Calorie deficit

ricolifee

So I'm a female approx 56.5kg 160cm, eating a calorie deficit of 500 cals (I aim for 1269 a day) and working out 4-5 days a week including treadmill HIIT (interval training) - I'm wondering how much weight should I be losing per week?

I appear to only have lost 0.5kg in 3 weeks. I'm 3/4 kilos off my ideal weight, could this be why? Help. I feel like I'm stuck in a plateau.

emmycantbemeeko

Are you saying you're 3-4 kg over your goal weight, or 0.75 kg?

If you're truly eating at a deficit of 500 calories a day, you should be losing around 1 lb/week (just a hair under 1/4 kg).

You've actually lost 1.1 pounds in 3 weeks, which suggests that you're either eating more than you think or burning less than you think or both. This is especially true if you're eating 1269 a day and not eating back the calories burned from your workouts, as it's very unlikely you wouldn't see a loss at that kind of deficit. It's more likely, especially if you are eating back those calories for a net 1269 (which you should be, 1269- additional exercise would likely put you way below a healthy intake), that you're overestimating your exercise calories and underestimating your intake. The solution here is to make sure you're logging very accurately- weigh your food. Consider reducing the percentage of exercise calories you eat back, as machine and heart rate monitors can overestimate. Don't go below 1200 net, though, no matter what.

That said- you are NOT in a plateau. You are losing, and at a very respectable rate for someone of your size. Small women who are already at a normal BMI just don't see the huge rates of loss that someone tall and morbidly obese will. Those last few pounds are slow work that often require very strict attention to your intake. Your weight is normal, your height is short- you don't have big margins of error to create a deficit.

Bear in mind that: especially if you mean 0.75 kg, you're very close to your goal weight to begin with, and it's normal for people's weight to fluctuate several pounds over the course of a day/month. Women in particular retain more water during some parts of their cycle. If you're saying you're .75 kg "over" your goal weight, that's a pretty specific target. Which isn't to say you can't get there, just be aware that even after you see that number pop up on the scale one day, you will almost certainly continue to see the number you're at now, as well. Nobody is a static weight, you're taking in and excreting things all the time. For a better idea of how to think about your weight, try plugging several months worth of weights in to a trending app like TrendWeight. It will show you a smoothed-out graph of your weights that helps you see through the noise for meaningful changes, and not become fixated on small daily fluctuations that indicate more about the fluid, food, and stool content of your body day to day than your actual body fat.

If you meant that you're "3-4" kg over your goal weight, the same stuff still applies. You're already well within normal BMI, and aiming for the lower side of normal. It's going to take time and be slow. Don't expect to see large or regular loss, and know that getting to your fairly aggressive goal is going to be 99% about tightening up your logging.

ricolifee

emmycantbemeeko wrote: »

Are you saying you're 3-4 kg over your goal weight, or 0.75 kg?

If you're truly eating at a deficit of 500 calories a day, you should be losing around 1 lb/week (just a hair under 1/4 kg).

You've actually lost 1.1 pounds in 3 weeks, which suggests that you're either eating more than you think or burning less than you think or both. This is especially true if you're eating 1269 a day and not eating back the calories burned from your workouts, as it's very unlikely you wouldn't see a loss at that kind of deficit. It's more likely, especially if you are eating back those calories for a net 1269 (which you should be, 1269- additional exercise would likely put you way below a healthy intake), that you're overestimating your exercise calories and underestimating your intake. The solution here is to make sure you're logging very accurately- weigh your food. Consider reducing the percentage of exercise calories you eat back, as machine and heart rate monitors can overestimate. Don't go below 1200 net, though, no matter what.

That said- you are NOT in a plateau. You are losing, and at a very respectable rate for someone of your size. Small women who are already at a normal BMI just don't see the huge rates of loss that someone tall and morbidly obese will. Those last few pounds are slow work that often require very strict attention to your intake. Your weight is normal, your height is short- you don't have big margins of error to create a deficit.

Bear in mind that: especially if you mean 0.75 kg, you're very close to your goal weight to begin with, and it's normal for people's weight to fluctuate several pounds over the course of a day/month. Women in particular retain more water during some parts of their cycle. If you're saying you're .75 kg "over" your goal weight, that's a pretty specific target. Which isn't to say you can't get there, just be aware that even after you see that number pop up on the scale one day, you will almost certainly continue to see the number you're at now, as well. Nobody is a static weight, you're taking in and excreting things all the time. For a better idea of how to think about your weight, try plugging several months worth of weights in to a trending app like TrendWeight. It will show you a smoothed-out graph of your weights that helps you see through the noise for meaningful changes, and not become fixated on small daily fluctuations that indicate more about the fluid, food, and stool content of your body day to day than your actual body fat.

If you meant that you're "3-4" kg over your goal weight, the same stuff still applies. You're already well within normal BMI, and aiming for the lower side of normal. It's going to take time and be slow. Don't expect to see large or regular loss, and know that getting to your fairly aggressive goal is going to be 99% about tightening up your logging.

Thanks for your reply, and yes I have 3 or 4kgs to ideal weight.... although I have to say I don't eat back my exercise calories - as I don't actually log them. I just do what I can on the day, and move on sticking to my calorie goal... Also, I HAVE lost 1.2kg approx - but that's since the start of December and not the last 3 weeks.

I have recently bought a food scale to stop guesstimating.

emmycantbemeeko

The food scale will help, although I think it's also worth considering that since you are well within a normal BMI, you might want to start taking a less scale-oriented approach and using things like measurements, clothing, and pictures to gauge your progress. Goal numbers are great, especially when you have a lot to lose, but nobody ever said "Hey, check out the 119.52 lbs on her." Within a certain range of your ideal weight, how good you look is as more about body composition than actual weight.

Whatever your goals are, it's likely body recomposition will be a part of getting there, and in terms of fine-tuning aesthetics, the scale alone isn't a great tool for figuring out what to do. It would be frustrating to fight your way down to a preconceived number and realize it doesn't make you look as you imagined.

emmycantbemeeko

Also, the fact that you're doing HIIT and not eating back those calories + eating at a 500 calorie deficit and not losing more than you are suggests that you are not actually eating at a 500 calorie deficit to begin with, whether through overestimating your caloric needs or underestimating your intake.

But that's a good thing, because if you were truly only eating 1269 plus doing HIIT 5 times a week, you would be eating way, way too little net, and you'd start seeing negative health effects and eventually either have to increase your intake/decrease your activity or die.