Opinions please. Am I doing it right this time?

Hello,

This is my second round here.  I lost about 12 pounds by eating 1200-1300 calories a day back in Jan/Feb. but then hit a plateau for months, I tried upping my calories, exercising more and nothing worked.  Finally I gave up in June and stopped counting calories and exercising.  Luckily, from June til now I did not gain any weight back.

Since I kept the original 12 pounds off, should I start again eating 1200 calories or is that too low.  I want to lose weight but don't want to hit a plateau again.  I am 15 pounds from my goal weight of 125 but I will settle for a ten pound loss.

My thoughts were that I gave my body enough time to recover from the plateau so if I eat 1200- 1300 calories again, like I did January, I will lose another 12 pounds.

Does that sound reasonable?  Why or Why not.

Thanks

obvious questions, but:

do you have 12 pounds to lose?
how active are you?
are you in this just for weight loss or for general health?

Your idea sounds totally reasonable!! And plateaus can be such a bummer!!!  But they are a part of losing weight.  An alternate idea  (and I am not an expert of any kind, just a calorie counter) would be to follow the idea that if you are eating, I think its 500 calories less than you burn and you will lose weight.  I am a bit of a lump and don't excercise so 1200 calories is usually my goal for the day.  If you are excercising you need to fuel the body for that.  Also try measuring in inches.  Muscle is heavier than fat so you can gain weight with muscle tone.  The other thing I have read is that if you hit a plateau, its time for a change.  Try different excercise or types of food.  Those are just some "tips" that I have read in various articles...hope they help and good luck on those last 10 or 15 pounds!

I am 5' 3 and weigh about 141.  I ideal weight, I think would be anywhere from 125 to 130.  I am currently not active but I was from Feb. to June until my schedule with school/home/work got out of control.  I do want to find time to start working out again.  My goal is really to lose the weight.  I am already a generally healthy person.  I take a mulit-vitamin and try to eat somewhat nutritious (not all the time).

If you haven't put on any weight since you stopped counting calories then I would say eat 500 cals less than what you are eating now per day and you should lose weight. (as long as it doesn't take you under 1200 per day)

You can re-input your stats into the tools section to make sure because these will have changed since you signed up originally.

The only thing is that since I was not counting, I have no clue how much I was eating.

If you're 141lbs etc., then maybe start at 1400 cals...  With healthy food choices, regular meals, plenty of water and a little exercise thrown in that should be enough to get the ball rolling.  And 1400 might mean you lose weight a little slower but avoid another plateau at the same time.  A 1900 cal day every 2 or 3 weeks should help keep things moving.  1200 always feels to me like there's 'nowhere to go'... if you start at 1400 you have the option of cutting back a little as time goes on.

Hi, there. According to the tools on this site, you burn 1600 when you are sedentary.  Go to Tools/Burn Meter to try for yourself.  And your BMR is about 1400.

You can eat 1400, and lose weight slowly.  You could experiment with eating 1300, and increase to 1400 if you're not losing.

But -- the best thing to do would be to eat 1400 and exercise to have a bigger deficit.  You don't need to spend hours and hours at the gym.  Short, intense workouts with weights, sprints and calisthenics can be very beneficial at 15-20 minutes.  Do you have any opportunities to do active things with your family on weekends? That would help. If you have any opportunities to walk or ride a bike instead of driving, that would help a lot, also.

Thanks everyone.  Maybe I will eat between 1300-1400.  That way if I need to cut back I can.  and if i add exercise then I will make sure my defecit is 500. 

I just started entering what I eat to find out how many calories I currently consume then I'll use that to determine what I need to eat to loss weight you can do the same.