To go up or down?

I really need some advice here. 

Here are my stats:

female, 5'8"

start weight: 293 (June 2008)

current weight:193.4 (as of April 13)

Calorie intake: 1600/day

Exercise: 5/week, average calorie burn according to HRM is 500-600.

I always make sure to eat more when my burn is too high so that I never have a deficit of more than 1000. And lately, I've been trying to keep the deficits closer to 600-800 rather than 1000.

So my problem is that between June 2008 and January 2009, I steadily lost 10 poinds a month. Since then the weight loss has slowed down all of a sudden. First just a little and now I have practically just lost 1 pound this past month. I first avoided plateaus by lowering my calorie intake by 50 cals every so often. I started out with 1750/day and now down to 1600/day. At this point with the amount of exercise that I do and considering I usually have to eat a bit more to make sure I don't run a too high a deficit, it doesn't seem logical to me to bring the calories down again. So I'm not sure what to do or what is going on with my body.

I count everything religiously. I weigh and note everything eat. I have one cheat meal a week, but I try to exercise a bit more on those days. The exercise I was doing up until January was limited to DDR, so basically cardio only. Since then, I've changed to TAe Bo and Turbo Jam, which somewhat also coincides with the slowing of the weight loss.

Should I up the calories or lower them? SHould I exercise less or more? Should I eliminate cheat meals? HELP! Any advice would be very much appreciated!

Don't lower your calories - at 5'8" and active you need at least 1600. Eliminate your cheat meals and concentrate on what your eating, not just how many calories.

I ran you through the calculator and put you at moderately active, although at five days a week you may be very active.  Anyway, without knowing your exact age but from the picture I guessed you were around 25, your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is 1700 calories.  This rate is what your body needs just to survive.  At 1600 calories you are eating below your BMR. 

This can cause your body to slow down the weight loss.  To give you an example, I am 5'3", moderately active, and I am losing weight on 1600-1700 calories a day.  This gives me a deficit of about 300 calories a day. 

I calculate you need 2600 calories to maintain your current weight and that you could lose about a pound a week on 2100 calories.  You could eat less than 2100 for a higher deficit or just use your exercise to have a higher deficit but try not to go below the 1700 calories number per day.

Congratulations on your weight loss so far, if I am reading this right you have passed the century mark! I have lost 30 pounds using this method and am just working to lose the last few pounds of fat so it has worked for me.  I hope it helps you.

If I have your age really wrong let me know and I will recalculate with the correct age.  I used a calculator meant for people over 21.

Thanks for the advice!

I am 32 actually. But it made my day that you thought I was 25!!!:)LOL

And you're right I have lost 100 lbs so far, but to be within my healthy range, I know I still have at least 30 lbs to lose.

SO it seems going down in calories is definitely NOT the way to go. I have been eating slightly over 1600 though lately to make sure I don't have a huge deficit. So I'll try to get it up over 1700 and see what happens.

thanks again!

I never would have guessed you were over 30 from your picture!  Anway, I promised I would re-run with the correct age so here it is, your BMR is 1668 so 1700 would put you over your BMR, but still pretty close to it.  At Moderately active your maintenance is 2580 so you could eat 2080 to lose 1 pound a week.  I hope this helps.

Thanks! I will increase my calories to 1700/day and see what happens. Hopefully the scale won't go up. :)