Extremely low metabolism
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I keep seeing Fitbit used as a basis for your metabolism. Have you undergone real testing or are you depending on an inaccurate device?0
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You can also look up at the internet were there is a testing option for you
It only costs between 50 to 75 to get it tested. Then you know for sure
And you have the most accurate numbers0 -
rosebette, how long since you've lost weight?
How long have you had the fitbit?0 -
I haven't been using the fitbit to eat more. I've actually been eating less since getting the fitbit because MFP overestimates the burns for a lot of activities, or perhaps they are the burns for the "average" person, whereas the fitibit is measuring what a person of my height, weight, and age actually burns. I haven't gained or lost since getting it, just stayed the same. I just ran into a colleague of mine at work -- a huge guy, over 6', and young in his 30s -- who was also wearing one. We did the same level of activity, i.e, basically being in an office all day (in fact, he put in fewer steps) and his burn was more than double mine. I would say, then, that that's pretty accurate since the guy is younger and more than twice my weight.
I guess I have to figure on if I want to "settle" or aggressively pursue my goal again by further micromanaging numbers and calories. This was a question I visited on another thread a while back. The whole discussion has actually gotten me a bit depressed, especially after I listened to a classroom presentation by a student in one of our degree programs on eating disorders. She talked about how someone with an ED looks at a cookie and doesn't think about how much she'd enjoy the cookie, but how many calories are in it and how much exercise she must do to work it off. I began to think as I listened that this is now how I am living my life.
Whatever path you choose to follow is up to you, but if you actively want to pursue weight loss, we have given you the reasons why you may not be losing. But also keep in mind, that a Fitbit is a basic device that is also based on statistical averages. If you really want to know your metabolic rate, than you need an actual test for it.
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rosebette, how long since you've lost weight?
How long have you had the fitbit?
I've had the fitbit since May, but haven't had any real losses since the fall. The lowest I've gotten is 118 and couldn't maintain at that weight. I've been fairly stable between 120-122 for 8-10 months.0 -
I'm similar to you -- 50+ and short (shorter than you). I'm planning on getting a Fitbit soon, and I'll be very surprised if my TDEE is any higher than yours.0
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FITBITS ARE NOT METABOLISM TESTERS!!!!!0
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They have ways of testing your metabolism. I did such a test when I was 13 at John's Hopkins Hospital (I was being sent for weight management). The Dr. let me know my metabolism was working below average. They had me on a nutrition shake plan and all that, but I was 13- that stuff was gross and I'd worry about it later (lol mindset of the invincible teenager). Now I'm 29 and lost over 100 lbs in the last couple years and I'm trying to combat the metabolism issue with building/retaining muscle. I haven't seen much else out there that helps.0
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Thanks for the advice on weighing semi-solids and such in grams. I had peanut butter today and had always assumed I was eating only 1 TB because I'm not one of those folks to slather it on, but my serving was 32 g, which is more like 2 TB. While I only eat peanut butter about once a week, it is 100 calorie difference. A 100 calorie difference every day is significant for someone my size. On the other hand, I am already eating what I find to be disappointingly small amounts of food (I'm starving in the mornings because I'm already not eating much), so to cut even further is rather saddening.0
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If you shadowed the coworker and did the same exercises etc you WILL NOT burn the same calories! That is your first mistake. Height weight and age all play a role.
You said the guy was much bigger and heavier, well bigger people have to expend more energy to do tasks then smaller people, so you doing the same number of steps does not equate to the same burn.
Personally i just use several websites to estimate BMR and TDEE and eat at a deficit. I use MFP to track my calories and nutrients nothing more. I do not " eat back" exercise calories. Just eat at a deficit ( below tdee) and you will lose weight.
Keep in mind the metabolism will slow down after a while this is called " adaptive thermogenesis " so you will need to adjust calories at some point0 -
Thanks for the advice on weighing semi-solids and such in grams. I had peanut butter today and had always assumed I was eating only 1 TB because I'm not one of those folks to slather it on, but my serving was 32 g, which is more like 2 TB. While I only eat peanut butter about once a week, it is 100 calorie difference. A 100 calorie difference every day is significant for someone my size. On the other hand, I am already eating what I find to be disappointingly small amounts of food (I'm starving in the mornings because I'm already not eating much), so to cut even further is rather saddening.I finished menopause early, around age 43. I had tried South Beach severa years ago with my husband, which is low carb, but I couldn't do Phase 1 which is the no carbs at all, even no fruit, stage because I felt sick and weak by about 11:00 AM So I did Phase II and did end up losing about 20 lbs. within about 6 months (I was 140 at the time due to a foot injury causing me to be sedentary). By low carb, how low do you mean? My macros are set to 35% protein, 30 carb, and 25 fat. I tend to go over a bit on carbs because I do eat fruit and yogurt or may have oatmeal or a small bowl of cereal in the morning, but otherwise I'm not a big starch eater. My husband's diabetic, so we don't have pasta very often, and bread is usually whole grain or low calorie like Fiber One 100. If I'm using full calorie bread, I eat half a sandwich rather than a whole one because it seems as if all that bread is a waste of calories. Rice I limit to 1/2 cup cooked. I could give up the rice because I'm not attached to it, but would hate to give up fruit and yogurt.
I'd be starving in the morning if I had your breakfasts too. I need a higher ratio of protein and fat to feel satisfied. Do you ever have eggs and veggies for breakfast? How do you feel after that?
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brianpperkins wrote: »FITBITS ARE NOT METABOLISM TESTERS!!!!!
The power of marketing...0 -
OP decided she has "an extremely slow metabolism," when in fact she's been underestimating her food.
The Fitbit is a red herring. You can't judge the accuracy of your Fitbit burn unless you log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly.0 -
Thanks for the advice on weighing semi-solids and such in grams. I had peanut butter today and had always assumed I was eating only 1 TB because I'm not one of those folks to slather it on, but my serving was 32 g, which is more like 2 TB. While I only eat peanut butter about once a week, it is 100 calorie difference. A 100 calorie difference every day is significant for someone my size. On the other hand, I am already eating what I find to be disappointingly small amounts of food (I'm starving in the mornings because I'm already not eating much), so to cut even further is rather saddening.
This is exactly why we are saying that your logging isn't great. Another example was probably your mayo. I eat sandwiches all the time, and I barely have my bread covered and that equals 32g (2tbsp), but I saw an entry that you had that was a half tbsp. As humans, we always underestimate calories in and over estimate calories out. That is why addressing those is the number one thing to do. It's also why when we see "my metabolism is very low" threads, we discover, the metabolism isn't really low but the logging practices need improvement. Thence, the first video.
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editorgrrl wrote: »OP decided she has "an extremely slow metabolism," when in fact she's been underestimating her food.
The Fitbit is a red herring. You can't judge the accuracy of your Fitbit burn unless you log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly.
Agreed. I found my fitbit to be highly accurate. I does overestimate steps (I've hit 10,000 steps while driving before), but there are ways to compensate for this. I choose not to because it also underestimates my activity while weight lifting.
I very carefully tracked food and weight loss for one month, and then compared the actual weight loss to what was expected based on average deficit for that month. The fitbit was spot on.0 -
editorgrrl wrote: »OP decided she has "an extremely slow metabolism," when in fact she's been underestimating her food.
The Fitbit is a red herring. You can't judge the accuracy of your Fitbit burn unless you log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly.
Agreed. I found my fitbit to be highly accurate. I does overestimate steps (I've hit 10,000 steps while driving before), but there are ways to compensate for this. I choose not to because it also underestimates my activity while weight lifting.
I very carefully tracked food and weight loss for one month, and then compared the actual weight loss to what was expected based on average deficit for that month. The fitbit was spot on.
That's what they're saying. You are carefully tracking your food. The OP was not. That is why the fitbit is not accurate. It's not because it is wrong, but because she is giving it the wrong calories in.0 -
Very interesting. Turned out she under-reported her calories by 43% when using a food journal and by around 67% when using a video journal.
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jesikalovesyou wrote: »editorgrrl wrote: »OP decided she has "an extremely slow metabolism," when in fact she's been underestimating her food.
The Fitbit is a red herring. You can't judge the accuracy of your Fitbit burn unless you log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly.
Agreed. I found my fitbit to be highly accurate. I does overestimate steps (I've hit 10,000 steps while driving before), but there are ways to compensate for this. I choose not to because it also underestimates my activity while weight lifting.
I very carefully tracked food and weight loss for one month, and then compared the actual weight loss to what was expected based on average deficit for that month. The fitbit was spot on.
That's what they're saying. You are carefully tracking your food. The OP was not. That is why the fitbit is not accurate. It's not because it is wrong, but because she is giving it the wrong calories in.
Which was why I typed "agreed"?0 -
jesikalovesyou wrote: »editorgrrl wrote: »OP decided she has "an extremely slow metabolism," when in fact she's been underestimating her food.
The Fitbit is a red herring. You can't judge the accuracy of your Fitbit burn unless you log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly.
Agreed. I found my fitbit to be highly accurate. I does overestimate steps (I've hit 10,000 steps while driving before), but there are ways to compensate for this. I choose not to because it also underestimates my activity while weight lifting.
I very carefully tracked food and weight loss for one month, and then compared the actual weight loss to what was expected based on average deficit for that month. The fitbit was spot on.
That's what they're saying. You are carefully tracking your food. The OP was not. That is why the fitbit is not accurate. It's not because it is wrong, but because she is giving it the wrong calories in.
Yep. A fitbit is pretty much useless if you're not accurately and honestly logging your food.
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The point is that I'm not questioning why I'm not losing. I'm questioning whether the number on the fitbit shows a lower metabolism than would be expected for a woman of my age, size, and activity level or whether it's within the normal range. For instance, my fitbit today said my total burn for the day is 1348. This was my at-campus day, so walking all over dragging the roller bag, including up stairs, plus the 30 minute walk (about 1.5 miles). 1348 is not a lot of calories. I have to eat less than that to lose, probably around 1000. It's not unreasonable that it's hard to achieve that deficit with inaccurate logging. That's not what I'm questioning. The question is whether that 1348 is "normal" or whether there is a problem. Some folks on this thread seem to think it's normal, others are offering some helpful suggestions about logging, and some are veering into the judgmental "it' your fault for not logging everything and weighing everything." I can log all I want, it's not going to change the 1348 TDEE, or the 1136 BMR I saw when I had my metabolism checked during a fitness eval at my gym last fall.0
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KA9AdlhB18o
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