Slow Metabolism?

xvolution

queenliz99 wrote: »

xvolution wrote: »

I have to agree with the full thyroid panel if you're doing everything right and either at a plateau or actually gaining weight. I plan on getting one myself at my next doctor's visit, since even though I'm keeping calories down I'm actually gaining weight [yes, I'm weighing all my food and even keeping my calories below my current bmr]. The only things I can think of is hypothyroidism or iodine deficiency [I'm on a dairy and sodium restrictive diet, both of which are the main sources of iodine].

I snooped your diary and doesn't look like you weigh everything. You use cups, weigh in ounces and a lot of your entries are exactly the same. You also have generic entries, are those your recipe built recipes? If you really do use a food scale, my apologies.

If you are not losing you could eat just cut another 100 off your current daily intake, see that helps you a little.

I usually use cups for measurement because they're what the entries in the food database tend to go with. I do verify everything with a small food scale I have [an older mechanical scale that might be a bit off, but I'm usually at least 1000 calories below my TDEE [3250 on lift days, 2800 on more sedentary days] every day, and I doubt it would mismeasure that much]. The only things I don't measure are vegetables with very low calories anyways [onions, garlic, ginger, etc].

I'm assuming most of that weight gain is water weight [I did my tape measurements today and lost a half inch on the waist, so I am losing fat], but it doesn't hurt to rule out any thyroid problems.

sllm1

Six pounds is awesome. Be patient.

Weigh everything and log honestly. Results will follow in their own time.

SLLRunner

xvolution wrote: »

I have to agree with the full thyroid panel if you're doing everything right and either at a plateau or actually gaining weight. I plan on getting one myself at my next doctor's visit, since even though I'm keeping calories down I'm actually gaining weight [yes, I'm weighing all my food and even keeping my calories below my current bmr]. The only things I can think of is hypothyroidism or iodine deficiency [I'm on a dairy and sodium restrictive diet, both of which are the main sources of iodine].

You could also be eating more than you think via the entries you choose in your database, especially entries that use cups and measuring spoons. There are a lot of incorrect entries in there. USDA in grams are usually more accurate.

3bambi3

OP, I had a peek at your diary. It looks like you are using generic entries and not weighing your food. Also, how are you calculating your calorie burns? 260 calories for 19 minutes of pilates seems really high to me.

If you are eating your exercise calories back, and not weighing and using accurate entries, you are very likely underestimating your calories in and overestimating your calories out, resulting in slower weight loss.

That being said, 6 pounds in 8 weeks is great

xvolution

SLLRunner wrote: »

xvolution wrote: »

I have to agree with the full thyroid panel if you're doing everything right and either at a plateau or actually gaining weight. I plan on getting one myself at my next doctor's visit, since even though I'm keeping calories down I'm actually gaining weight [yes, I'm weighing all my food and even keeping my calories below my current bmr]. The only things I can think of is hypothyroidism or iodine deficiency [I'm on a dairy and sodium restrictive diet, both of which are the main sources of iodine].

You could also be eating more than you think via the entries you choose in your database, especially entries that use cups and measuring spoons. There are a lot of incorrect entries in there. USDA in grams are usually more accurate.

Like I said, I also verify the amounts with a food scale [example: 1/2 cup cottage cheese is 113g, the greek yogurt is 150g, etc]. It's just hard to believe that it would be off so much that I'm eating 2800-8200 more calories than is being reported in the diary.

I did recently switch from using resistance bands to dumbbells for strength training [plus I recently started a job that requires quite a bit of lifting and carrying 25 pound boxes of product], so it could be water weight.

FLBeachluvr

rosebette wrote: »

I'm about your height, 5'1", but older (57) and lighter (120 lbs.). I wear a Fitbit Charge HR, which actually measures by burn all day based on heart rate. I'd say my inactive metabolism is at 1200 or even lower (some days as little as 1050 to 1100) so eating that much with no activity would give me 0 weight loss. Yesterday, I did 10,000 steps, typical for my daily walking, which got me around 200+ calories and then pilates, so maybe another 100. By the end of the day I got less than 1600 calories. So, to lose weight, I'd actually have to eat 1200, not "net" 1200 because the deficit I can have to lose is very small (since you need to eat 500 calories less than you burn to lose 1 lb. a week). The estimates MFP gives me for the amount of exercise I do is actually much higher than the "burn" the Fibit calculates based on my heartrate and effort. For instance, MFP way overestimates the burn riding on a stationary bike. So, if you're "netting" 1200 and eating back exercise calories based on MFP estimates you might actually be eating more than you are burning. I'd eat back only have 1/2 to 2/3 of the MFP exercise calories and see what happens.

Yes to this! You can link your MFP account to your Fitbit account and it will bring over your daily calories consumed and factor in how many calories you have burned to tell you if you are within your daily deficit goal or not. I personally find that more accurate than what MFP tells me I can still eat at the end of the day. For example, yesterday I ended up with a deficit of 580 calories (whoops) which put me more than my goal of 500 per day. MFP told me that I could still eat another 262 calories which would have put me at less than my deficit goal.

I_Will_End_You

3bambi3 wrote: »

OP, I had a peek at your diary. It looks like you are using generic entries and not weighing your food. Also, how are you calculating your calorie burns? 260 calories for 19 minutes of pilates seems really high to me.

If you are eating your exercise calories back, and not weighing and using accurate entries, you are very likely underestimating your calories in and overestimating your calories out, resulting in slower weight loss.

That being said, 6 pounds in 8 weeks is great

260 calories for 19 minutes of pilates sounds virtually impossible.

kshama2001

I_Will_End_You wrote: »

3bambi3 wrote: »

OP, I had a peek at your diary. It looks like you are using generic entries and not weighing your food. Also, how are you calculating your calorie burns? 260 calories for 19 minutes of pilates seems really high to me.

If you are eating your exercise calories back, and not weighing and using accurate entries, you are very likely underestimating your calories in and overestimating your calories out, resulting in slower weight loss.

That being said, 6 pounds in 8 weeks is great

260 calories for 19 minutes of pilates sounds virtually impossible.

Ya, I weigh more than the OP and the system is telling me I'd get 68 calories for 19 minutes of pilates.

snickerscharlie

OP: I think your weight loss so far has been pretty decent. But here's a chart for you to sort through issues you may be having, most of which have been mentioned in this thread.