Same calories, slower loss
skyhowl
Posts: 206 Member
Hey, so i am starting this to get some advice. I started logging almost 150 days ago. I am slowly reaching my goal of 63 kg. I am 23 years old female and my current weight is 68 kg, started at 85 kg but losing from 69 to 68 seemed so hard. I eat the calories recommended from MFP of 1200. I don't have a problem with 1200 calories at all. I find it satisfying my hunger most days. I know most people will think that this is too low especially because i am tall [174 cm]. I know that starving mode is a myth. But i don't know why i am losing much slower now. I lost roughly 1 kg this month. My TDEE is almost 1800. And it was 1900 at my starting weight. What could be the reason i am losing much slower. Especially that the difference between starting TDEE and current TDEE is not that big?
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Replies
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How are you measuring your intake of 1200? Are you weighing all solids with a food scale?2
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55 pounds (or so) ago did you start with 1200 calories? Or were you on a higher calorie intake to start losing weight ... i.e. lowered MFP weight goal at each 10 pounds loss and now at 1200? I presume you started low at 1200.
I think you find your answer in that you started low and you are still low. There was not wiggle room really.
If you are indeed on 1200 calories, then perhaps increase your activity, exercise too if you will. You have indeed slowed weight loss drastically but its not stopped.
If you find that you are at this for more than 4 - 6 weeks, have you considered a short term diet break (going to maintenance) and then perhaps going back to a deficit? Move more, exercise too or change that if you have been doing the same thing in exercise for a while.
edited to add: make sure you logging of calorie intake are 100% on point. If there are possibilities that logging inaccuracies, etc. you may be keeping yourself out a deficit as well..
Just some things for you to consider. Revaluate all these things.6 -
you have to go into settings and update it to change your calorie intake for your weight now. I do this after every 10 lbs or so. Originally I was at 1470 calories with light activity, now I am at 1400 or 1395 with very active. As you weigh less, you have to eat less or move more to get the same amount of food as before (not taking muscle calorie burn into account)
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Totally agree with RoxieDawn. The closer you get to your goal, the more difficult and slower the weight loss tends to be. Try mixing it up a bit with new exercise and different foods. I think a maintenance break is a great idea as long as you can commit to starting back and don't go off the rails. Just raise your calories and continue to track. Good luck!4
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When I was trying to lose on 1200 calories, at 165cm (5'5 1/2"), and 52 y/o at the time, I eventually started cheating. When I guesstimated calories for something and I had a little nagging thought that maybe I'd over estimated the calories, I'd inevitably go back and investigate and lower the entry. But when I had a vague thought that maybe I'd underestimated the calories I was able to brush it out of my head easily. Only natural when you're that hungry. Any chance you are doing something similar?
The closer you are to goal, the slower you should be losing anyway. 1200 is an aggressively low goal for a tall 23 year old.
The really bad news is that when you cannibalize muscle instead of fat, the scales won't go down as fast. You should eat more.1 -
you have to go into settings and update it to change your calorie intake for your weight now. I do this after every 10 lbs or so. Originally I was at 1470 calories with light activity, now I am at 1400 or 1395 with very active. As you weigh less, you have to eat less or move more to get the same amount of food as before (not taking muscle calorie burn into account)
I updated it. It was close to 1300 before. But now it is just 12000 -
55 pounds (or so) ago did you start with 1200 calories? Or were you on a higher calorie intake to start losing weight ... i.e. lowered MFP weight goal at each 10 pounds loss and now at 1200? I presume you started low at 1200.
I think you find your answer in that you started low and you are still low. There was not wiggle room really.
If you are indeed on 1200 calories, then perhaps increase your activity, exercise too if you will. You have indeed slowed weight loss drastically but its not stopped.
If you find that you are at this for more than 4 - 6 weeks, have you considered a short term diet break (going to maintenance) and then perhaps going back to a deficit? Move more, exercise too or change that if you have been doing the same thing in exercise for a while.
edited to add: make sure you logging of calorie intake are 100% on point. If there are possibilities that logging inaccuracies, etc. you may be keeping yourself out a deficit as well..
Just some things for you to consider. Revaluate all these things.
I would consider a diet break. But i do not know how to go into maintenance. I know that my TDEE is 1800 but i think that this my not be accurate 100% especially because i don't know my bf% and afraid i will end up gaining rather than maintaining. So i am not sure what would be the best way to do this.0 -
goldthistime wrote: »When I was trying to lose on 1200 calories, at 165cm (5'5 1/2"), and 52 y/o at the time, I eventually started cheating. When I guesstimated calories for something and I had a little nagging thought that maybe I'd over estimated the calories, I'd inevitably go back and investigate and lower the entry. But when I had a vague thought that maybe I'd underestimated the calories I was able to brush it out of my head easily. Only natural when you're that hungry. Any chance you are doing something similar?
The closer you are to goal, the slower you should be losing anyway. 1200 is an aggressively low goal for a tall 23 year old.
The really bad news is that when you cannibalize muscle instead of fat, the scales won't go down as fast. You should eat more.
I don't underestimate calories. I tend to even overestimate. I was actually depressed most of the time losing weight and i was only eating to finish my 1200. Some days i would have 800 calories until 10 pm. And i would eat anything just so i don't go under my calorie goal.
How much you suggest i should eat. I am now at 600 deficit daily. Will reducing my defcit makes me lose even at a slower rate?
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you have to go into settings and update it to change your calorie intake for your weight now. I do this after every 10 lbs or so. Originally I was at 1470 calories with light activity, now I am at 1400 or 1395 with very active. As you weigh less, you have to eat less or move more to get the same amount of food as before (not taking muscle calorie burn into account)
I updated it. It was close to 1300 before. But now it is just 1200
I suggest the following possibilities to help you out:
- Change the rate of loss per week and/or
- Increase your activity/exercise volume or intensity
- Take a diet break then go back to deficit after period of time
- Continue on as you are and allow more time to get to goal and be planning a maintenance strategy for when you plan to reverse diet.
1 -
goldthistime wrote: »When I was trying to lose on 1200 calories, at 165cm (5'5 1/2"), and 52 y/o at the time, I eventually started cheating. When I guesstimated calories for something and I had a little nagging thought that maybe I'd over estimated the calories, I'd inevitably go back and investigate and lower the entry. But when I had a vague thought that maybe I'd underestimated the calories I was able to brush it out of my head easily. Only natural when you're that hungry. Any chance you are doing something similar?
The closer you are to goal, the slower you should be losing anyway. 1200 is an aggressively low goal for a tall 23 year old.
The really bad news is that when you cannibalize muscle instead of fat, the scales won't go down as fast. You should eat more.
How much you suggest i should eat. I am now at 600 deficit daily. Will reducing my defcit makes me lose even at a slower rate?
The answer to this question is YES you will lose even slower. Going below the 1200 threshold is not a good decision.55 pounds (or so) ago did you start with 1200 calories? Or were you on a higher calorie intake to start losing weight ... i.e. lowered MFP weight goal at each 10 pounds loss and now at 1200? I presume you started low at 1200.
I think you find your answer in that you started low and you are still low. There was not wiggle room really.
If you are indeed on 1200 calories, then perhaps increase your activity, exercise too if you will. You have indeed slowed weight loss drastically but its not stopped.
If you find that you are at this for more than 4 - 6 weeks, have you considered a short term diet break (going to maintenance) and then perhaps going back to a deficit? Move more, exercise too or change that if you have been doing the same thing in exercise for a while.
edited to add: make sure you logging of calorie intake are 100% on point. If there are possibilities that logging inaccuracies, etc. you may be keeping yourself out a deficit as well..
Just some things for you to consider. Revaluate all these things.
I would consider a diet break. But i do not know how to go into maintenance. I know that my TDEE is 1800 but i think that this my not be accurate 100% especially because i don't know my bf% and afraid i will end up gaining rather than maintaining. So i am not sure what would be the best way to do this.
Just consider the other points I made and be working/learning how to reverse diet back into your new maintnance calories when you have made goal. This is easy for some and harder for others.
Since this is a harder feet for you, take your time. You can simply add back calories to your deficit slowly to reach the right maintain goal.
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You are already at the middle of normal BMI (22.5). (For others, her height is 5'8.5", weight 149.9lbs.) Have you considered body recomposition rather than losing more?2
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The mfp tool bases its recommendation of your calories on your NEAT, which is Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. The thing about NEAT is that you can cause your own NEAT to rise and to fall by consistently eating more or less than your NEAT requires. The mfp tool does not account for the variable nature of NEAT in individuals. That's one thing.
Another thing is that as you lose weight your TDEE declines in mathematical fashion. Your BMI declines with weight. Your calories burned in unchanging exercise routines declines with weight.
Thing one is not license to eat far above your TDEE. NEAT will not cover your excess calories. However your under-eating and over-eating can cause NEAT to swing by as much as 10% either way.
So, here's what happens as you lose weight. Your BMI declines and the same 1200 calories per day is less of a calorie deficit than it had been before and weight loss slows.
After several weeks of the 1200 calorie intake and the very consistent calorie deficit, your NEAT also declines to try to also survive during the present famine. Weight loss slows more.
You can readily find people on myfitnesspal who say that they take breaks from the deficit to eat at maintenance for a week or two. They consistently claim that weight loss resumes satisfactorily when they re-enter the deficit. What happened? Their BMI didn't change while they were maintaining. Their NEAT recovered. Manipulating your NEAT becomes a large component of weight loss success as you get closer to your healthy weight goal.1 -
goldthistime wrote: »You are already at the middle of normal BMI (22.5). (For others, her height is 5'8.5", weight 149.9lbs.) Have you considered body recomposition rather than losing more?
Yeah. I have been doing 5x5 lifts. Although i stopped and i should get back to that. The problem is that i have a pear shaped body. My stomach is pretty flat "not tight flat though" but my hips are driving me insane
i still hold so much fat in my thighs and i want to at least get rid of some of it. And i am really depnding on the fact that i can't spot reduce but i hope to get to a lower bf% so that i would lose some fat from my hips eventually. 0 -
JeromeBarry1 wrote: »The mfp tool bases its recommendation of your calories on your NEAT, which is Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. The thing about NEAT is that you can cause your own NEAT to rise and to fall by consistently eating more or less than your NEAT requires. The mfp tool does not account for the variable nature of NEAT in individuals. That's one thing.
Another thing is that as you lose weight your TDEE declines in mathematical fashion. Your BMI declines with weight. Your calories burned in unchanging exercise routines declines with weight.
Thing one is not license to eat far above your TDEE. NEAT will not cover your excess calories. However your under-eating and over-eating can cause NEAT to swing by as much as 10% either way.
So, here's what happens as you lose weight. Your BMI declines and the same 1200 calories per day is less of a calorie deficit than it had been before and weight loss slows.
After several weeks of the 1200 calorie intake and the very consistent calorie deficit, your NEAT also declines to try to also survive during the present famine. Weight loss slows more.
You can readily find people on myfitnesspal who say that they take breaks from the deficit to eat at maintenance for a week or two. They consistently claim that weight loss resumes satisfactorily when they re-enter the deficit. What happened? Their BMI didn't change while they were maintaining. Their NEAT recovered. Manipulating your NEAT becomes a large component of weight loss success as you get closer to your healthy weight goal.
That makes alot of sense
thank you. I will consider eating at maintenance for awhile. 0 -
"starvation mode' may be a myth, but the fact that your metabolism responds to high deficits by slowing down is absolutely 100% NOT a myth. It is NOT just the reduction of metabolic needs of your reduced new weight, it is additional slowdown. Multiple studies have shown tthis - a decrease in metabolism over and above the amount of your loss of weight and any loss of lean body mass.
What that means is that your deficit is now probably a lot less than you think it is. 150 days of eating at more than a 30% deficit has almost certainly triggered a big metabolic slowdown.2 -
"starvation mode' may be a myth, but the fact that your metabolism responds to high deficits by slowing down is absolutely 100% NOT a myth. It is NOT just the reduction of metabolic needs of your reduced new weight, it is additional slowdown. Multiple studies have shown tthis - a decrease in metabolism over and above the amount of your loss of weight and any loss of lean body mass.
What that means is that your deficit is now probably a lot less than you think it is. 150 days of eating at more than a 30% deficit has almost certainly triggered a big metabolic slowdown.
Ummm. I didn't know that. I supposed that most people say that starvation mode is a myth is the same as saying "there's no such thing as metabolic slowdown"... Most people who post saying " i broke my metabolism " get that they can't do that. So if my burning rate slowed down, what should i do now? How will my body respond to me increasing calories?0 -
Why don't you just do as RoxieDawn suggests, here:I suggest the following possibilities to help you out:
- Change the rate of loss per week and/or
- Increase your activity/exercise volume or intensity
- Take a diet break then go back to deficit after period of time
- Continue on as you are and allow more time to get to goal and be planning a maintenance strategy for when you plan to reverse diet.
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When you come back to weight loss mode, just take off 250 calories from your TDEE. You say your maintenance calories are 1800. So eat 1800 for two weeks - don't freak out about a pound on the scale (if it even happens, it is going to drop right back off.) Then come back eating 1550. Do that for a month.
This is more about your anxiety than your weight. It's a long-haul lifetime project. Try to relax and enjoy your day. Once it's gone you can't get it back.2 -
I'm not sure if this was hyperbole on your part ("but losing from 69 to 68 seemed so hard")--but you're talking ~2 lbs. My weight fluctuates that much on a daily basis! Remember--"goal weight" isn't a single point on the scale, but rather a range of ~5 lbs. depending on the individual.0
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I'm not sure if this was hyperbole on your part ("but losing from 69 to 68 seemed so hard")--but you're talking ~2 lbs. My weight fluctuates that much on a daily basis! Remember--"goal weight" isn't a single point on the scale, but rather a range of ~5 lbs. depending on the individual.
It can take me 4 months to lose 2lbs. Although I could probably do it faster in an unhealthy fashion (but wouldn't because I want to preserve lbs). I completely understand the "so hard" comment.
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The only liquid that should be weighed on a scale is water because 1 ml of water weighs 1 gram. Other liquids have different densities so weighing to determine how much you are using isn't accurate unless you know how many grams per ml the liquid has. That can make a big difference for calorie-dense liquids. I wish nutritional info would include weight as well as volume for liquids but it generally doesn't.
I still weigh some liquids but I keep in mind that it's not super accurate.2 -
The only liquid that should be weighed on a scale is water because 1 ml of water weighs 1 gram. Other liquids have different densities so weighing to determine how much you are using isn't accurate unless you know how many grams per ml the liquid has. That can make a big difference for calorie-dense liquids. I wish nutritional info would include weight as well as volume for liquids but it generally doesn't.
I still weigh some liquids but I keep in mind that it's not super accurate.
Yeah. I mostly do that for skimmed milk which has a density close to water. But if i don't know the density, i know that it is just an estimate0 -
I'm not sure if this was hyperbole on your part ("but losing from 69 to 68 seemed so hard")--but you're talking ~2 lbs. My weight fluctuates that much on a daily basis! Remember--"goal weight" isn't a single point on the scale, but rather a range of ~5 lbs. depending on the individual.
My weight fluctuates up to 70 kg in one day. But i know it is just fluctuations so i don't take it into consideration.0 -
The only liquid that should be weighed on a scale is water because 1 ml of water weighs 1 gram. Other liquids have different densities so weighing to determine how much you are using isn't accurate unless you know how many grams per ml the liquid has. That can make a big difference for calorie-dense liquids. I wish nutritional info would include weight as well as volume for liquids but it generally doesn't.
I still weigh some liquids but I keep in mind that it's not super accurate.
If i know how many serving per container and if serving is maybe 100 ml. I can tell the total volume of liquid. And weighting full container minus empty container. You can get the density then. But that's a long process no one got time for that. It would be much easier if they include this info in nutritional info. Or you can just use a measuring cup to measure any amount of ml 0 -
The only liquid that should be weighed on a scale is water because 1 ml of water weighs 1 gram. Other liquids have different densities so weighing to determine how much you are using isn't accurate unless you know how many grams per ml the liquid has. That can make a big difference for calorie-dense liquids. I wish nutritional info would include weight as well as volume for liquids but it generally doesn't.
I still weigh some liquids but I keep in mind that it's not super accurate.
Yeah. I mostly do that for skimmed milk which has a density close to water. But if i don't know the density, i know that it is just an estimate
You are safe assuming density = 1 for most beverages as long as they aren't carbonated. 2% milk is about the upper fat content where you can use it as an approximation. Most drinks are mostly water.1 -
cmriverside wrote: »Why don't you just do as RoxieDawn suggests, here:I suggest the following possibilities to help you out:
- Change the rate of loss per week and/or
- Increase your activity/exercise volume or intensity
- Take a diet break then go back to deficit after period of time
- Continue on as you are and allow more time to get to goal and be planning a maintenance strategy for when you plan to reverse diet.
-
When you come back to weight loss mode, just take off 250 calories from your TDEE. You say your maintenance calories are 1800. So eat 1800 for two weeks - don't freak out about a pound on the scale (if it even happens, it is going to drop right back off.) Then come back eating 1550. Do that for a month.
This is more about your anxiety than your weight. It's a long-haul lifetime project. Try to relax and enjoy your day. Once it's gone you can't get it back.
Ummm, i will try and stick to what you guys suggested. Hopefully it will be helpful0 -
cmriverside wrote: »Why don't you just do as RoxieDawn suggests, here:I suggest the following possibilities to help you out:
- Change the rate of loss per week and/or
- Increase your activity/exercise volume or intensity
- Take a diet break then go back to deficit after period of time
- Continue on as you are and allow more time to get to goal and be planning a maintenance strategy for when you plan to reverse diet.
-
When you come back to weight loss mode, just take off 250 calories from your TDEE. You say your maintenance calories are 1800. So eat 1800 for two weeks - don't freak out about a pound on the scale (if it even happens, it is going to drop right back off.) Then come back eating 1550. Do that for a month.
This is more about your anxiety than your weight. It's a long-haul lifetime project. Try to relax and enjoy your day. Once it's gone you can't get it back.
Ummm, i will try and stick to what you guys suggested. Hopefully it will be helpful
Hopefully it will be helpful? And you will try and stick to it?
Can you come back and let us know what you decide, I really would like to know if I posted something helpful.. good luck!
edited to add: a person cannot be in a deficit forever. also this type of thing happens, some people accidentally find maintenance, some have to work a bit to find it. In this situation, I do believe that if you could get your mind right, this is a perfect opportunity to work all of this out and its pretty easy to fix.. Hopefully you will figure it out when some of the anxiety settles down.1 -
Use the MFP calculator to compute maintenance calories, if you want to take a break. Or change weight loss goal to 1/2 lb weekly. That should give you a new higher calorie range close to maintenance without going over.0
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Calorie creep and lower TREE are the reasons. The less you have to lose, the lower deficit you can create. It's also very easy for portion sizes to creep up the longer were at it, unless you're extremely vigilant.0
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The only liquid that should be weighed on a scale is water because 1 ml of water weighs 1 gram. Other liquids have different densities so weighing to determine how much you are using isn't accurate unless you know how many grams per ml the liquid has. That can make a big difference for calorie-dense liquids. I wish nutritional info would include weight as well as volume for liquids but it generally doesn't.
I still weigh some liquids but I keep in mind that it's not super accurate.
If i know how many serving per container and if serving is maybe 100 ml. I can tell the total volume of liquid. And weighting full container minus empty container. You can get the density then. But that's a long process no one got time for that. It would be much easier if they include this info in nutritional info. Or you can just use a measuring cup to measure any amount of ml
The problem is that most packaged foods are not precise in how much is in it. At least in Canada the requirement is no less than the stated amount, but if they go over there is no penalty. I have found some things where the extra amount is substantial, even as high as 20%.0
This discussion has been closed.
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