Calorie Counting- does this sound right or am I giving myself way too many cals?

[GameOn2025]

Hi there.

I am majorly obese and have been most of my life. At the start of November I decided I was going to try and lose weight by cutting back on snacks and cooking from scratch as best as I could (cooking isn't my strong point 😅).

This was working well, so from November to my last weigh in last week, I have lost a total of 16 pounds. Unfortunately though, I like my snacks (this is the main problem) and every time I would eat something "unhealthy" it would make me feel guilty and anxious and would ruin my evening (good old 00's diet culture ingrained).

So, I looked into calorie Counting and decided I would feel a lot better knowing how many cals I was consuming in stead of guessing and worrying every time I reached for a bloody mars bar or bag of skips. I have been using Nutracheck for the past 4 days and, my goodness, I have to say it's really made my life so much easier. I have planned all my meals for the week and put them into the app, and whatever cals I have left I can play around with and fit my treats into them. No guilt, no anxiety, marvellous!

Anyway, as I am new to this calorie counting business. I was wondering if you could help me figure it if I'm eating the right amount? I'm currently 36yo, 5ft 6, I weigh 19st 6lbs (please don't judge me, I know that is horrendous 😢 I'm embarrassed even writing it down anonymously) and I don't really do any exercise. I'm a bloody mess 😩

When I input all this into a TDEE calculator, it tells me my maintenance calories are 2329. I set my daily calorie allowance to 1800 as when I researched it, it said to start off with a 500 cal deficit and gradually lower over time it to avoid a weight loss plateau later along the line. I know a lot of people will think "God, if I ate that much, I'd be the size of a house!", and well I am the size of a house 🙈 but from what I have read, it's very silly to cut your calories too much at the start?

I have been eating between 17-1800 and the scales haven't moved in 4 days 😅. When I was losing weight before calorie counting, the scales went down a little each day or every other day.

Do you think maybe 1800 is way too high, or do I just need to give my body time to adjust and it will even out? Is it just a monitor, assess and adjust as necessary game?

Alas, we have a shift on the scales this morning. A whole 2 ounces 😂 which is better than nothing. Also, my period has graced me with her presence. Speak of the devil, and the devil appears!

Thank you for the replies everyone, they've been most helpful. It seems the sensible thing to do is continue on the 1800 for now, so that is what I will do.

My official "weigh day" that I set for myself is on a Sunday. I will update the thread of any changes then!

Sunday might not be the best day depending on your lifestyle. Might you have eaten later on Saturday? Maybe more carbs? A few drinks? They might all cause temporary spikes.

I would still advocate daily weighing with weekly averages. Take pictures and measurements too, so you can see progress that way.

Your maintenance will probably be around 1700-1800 when you finally lose your weight ( and well done so far!) so learning to live on 1800 for a while seems a really good idea - practise for when you are at the right weight

As the weight falls off slowly ( the healthy way to lose weight) then you will need to go under that substantially

Also you won't see changes every day - salt and water levels seem to vary a lot especially for women

Impatience will sabotage you. You really need to get your head around the fact that just as it took time to put the weight on, it will take time to shift it. The advantage to doing it slowly, is that you have plenty of time to sort your head and habits out.

I started in March '24 and my app forecasts target date in October of this year. I've attached my weight chart so you can see how slow and wobbly it is, the main thing is the downward trend.

To quote Ron Weasley, that's bloody brilliant 👏👏👏

See, I originally chose Sunday because I did tend l to struggle quite a bit on weekends and used it as an excuse to eat crap. Having weigh in on Sunday kept me on the straight and narrow, for the most part.

However, now I am counting calories it's making life so much easier, I don't feel deprived of treat foods. So I can chose any day, really. Will depend on what plans I have for the week!

One of the other things I wanted to ask was, does it matter if you skip a meal?

I eat breakfast late and work afternoons, often I am not in the mood for lunch as I'm just not hungry at that time. I prefer to have a bigger dinner and "spend" more calories on my evening meal.

I was explaining this to my colleague and she said skipping lunch will mess up my metabolism and make losing weight harder?

I would stick to 1800 until your weight plateaus and then presuming you aren’t happy the weight you are at when it plateaus knock of another 100 calories

I found sites estimated my maintenance calories and weight loss level too high, I wouldn't lose weight on their levels. I had to drop 200+ calories lower to lose consistently

A 3500 deficit per week is a pound weight loss

Sorry to jump in, just wanted to say that your calories sounds about right for your weight. If you haven't already, may I suggest having a look at Team RH? They explain calorie defecits so well and take into account the many reasons your weight may fluctuate.

When I began following them, I noticed my weight could be down one day then up the next, but they recommend weighing every day, then taking the weekly average to calculate your weight loss.

The scales may not change day to day, but that doesn't mean you are not losing fat. It could be water retention from eating carbs/sodium (I am not saying to avoid carbs. In my opinion, the body needs a balance, which includes carbs). So that would be the explanation and not to feel disheartened if the scale hasn't moved, as it doesn't mean you haven't lost fat.

It’s calories in and out that matters. It won’t make any difference if you have brunch and dinner instead of breakfast, lunch and dinner, as long as you stick to your calorie deficit.

And we have a 1lb loss 🎉

Happy with that 😍

I've just started calorie counting again, one thing I've found helpful is weighing and measuring ingredients, particularly for calorie dense things like olive oil, butter, mayo etc. It's really easy to miss 300-400 calories a day if you're not tracking accurately.