Eating more but looking leaner?
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HanMW96
Posts: 51 Member
I'm a 21 year old female, 1.69m tall, and when I last weighed myself three weeks ago I was 8st 10lbs. My body fat percentage sits at 15-17%. I've been using Fitbit for a week and I've learnt from it that I burn an average of 2800-3400 calories a day in total (always on my feet, go for 90 minutes of brisk walks, do gym classes).
Here's why I'm confused:
I had been maintaining my weight on 2100-2600 calories a day, but now I'm eating 2700 most days (it's physically hard to get more in and seems excessive anyway), yet I FEEL AND LOOK A BIT LEANER? Like my trousers are looser and my abs are a tiny bit more defined.. how is this possible? Could I have been only maintaining before due to suppressed metabolism? Help I'm so confused.
EDIT- PLEASE NOTE I'M NOT INTENTIONALLY TRYING TO GET LEANER.
Here's why I'm confused:
I had been maintaining my weight on 2100-2600 calories a day, but now I'm eating 2700 most days (it's physically hard to get more in and seems excessive anyway), yet I FEEL AND LOOK A BIT LEANER? Like my trousers are looser and my abs are a tiny bit more defined.. how is this possible? Could I have been only maintaining before due to suppressed metabolism? Help I'm so confused.
EDIT- PLEASE NOTE I'M NOT INTENTIONALLY TRYING TO GET LEANER.
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Replies
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You want to get leaner than 15% bodyfat? :huh:1
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If you're burning 3400 calories and eating 2700 that's a 700 cal deficit. If you're happy with it keep doing what you're doing.0
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TavistockToad wrote: »You want to get leaner than 15% bodyfat? :huh:
No I dont actually, hence increasing0 -
DapperDassie wrote: »If you're burning 3400 calories and eating 2700 that's a 700 cal deficit. If you're happy with it keep doing what you're doing.
I guess I don't fully trust that I'm burning that much you know?1 -
Chef_Barbell wrote: »
I DON'T want to get leaner.2 -
Sounds like you are at a great weight and quite fit! Seems like you should try to maintain. Maybe you want to keep improving your fitness. MFP is good for helping you do both of these things.
If you use any calculator for your height and weight (including MFP), you'll get closer to 1600kcals per day to maintain. This is a minimal number that presumes a sedentary lifestyle. To this you would add any significant exercise or activity. You could easily hit 2800+, depending on what you do. It is the average over many days that counts.
Fitbit calorie estimates are not very accurate. Better to let MFP calculate your daily burn. Put in your workouts and let MFP calculate additional calories. You can add extra calories based on fitbit numbers as well, if you think they are justified. I ended up unlinking the apps because the fitbit estimates were clearly too high.
The bottom line is to monitor your weight to see if the calculations are on target. You can also monitor other metrics if you like (how much you can lift, how fast you can run a mile, your GPA, whatever
). 0 -
DapperDassie wrote: »If you're burning 3400 calories and eating 2700 that's a 700 cal deficit. If you're happy with it keep doing what you're doing.
I'm just confused as to how I maintained/gained on less calories before increasing a week ago0 -
DapperDassie wrote: »If you're burning 3400 calories and eating 2700 that's a 700 cal deficit. If you're happy with it keep doing what you're doing.
I'm just confused as to how I maintained/gained on less calories before increasing a week ago
These devices are not absolutes.. Use your real world data, calories consumed against maintain/losses/gainz to determine your real TDEE..1 -
Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »Sounds like you are at a great weight and quite fit! Seems like you should try to maintain. Maybe you want to keep improving your fitness. MFP is good for helping you do both of these things.
If you use any calculator for your height and weight (including MFP), you'll get closer to 1600kcals per day to maintain. This is a minimal number that presumes a sedentary lifestyle. To this you would add any significant exercise or activity. You could easily hit 2800+, depending on what you do. It is the average over many days that counts.
Fitbit calorie estimates are not very accurate. Better to let MFP calculate your daily burn. Put in your workouts and let MFP calculate additional calories. You can add extra calories based on fitbit numbers as well, if you think they are justified. I ended up unlinking the apps because the fitbit estimates were clearly too high.
The bottom line is to monitor your weight to see if the calculations are on target. You can also monitor other metrics if you like (how much you can lift, how fast you can run a mile, your GPA, whatever ).
for some people fitbit is quite accurate.MFPs exercise calories tend to be highly exaggerated most of the time.1 -
Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »Sounds like you are at a great weight and quite fit! Seems like you should try to maintain. Maybe you want to keep improving your fitness. MFP is good for helping you do both of these things.
If you use any calculator for your height and weight (including MFP), you'll get closer to 1600kcals per day to maintain. This is a minimal number that presumes a sedentary lifestyle. To this you would add any significant exercise or activity. You could easily hit 2800+, depending on what you do. It is the average over many days that counts.
Fitbit calorie estimates are not very accurate. Better to let MFP calculate your daily burn. Put in your workouts and let MFP calculate additional calories. You can add extra calories based on fitbit numbers as well, if you think they are justified. I ended up unlinking the apps because the fitbit estimates were clearly too high.
The bottom line is to monitor your weight to see if the calculations are on target. You can also monitor other metrics if you like (how much you can lift, how fast you can run a mile, your GPA, whatever ).
Thank you so much! I believe the Fitbit actually tracks quite accurately for me, judging by what it calculates my burn based on my heart rate in all my activity I have a few friends who say Fitbit is accurate for them too, and one friend who says it UNDERestimates! I guess I find it hard to believe that I burn that much in a day, but I guess when I say aloud everything I do each day, it's believable! Thank you for your help, I'm definitely going to weigh myself with the next fortnight or so! 1 -
DapperDassie wrote: »If you're burning 3400 calories and eating 2700 that's a 700 cal deficit. If you're happy with it keep doing what you're doing.
I'm just confused as to how I maintained/gained on less calories before increasing a week ago
These devices are not absolutes.. Use your real world data, calories consumed against maintain/losses/gainz to determine your real TDEE..
Thank you0 -
DapperDassie wrote: »If you're burning 3400 calories and eating 2700 that's a 700 cal deficit. If you're happy with it keep doing what you're doing.
I'm just confused as to how I maintained/gained on less calories before increasing a week ago
you could have just been in a stall or retaining water weight for many reasons.you are in a deficit and weight loss isnt linear, so some weeks you will lose,some you will gain and others you will see no change.also how do you know your metabolism is "suppressed" have you had it tested? have any health issues?0 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »DapperDassie wrote: »If you're burning 3400 calories and eating 2700 that's a 700 cal deficit. If you're happy with it keep doing what you're doing.
I'm just confused as to how I maintained/gained on less calories before increasing a week ago
you could have just been in a stall or retaining water weight for many reasons.you are in a deficit and weight loss isnt linear, so some weeks you will lose,some you will gain and others you will see no change.also how do you know your metabolism is "suppressed" have you had it tested? have any health issues?
I don't know whether or not it was suppressed, I just assume it was if I was maintaining on 800 less than I apparently need each day! I'm not trying to lose weight. No health issues but I had an eating disorder when I was 15 years old until I was 19/200 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »DapperDassie wrote: »If you're burning 3400 calories and eating 2700 that's a 700 cal deficit. If you're happy with it keep doing what you're doing.
I'm just confused as to how I maintained/gained on less calories before increasing a week ago
you could have just been in a stall or retaining water weight for many reasons.you are in a deficit and weight loss isnt linear, so some weeks you will lose,some you will gain and others you will see no change.also how do you know your metabolism is "suppressed" have you had it tested? have any health issues?
I don't know whether or not it was suppressed, I just assume it was if I was maintaining on 800 less than I apparently need each day! I'm not trying to lose weight. No health issues but I had an eating disorder when I was 15 years old until I was 19/20
while you had the eating disorder is that when you maintained or gained on less?0 -
Timeout!
You're not trying to get leaner.
So why would you eat less than what your Fitbit gives you in fear that it may be under-estimating you?
If it under-estimates you and you get tiny bit anti-less-lean... well, you're not trying to get leaner and it's not like you won't notice getting un-lean and be unable to react to it because it caught you by surprise!
So eat per your Fitbit and re-evaluate in 4-6 weeks.
Weight loss or gain is not constant especially for females and your weight could fluctuate substantially during the month.
If you are using Fitbit connect trendweight.com to get an idea of your weight trends over time excluding faster water fluctuations.
Note that for some people their weight predictably varies throughout a month and even Trendweight will show an upward or downward trend during those times, though hopefully less severe than what the scale shows and more reflective of reality.
Note too that people don't have a set weight. They have a range of weight.
So again, you would expect some variation to your weight under normal circumstances in which you're not pushing yourself into a deficit.
You can compare your calories eaten to your calories spent and to your trending weight and determine whether Fitbit under, or over, estimates you. Note that the accuracy of your food intake logging also determines whether you will believe your Fitbit under or over estimates you.
I've seen people who are under, over, or absolutely correctly estimated by Fitbit. In general and in terms of TDEE most people I've looked into had way less than a 10% error. So chances are very very high that if you're eating 2700 on a Fitbit 3400 day... you're in a deficit.1 -
Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »Sounds like you are at a great weight and quite fit! Seems like you should try to maintain. Maybe you want to keep improving your fitness. MFP is good for helping you do both of these things.
If you use any calculator for your height and weight (including MFP), you'll get closer to 1600kcals per day to maintain. This is a minimal number that presumes a sedentary lifestyle. To this you would add any significant exercise or activity. You could easily hit 2800+, depending on what you do. It is the average over many days that counts.
Fitbit calorie estimates are not very accurate. Better to let MFP calculate your daily burn. Put in your workouts and let MFP calculate additional calories. You can add extra calories based on fitbit numbers as well, if you think they are justified. I ended up unlinking the apps because the fitbit estimates were clearly too high.
The bottom line is to monitor your weight to see if the calculations are on target. You can also monitor other metrics if you like (how much you can lift, how fast you can run a mile, your GPA, whatever ).
Thank you so much! I believe the Fitbit actually tracks quite accurately for me, judging by what it calculates my burn based on my heart rate in all my activity I have a few friends who say Fitbit is accurate for them too, and one friend who says it UNDERestimates! I guess I find it hard to believe that I burn that much in a day, but I guess when I say aloud everything I do each day, it's believable! Thank you for your help, I'm definitely going to weigh myself with the next fortnight or so!
fitbit takes into account your BMR which is what you burn just by being alive. so those calories are added to your exercise calories so that number you get is not just from exercise.if you are losing fat/weight then you are in a deficit of calories and thats all that matters.heart rate is not an indication of calorie burn0 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »DapperDassie wrote: »If you're burning 3400 calories and eating 2700 that's a 700 cal deficit. If you're happy with it keep doing what you're doing.
I'm just confused as to how I maintained/gained on less calories before increasing a week ago
you could have just been in a stall or retaining water weight for many reasons.you are in a deficit and weight loss isnt linear, so some weeks you will lose,some you will gain and others you will see no change.also how do you know your metabolism is "suppressed" have you had it tested? have any health issues?
I don't know whether or not it was suppressed, I just assume it was if I was maintaining on 800 less than I apparently need each day! I'm not trying to lose weight. No health issues but I had an eating disorder when I was 15 years old until I was 19/20
while you had the eating disorder is that when you maintained or gained on less?
No, I've been recovered for two years! I've been maintaining on 2100-2700 a day for the past year or so!0 -
Timeout!
You're not trying to get leaner.
So why would you eat less than what your Fitbit gives you in fear that it may be under-estimating you?
If it under-estimates you and you get tiny bit anti-less-lean... well, you're not trying to get leaner and it's not like you won't notice getting un-lean and be unable to react to it because it caught you by surprise!
So eat per your Fitbit and re-evaluate in 4-6 weeks.
Weight loss or gain is not constant especially for females and your weight could fluctuate substantially during the month.
If you are using Fitbit connect trendweight.com to get an idea of your weight trends over time excluding faster water fluctuations.
Note that for some people their weight predictably varies throughout a month and even Trendweight will show an upward or downward trend during those times, though hopefully less severe than what the scale shows and more reflective of reality.
Note too that people don't have a set weight. They have a range of weight.
So again, you would expect some variation to your weight under normal circumstances in which you're not pushing yourself into a deficit.
You can compare your calories eaten to your calories spent and to your trending weight and determine whether Fitbit under, or over, estimates you. Note that the accuracy of your food intake logging also determines whether you will believe your Fitbit under or over estimates you.
I've seen people who are under, over, or absolutely correctly estimated by Fitbit. In general and in terms of TDEE most people I've looked into had way less than a 10% error. So chances are very very high that if you're eating 2700 on a Fitbit 3400 day... you're in a deficit.
This was very helpful, thank you! I'd find it very challenging physically to reach 3000 calories though! I suppose if I'm ever super Hungry, I'll reach it!1 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »Sounds like you are at a great weight and quite fit! Seems like you should try to maintain. Maybe you want to keep improving your fitness. MFP is good for helping you do both of these things.
If you use any calculator for your height and weight (including MFP), you'll get closer to 1600kcals per day to maintain. This is a minimal number that presumes a sedentary lifestyle. To this you would add any significant exercise or activity. You could easily hit 2800+, depending on what you do. It is the average over many days that counts.
Fitbit calorie estimates are not very accurate. Better to let MFP calculate your daily burn. Put in your workouts and let MFP calculate additional calories. You can add extra calories based on fitbit numbers as well, if you think they are justified. I ended up unlinking the apps because the fitbit estimates were clearly too high.
The bottom line is to monitor your weight to see if the calculations are on target. You can also monitor other metrics if you like (how much you can lift, how fast you can run a mile, your GPA, whatever ).
Thank you so much! I believe the Fitbit actually tracks quite accurately for me, judging by what it calculates my burn based on my heart rate in all my activity I have a few friends who say Fitbit is accurate for them too, and one friend who says it UNDERestimates! I guess I find it hard to believe that I burn that much in a day, but I guess when I say aloud everything I do each day, it's believable! Thank you for your help, I'm definitely going to weigh myself with the next fortnight or so!
fitbit takes into account your BMR which is what you burn just by being alive. so those calories are added to your exercise calories so that number you get is not just from exercise.if you are losing fat/weight then you are in a deficit of calories and thats all that matters.heart rate is not an indication of calorie burn
Thank you!1
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