Is science failing me here??

peeaanuut

Hi guys,

I'm relatively new to the weight loss game. I've been logging for almost 3 weeks now on MFP and have been reading your forum posts religiously trying to get as much insight as I can into how to best go about losing the weight.

I'm 21 years old, 5'7 and 247 pounds. I've got quite a long way to go and so far I've been so optimistic that if I follow what MFP tells me, I should lose weight, because it's scientific, right? With that in mind, I've been logging every single thing that touched my lips, overestimate my calories, and underestimate my exercise - just to be certain I'm not going over. I eat 1400 calories a day and run between 1-3 miles on the elliptical about 4 times a week. I eat back most of my calories.

I've been trying to eat as healthily as I can. Me and my husband plan our meals at the beginning of the week and cook/pack the food for lunches and dinner so we have no excuses to go out to eat or be lazy when it comes to meals. We're both huge foodies (since we got married last year we've both put on a lot of weight - he's also a damn good cook!) but we've both decided to change our lifestyle to become more healthy together and lose the weight.

Sounds good right? Well since I've been logging I have weighed myself every morning and have only been fluctuating between a loss of 1-2 pounds total in three weeks. I have MFP set to lose 2 pounds a week. What's going on here? I know I shouldn't be discouraged since a two pound loss is still a loss, but it's really disheartening when I've got so far to go and am not making any further progress despite trying so hard.

I was under the impression that eating at a deficit guaranteed weight loss.. have I got my numbers wrong? I have seen some posts on here that say you need to eat more to lose more. I'm not really sure how that works. I don't feel deprived at 1400 calories a day, and I'm scared to go higher for fear of gaining. Is this just a case of wait it out and keep doing what I'm doing, or should I be doing something else? My husband thinks we're just gaining muscle from working out and that's why the scale won't budge. I'm not too sure.

Anyway, any insight or advice would be welcomed. Sorry for the long post. You guys are such inspirations.

Here's my advice:
#1-DONT take everything you see on the forums as gospel truth. Seriously, there's a lot of different opinions, views, and "answers" to every question you could ask. Some people are totally qualified to answer questions you have....and a lot...usually the loudest, most adamant ones AREN'T! Just take what you get on here with a grain of salt. You might find helpful suggestions, but in the long run, everything on here is a suggestion. People lose weight in a billion different ways...you have to find the right way for you.

#2-With that being said, it's time to experiment. Only YOU can figure out how best for YOU to lose weight. Ideally it would be as simple as MFP makes it...and simply it is...but you have to remember that things aren't always simple. You might do wonderful only following calories and not making a single exercise change. You might be able to eat junk and exercise your *kitten* off. You might be best with no gluten, no carbs, no meat, no jelly beans....who knows. Some people run/bike/lift for hours on end. Some just walk for an hour at night. Some can lift hundreds of pounds and some can barely lift 5#s. The best advice I can give you is to find something that works for you LONG TERM. You don't want to lose 100 lbs only eating beans and then go back to eating normally and put it all back on.

#3-The best best best way to make the MFP math work for you is to be as accurate as possible. I'll be the first to admit that I am totally not the person to measure out to the .000001g my food or to the last calorie for my exercise. But tools that have personally helped me are my food scale (~$20 on Amazon) and my Heart Rate Monitor (Mine was ~$100 but you can find cheaper ones for less and fancier ones for more...). Overestimating food and underestimating exercise is all well and good, but in the end that's all it will be...a guess in the dark. For the record, the difference in my burns on my Heart Rate Monitor and MFP can sometimes be half, or double. So underestimating the exercise won't always be sufficient.

#4-Realize your body changes day to day, and water weight, hormones, etc CAN and WILL be influential to your weight on any given day. Drink as much water as you can. Sip it throughout the day, etc.

#5-Sort of 4b, but this is the big one...learn to find the victories off of the scale. It's ok to weigh yourself once a week, etc, but I've seen people on here who not only weigh every day but 2-3 times a day. Take Pictures of yourself before and at regular intervals to compare, take measurements (You can find body measurement tools on amazon too..), see how your clothes fit, etc.

Oh and #6...Since you said you're both foodies, find websites (like skinnytaste.com) that show healthy versions of some delicious food, or look up healthy substitutions for stuff and figure out your own recipes....I've made some of the besttttt stuff that's actually suppper healthy and no one is the wiser.



Edited to add: #7...The community is probably the best part of this site. Sure it's amazing to see my numbers, consistently log and of course lose weight...but the best most magic part of MFP isn't even that. I have met some of the most amazing and supportive people on this site. They've given me advice and suggestions when I've needed it, ran races with me, encouraged me when I was down, and most importantly pushed me to get back at it when I've been in a rut. Don't be afraid to get on the message boards and make some new friends. One thing I didn't realize when I first started to try to lose weight was this: It was a lonely, lonely road. You're lucky that your hubby is trying to do it with you...be each other's support! I've got a pretty supportive family...so the people on here have just been amazing. I hope you find all the success in the world!

You had me until jelly beans. No reason to go all crazy now. Jelly beans are the food of the gods!!! But otherwise a great post and more helpful than the "you have to do it my way or you will die" people that MFP is full of.

courtneymal17

You had me until jelly beans. No reason to go all crazy now. Jelly beans are the food of the gods!!! But otherwise a great post and more helpful than the "you have to do it my way or you will die" people that MFP is full of.

BUT JELLY BEANS HAZ SUGAR! DONT YOU KNOW EVERYONE who's ANYONE on MFP DOES NOT EAT JELLIEZ!!!

lol I was trying to think of something ridiculous...probably shouldnt have touched on the sacred jelly beans! :P

peeaanuut

haahaa. I havent had some in a while but I love them when I get them.

courtneymal17

lol I'm actually not really a huge fan....now sour patch kids on the other hand....nooommmmmmmmmmmm

peeaanuut

lol I'm actually not really a huge fan....now sour patch kids on the other hand....nooommmmmmmmmmmm

winner!

pomeraniamania

If you aren't losing weight, I would suggest looking at what you are eating. Are you eating a lot of meat and dairy? Sugar and sodium? Even if you are following a low calorie diet, these types of foods will impede weight loss. Maybe you need to increase your intake of veggies, fruits, legumes, and whole grains?

Please don't eat more to lose weight. It would be nice if that were true (although, if that were true, then it doesn't seem like weight loss would ever be a problem, ha!), but it is a myth. This article does a good job of explaining why:

http://www.healthscience.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=512:are-you-in-the-starvation-mode-or-starving-for-truth&catid=102:jeff-novicks-blog&Itemid=267

shyp1988

and cardio only is not going to build muscle..she needs to weight train

operation_cute

bump

Th3stral

I've lost 2 stone and I'm down to a normal (22) BMI, the first stone I lost prior to joining MFP.

I've had two experiences I wanted to share. Firstly that my weight falls off in lumps. I'm so good and nothing happens for ages, anything between 2 and 4 weeks, and I loose no 'weight', then all of a sudden the scales drop 5-10lb. My doctor says this is water. What can apparently happen is your body burns fat from little fat pockets. But to keep the pockets open incase you need them again it then replaces the fat with additional water. Once your body decides that actually you dont need that fat pockets again it suddenly releases the water in it and the weight falls off.

So what I'm saying is that for every 100lb you weigh you could be 35lb of fat or you could be 30lb of fat and 5lb of EXTRA water. The best way I've found of getting through the water retention is to drink drink drink, sipping rather than guzzling but make sure you meet your water needs per day. They could be higher when your dieting as you need water to metabolise fat.

Secondly I've found that f I eat 1400cal of half decent clean foods I loose a LOT less than if I eat 1400cal super clean. 'Clean' is obviously slightly subjective and in my case super clean means raw vegan. I will also add that 1400 cal works for me but I'm much smaller than you at 4'11 and BMI 22, I think it's worth making sure your eating enough so I think upping a bit from where you are is a good idea.

Be kind to yourself. Take the time to work out what suits you and bare in mind that everyone is different. All those people who spout that you can't be weighing/being honest/calculating correctly might not be right, you could be like me in that some foods suit you more than others in terms of the way you metabolise them, and/or you may be holding onto water for now.

jetlag

muscle weighs 4x more than fat

Where did you pull this from? Not even close...

This!
A pound is a pound. 1 pound of muscle weighs 1 pound ; 1 pound of fat weighs 1 pound. Muscle is more dense and therefore takes up less space than fat, but it DOES NOT weigh more. If you are losing fat and gaining muscle it is possible for the scale to stay the same, but your clothes could start fitting more loosely. The scale alone is not necessarily a good measure. Take your some measurements once/month and see if things are changing.

Also, if you're really being true to eating and fitness goals without sucess, consider seeing your doctor. Its a long shot, but underactive thyroid can be an issue with metabolism and weight loss.

Good grief, this nonsense again. A cup of muscle weighs more than a cup of fat ergo muscle weighs more than fat. It's basic physics. It's like saying gold and feathers weigh the same. Well, not by volume they don't and that's the definition of weight: Weight = mass x acceleration of gravity.

Seriously, can we stop this nonsense now please?

To the OP, you may be insulin resistant which will make it harder to lose weight. Exercise will increase insulin sensitivity over time, so you need to stick with it, but you will see results :-)

flumi_f

Look at the average deficit over the course of the week. I calculated my TDEE including my exercise minus the deficit and eat that every day. It's easier for me than eating back the exercise cals on the day I do the exercise. I'm losing just fine that way.

And yes, measure and be patient.

neanderthin

Thank you so much everyone for all the input.

There have been a range of suggestions from upping my calories to staying put. I figure I'm not losing much right now, so I might as well try a different strategy, but not too big of a change. I have upped my calories to 1650 from 1400 and will see if there is any difference on the scale. I am personally very happy to try eating a bit more to lose more weight. I like the idea of adjusting until I find a sweet spot, and then sticking to it.

Feel free to add me if you'd like updates on my progress.

I didn't think this was mentioned but I'd like to suggest if you aren't weighing what you are eating, please consider getting a scale and doing so. Otherwise, you really don't know how many calories you're consuming.

I mentioned it above but it seems to have been missed and OP has gone straight to the starvation mode solution of eating more to lose weight. After 3 weeks of dieting. smh

Exactly...........

neanderthin

muscle weighs 4x more than fat

Where did you pull this from? Not even close...

Taking density into account muscle weighs about 17% more, not 400%.

erikkmcvay

..but again, what do I know about losing weight?

I respect your weight loss greatly, please don't mistake my debating as anything other then a discussion.

It is my understanding that the reason MFP adds calories burned back after cardio is because it does not include these in the initial calculation. Therefore you do not include them in your determination of how active you are. Consider this:

A person says "I'm active because I run x times a week" and MFP gives them and extra 500 cals a day....then the person runs 500 cals a day worth of cardio and MFP says "eat them back"....in which case the person is not in a defecit at all.

Whereas, as I understanding it, you select sedentary (as I do because I work on a computer all day) and MFP says eat this amount (in my case it's 1460cals a day (5' 11 1/2" tall 47yrs old (48 tomorrow), 230lbs) and then you go do 500 cals of cardio and eat them back at which point you are still 1000 cals lower then needed for the day and 'should' lose 2lbs a week.

This tends to work for me but I've only lost 52lbs

erikkmcvay

Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)

Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)

Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)

Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)

Not MFP doesn't say anything about exercise -- it's all about your day minus what you do for exercise.

peeaanuut

I have always read it as, if you do no actual exercise, how would your day go? For me, I sit at a desk all day. So I choose sedentary. My wife is in the medical field so she chose light active even thought I think she is active. Then as others have said, exercise is simply a bonus to whatever you are eating.

courtneymal17

..but again, what do I know about losing weight?

I respect your weight loss greatly, please don't mistake my debating as anything other then a discussion.

It is my understanding that the reason MFP adds calories burned back after cardio is because it does not include these in the initial calculation. Therefore you do not include them in your determination of how active you are. Consider this:

A person says "I'm active because I run x times a week" and MFP gives them and extra 500 cals a day....then the person runs 500 cals a day worth of cardio and MFP says "eat them back"....in which case the person is not in a defecit at all.

Whereas, as I understanding it, you select sedentary (as I do because I work on a computer all day) and MFP says eat this amount (in my case it's 1460cals a day (5' 11 1/2" tall 47yrs old (48 tomorrow), 230lbs) and then you go do 500 cals of cardio and eat them back at which point you are still 1000 cals lower then needed for the day and 'should' lose 2lbs a week.

This tends to work for me but I've only lost 52lbs

This! If you want to select active JUST because you're active with your workouts, just make sure you don't eat your calories back, otherwise, like was said, you're not going to be in deficit. I'm fairly sedentary throughout the day so I chose that, then log my exercises and eat my exercise calories back.

This is why I say, everyone has their own way that works for them...all you'll get on here are peoples opinions of what works. As far as setting active vs. sedentary, just make sure you're understanding what and why you're doing it. If you're active because you work as a bike messenger or you're running around waiting tables, then yes, extra exercise will add to your calories. If you're active because you go run 3 miles a day, then you're already getting your calories. Personally, I set myself at sedentary because I know when there are days that I am doing more than normal, I just don't have to sweat it as much if I go a little over on my calories.

lisajsund

Activity level they are talking about here is your activity before any workouts, based primarily on your "normal" activity. So, the desk job is sedentary, someone who is on their feet all day would be either slightly or moderately active (standing vs moving or walking around) and those with active jobs, such as construction, would be highly active. Workouts should be added as you do them, which "earns" you more calories.