told i am eating to little because of the amount of calories burned?

PAV8888

senennieves wrote: »

Hello
i have a question, i am 5-9" and 290 lbs, i am doing P90 workout from beach body 6 days a week, and i am also walking 15 - 20 k steps at work do security foot patrols, MFP has me eating 2000 calories per day, and i am burning between 1500 - 2800 calories from activity alone, o my total calories burned for the day usually are between 4500 - 5300 calories, my beach body coach says body will go into starvation mode and hold on to bodyfat ??? and i won't lose weigth, i ahve not losed any weight in the last 2 weeks, i was ij the understanding that if you calories consumed is less than your calories burned you lose weight period?, can someone explain to me if what my coach is saying is true or not, because my total calorie burned for the week is more than double my caloric weekly intake.

I don't understand why you want to be miserable; but, I can assure you that you can lose weight eating a good 500+ calories more a day than you're doing now.

I am less tall than you, weighed less than you, exercised less than you and did lose weight eating that much or more than you. I seriously doubt that I ate less than 1750 NET calories at any time since I joined MFP... and most of the time my net has been at well over 2000 Cal. That is NET not TOTAL.

As to your not losing weight exercise and sodium can fully account for the discrepancy.

While the following are NOT the normal reasons for gaining weight while on a deficit (the more common reason is underestimating calories eaten or overestimating calories spent), you may want to review the following:

http://muscleandstrengthpyramids.com/calorie-deficit-gain-weight/
http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/gain-muscle-and-lose-fat-at-the-same-time/
http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/turkey-goes-bayesian-interview/

At the same token if you continue like this you WILL lose more lean mass than you have to.

Through the rapid weight loss you are aiming for, you are also increasing your risk of ending with gallstones and having your gallbladder removed.

Also your "biggest loser" type weight loss has increased risks of thermogenic adaptation, in other words you are risking permanently (or at least very long term-ingly) making your body more efficient and making it capable of surviving on less calories than it would otherwise require at any given weight/lean mass combination.

As to the calories of Fitbit being inaccurate... to date I've generally found it to be remarkably accurate for most people. 5% off? 10% off? Maybe.

A 20% deficit from your total Fitbit number is what is generally considered to be a safe-ish rate of loss.

You may want to connect your fitbit account to trendweight.com to get your trending weight information.

Best of luck....

senennieves

So you are saying I should be eating 2400 - 2500 calories instead of 2000

senennieves

Also its only been 2 weeks that I have not lost weight, but I did lose qunter of a inch on my thighs. Also I started P90 on Monday, so my muscles are sore from the 25 minute workout, so the fact I could be holding on to 5 - 6 lbs of water seems very possible, and I am not miserable, I just wanted to make sure I am doing everything that I can to lose rthe weight, and my goal is July 2017, do I got a year to lose 90 lbs, I think that is reasonable

PAV8888

senennieves wrote: »

Also its only been 2 weeks that I have not lost weight, but I did lose qunter of a inch on my thighs. Also I started P90 on Monday, so my muscles are sore from the 25 minute workout, so the fact I could be holding on to 5 - 6 lbs of water seems very possible, and I am not miserable, I just wanted to make sure I am doing everything that I can to lose rthe weight, and my goal is July 2017, do I got a year to lose 90 lbs, I think that is reasonable

A quarter inch off you thighs is an excellent result.

Tell me something, in the patently impossible and absurd situation where you don't lose a single lb but you replace all your fat with muscle and you become the leanest meanest 290lb human machine ever built, i.e. by July 2017 you're one big muscle..... would you have failed? Because, you know, in that case you would not have lost 90lbs.

IF by July 2017 you have lost 100lbs of which 60lbs is fat and 40lbs is muscle would you have failed? Because you would have lost 100lbs... a win by your standard. But for me starting from an obese level a 1.5 : 1 fat to lean loss is not a great result. if you were in the bottom half of your normal weight zone on the other hand, it might be as good as you would expect to achieve by just cutting calories

Let me make it simpler still! Would you prefer to lose 90lbs of fat and 0lbs of lean mass (another impossibility) for a total loss of 90lbs of scale weight, or would you prefer to lose 100lbs of fat and gain 20 lbs of lean mass for an 80lb loss of scale weight

So, you see, from my point of view there are more important things than setting a specific target


Should you AIM for a GENERAL target? Yes: that is what you do by setting a reasonable deficit (i.e. approximately 20% of your tdee (up to maybe 25% while you're classified as obese)

But maintaining your general weight loss, exercising appropriately, having fun, and learning how to do the new you are much more important aspects than whether you will be 90lbs down or 50 lbs down a year from now.

I could even argue that being 50lbs down a year from now has advantages over being down 90 lbs though others may point out that weight regain is not predicated on speed of loss.

In any case, a 90lb goal which comes to less than 2lbs a week is not a totally unreasonable goal... what is unreasonable is putting too much emphasis on that number.... because even 30lbs off for a year is a heck of a victory!

You may want to play with https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/index.html *switch to expert mode* to consider various what if scenarios. Losing weight does not have to be an all or nothing deal.

I can't argue with your goal too much because hey: I was initially aiming for 1000 Cal a day before realising that it is much more important to consider sustainability and changing my deficit to 750 Cal a day

But I will certainly argue with the absurdity of pursuing a sub 1000 Cal a day deficit goal by trying to achieve 4000 Cal a day deficits.

senennieves

I could be happy at 200 lbs with 90 lbs of fat lossed

Scotty_51

Try using a heart rate monitor instead of the fitbit for calculating calories burned at work.

I'm 5'9" and was 215, my job doesn't have much walking but I lift 30,000 pounds (sometimes more) in a work day. I do cardio a few times a week, and just started using a TRX.
I shoot for ~2,500 calories/day and have been losing an average of 2 pounds/week, now down to 194.

Big thing for me was completely stopping soda and almost all processed sugar (get 5-10 grams/day in processed sugar now). It also dropped my blood pressure by 10 points, latest research is sugar is what's bad for blood pressure and salt not so much.

charlieandcarol

If one of your big goals is to lower your blood pressure and get off the meds you might want to have a think about how much sodium you are consuming. The more sodium you have, the more water you retain in your blood stream as your kidneys try to maintain a normal sodium concentration. The higher the volume of blood you have, the higher your blood pressure, more stress on your blood vessels, kidneys, heart etc. If you buy a lot of takeaway food you have no control over the sodium or the calories involved. If you can make the time to make your own food you might find better results both in terms of BP and weight loss.

Of course some people have high BP despite a low sodium diet but it is worth a try I would think.

debrag12

senennieves wrote: »

I have a fitbit and it monitors my daily activities. I with 290. and I work security, I con duct foot patrols half my 7 hour shift, so i log 20, 000 steps I night, plus what I burn, usually total us 4500 to 5300 depending on the patrold

I'm in the wrong job. I work 12.5hr shifts on a busy ward and only burn 3000. 26k+ steps gets me 3200 calories total.

RodaRose

charlieandcarol wrote: »

If one of your big goals is to lower your blood pressure and get off the meds you might want to have a think about how much sodium you are consuming. The more sodium you have, the more water you retain in your blood stream as your kidneys try to maintain a normal sodium concentration. The higher the volume of blood you have, the higher your blood pressure, more stress on your blood vessels, kidneys, heart etc. If you buy a lot of takeaway food you have no control over the sodium or the calories involved. If you can make the time to make your own food you might find better results both in terms of BP and weight loss.

Of course some people have high BP despite a low sodium diet but it is worth a try I would think.

Medicine is finding out that added sugar has a greater affect on blood pressure than salt does:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/286795.php

alanlmarshall

Jcl81 wrote: »

senennieves wrote: »

i have not losed any weight in 2 weeks, but i lost 1/4 inch in my thighs and my neck, and my energy level is pretty good, i am eating 1600 -1800 calories per day out of 2000 calories allowed and i feel fine, no cravings, im am getting over 100 grams of protein a day also

Sounds like you gained some lean mass. It can happen no matter what the people on this forum think. Everyone is different. Although, it won't always be that way, you'll eventually lose weight.

Ignore this.

alanlmarshall

I think your calories burned estimate is quite high, take a close look. P90 is mostly weight training, which doesn't burn many calories. (Not knocking it, it can have other benefits.)

jessiethe3rd

Well...

Set yourself to active in MFP
Make sure Fitbit overrides the calories in MFP

Then...

senennieves

okay first of all the 5000 calories is not from exercise alone, example if i was paralized and lay in a bed 24 hours a day will my body burn calories, yes it would to live, for my organs to keep me alive, then when you add walking at 290 lbs for 20, 000 steps that's when you get a total of 4500 - 5200 calories burned if 175 lb man walks a mile, and a 400 lb man walks the same mile with him, and all other factors are equal who burned the most calories, answer the 400 lb man, i am not trying to be a body builder with 20 inch biceps, i just want to get in good health and fit and lose the fat, my doctor told me to go take a spinning class, he said i want you to improve your cardio vascular system, people are telling me Fitbit is Wrong, MFP is wrong, dont eat food with soduim, i don't have the time to prep most of my meals, most food have soduim, in can up my food intake to 2500, if i am eating to low, i can drink 3 gallons of water a day, if need be, but how many calories is a 290 man supposed to eat to lose 2 lbs a week, because everyone has a different opinion, im not lifting alot of weight in P90, P90 is for people who never exercise to slowly get back into it, i do pushups, situps squats, jog in place, and we use a 15 lb power band to do biceps curls, overhead presses, etc, et , i am eating 1700 - 1900 calories, out of 2000 allowed, am i supposed to eat back the calories i burn from exercise?

capaul42

senennieves wrote: »

okay first of all the 5000 calories is not from exercise alone, example if i was paralized and lay in a bed 24 hours a day will my body burn calories, yes it would to live, for my organs to keep me alive, then when you add walking at 290 lbs for 20, 000 steps that's when you get a total of 4500 - 5200 calories burned if 175 lb man walks a mile, and a 400 lb man walks the same mile with him, and all other factors are equal who burned the most calories, answer the 400 lb man, i am not trying to be a body builder with 20 inch biceps, i just want to get in good health and fit and lose the fat, my doctor told me to go take a spinning class, he said i want you to improve your cardio vascular system, people are telling me Fitbit is Wrong, MFP is wrong, dont eat food with soduim, i don't have the time to prep most of my meals, most food have soduim, in can up my food intake to 2500, if i am eating to low, i can drink 3 gallons of water a day, if need be, but how many calories is a 290 man supposed to eat to lose 2 lbs a week, because everyone has a different opinion, im not lifting alot of weight in P90, P90 is for people who never exercise to slowly get back into it, i do pushups, situps squats, jog in place, and we use a 15 lb power band to do biceps curls, overhead presses, etc, et , i am eating 1700 - 1900 calories, out of 2000 allowed, am i supposed to eat back the calories i burn from exercise?

You should be eating back at least some of your exercise calories. But don't force yourself if you truly aren't hungry. MFP is designed with your deficit in place and for you to eat back any exercise logged. Some of those numbers aren't that accurate (I find that my fitbit has been very accurate in this) so people only eat back a percentage. Pick a percentage to start with, say 50%, and reevaluate after a few weeks based on your rate of loss.

Scotty_51

RodaRose wrote: »

Medicine is finding out that added sugar has a greater affect on blood pressure than salt does:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/286795.php

Exaclty, I'm on 2 BP meds and was still around 132/85, once I stopped sugar that went down to 118/73 almost instantly, and I still eat a lot of salt. Will be reducing dosage and or type of meds soon as my BP is getting almost too low.

Sugar causes high BP, not salt, and if you don't already have high BP salt has no effect on it.

zyxst

OP, I'm curious which Fitbit you're using. I accept Fitbit saying you do burn 4000-5000 calories a day. Some of them can be weird though, like some of the wrist ones don't count walking unless you wave your hands around or I got a dodgy Zip that gave me an extremely high TDEE.

I hope you're finding some answers here. Best of luck.

senennieves

fit bit surge, okay i just did my weekly weigh in a measurement, results were, no change on weight scale for 2 weeks, i lost one inch off waist, lost 1 inch off left tigh and gained half inch on my left bicep,, im right handed by the way

JustMissTracy

Enjcg5 wrote: »

Fitbits are notorious for overestimating the burns. You will not go into starvation mode eating 2k/day. Are you measuring ALL of your food to get to that number?

My fitbit has NEVER overestimated to THAT high amount, I would reset my fitbit if I were OP. If I'm lucky, I'll get 4-600 more than expected, but never in the thousands...lol

JustMissTracy

senennieves wrote: »

I don't weigh the fast food sandwich or salads, everything else I do

This is probably your issue...weigh EVERYTHING if you're trying to lose weight. If your numbers aren't logged correctly in and out, you're setting yourself up for more failure. Weigh and log everything. Sandwiches arent as hard as you'd think...input each ingredient...two slices bread, 200 grams chicken breast, 100 grams cheese, whatever...you don't have to take the sandwich apart either, just eyeball a few times..if you're weighing everything else, you will get good at eyeballing things like that)

ninerbuff

With your weight, you're probably okay for now. Try eating up to 2000 calories though. When your deficit is too high, your resting metabolic rate drops more and that's when you burn the most body fat (you don't burn that much body fat doing physical activity of any kind).

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition