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salad only will burn you out fast and you'll binge. build plates around protein first (chicken, eggs, greek yogurt, tofu) then add veg and a small carb. aim for maybe 1500 cal and 100g+ protein, that keeps you full and saves muscle while you lose. also don't skip breakfast just because of the fasting rules, eat when you're actually hungry. walking to the gym 3x a week plus volleyball is already solid, no need to force more.

at 1500 with a 1730 tdee your deficit is only about 230 kcal, so 2kg will take maybe 8-10 weeks. that is fine, just be patient. the plate looks ok but light on protein. i would keep the rice smaller (60-70g raw), bump soya to 50-60g, and add a bowl of curd or dal. veggies you can eat freely.

at 150cm and 45kg your tdee is probably around 1600-1800 with 12k steps, so not that low actually. if the goal is recomp (less squishy, not really lose weight), eat around maintenance, hit 80-100g protein, and lift 3x a week full body. beginner full body beats splits when you only train 3 days. sleep will do more for the midsection look than any workout tweak imo. push for 7.5+.

13k steps daily plus a delivery job is closer to moderate, not lightly active. Lightly active is usually ~5-7k steps with a desk job. Rough rule: every 2k steps above sedentary adds about one activity tier. If you feel bad, bump it up and see how the deficit sits for 2-3 weeks.

you already know the math, thats half the battle. one small note: at 183 your TDEE is higher than it will be at 155, so recheck every 10-15lbs or the deficit shrinks on you. and be kind on weeks meds shift, water can hide real fat loss for a while.

this is exactly the problem with the activity level buckets, they dont fit someone like you. "moderately active" and "very active" both feel wrong when you have lifting 5x, cardio 4x, steps, plus a dance class stacked on top. if you just pick one bucket you either underfeed yourself or overshoot by a few hundred cals easy. with your schedule you are probably closer to very active, not just moderate, the step count alone pushes you there before you even count the gym sessions. 1200 sounds low for your BMR and activity, that number is usually meant for people who are shorter, older, and sedentary, not someone lifting and hitting 10k steps daily. honestly your best bet is logging your actual TDEE for a couple weeks against real weight change, the buckets are just a rough guess. there is also a free AI tdee calculator if you search "nanorhino tdee", it asks about your actual week instead of just picking a bucket, might give you a more realistic number to start from.

500 cal deficit is on the higher end for someone your size but not crazy, especially since you feel good and lifts are still going up. as a newer lifter you can still build some muscle in a deficit, it just gets slower the leaner you get. i'd push protein closer to 110-120g if you can, that's the main lever for keeping muscle while cutting.

This is exactly why your deficit shrinks as you lose, its not just "TDEE goes down" as an abstract thing, its that a 30 pound lighter body genuinely burns less at rest and moving around too, so your same routine keeps giving you smaller and smaller returns. Also the standard calculators bucket your activity into like "sedentary/light/moderate" which is way too crude for someone doing structured 3 hour walks 4x a week, that alone can throw your TDEE off by a few hundred calories in either direction. Two things that might actually help instead of just being annoyed at the math: recalculate every 10-15 pounds instead of assuming one number holds the whole way down, and honestly the walking is probably not creating as big of a deficit as those calculators say, walking calorie burn estimates are notoriously generous. I started recalculating more often and using something that asks about my actual day instead of just picking a bucket, there is a free AI TDEE calculator if you search "nanorhino tdee" that does a short interview instead of just five buckets, helped me stop guessing. But the bigger issue is just that this process is slow no matter what, losing 20 pounds properly kind of has to take months, theres no shortcut hiding in the math.

looking at your data, you actually are losing. weekly average went 169.6 -> 166.7 across 6 weeks, so about half a pound a week. that lines up with roughly a 250 cal daily deficit, not the 400 you think. the alcohol + carbs days probably eat more of your deficit than you realize (liquid cals plus water retention masking the drop). not a plateau, just slower than target.

walking absolutely does real work. it is the main lever for a lot of people because you can do 40 min daily without wrecking recovery or willpower. the "not a real workout" thing is just gym marketing in your head. for the all-or-nothing, try setting a floor instead of a ceiling. mine was "walk 20 min, no matter what." bad week? still hit the floor, still counts. deficit comes from the food side anyway.

1050 was way too low for you, glad you bumped it up. on the activity level question, mark yourself sedentary and just log the gym sessions separately as exercise calories. that's the more accurate way to do it because "light activity" categories usually assume daily movement spread across the whole day, not 3-5 concentrated gym sessions plus sitting the rest of the time. if you pick light activity AND count your workouts on top, you end up double counting and your deficit gets bigger than you think, which is probably part of why you felt so wrecked before. on the stairmaster question, honestly with an upper body injury doing lower body cardio is a completely reasonable way to stay active while you heal, don't feel like it's not "real" training. once PT clears you for more, you can shift some of that time to lower body strength work too, which will help preserve muscle during the deficit way more than cardio alone. protein wise, aim around 0.7-1g per lb of your goal weight, that matters more for keeping muscle than hitting a perfect calorie number. honestly the sedentary vs light activity bucket thing trips up almost everyone, generic calculators just don't handle "sit all day but train hard 4x a week" well. there is a free AI tdee calculator that asks about your actual day instead of just picking a bucket, you can find it by searching nanorhino tdee if you want a second opinion on the number.

mfp's "sedentary" is not really sedentary, it assumes around 1.25 activity factor on top of BMR, so for a small frame it inflates fast. also mfp uses older Mifflin defaults and rounds up. if your real world data says 1450-1500 is maintenance, trust that over any calculator. you basically are the calculator at this point.

the up down pattern over months while staying flat overall is usually just water and glycogen mess, not a real plateau. sodium, carb intake that day, hormones (if that applies to you), even how much you slept can swing the scale 2-4 lbs day to day. if you are tracking honestly and macros are in range, look at the trend line not the daily number, weekly average is what tells the truth. one thing worth double checking though, is your TDEE number actually right for you. a lot of people just plug in "moderately active" and that number can be off by a few hundred calories which is enough to keep you bouncing in place instead of trending down. there is a free AI tdee calculator you can find if you search "nanorhino tdee", it asks about your actual day instead of just picking a bucket, might be worth rerunning your numbers there to see if they still match what you are eating.

This is exactly what happens with metabolic adaptation, your maintenance drops as you lose weight so the deficit shrinks even if intake stays the same. The 2200 to 1700 swing you calculated is real, that is basically your body getting more efficient at being smaller. Two things that might help. First, your actual TDEE is probably higher than the flat formula estimate because that calculation assumes you are sedentary and does not account well for the walking you added, NEAT from daily movement can be a bigger chunk than people think. Second, doing a slow reverse diet once you hit 150 instead of jumping straight to "add another meal" would help you find your new maintenance without the rebound. For what its worth, there is a free AI TDEE calculator you can find by searching "nanorhino tdee" that asks about your actual daily activity instead of just picking sedentary/active/etc, might give you a more accurate number than the standard calculators that keep confusing you. Also the burrito thing, one 600 cal day does not set you back three days, weekly average is what matters, don't let one day wreck your math like that.

your math is close but a bit off. TDEE calculators give total burn (with activity), not just BMR. at 170lb your BMR is more like 1650 but total daily burn is higher, maybe 2000+ before the walking. so your deficit is likely bigger than you think. also plateaus are often water weight and adherence drift. tracking a full week honestly usually shows the "600 cal burrito" days are more frequent than we remember.

8lbs/month is about 1000 cal deficit daily, which is aggressive for your size but not crazy if your tdee really is 2900+. thing is, most people overestimate tdee. i'd track weight daily, average it weekly, and see actual loss over 3-4 weeks. if you drop more than ~2lbs/week consistently, bump to 1900. feeling good now doesn't mean much, burnout usually hits week 6-8. for cheap protein: eggs, milk, cottage cheese, canned tuna, chicken thighs on sale, greek yogurt tubs.

apple's resting number isn't pure BMR, it's closer to sedentary RMR + small NEAT, so it will always sit above your Mifflin BMR by 10-20%. not really a bug. best fix is stop trusting any calculator and back into your real TDEE from 2-3 weeks of honest food logs + weight trend. avg intake +/- (weight change kcal / days) = your actual maintenance. way more accurate than any watch.

apple's "resting" is basically BMR times an activity factor, so it already bakes in NEAT. cronometer shows raw BMR and then adds tracker active kcal on top, so you get two different definitions of the same thing. for cutting i would ignore both numbers and just track intake vs weekly weight trend for 3-4 weeks, then back into your real TDEE from that.

at 1-2k steps your real TDEE is probably closer to 1600-1700, not 1900. eating 1800 would basically be maintenance, which matches what you are seeing. for a ~0.5kg/week deficit you'd need around 1300-1400 while you heal. also expect some water weight from the injury/inflammation hiding progress.

the built in TDEE calculator thing is real, that is one of my biggest issues with MFP too. it just asks your activity level as one of 5 options and that alone can throw your number off by a few hundred calories. i had that happen, picked "moderately active" because i work out 4x a week but forgot my job is also desk based all day, so it way overestimated my burn and i wasnt losing anything for weeks. i ended up using a separate ai based tdee calculator (you can find it by googling nanorhino tdee) that asks more about your actual day instead of just picking a bucket, it gave me a way more realistic number. still use MFP for logging food though, the database is honestly unmatched, just dont trust the calorie goal it spits out blindly.

down 40 lbs since feb is solid work, congrats on that. on the bulk vs cut question, honestly at 5'10 154 you are probably in a decent spot to just run a slow lean bulk if your main goal is building muscle now. going lower than 2k when you are already lean-ish tends to just cost you strength and recovery without much fat loss benefit, since you don't have a ton left to lose. one thing though, that 2600 number from a moderate activity bucket is rough. walking 10k steps plus lifting 5x a week can swing your real TDEE by a few hundred cals either way depending on how intense your sessions actually are and your NEAT outside the gym. i got tired of guessing with the standard calculators and ended up using this free AI tdee calculator (search nanorhino tdee) that asks more detail about your actual day instead of just picking a bucket, gave me a tighter range to work with. might help you nail down if 2700 is really a surplus or basically your maintenance.

your numbers look reasonable. one thing to double check: with 3x lifting, pilates, and 2 cardio sessions plus 10k steps most days, "light exercise" is probably underselling your TDEE a bit. moderate might be closer, which would mean your deficit is actually bigger than you think and 1500-1600 is fine. just watch energy levels over the 6-8 weeks.

late dinner at 10pm then bed at 11:30 is very likely your reflux trigger, MJ slows gastric emptying a lot so food is still sitting there when you lay down. try to finish dinner 3 hours before sleep and see if it changes. on calories, 2000 with TDEE 3400 is a big deficit but on MJ that is pretty normal because hunger drops. just watch protein, aim around 150g so you keep muscle while losing.

a month of true stall at 2000 kcal for a 118kg active guy is almost always tracking drift, not metabolism. weigh everything in grams for 2 weeks, oils and sauces included, and check if weekend days are logged the same as weekdays. also 100g protein is low for your size, aim closer to 150-180g, it helps with satiety and keeps lean mass while cutting.

c'est exactement le probleme avec les formules a facteur PAL fixe, ca peut te faire une erreur de 300-500 kcal facilement selon comment t'es actif dans la journee. 15000 pas/jour c'est pas rien, meme sans sport structure ca peut pousser ton NEAT bien plus haut que ce qu'un PAL generique capte. perso je fais plus confiance a une combinaison des deux plutot qu'a l'un ou l'autre seul. la montre a tendance a surestimer un peu (souvent 5-15%) mais les formules avec PAL fixe sous-estiment clairement les gens tres actifs au quotidien comme toi. je pense que ta vraie depense est probablement entre les deux, plus proche du haut de la fourchette Mifflin que du Katch-McArdle en fait. au lieu de partir d'un chiffre theorique, essaie plutot de tracker ton poids et ta bouffe pendant 2-3 semaines a un niveau que tu penses raisonnable (genre 2600-2700) et ajuste selon ce que la balance dit reellement. c'est plus fiable que n'importe quelle formule ou montre au final. y a aussi un calculateur IA gratuit qui pose des questions sur ta vraie journee plutot que juste choisir une case parmi 5, tu le trouves en cherchant "nanorhino tdee" sur google, ca donne une fourchette plus precise avec le detail BMR/NEAT/TEF separement, ca peut t'aider a voir ou est l'ecart.

3665 sounds way too high unless you are very tall, heavy, and doing hard training daily. the apps often use a high activity multiplier by default, and cronometer also adds workout calories on top. the TDEE calc number is probably closer to real. set activity to sedentary or lightly active and don't eat back exercise calories, then adjust after 3-4 weeks based on the scale trend.

a lean bulk at 50-100kcal surplus is going to be so slow you will barely see progress for months, and any day to day error in your TDEE estimate (which is always there, even with meticulous tracking) will swallow that surplus completely. that is really the whole issue with bulking this tight, your actual maintenance moves around week to week with sleep, stress, activity, water etc, way more than 100kcal. more realistic is something like 150-250kcal surplus, recalculated every few weeks as your weight trends up, with a planned deload/mini cut every 8-12 weeks instead of waiting until fat gain is obvious. you already track well so the mechanics are not the problem, it is just accepting some fat gain is unavoidable if you want the muscle. one thing that helped me stop guessing my TDEE was running through one of those AI tdee calculators (search nanorhino tdee if curious) that asks about your actual daily routine instead of just picking a generic activity level, gave me a tighter range to start adjusting from.

that TDEE number might be a bit high if you picked "moderately active" - 3 short workouts plus desk job is usually closer to lightly active, so real TDEE could be more like 2100-2200. 1773 is fine to start but 1.25 lb/week may not land there. given your ED history, a range (like 1750-1900) is probably safer than one fixed number. and honestly, tying it to a birthday date is the part i would watch more than the calories.

massive respect for 14 kilos, that is not a small thing especially through everything else you were dealing with. the point about not needing a rigid daily target really resonates, i think that is where a lot of people burn out, they treat cico like a strict exam instead of a rough direction. one thing on the tracking side, ChatGPT giving you a range is honestly not a bad approach since most calorie estimates are guesses anyway. if you ever want to double check your TDEE more precisely, there is a free AI tdee calculator you can find by searching nanorhino tdee, it asks about your actual day instead of just picking one of those generic activity levels, gave me a very different number than the usual calculators. not necessary at all if what you are doing is working, just something that might help fine tune the deficit as you get closer to goal weight. keep going, the mindset stuff you wrote about socializing and tuning out gym discourse is underrated advice too.

100-300 is way too conservative for most people unless you are already pretty lean. usual advice is 15-20% below maintenance, or roughly 500 cal deficit if you have a decent amount to lose, that gives about 1lb a week without wrecking muscle as long as protein and lifting stay consistent. the TDEE feeling too high thing is common though. those quick calculators just slot you into one of five activity levels and that alone can throw the number off by a few hundred calories. worth trying one that actually asks about your typical day instead of just "sedentary/active" picks, there is a free AI tdee calculator if you search "nanorhino tdee" that does a short interview like that, gave me a more believable number than the generic ones. either way, track for 2-3 weeks at whatever number you pick and adjust based on actual weight trend, not the calculator estimate.

how long was your cut before this? after a long deficit, leptin and ghrelin stay out of balance for weeks even at maintenance, so hunger feels endless. fat and nuts help less than volume and protein for satiety. try loading meals with high water veggies, potatoes, greek yogurt, eggs. also check sleep and salt, both hit hunger harder than people expect.

this is basically the classic "recomp vs cut" fork and honestly at your stats either can work, it just depends how patient you want to be. since you still have about 10 lbs to lose, a lot of people in your spot do a slow cut, like 200-300 under maintenance instead of a big deficit, with lifting 3x a week. that lets you keep enough protein and energy to hold onto muscle while still losing fat, just slower than before. going into a surplus now would probably build muscle a bit faster but you would gain some fat back too, so it's a trade off between speed and body comp. one thing that trips people up at your size is that TDEE math gets shaky once you have already lost 20 lbs, your maintenance drops as you get lighter so 1800 might already be a bit high. worth rechecking it every few weeks instead of assuming it's fixed. there is a free AI tdee calculator, you can find it if you search "nanorhino tdee" on google, it asks about your actual activity instead of just picking a general activity multiplier, might help you dial in the number better than the generic ones. protein around 100-120g a day and just staying consistent with the lifting is probably going to matter more than the exact calorie number anyway.

for a desk job with no real workouts, sedentary (1.2) is the honest pick. adding a walk or two a week doesn't move you to "lightly active". at 5'4 140 your maintenance is probably closer to 1700-1800, so 1500 is already a modest deficit. i'd hold there and let reta do the appetite work before cutting more.

two things worth checking. TDEE calculators can overshoot by 300-500 for some people, especially post injury when NEAT drops without you noticing. and logging accuracy - oil is good but restaurant/takeout meals, sauces, and eyeballed portions add up fast. try a strict 3 week window weighing everything in grams and see if the trend on weekly averages moves.

nice work sticking with it. one small note on the egg whites - cooked is better for digestion but the raw absorption number gets thrown around as much lower than it really is. still get maybe 50-60% vs 90%+ cooked, so cooking is smart. also worth rechecking your tdee every 15-20 lbs down, it drops as you shrink.

2000 vs 3400 TDEE is a big gap, especially at 147kg on mounjaro where appetite is already suppressed. That deficit alone could be part of the reflux, eating too little sometimes makes your stomach act weird too, not just eating too much. Also worth checking, is that 3400 number from a generic calculator using one of the five activity buckets (sedentary/light/moderate etc)? at your weight those buckets can be off by a lot, like 300-500 kcal easily. There is a free AI tdee calculator, you can find it searching "nanorhino tdee", that asks more about your actual day instead of just picking a bucket, might give you a more real number to work from. On the reflux side, late dinner at 10pm then sleeping by 11:30 is probably not helping, lying down within an hour or two of eating is a classic trigger regardless of what the food is. worth trying to shift dinner earlier if your shift allows even a little.

with the walking to college and fast food shifts, lightly active is fair. sedentary really means desk job + no walking. also, harsher deficit is not "better". 1300 is low and often backfires with binges. try 500 under maintenance (~1600), track 3-4 weeks, and adjust from your actual weight trend.

congrats, getting to 12% and keeping it there for years is not easy, most people never even track that consistently. on the lean bulk question, 50-100kcal surplus is so small it basically overlaps with your day to day expenditure noise. garmin and TDEE estimates already swing more than that day to day, so you might be bulking or cutting slightly without even knowing which one you are actually doing. a bit bigger surplus, like 150-250kcal, with weekly weight trend as the real signal instead of daily number, would probably give you more signal to actually judge progress. also worth remembering your TDEE will drift up as you gain weight and muscle, so the surplus that works at 64kg won't be the same at 68kg. recalculating every few kg instead of using one fixed number for the whole bulk matters more than people think. there is a free tdee calculator that asks about your actual daily activity instead of just picking a bucket, if you search "nanorhino tdee" you will find it, might be useful to recheck your numbers periodically as you go.