35yo 5'9 male, 195 lbs, 1700 cals diet. Struggling to lose weight.

dudebro200

Background. Sendantary office job. I weightlift 4-5 times a week. I don't track my exercise and track my calories based on the lowest level of activity.

I weighed 184 before winter and shot up to 195lbs. I starting dieting in Jan 2017. I limited my calories to 1700 calorie diet as instructed by the MyFitnessPal app. I try to keep carbs below 100 unless I am doing a Leg Day.

I track all my calories with a scale. With 1 exception. there are free mixed nuts a work. I just put down 300 cals of nuts, even if I eat a small handful. My dairy should be public.

I have only lost 5lbs since starting my diet in early January (2017). What I have lost is a significant amount of strength in the gym-- about 30%. I am starting to look more defined, which is good.


However, I feel that 1700 cals at my hieght and weight is a ridiculously low amount, and I am shocked that I only lost 5lbs. I am starting to have problems with constipation as usual when I cut carbs, so I want to accelerate my weight loss and get back to eating whole grains, which are the only thing that seem to help my constipation. I want to lower my calories even further but I feel that 1700 is already too low.

Any tips?

jemhh

Your fat intake is too low. That's a very likely cause of your constipation. Your calories are needlessly low. You're making this process way more difficult than necessary.

With 11 pounds to lose, you could aim at .5-1 pound per week. That means eating the MFP goal plus your exercise calories. Get enough dietary fat. .4 grams per pound of bodyweight is a good MINIMUM. That means about 78 grams per day. Also be sure you are drinking enough water and getting fiber. If you are afraid of exercise calories, eat 50% of them for 4 weeks and then evaluate your loss.

janejellyroll

You're down five pounds, I wouldn't call that a struggle. I understand you'd like to lose faster so I'm not trying to downplay it, but since you're already seeing your workouts suffering, do you really want to go lower?

I do see a lot of weights in your diary, but I also see a couple of days with no tracking at all and some estimates ("1 patty," "1 sandwich," etc). I understand some estimates are going to be inevitable, that's life, but those are things that are potentially impacting the size of your deficit.

Question: are you weighing your protein powder and then just expressing that as scoops? If you aren't already weighing, I would consider doing that. That can be a major part of your day and I have found that the scoops in mine tend to give me more than one serving (in weight).

dudebro200

janejellyroll wrote: »

You're down five pounds, I wouldn't call that a struggle. I understand you'd like to lose faster so I'm not trying to downplay it, but since you're already seeing your workouts suffering, do you really want to go lower?

I do see a lot of weights in your diary, but I also see a couple of days with no tracking at all and some estimates ("1 patty," "1 sandwich," etc). I understand some estimates are going to be inevitable, that's life, but those are things that are potentially impacting the size of your deficit.

Question: are you weighing your protein powder and then just expressing that as scoops? If you aren't already weighing, I would consider doing that. That can be a major part of your day and I have found that the scoops in mine tend to give me more than one serving (in weight).

Excellent point. I didn't think to question protein powder scoops. I also use measuring cups for oatmeal and quinoa, which I now that was not ideal.

Sometimes, I have to eat with clients and team memebers, and I feel like it would be socially awkward to bring my own food. That's where many the estimates like "1 sandwich" come. I have a job that requires socializing and usually with a sit-down meal. I try to consider it a cheat meal.

dudebro200

jemhh wrote: »

Your fat intake is too low. That's a very likely cause of your constipation. Your calories are needlessly low. You're making this process way more difficult than necessary.

With 11 pounds to lose, you could aim at .5-1 pound per week. That means eating the MFP goal plus your exercise calories. Get enough dietary fat. .4 grams per pound of bodyweight is a good MINIMUM. That means about 78 grams per day. Also be sure you are drinking enough water and getting fiber. If you are afraid of exercise calories, eat 50% of them for 4 weeks and then evaluate your loss.

78grams of fat a day? I have always been told to keep it below 50grams. I will try to include more healthy fats and see what happens.

It's hard to estimate weightlifting calories, so I usually don't try. Is there a standard somwhere?

JennyHsavage

Could be your body hanging onto the calories because it's not getting enough. Or you could be just building muscle, muscle is heavier than fat. I'd try take in more calories and try some cardio too

janejellyroll

dudebro200 wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

You're down five pounds, I wouldn't call that a struggle. I understand you'd like to lose faster so I'm not trying to downplay it, but since you're already seeing your workouts suffering, do you really want to go lower?

I do see a lot of weights in your diary, but I also see a couple of days with no tracking at all and some estimates ("1 patty," "1 sandwich," etc). I understand some estimates are going to be inevitable, that's life, but those are things that are potentially impacting the size of your deficit.

Question: are you weighing your protein powder and then just expressing that as scoops? If you aren't already weighing, I would consider doing that. That can be a major part of your day and I have found that the scoops in mine tend to give me more than one serving (in weight).

Excellent point. I didn't think to question protein powder scoops. I also use measuring cups for oatmeal and quinoa, which I now that was not ideal.

Sometimes, I have to eat with clients and team memebers, and I feel like it would be socially awkward to bring my own food. That's where many the estimates like "1 sandwich" come. I have a job that requires socializing and usually with a sit-down meal. I try to consider it a cheat meal.

Yeah, I would start weighing protein powder (my scoops give me up to 50% more than what is listed on the package for a serving) and grains.

I understand the need to eat out sometimes -- this is what motivates me to keep my at-home logging as accurate as I can make it (so that the rougher estimates when I'm eating out won't matter as much).

deannalfisher

dudebro200 wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

Your fat intake is too low. That's a very likely cause of your constipation. Your calories are needlessly low. You're making this process way more difficult than necessary.

With 11 pounds to lose, you could aim at .5-1 pound per week. That means eating the MFP goal plus your exercise calories. Get enough dietary fat. .4 grams per pound of bodyweight is a good MINIMUM. That means about 78 grams per day. Also be sure you are drinking enough water and getting fiber. If you are afraid of exercise calories, eat 50% of them for 4 weeks and then evaluate your loss.

78grams of fat a day? I have always been told to keep it below 50grams. I will try to include more healthy fats and see what happens.

It's hard to estimate weightlifting calories, so I usually don't try. Is there a standard somwhere?

for reference - I'm 5'3", 151 and I take in 56 to 76g of fat a day (depending on where I am in my 7 day calorie cycle) - so taking in more than that won't hurt you (I'm focusing on performance/recomp rather than weight loss)

deannalfisher

dudebro200 wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

You're down five pounds, I wouldn't call that a struggle. I understand you'd like to lose faster so I'm not trying to downplay it, but since you're already seeing your workouts suffering, do you really want to go lower?

I do see a lot of weights in your diary, but I also see a couple of days with no tracking at all and some estimates ("1 patty," "1 sandwich," etc). I understand some estimates are going to be inevitable, that's life, but those are things that are potentially impacting the size of your deficit.

Question: are you weighing your protein powder and then just expressing that as scoops? If you aren't already weighing, I would consider doing that. That can be a major part of your day and I have found that the scoops in mine tend to give me more than one serving (in weight).

Excellent point. I didn't think to question protein powder scoops. I also use measuring cups for oatmeal and quinoa, which I now that was not ideal.

Sometimes, I have to eat with clients and team memebers, and I feel like it would be socially awkward to bring my own food. That's where many the estimates like "1 sandwich" come. I have a job that requires socializing and usually with a sit-down meal. I try to consider it a cheat meal.

instead of estimating one sandwich - pull the components apart - estimate the type of bread/cheese/meat/lettuce etc

StaciMarie1974

If you are truly sedentary your before-exercise-calorie burn is about 2250/day based on your stats. So losing 1 pound a week on average is about right.

If going low on carbs and cutting out whole grains is not sitting well with you, then don't. Adjust your macros.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

The constipation could easily be masking additional weight loss. Why are you not eating whole grains now? You don't have to cut carbs to cut calories.

And like others have said 5lbs in a month and a half is good. 1700 calories is probably too low. I'm a 5'9" 160lb woman and I aim for 1800 but am happy if I stick to less than 2000.

What's the huge rush? You don't have much weight to lose, why not go slower and make it easier and more enjoyable and keep your strength. My advice would be to up it to 2000, add carbs back in and relax.

jemhh

dudebro200 wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

Your fat intake is too low. That's a very likely cause of your constipation. Your calories are needlessly low. You're making this process way more difficult than necessary.

With 11 pounds to lose, you could aim at .5-1 pound per week. That means eating the MFP goal plus your exercise calories. Get enough dietary fat. .4 grams per pound of bodyweight is a good MINIMUM. That means about 78 grams per day. Also be sure you are drinking enough water and getting fiber. If you are afraid of exercise calories, eat 50% of them for 4 weeks and then evaluate your loss.

78grams of fat a day? I have always been told to keep it below 50grams. I will try to include more healthy fats and see what happens.

It's hard to estimate weightlifting calories, so I usually don't try. Is there a standard somwhere?

Use the "strength training" entry in MFP's cardiovascular exercise section.

dudebro200

Thanks for the tips everyone. I know what I need to do now. I need to weigh all food, and take in a bit more fat per day.

Chadxx

I am 38, 5'9", 198 pounds and eating 2500 calories while lifting and doing some cardio 4 days a week, work allowing. If you are logging accurately, you should definitely be dropping pounds. That said, there is nothing wrong a pound a week. If the scale is moving down, you are doing good.

rollerjog

check out the rfl book by lyle mcdonald or go to his web page by searching lyle mcdonald there are also other books on his site too lyle knows alot about losing weight

dragon_girl26

JennyHsavage wrote: »

Could be your body hanging onto the calories because it's not getting enough. Or you could be just building muscle, muscle is heavier than fat. I'd try take in more calories and try some cardio too

Sorry, but no. None of this is true.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

JennyHsavage wrote: »

Could be your body hanging onto the calories because it's not getting enough. Or you could be just building muscle, muscle is heavier than fat. I'd try take in more calories and try some cardio too

your body doesnt hang on to calories,and 1lb of muscle weighs the same as 1lb of fat it just takes up less space. and building muscle happens for the most part in a surplus(but it can be built in a recomp which is eating at maintenance but its really slow going)

CharlieBeansmomTracey

BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »

The constipation could easily be masking additional weight loss. Why are you not eating whole grains now? You don't have to cut carbs to cut calories.

And like others have said 5lbs in a month and a half is good. 1700 calories is probably too low. I'm a 5'9" 160lb woman and I aim for 1800 but am happy if I stick to less than 2000.

What's the huge rush? You don't have much weight to lose, why not go slower and make it easier and more enjoyable and keep your strength. My advice would be to up it to 2000, add carbs back in and relax.

yep,Im 5'6 1/2 166lbs and eating 1700 calories. I eat more than that though usually and try to net as close to the 1700 as I can get after exercise.I lost a 1/2 inch off my waist and a 1/2 off my hips just in the last 2 weeks of Jan alone.

PAV8888

In general I am concerned about your caloric intake which sounds too low to sustain your activity especially coupled with loss of strength. Both are indications of excess lean mass getting lost.

Constipation + slow weight loss which is not slow at 5lbs a month... I'll take a pass. Start using a trending weight app or web site to get a handle on what you truly weigh and deal with your constipation.

You should probably consider that a ~50yo 5ft 7" male lost an abundance of weight while eating well over 2500 calories a day when I was in the 190s. Just saying.

The one statement that goes against the previous is the following. You will for two days in a row do the following. Grab nuts from free for all nut bowl. Divide in two. eat half. Pocket half. Continue doing so for the rest of the day. When at home you will weigh the nuts in your various pockets and then throw them in the garbage. (or if the nuts you've eaten don't add up to 300 Cal eat them!)

I suspect you may be eating more than 1700 Cal. I also suspect that your TDEE is a heck of lot higher than you think and that you are under-eating. Both of these are totally possible: you could be eating 2200 Calories with a 3200 TDEE for example)

When you under-eat, persistently, two things will happen (among many others). You will lose more lean mass than you should. Your NEAT will decrease and as a result your TDEE will decrease more than it otherwise would in an attempt to slow down your weight loss.

in general this is not good stuff to be doing to yourself.

Eat more. lose slower. Be happier. Be more energetic. DON'T LOSE YOUR STRENGTH.

sgt1372

I'm 5'8" and lost 36# from 196 down to 160 and reduced my BF% from +25% down to 12% over 5 months on a 1600-1700 diet initially and have been maintaining at 160 for the last 2 month at 1850. My calculated TDEE using a variety of different calculators is 2000-2100 which is totally wrong for me.

Macros have always been 40P/40C/20F which has averaged 180g P/200g C/60g F per day. This is NOT too much protein nor too little fat. It is just the right amount if you are counting your cals correctly and lifting heavy.

I have been doing heavy progressive weight lifting throughout and increased my strength by over 20% across the board doing just DL, SQT, BP and OHP despite being on a deficit/maintenance diet the entire time. Also did a lot of cardio early on but almost none now.

So, there's no reason why you can't achieve your weight loss goal while also increasing your strength if you are doing something similar to what I did. Good luck!

BTW, 5# per month of weight loss is a very reasonable rate of loss. Losing it faster is not better, slow and steady is. You'll lose 30# in 6 months at this rate, which would put you at a "normal" BMI level if that is your objective.

PS: If you are becoming constipated just increase your intake of high fiber foods or use a fiber supplement like psyllium.

CafeRacer808

dudebro200 wrote: »

Thanks for the tips everyone. I know what I need to do now. I need to weigh all food, and take in a bit more fat per day.

...and lower your weekly loss rate to .5-1 lb/week. With your stats, I'd suggest .5 lb.