@irishamerican4christ I’ve tried this before and it didn’t work for me. I ended up gaining more fat. I had 20 lbs to lose. I try to do 7K steps and I still can’t lose at almost 1600
@francis_mcc Unfortunately it is. If I could eat 1700 calories I would be much happier! It’s been a learning an experience where I tried for over a year and didn’t lose any weight!
@irishamerican4christ I’m 5’2” and get 8,000-10,000 steps a day and 1700 is my maintenance. 1500 is my sedentary TDEE (which assumes 5000 steps a day). So depending on your starting weight, you likely wouldn’t be in a deficit if you ate 1700 a day. You might even gain.
You could maybe lose on 1600 but only if you were really, really careful about calories (and consistent about getting your steps). And it would be a very slow weight loss. Again, we can’t say for sure without your age and starting weight.
@clapclapcedric It’s more about muscle mass. Before I began lifting heavy 1600 was my maintenance. After a year of heavy lifting I lose a half pound a week at 1600, and maintain at 1850. I lift 3x/week, no cardio, and I only get about 5-8k steps/day.
@breadandbutter It’s changed over the year but I have always included the big compound lifts (squat, bench, deadlift, overhead press). I’m currently doing MAPS Anabolic.
@dawn16 Sure, but OP stated that they’re aiming for 8k steps and I’m assuming that’s their only exercise. So maintenance is going to be lower since they likely don’t have your muscle mass.
@irishamerican4christ You won’t know until you test it for at least 4-6 weeks. It’s tough to say without knowing what your current weight it…what other activity you do in your daily life through work and exercise. It’s possible to lose but will likely be pretty slow.
Another option is to eat at maintenance for a week and then go deficit for 3 weeks in a cycle to make it more mentally sustainable.
I’ve heard other petites lose at 1600-1700 but they walk at least 10-15k steps a day and have strength trained and a fairly high level of lean mass.
@irishamerican4christ I’m 5’2 and have PCOS, but if I did that I would slowly but surely gain. Without knowing more about your current weight, age and whether you have a particularly slow or fast metabolism for a woman of your stats, it’s hard to say for sure. Might be worth a try if you’re curious. But be open the the possibility that you might need to boost your activity levels or eat a bit less.
sorry to hear. this is going to be harder for me to lose weight than i realized.