Weight loss slowing

Hey everyone! As u can guess from the title my weight loss seems to be slowing and i was just hoping to get some advice :)

I started trying to lose weight on the 06/09/09. My stats at the beginning:

Male - 23yrs

Height - 5ft - 8inch

Weight - 192lbs

Current weight as of 08/11/09 - 176lbs

I dropped my calories to 1500 per day, play a hour and half game of football on a monday night and exercise bike 3 times a week for 30 mins. At the start i was losing good weight, around 2lbs a week. But for 2 weeks in a row i have lost 1lb and my weekly weigh in this week, havent lost anything. Now im not freaking out or anything, even if im not losing much atm i can still feel myself getting fitter which is good stuff! :)

I do understand that mostly everyones weight loss will slow down and alot of the time stop, being labeled as a plateau. So i just wanted to check if u guys think that is what has now happened to me and just to get some advice hopefully. Im thinking that it might be time to up my calories, but not sure how much by. Thanks in advance people! :D

As you get closer to your goal, your weight loss will slow. One pound a week is still good progress, and there will be some weeks where you don't see weight loss (if you only weigh once a week, that day might be that one day when your weight spikes for no particular reason).

I would say that you should increase your calories back to what you were originally eating (1500 is the bare minimum for a sedentary male), and just keep going.

I think your calories are far too low. According to this calculator, you need about 2887 calories to maintain - and that's on the lowest activity level, less than 1hr of activity per day.  To lose one pound a week, you should be eating 2300ish calories per day - I definitely wouldn't go below 2000.  You might not lose the first week - you could even gain 1-2lbs from the increased food volume & a little water week - but I bet that you'll start losing steadily on 2000-2300.

I know this site is called calorie count, and I dont know jack squat about counting calories, but I was in the same boat.  I started in January at 304lbs.  I slowed down and plateaued at 255lbs in May.  I got frustrated that I couldnt get below 250lbs...yada yada yada, its November, Im back at 275lbs and back here. 

I dont mess with the calorie counts, I find strength through motivating others and helping them learn through my mistakes instead of learning it on their own.

You could very well be adding muscle.  Your bosy gets used to what you are doing and if your diet and exercise patterns stay constant then that is what your body expects and it is no longer burning excess, it is maintaining.

Drink a ton of water, maybe add a new wrinkle in your exercise, and hopefully that will restart your weight burn

Good luck 

Thanks for the advice guys, appreciate it!

I shall increase my daily calorie intake then me thinks. Think i just needed a little reassurance before i went ahead with it. As im sure a lot of u can relate, its a little daunting to increase calorie intake to lose weight :)

Thanks again people!  

Right then, for the week just gone i have been eating around 1800 calories per day and keeping to the same work out routine i mentioned earlier. As of todays weekly weigh in i have lost 2 pounds so it seems like we have some progress! :)

I just wanted to check now, should i revert back to the lower calories i was on or should i stick with my increased calories? I have no problem sticking with the increased calories, it was nice to get a little more food again! :P But the only thing is, if i were to hit another plateau whilst on 1800 calories per day, i dont think i could handle another increase without exploding! Thanks again in advance people

Stick with the 1800.

You didn't hit a plateau last time (you were still losing a pound a week) -- why worry about what might happen in the future?

If you actually hit a plateau and go for a month+ with zero weight loss, you could reassess and find you need to decrease your calories (as you lose weight, your calorie burn will decrease), or increase to give yourself a boost. Or decide that you need to mix up your workouts, rather than mess with your intake.