i walked around alot and ate 1380 calories and bought and used an elliptical machine and thought ah i bet i will lose atleast 0.2 or something and prove i just wasnt exercising enough but i lost nothing.

could 1380 calories somehow not be enough food for me and thus im not losing weight and packing it on if i do over eat?

should i go back to 1630 calories since i was losing weight then?

seems so weird that 1380 could be too little food, 1630 seems like too much.

i 100% count every single calorie i eat btw. nothing has changed but my calorie amounts going down.

Try 1500 calories then. Your body may be in starvation mode. 1500 should be more than enough to lose 1 lb. a week for your weight and height.

I eat 1600 and sometimes I lose and sometimes I maintain, though sometimes a few pounds will drop fairly quickly. I think mine depends on the exercise I'm doing, how much water I'm drinking and if I'm being totally honest with myself about how many calories my recipe was. I have been where you are, except I never eat below my 1600 calories. Another thing I have found is to pretend I'm like my skinny friends who only eats when she's hungry, I imagine that the reason she is skinny is because she doesn't eat when she is bored (like I do) and eats one normal portion for dinner (where as I want to eat the whole pan some days). Also, check your inches, they don't always fall off as fast as you want them too, but in three months I have lost 2 inches where I have been measuring and overall people have been saying I'm looking slimmer. I am 180 right now and 5'3" with an athletic build if that helps.

For me it depends that I'm burning calories too. I eat a varied ( not set amt) from 1200-1500 w/16-- as a cheat occassion, I'm doing my journey as a lifestyle sonthe way I eat is how I wish to always eat. People who don't diet, don't have to keep to one set amt of calories so I might not be the best person to answer you but yes I lose but slow. Slow is good. I'de say I lose 4 per month since using MFP. What ever you do, don't eat too few calories. The best of luck to you.


edited: Incidentally, it may improve as those past 2 months were the most challenging..with all the holidays. For me the end is near, as Valentines day offers a few more snags to skip past.

i put my calories back up to 1640 and its probably random but yesterday i was 214.6lbs and had been for days and today im 212.4 after not losing any weight for over 2 weeks. i guess 1200-1380 was somehow too little but i will have to wait a few more days of course to see if i lose more being on more calories than the last while. seems weird

You can't draw that conclusion from just a couple weeks stall. It could have been hormone induced. Just keep track and see, but my guess is it had nothing to do with eating 1200-1380 calories. This whole process is just learning all the time. I've been doing this for 2 years and I'm still learning new things about my body, my triggers, my hang-ups, my strengths and so on. And one thing I have learned is that every time you think you have it pegged, a wrench gets thrown in to make you rethink.

I think you were eating too little. The 1600 calories is probably better for your weight and height. Good luck!

Oh, I agree - it's better for her metabolism long term, but a stall for two weeks could be so many things. I stall for two weeks all the time.

I watched my husband stall for a month and then over a couple days shed 5 pounds to stall out another month...

We just can't know, but... there is no reason to eat so little especially so early on. A pound a week is great! This isn't a race!

This may sound weird, but I like to do this to "shock" my metabolism into letting go of a few pounds when I'm on a plateau. Sometimes you're not getting enough fat/sugar for your body to be okay with losing weight even if you're getting enough calories, so sometimes I like to incorporate something ridiculously fatty or sugary into my diet one day. For example, I'll let myself have a really sweet dessert (within a reasonable calorie guideline) after I've been eating nothing but "healthy" food for the last few days and haven't been seeing results. That usually helps me.