Why am I not losing weight? (Macros included)
Replies
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a surplus of any one macro will not cause you to gain wieght. Your not in an overall caloric deficit is all it comes down to. How did you pick 1400 and 1550?
I calculated my BMR for maintenance and then created a deficit at approximately 15%. A few different calculations gave me a healthy weight loss at 1400-1500 calories.0 -
For the past 6 weeks, I have been eating 1400 calories (1550 on workout days).
5'4.5"
136lbs
First of all, I think you are at a fine weight and it sounds like you are fit as well. Fantastic! Go celebrate!
Second of all, any calorie calculator (including the built-in MFP set-up) will tell you that at your height and weight, (ignoring exercise and assuming you have a desk job), you will maintain your weight at about 1600kcals. To lose a pound a week, you'll have to go to 1100kcals per day. Check out this one.
But: Clearly, you need more calories to compensate for your exercise. There, you need to estimate carefully and eat them back sparingly. It sounds as though you are good at keeping track, so just keep at it and it will all work out!1 -
a surplus of any one macro will not cause you to gain wieght. Your not in an overall caloric deficit is all it comes down to. How did you pick 1400 and 1550?
I calculated my BMR for maintenance and then created a deficit at approximately 15%. A few different calculations gave me a healthy weight loss at 1400-1500 calories.
Your BMR or TDEE? You're supposed to deduct calories from your tdee, not bmr. My bmr is 1400 calories, but i don't go below 1600 cals to lose weight.
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I pulled a month of data and your intake looks reasonable. There were about 5-6 days out of the month that appeared to not be completely logged based on the data. That's perfectly normal for most people however it IS a potential source of error.
Having said that, when I removed those dates your averages came out to around 1450 cals and your maronutrient ratio was spot on as well.
I do have a question: How often do you weigh yourself and do you have that weigh in data handy?
It's worth noting that ALL (literally) sources of body-fat measurement have significant rates of error with them and the error rates are high enough that many methods are only conditionally beneficial.
As far as the body-fat percentage goes I would honestly ignore it entirely especially given that the difference you are seeing is WELL under the rate of error in measurement.
All of the available methods that are commonly used to estimate body-fat are truly estimating body-fat by measuring something other than body-fat and then extrapolating what it thinks your body-fat actually is.
Finally, I wouldn't YET be alarmed but I'm curious about your weigh in data. I would generally use 10 to 12 calories per pound of total body-weight to represent a reasonable place to stick calories for the goal of weight loss and I don't think 10/lb is uncommon or unreasonable at all.
Also: Do you track steps/day, and if so how many do you get daily, on average? If you don't track them, do you work a desk job or are you on your feet all day?7 -
When someone is in a deficit doing lot of activity but weight loss stops generally the problem is a "whoosh" http://leanmuscleproject.com/how-whooshes-impact-your-weight-loss/
If it's not water weight and you're weighting and counting correctly, it must be a miscalculation somewhere.As far as the body-fat percentage goes I would honestly ignore it entirely especially given that the difference you are seeing is WELL under the rate of error in measurement.
Agree with this, 6 weeks is not a long period of time, the BF% and weight can vary for the above reasons but I'm not sure about your body measurements.
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Your BMR or TDEE? You're supposed to deduct calories from your tdee, not bmr. My bmr is 1400 calories, but i don't go below 1600 cals to lose weight.
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Both! Should have specified. BMR multiplied by my activity level to get my TDEE, then a calorie deficit.0 -
I pulled a month of data and your intake looks reasonable. There were about 5-6 days out of the month that appeared to not be completely logged
These are my cheat days where I go out to dinner with my friends. Wondering if I am way overeating there.... I haven't really tracked those portion sizes..0 -
Look at what you are eating and when you are eating it. Look at your total carb intake. I keep mine below 150. Then reduce your calories by 100. Sometimes a slight reduction is all you need. If you have been doing the same workout for awhile. Modify or try a different work out1
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I pulled a month of data and your intake looks reasonable. There were about 5-6 days out of the month that appeared to not be completely logged
These are my cheat days where I go out to dinner with my friends. Wondering if I am way overeating there.... I haven't really tracked those portion sizes..
It's quite possible. At the very least I think it's helpful to acknowledge that the possibility exists that your actual calorie intake is higher than you think it is -- this is something that is VERY common, and it's not a function of honesty or intelligence. It's perfectly normal, but it's important to accept and then in some cases it's important to address.7 -
This web page is blunt but helpful: http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/
I lost 65 lb. by maintaining a consistent calorie deficit for nearly two years. Some days I was over my target, or even over maintenance, but on average, I was below. I then maintained for a year. And then I slowly put on about 10 lb. because there were days when I overate (on vacation, business trips, stress from a family illness) but I didn't compensate on the other days. I'm back on track now to lose them again by tracking more carefully and being honest with myself.2 -
I pulled a month of data and your intake looks reasonable. There were about 5-6 days out of the month that appeared to not be completely logged
These are my cheat days where I go out to dinner with my friends. Wondering if I am way overeating there.... I haven't really tracked those portion sizes..
You might have your answer right there. So you're not actually eating 1400-1500 calories a day, you are eating more than that if you have a large unlogged meal every six or so days.
I go out and eat in restaurants as well, but a) I refuse to call them cheat meals, I hate the name, and b) I log them, best that I can, even if it's over 2,000 calories. It keeps me in the know about how much I am eating.4 -
Yeah if you've had several days where you have eaten significantly more than usual you could wipe a small deficit or at least reduce it enough that you won't see any scale loss for a couple of months due to water weight fluctuations.
You should start logging those just to see where you're at a bit better and make adjustments from there. It may be that you need to "bank" calories from earlier in the week to use on those evenings out to keep your full deficit. It's going to be very important with you having only a few so called vanity pounds to lose.1 -
You're also within a healthy weight range for your height, and it tends to be harder to lose when you're within a healthy range already.0
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acfarmgirl wrote: »Look at what you are eating and when you are eating it. Look at your total carb intake. I keep mine below 150. Then reduce your calories by 100. Sometimes a slight reduction is all you need. If you have been doing the same workout for awhile. Modify or try a different work out
Food type does not affect weight loss. It's a calories game.
Carbs are not the enemy. People can lose on high carb too if they're in a deficit.0
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