Why am i losing weight so slowly?

Question
Hello Sir,
         I am 32-yr-old female,167cm,weigh 172 lbs . I was 183 lbs 4 months back with my rigorous gymming & diet control i achieved this weight but i m not satisfied with this weight as i am working very hard .
My daily calorie intake is between 1200- 1500cal.less but not more than this.Weekend is a cheat day where i eat abt. 2000cal.or more.
I am not diabetic,my thyroid levels are normal .My blood reports are normal too.
My question is why am i losing weight so slowly?i get disheartened when i hear people saying they lost 4-5 lbs a week ,
I feel very hungry in the evening at around 5-6pm , i eat fruits but am not satisfied i crave for some spicy food .
What is the best evening snack for people like me which will fulfill our cravings & will not add up on our calories.

Answer
Hi Shariqua,

The main thing that really stands out to me is your calorie intake. 1200-1500 is actually pretty low. Then add in your workouts, it complicates things.
Common senses tells us that less calories in makes for better weight loss. What you need to look at is not what you take in, but what you expand.

Are you aware that your body utilizes at least 1000 calories a day, sometimes much more just to maintain life functions. Add in your daily activity, walking, going to work/school, carrying stuff, cleaning house, etc. and that number goes up. Add in your exercise now. Again that number goes up.

When you take in too few calories your body sends a message to your brain that energy intake is low, the brain slows down the metabolism in response.

Without getting too technical, you can get away with 1800-2000 calories per day, no problem. Maybe more since you work out rigorously as you say.

Also what is your frequency of eating? How often do you eat? To optimize your metabolism you should eat every 3-4 hours, around 5-7 times a day. You should have your 3 main meals and 2 or 3 snacks.
A good guide is figure meals to be 500-600 calories and snacks to be around 200.

Another thing you need is variation. If you eat the same thing every day 24/7/365 your body gets used to it. Think of it as a fire. Your fire is burning and you place one log on it every day. It will always burn the same. But if tomorrow you put two logs on the flames grow and burn hotter and longer. That fire is your metabolism. You don't want it to burn steady all the time, you want variations to make it work. Jump start it.
The easiest way to do this is with carb cycling. Monday eat a starch (bread, pasta, rice, potato) at all 3 main meals. Tuesday remove it from dinner. Wednesday remove all starch.
You can also do this week to week. But that up and down or zig zag approach keeps your metabolism constantly working. it can never get set.

As for losing 4-5 pounds a week, that's a bit high, especially the leaner you get. If you're obese and eat crap 24/7 and tomorrow suddenly change your ways then you will likely lose weight very easy. However the more excess fat you lose the harder it gets.

Finally some good evening/night time snacks are
-Lean poultry
-Low fat dairy like cottage cheese or Greek yogurt
-Nuts (almonds, walnuts)
Stay away from too many starchy carbs and fruit later in the day.
And high water fibrous carbs like broccoli, cucumber, asparagus, etc are always ok to eat.  

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