Whenever I eat my calore deficit I don't lose weight

ajocec
ajocec Posts: 19 Member
edited November 16 in Health and Weight Loss
my calorie deficit is only set to 1200, but when I eat the 1200 or even close to that I either gain weight or stay the same. I exercise 5 days a week and very rarely eat back any of my exercise calories. I drink at least 4 liters of water a day. What am I doing wrong?
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Replies

  • ncboiler89
    ncboiler89 Posts: 2,408 Member
    ajocec wrote: »
    my calorie deficit is only set to 1200, but when I eat the 1200 or even close to that I either gain weight or stay the same. I exercise 5 days a week and very rarely eat back any of my exercise calories. I drink at least 4 liters of water a day. What am I doing wrong?

    Need more info but just to start; Over how long a time frame?
  • denali26
    denali26 Posts: 20 Member
    Are you weighing everything you eat?
  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,082 Member
    My first hunch would be trolling.
    Otherwise i would would suggest you are simply not weighing and logging accurately.
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
    How long have you tried eating 1200 and consistently gained weight? What are you eating at the moment? What are your stats (height, weight)? How long have you been eating under 1200?
  • ncboiler89
    ncboiler89 Posts: 2,408 Member
    Camo_xxx wrote: »
    My first hunch would be trolling.
    quote]

    lol. That's what I was thinking. There are some posts that are just so wtf they make me think they are a level.
  • ajocec
    ajocec Posts: 19 Member
    I am 5'6 currently 180. SW 220, started MFP at 196 Mid-March. I know that is a big weight loss however that has been because of the days I've eaten very little. I do not weigh my food as I have a daily job. I do always log as accurately as possible. Thank you for your help with this!
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  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    If you aren't losing, you aren't eating in a deficit.
  • acorsaut89
    acorsaut89 Posts: 1,147 Member
    edited April 2015
    Three possibilities of what's happening here

    1. You're eating more than you think you are.
    2. You're not burning as much as you think you are, which means you're consuming too much to be at a deficit.
    3. The most likely scenario of them all - you're eating more than you think you are AND you're not burning nearly as much as you think you are.

    ETA: your profile states you've lost 31lbs and have 44 more to go. So that leads me to believe you had a total of 75lbs to lose . . . which is quite a bit of weight. This would mean you were over eating and over consuming by a lot for a long period of time, which leads me to believe that your body would lose on a deficit like that. I think you're definitely eating more than you think you are if you've stopped losing.

    If you're looking for the "OH MY - eat more to lose more, starvation mode honey" response, I doubt you'll find it here. If you've lost 31 lbs already, you know what it takes to lose and I highly doubt at 27 years old you need to be under 1200 calories/day - no one needs to be under that. If you are under that you could be causing long term damage depending on how consistent you are about it, but again I believe you're simply eating more than you think you are. It's really easy to do so.
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
    ajocec wrote: »
    I am 5'6 currently 180. SW 220, started MFP at 196 Mid-March. I know that is a big weight loss however that has been because of the days I've eaten very little. I do not weigh my food as I have a daily job. I do always log as accurately as possible. Thank you for your help with this!

    If you don't weigh your food you don't know how much you are eating.

    Most people have daily jobs - if you want to lose weight then you need to by a scale and log your food, you clearly are not guessing accurately enough.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    ajocec wrote: »
    I do not weigh my food as I have a daily job. I do always log as accurately as possible.
    How do you know how accurately you're logging if you're not weighing your food?

  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
    Either you're not actually eating 1200 as you're not weighing food (unless you're eating all prepackaged food), or you're not giving yourself enough time to see how eating 1200 actually affects you. You didn't answer how long you'd been eating 1200 calories and gaining weight. Was it a month where you saw consistent gain? Or did you eat 1200 for one day and see an increase the next day?
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  • ajocec
    ajocec Posts: 19 Member
    Either you're not actually eating 1200 as you're not weighing food (unless you're eating all prepackaged food), or you're not giving yourself enough time to see how eating 1200 actually affects you. You didn't answer how long you'd been eating 1200 calories and gaining weight. Was it a month where you saw consistent gain? Or did you eat 1200 for one day and see an increase the next day?

    I understand that weight loss is not linear, and this is not a one time occurrence. I looked over the month and averaged out that on the days I ate 1200 or close to I saw an increase.

    I am doing the best I can to log accurately without a scale. A scale is not an option for me but I am trying very hard.
  • Lib_B
    Lib_B Posts: 446 Member
    Based on the advice I've see on other threads, I would suggest increasing your calories to about 2,600 a day.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    you've lost 16 pounds since mid-March. You may not have seen a loss on the scale in the past week-10 days (i'm guessing, you didn't say) but that does not mean you've stalled or gained. Could be water weight from TOM/hormones, sodium, stress, etc.

    Compare your weight today to weight a month ago. You're down considerably. Keep going, give it another 4-8 weeks. I predict you'll continue to go downward overall but have some weeks where you don't move in the direction you want.

    And if you're not using a scale, you're probably eating more than 1200. But with a good amount of weight to lose, you can estimate and get away with it for now. As time goes on and you lose more weight, if you reach a point where your weight loss stalls for 8-12 weeks: then re-evaluate and look for more accuracy.
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
    Lib_B wrote: »
    Based on the advice I've see on other threads, I would suggest increasing your calories to about 2,600 a day.

    Sorry what now?
  • hhnkhl
    hhnkhl Posts: 231 Member
    You aren't losing weight if you are eating more.
  • LessofPenny
    LessofPenny Posts: 53 Member
    Make sure that you have been checked out by a dr and do not have any health issues that are causing you to plateau. Stick it out.....staying the same is better than getting frustrated, throwing in the towel and gaining. Get moving.....if you are moving....move more.
  • acorsaut89
    acorsaut89 Posts: 1,147 Member
    ajocec wrote: »
    I am 5'6 currently 180. SW 220, started MFP at 196 Mid-March. I know that is a big weight loss however that has been because of the days I've eaten very little. I do not weigh my food as I have a daily job. I do always log as accurately as possible. Thank you for your help with this!

    You lost 16 lbs in 4 weeks, approx? That's ED territory, very unhealthy and highly unsustainable long term.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    ajocec wrote: »
    Either you're not actually eating 1200 as you're not weighing food (unless you're eating all prepackaged food), or you're not giving yourself enough time to see how eating 1200 actually affects you. You didn't answer how long you'd been eating 1200 calories and gaining weight. Was it a month where you saw consistent gain? Or did you eat 1200 for one day and see an increase the next day?

    I understand that weight loss is not linear, and this is not a one time occurrence. I looked over the month and averaged out that on the days I ate 1200 or close to I saw an increase.

    I am doing the best I can to log accurately without a scale. A scale is not an option for me but I am trying very hard.

    Are you saying that you ate 1,200 some days and saw an increase the next day or close to it? And on the days that you didn't, you didn't see an increase?

    If you're weighing daily, you may see variances due to water retention, bathroom regularity, or other reasons. Tying increases to calories eaten in a single day may be misleading you. You need to focus on the long-term trend.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    Lol - what does having a job have to do with weighing food?
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    ajocec wrote: »
    I am 5'6 currently 180. SW 220, started MFP at 196 Mid-March. I know that is a big weight loss however that has been because of the days I've eaten very little. I do not weigh my food as I have a daily job. I do always log as accurately as possible. Thank you for your help with this!

    #1: 16 lb in a month is way too fast. Chances are really good that a lot of it was water weight and your body is now starting to retain more so it keeps what it needs to function properly.

    #2: 1200 calories is way too low, especially because you do not eat your exercise calories. You need to eat enough to fuel your body or it will start to lose muscle.

    #3: if you are not weighing and measuring, you have no idea how much you actually are eating.

  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    Something isn't adding up here, and it's probably in the logging. At your ht/wt/age and light exercise, your TDEE is 2200 calories. If you're accurately logging 1200 calories you would be at TDEE -54%.

    Can you open your diary?
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
    ajocec wrote: »
    Either you're not actually eating 1200 as you're not weighing food (unless you're eating all prepackaged food), or you're not giving yourself enough time to see how eating 1200 actually affects you. You didn't answer how long you'd been eating 1200 calories and gaining weight. Was it a month where you saw consistent gain? Or did you eat 1200 for one day and see an increase the next day?

    I understand that weight loss is not linear, and this is not a one time occurrence. I looked over the month and averaged out that on the days I ate 1200 or close to I saw an increase.

    I am doing the best I can to log accurately without a scale. A scale is not an option for me but I am trying very hard.

    "on the days I ate 1200 or close to I saw an increase" as in you ate 1200 one day and saw an immediate increase the next day? Or you ate 1200 consistently for 3 weeks and saw an increase? If you just saw an increase immediately after eating 1200, that is to be expected. When you eat more than usual it's not uncommon to see an increase where your body is retaining water, or simply hasn't digested all the food yet. You have to eat 1200 everyday for several weeks and see a consistent increase to know that 1200 makes you gain.

    If you can't weigh your food at work then bring a packed lunch that you've weighed at home.
  • ajocec
    ajocec Posts: 19 Member
    RGv2 wrote: »
    Something isn't adding up here, and it's probably in the logging. At your ht/wt/age and light exercise, your TDEE is 2200 calories. If you're accurately logging 1200 calories you would be at TDEE -54%.

    Can you open your diary?

    Opening it now. Thank you
  • Unknown
    edited April 2015
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  • itsthehumidity
    itsthehumidity Posts: 351 Member
    It's a troll everybody, just ignore and move on.

    OP, if you're actually not a troll, open up your diary so we can all see. Usually in these situations the logging method is wrong. My guess is at your daily job (the rest of us dearly wish we had one) you go to the cafeteria, get a burger, then log it as Generic - Cheeseburger, 250 calories. Most people who don't understand the process don't log correctly.
  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,082 Member
    Until you weigh your food with a scale you are just guessing at how many calories you are eating.

    Given the fact that you are not loosing weight is clear evidence that you are not guessing accurately.

    You are not eating 1200 calories and are not eating at a deficit. You are guessing you are, but your guess is wrong.

    Get a scale and weigh and log every bite of food you eat.

  • acorsaut89
    acorsaut89 Posts: 1,147 Member
    ajocec wrote: »
    Either you're not actually eating 1200 as you're not weighing food (unless you're eating all prepackaged food), or you're not giving yourself enough time to see how eating 1200 actually affects you. You didn't answer how long you'd been eating 1200 calories and gaining weight. Was it a month where you saw consistent gain? Or did you eat 1200 for one day and see an increase the next day?

    I understand that weight loss is not linear, and this is not a one time occurrence. I looked over the month and averaged out that on the days I ate 1200 or close to I saw an increase.

    I am doing the best I can to log accurately without a scale. A scale is not an option for me but I am trying very hard.

    Are you saying that you ate 1,200 some days and saw an increase the next day or close to it? And on the days that you didn't, you didn't see an increase?

    If you're weighing daily, you may see variances due to water retention, bathroom regularity, or other reasons. Tying increases to calories eaten in a single day may be misleading you. You need to focus on the long-term trend.

    No I think she's saying I'm a troll, validate that I should be eating more, that I'm not eating enough, that I need to eat more to lose.
This discussion has been closed.