That's fantastic, Dave. Are you using a computer program to track your progress? And how exactly did you figure your caloric intake at the beginning so you would know how much to knock off?
Since my weight was fairly steady for the month before I started, I just just recorded what I ate for 2 weeks and then used that average intake as my starting number. I cross checked with a bunch of online calculators and found them to all be close to the number I reversed calculated from my intake.
Then I just knocked 300 calories off what I was eating every day. Just a little off every meal so that it added up to 300 calories less each day. I record my weight on the last Sunday of every month in a spread sheet and track as I go. I should average 2.5 lbs lost each month and when I noticed I was only losing 1 lb per month in couple of consecutive months, I just reduced my intake by another 150 calories and it came right back on target. I repeated it every time I saw the pattern.
I determined that my burn rate was around 3300 calories per day when I started and it’s at 2800 calories per day now. My starting intake goal was 3000 calories per day and now it is 2500 calories per day. I now eat 800 calories less per day than before I started.
My feeling is that had I started trying to reduce more than 300 calories at the beginning, I never would have been able to adapt and stick with it so easily. I’m also not a fanatic about it either, it’s about long term averages so I don’t worry if one day doesn’t hit the goal or just breaks even.
Eventually the perseverance will take care of the ups and downs along the way.
