TLDR: I am experiencing weight loss stagnation; Should I carry on or reduce my caloric intake? [Stats in user flair]
I have a history of bulimia and binge eating disorder since adolescence. I hit my lowest ever weight of 110 when I was a teen through bulimia, and my highest ever weight of 170 in my mid20s due to binge eating. In the past few years I am trying to combat my mental health issues and achieve sustainable health via good habits. I successfully lost 40 lbs in 2019 through a ~1250 kcal/day diet and exercise. Unfortunately gained back 10 lbs during the COVID pandemic due to mental health issues and loss of my usual daily routine (I was home a lot and walking less.) I decided this time around to take it slower in order to become accustomed to what a long-term maintenance diet would be like. I currently am eating ~1500 kcal/day. When I first adapted this new, more moderate diet, I achieved 5 lbs weight loss in about a month (this was likely mostly water weight.) I also have been focused on maintaining sustainable, daily exercise via increased walking (went from about 4,000 steps/day to now 10,000 steps/day.
I anticipated losing about 1/2 lb/week but I have reached complete weight loss stagnation for 15 days running. My concern is that I've underestimated the caloric deficit I need to achieve weight loss. According to every weight loss caloric estimation I've seen, for my sex/height/sex and amount of daily light exercise, I should be at about a 250 kcal/day deficit which would equal 1/2 lb per week. And yet it is not coming off anymore. I am worried to decrease my calories more due to my history of disordered eating.
The options I'm pondering are:
(a) I am being too hard on myself, so I should keep doing what I'm doing, and wait for a "woosh" to happen.
(b) I have discovered that what I thought was my estimated deficit is actually closer to my current maintenance calories, and therefore I need to be realistic and drop my daily caloric intake.
I really appreciate your insight.
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