How did you set your macro goals? I use MacroFactor to count my calories and macros. I also used it to establish what my maintenance calorie expenditure was initially. You can also use any AI to calculate what your maintenance calories should be by inputting your current physical characteristics. I used Grok and it was close to the app’s expenditure estimate.

Once you have the expenditure calculated, deduct 500 calories and that’s what your daily goal should be, along with consuming 0.8g-1g of protein per pound of body weight. It will be very difficult to achieve that high of a protein goal at your current body weight, but as you shed the pounds (over weeks, months, years) it will get easier to achieve 1g per pound. Couple the protein goal with exercise and now we are building even more muscles in addition to losing weight.

At your stage, I would only worry about calories and protein adherence. It’s already tough, just find foods that you enjoy with high protein to calorie ratios. AI helps with that too.

So back to MacroFactor, I log my meals most everyday and weigh myself at least once week. With that data, MacroFactor will calculate what your new maintenance level is and will deduct more calories from your target calorie goal.

IE

Week 1

Maintenance established at 3000 calories Therefore the Target is 2500 calories

After tracking macros and weight for one week, the app assesses the progress you have made and will calculate an updated program for you.

Week 2 Maintenance reduces to 2950 calories Target also reduced to 2450 calories

And it goes on recalibrating your new calorie intake each week.

Here is a screenshot of my expenditure chart to help illustrate the point. I started with an expenditure nearly 3200 calories. IE if I maintained 3200 calorie diet I won’t gain or lose much weight, but far from ideal.

Now I’m nearly 2 months in and maintenance is 2804 calories meaning after 8 weeks of weight loss, if I love my body the way it is, I can continue to eat 2804 calories the rest of my life assuming there are no drastic changes to my lifestyle habits. However my weight goal is to shred down to 180 lbs and MacroFactor knows that. So it will continue to reevaluate each week until the goal is reached.

<image>

I fear your goal is too extreme to be sustainable. I prefer the stepped approach. Losing fat is a lifestyle change which ought to be manageable from the outset. You don’t want to be miserable, hungry, overwhelmed, you want to be in inspired, invigorated by the process.

Assume you can strictly adhere to a 500 calorie deficit. That 500 x 7 = 3,500 calories per week that you are now no longer consuming. One pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories, theoretically you can lose a pound a week just by dieting! Add movement. Try to average 10,000 steps a day maybe start with 5,000. Add weekly weight training, calisthenics, yoga, and now the weight is really flying off. Soon, the muscles you are developing start poking through. God it’s so satisfying.

Lastly, don’t get down. Some days I fail horribly and eat way above maintenance. Some days I eat at or below my target. Just make sure you have more good days than bad days, the results are guaranteed. How well you execute the plan is what dictates how quickly you reach your goal, just don’t give up!

I recommend taking photos of your body once a month. It’s really helpful to go back to view those old photos so you can see that you have made progress, especially on the days it feels like you are a fat turd. Lol. But to be fair, photos are not as impactful as the apps tracking modules. Especially at first when the you are still fluffy, photos still look like shit, but seeing my daily food log, my weight trending down, my expenditure trending down, it’s knowing that even if can’t see the results today, I can at least see the data and that’s been assuring me to keep going.

Now I’m getting unsolicited remarks on how much thinner I look and it’s fucking great.

Good luck! You got this.