Is my metabolism that screwed up?
Bama1818
Posts: 32 Member
So my stats are 6'2 31 220lbs. Currently I'm eating around 2200 calories a day track everything by weighting them in grams. I hit then gym at least 5 days a week doing heavy lifting plus some type of cardio be it just getting on a machine or doing weight circuits. I should be losing weight according to this App but still just staying around 220lbs I've tried going lower in the sub 2000 cal range and still just stuck around 220. Going to give fasted training a shot now any other ideas to throw at the wall?
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Replies
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You are eating more than you think. You are not as active as you think, You are retaining water from exercise. You are constipated. You aren't patient enough. You are expecting too much too soon.24
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If you just started to exercise it can take up to a month untill the water weight drops and you see the scales moving. Don't worry. Fat is being lost.
That said, depending on your everyday activity of course, maybe you can drop your calories to 2000?
Do the same for a month and reassess after.
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How are you calculating your calorie burns? and are you eating those calories back?2
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So my stats are 6'2 31 220lbs. Currently I'm eating around 2200 calories a day track everything by weighting them in grams. I hit then gym at least 5 days a week doing heavy lifting plus some type of cardio be it just getting on a machine or doing weight circuits. I should be losing weight according to this App but still just staying around 220lbs I've tried going lower in the sub 2000 cal range and still just stuck around 220. Going to give fasted training a shot now any other ideas to throw at the wall?
IF the pictures are you, You
1. have already lost a lot of weight
2. are getting into the "last legs" of lean.
Cutting is going to be harder. 2200 may be too many calories. Or you may not be training as hard as you think.1 -
As you get closer to a normal BMI, it does slow down and get more difficult. I'm about 6lbs from goal, and I notice my weight is trending down, but very slowly with little spikes of gain in there. I actually started tweaking my calories down, I'm at about 1900 now and it helped4
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Use a digital kitchen scale to weigh your food items. Your diary shows a "scoop" of protein powder. That scoop, even when trimmed level, delivers more grams than the nutrition label indicates the serving size to be. Indeed, that's a calorie-dense food and you're having a higher calorie input than you believe.
Your metabolism is almost certainly excellent.6 -
tinkerbellang83 wrote: »How are you calculating your calorie burns? and are you eating those calories back?
I don't count in the weight lifting. As for cardio I use a heart rate monitor then take the average BPM over the course of my work out0 -
stanmann571 wrote: »So my stats are 6'2 31 220lbs. Currently I'm eating around 2200 calories a day track everything by weighting them in grams. I hit then gym at least 5 days a week doing heavy lifting plus some type of cardio be it just getting on a machine or doing weight circuits. I should be losing weight according to this App but still just staying around 220lbs I've tried going lower in the sub 2000 cal range and still just stuck around 220. Going to give fasted training a shot now any other ideas to throw at the wall?
IF the pictures are you, You
1. have already lost a lot of weight
2. are getting into the "last legs" of lean.
Cutting is going to be harder. 2200 may be too many calories. Or you may not be training as hard as you think.
1. Thanks
Guess I'll try and increase my training. I reduced to sub 2000 before and I literally felt like crap0 -
Given your stats, if you were sedentary, which you obviously are not, you would still be losing, albeit a little slowly. But 2200 is less than your TDEE if you were sedentary. Since you are not, you should be losing fat at a reasonable rate. I would guess that your burn rate is probably 3000 or more with your activity level.
If you are not retaining water, then chances are you might not be as tight on your intake measurements as you think.
I'm 5'11", 204 (down from 240), and 54 yo male. I average about 2200 calories in and about 3200 out as near as I can tell. I can't imagine your caloric needs and burn to be much different than mine. You haven't mentioned how long you've been "stuck", but if it's been 3 weeks or so, you're probably not really stuck at that weight.
You're on the right track and there is some good advice here on where to look if there really is a problem. Best of luck.1 -
At 220 there is no way you maintain at 2000 calories. Your BMR would be greater than that.
You aren't tracking accurately or being patient enough.7 -
Actually, if the before picture is you, you might be able to maintain on fewer calories than the calculators suggest. Studies disagree about whether preserving lean mass helps prevent the "reduced obese" phenomenon, but it does exist - people who lost a lot of weight are found to burn fewer calories than people of the same (current) weight who were never obese.0
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Actually, if the before picture is you, you might be able to maintain on fewer calories than the calculators suggest. Studies disagree about whether preserving lean mass helps prevent the "reduced obese" phenomenon, but it does exist - people who lost a lot of weight are found to burn fewer calories than people of the same (current) weight who were never obese.
But THAT much? I'm 5'3", 113 pounds, and I lose on 2000 calories. I truly think, depending on how long he's been at this, he's being impatient or highly underestimating his food intake. I'm leaning toward the latter even though he says he weighs everything in grams. Do you have cheat days?4 -
How long have you been at 220 pounds with absolutely no scale l movement?3
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Maxematics wrote: »Actually, if the before picture is you, you might be able to maintain on fewer calories than the calculators suggest. Studies disagree about whether preserving lean mass helps prevent the "reduced obese" phenomenon, but it does exist - people who lost a lot of weight are found to burn fewer calories than people of the same (current) weight who were never obese.
But THAT much? I'm 5'3", 113 pounds, and I lose on 2000 calories. I truly think, depending on how long he's been at this, he's being impatient or highly underestimating his food intake. I'm leaning toward the latter even though he says he weighs everything in grams. Do you have cheat days?
If I cheat it's usually not a day. Maybe not even a meal more like a cheat item. Like this past Sunday for breakfast I had pancakes with my eggs and blueberries. As for weighing intake I've got so meticulous about it I'll take the scope from the protein powder put it on the scale zero it out then scope out the powder to be 36g as the label says is one serving.2 -
trigden1991 wrote: »At 220 there is no way you maintain at 2000 calories. Your BMR would be greater than that.
You aren't tracking accurately or being patient enough.
I agree with the BMR all the ones I used to calculate it have me in the 2000 to 2500 range. Being as fat as I was I do have loose skin issues in areas that make it hard to determine how lean I possibly am when accounting for the LBM of the BMR equations0 -
Maxematics wrote: »Actually, if the before picture is you, you might be able to maintain on fewer calories than the calculators suggest. Studies disagree about whether preserving lean mass helps prevent the "reduced obese" phenomenon, but it does exist - people who lost a lot of weight are found to burn fewer calories than people of the same (current) weight who were never obese.
But THAT much? I'm 5'3", 113 pounds, and I lose on 2000 calories. I truly think, depending on how long he's been at this, he's being impatient or highly underestimating his food intake. I'm leaning toward the latter even though he says he weighs everything in grams. Do you have cheat days?
If I cheat it's usually not a day. Maybe not even a meal more like a cheat item. Like this past Sunday for breakfast I had pancakes with my eggs and blueberries. As for weighing intake I've got so meticulous about it I'll take the scope from the protein powder put it on the scale zero it out then scope out the powder to be 36g as the label says is one serving.
I doubt the pancakes are any big deal in the scheme of things. Do you have a heart rate monitor for your cardio workouts? Weight training doesn't burn a ton, but on the cardio side of things, that will give you a pretty good idea of your burns. I don't count anything for my strength exercises, but for cardio, my Fitbit does a pretty good job, both for steps, and for cardio workouts. Cross referencing those with some calculators, including VO2Max and heart rate types show the monitor tracks well. I've come to trust the Fitbit for measuring burn rates because my measured deficit appears to match my expected weight loss over the long term.
My weight loss has been relatively steady, with one hiccup very recently - looked like a water retention thing mostly. Are your cardio workouts intense? Do you know your average heart rate during those times? How many steps to you take in a given day?0 -
Silentpadna wrote: »Maxematics wrote: »Actually, if the before picture is you, you might be able to maintain on fewer calories than the calculators suggest. Studies disagree about whether preserving lean mass helps prevent the "reduced obese" phenomenon, but it does exist - people who lost a lot of weight are found to burn fewer calories than people of the same (current) weight who were never obese.
But THAT much? I'm 5'3", 113 pounds, and I lose on 2000 calories. I truly think, depending on how long he's been at this, he's being impatient or highly underestimating his food intake. I'm leaning toward the latter even though he says he weighs everything in grams. Do you have cheat days?
If I cheat it's usually not a day. Maybe not even a meal more like a cheat item. Like this past Sunday for breakfast I had pancakes with my eggs and blueberries. As for weighing intake I've got so meticulous about it I'll take the scope from the protein powder put it on the scale zero it out then scope out the powder to be 36g as the label says is one serving.
I doubt the pancakes are any big deal in the scheme of things. Do you have a heart rate monitor for your cardio workouts? Weight training doesn't burn a ton, but on the cardio side of things, that will give you a pretty good idea of your burns. I don't count anything for my strength exercises, but for cardio, my Fitbit does a pretty good job, both for steps, and for cardio workouts. Cross referencing those with some calculators, including VO2Max and heart rate types show the monitor tracks well. I've come to trust the Fitbit for measuring burn rates because my measured deficit appears to match my expected weight loss over the long term.
My weight loss has been relatively steady, with one hiccup very recently - looked like a water retention thing mostly. Are your cardio workouts intense? Do you know your average heart rate during those times? How many steps to you take in a given day?
I had a Fit bit HR but it was smashed at work. While I had it I was hitting between 10k and 15k steps a day. As for heart rate I'll use a chest strap that connects to a watch then average it out for the session. Usually between 140-150 BPM is the average to be over 30-45 mins0 -
How long have you been at 220 pounds with absolutely no scale l movement?
I would drop by 100 calories per day or 700 per week at this point. Stick with it faithfully for a month and then evaluate. I wouldn't change other factors at the same time though (exercise frequency, etc.) Changing multiple factors all at once makes it difficult/impossible to evaluate whether or not your calorie level is appropriate for your goal.3 -
Silentpadna wrote: »Maxematics wrote: »Actually, if the before picture is you, you might be able to maintain on fewer calories than the calculators suggest. Studies disagree about whether preserving lean mass helps prevent the "reduced obese" phenomenon, but it does exist - people who lost a lot of weight are found to burn fewer calories than people of the same (current) weight who were never obese.
But THAT much? I'm 5'3", 113 pounds, and I lose on 2000 calories. I truly think, depending on how long he's been at this, he's being impatient or highly underestimating his food intake. I'm leaning toward the latter even though he says he weighs everything in grams. Do you have cheat days?
If I cheat it's usually not a day. Maybe not even a meal more like a cheat item. Like this past Sunday for breakfast I had pancakes with my eggs and blueberries. As for weighing intake I've got so meticulous about it I'll take the scope from the protein powder put it on the scale zero it out then scope out the powder to be 36g as the label says is one serving.
I doubt the pancakes are any big deal in the scheme of things. Do you have a heart rate monitor for your cardio workouts? Weight training doesn't burn a ton, but on the cardio side of things, that will give you a pretty good idea of your burns. I don't count anything for my strength exercises, but for cardio, my Fitbit does a pretty good job, both for steps, and for cardio workouts. Cross referencing those with some calculators, including VO2Max and heart rate types show the monitor tracks well. I've come to trust the Fitbit for measuring burn rates because my measured deficit appears to match my expected weight loss over the long term.
My weight loss has been relatively steady, with one hiccup very recently - looked like a water retention thing mostly. Are your cardio workouts intense? Do you know your average heart rate during those times? How many steps to you take in a given day?
I had a Fit bit HR but it was smashed at work. While I had it I was hitting between 10k and 15k steps a day. As for heart rate I'll use a chest strap that connects to a watch then average it out for the session. Usually between 140-150 BPM is the average to be over 30-45 mins
Your steps look about the same as mine. So does your cardio. Unless I missed something, you haven't mentioned how long you've been at 220? If you intake really is 2200, you ought to be losing fat at a reasonable rate, but if the time is relatively short, you probably are, but it's being masked by our inevitable fluctuations. If it's longer term, then I'd consider making adjustments, like down to 2000 or whatever makes things move again. Of course, you would have to give that some time too.....1 -
Silentpadna wrote: »Silentpadna wrote: »Maxematics wrote: »Actually, if the before picture is you, you might be able to maintain on fewer calories than the calculators suggest. Studies disagree about whether preserving lean mass helps prevent the "reduced obese" phenomenon, but it does exist - people who lost a lot of weight are found to burn fewer calories than people of the same (current) weight who were never obese.
But THAT much? I'm 5'3", 113 pounds, and I lose on 2000 calories. I truly think, depending on how long he's been at this, he's being impatient or highly underestimating his food intake. I'm leaning toward the latter even though he says he weighs everything in grams. Do you have cheat days?
If I cheat it's usually not a day. Maybe not even a meal more like a cheat item. Like this past Sunday for breakfast I had pancakes with my eggs and blueberries. As for weighing intake I've got so meticulous about it I'll take the scope from the protein powder put it on the scale zero it out then scope out the powder to be 36g as the label says is one serving.
I doubt the pancakes are any big deal in the scheme of things. Do you have a heart rate monitor for your cardio workouts? Weight training doesn't burn a ton, but on the cardio side of things, that will give you a pretty good idea of your burns. I don't count anything for my strength exercises, but for cardio, my Fitbit does a pretty good job, both for steps, and for cardio workouts. Cross referencing those with some calculators, including VO2Max and heart rate types show the monitor tracks well. I've come to trust the Fitbit for measuring burn rates because my measured deficit appears to match my expected weight loss over the long term.
My weight loss has been relatively steady, with one hiccup very recently - looked like a water retention thing mostly. Are your cardio workouts intense? Do you know your average heart rate during those times? How many steps to you take in a given day?
I had a Fit bit HR but it was smashed at work. While I had it I was hitting between 10k and 15k steps a day. As for heart rate I'll use a chest strap that connects to a watch then average it out for the session. Usually between 140-150 BPM is the average to be over 30-45 mins
Your steps look about the same as mine. So does your cardio. Unless I missed something, you haven't mentioned how long you've been at 220? If you intake really is 2200, you ought to be losing fat at a reasonable rate, but if the time is relatively short, you probably are, but it's being masked by our inevitable fluctuations. If it's longer term, then I'd consider making adjustments, like down to 2000 or whatever makes things move again. Of course, you would have to give that some time too.....
It's been about a month or so I say 220 as an average because it'll change maybe 218 one weigh in then 223 on the next.0 -
Silentpadna wrote: »Silentpadna wrote: »Maxematics wrote: »Actually, if the before picture is you, you might be able to maintain on fewer calories than the calculators suggest. Studies disagree about whether preserving lean mass helps prevent the "reduced obese" phenomenon, but it does exist - people who lost a lot of weight are found to burn fewer calories than people of the same (current) weight who were never obese.
But THAT much? I'm 5'3", 113 pounds, and I lose on 2000 calories. I truly think, depending on how long he's been at this, he's being impatient or highly underestimating his food intake. I'm leaning toward the latter even though he says he weighs everything in grams. Do you have cheat days?
If I cheat it's usually not a day. Maybe not even a meal more like a cheat item. Like this past Sunday for breakfast I had pancakes with my eggs and blueberries. As for weighing intake I've got so meticulous about it I'll take the scope from the protein powder put it on the scale zero it out then scope out the powder to be 36g as the label says is one serving.
I doubt the pancakes are any big deal in the scheme of things. Do you have a heart rate monitor for your cardio workouts? Weight training doesn't burn a ton, but on the cardio side of things, that will give you a pretty good idea of your burns. I don't count anything for my strength exercises, but for cardio, my Fitbit does a pretty good job, both for steps, and for cardio workouts. Cross referencing those with some calculators, including VO2Max and heart rate types show the monitor tracks well. I've come to trust the Fitbit for measuring burn rates because my measured deficit appears to match my expected weight loss over the long term.
My weight loss has been relatively steady, with one hiccup very recently - looked like a water retention thing mostly. Are your cardio workouts intense? Do you know your average heart rate during those times? How many steps to you take in a given day?
I had a Fit bit HR but it was smashed at work. While I had it I was hitting between 10k and 15k steps a day. As for heart rate I'll use a chest strap that connects to a watch then average it out for the session. Usually between 140-150 BPM is the average to be over 30-45 mins
Your steps look about the same as mine. So does your cardio. Unless I missed something, you haven't mentioned how long you've been at 220? If you intake really is 2200, you ought to be losing fat at a reasonable rate, but if the time is relatively short, you probably are, but it's being masked by our inevitable fluctuations. If it's longer term, then I'd consider making adjustments, like down to 2000 or whatever makes things move again. Of course, you would have to give that some time too.....
Any suggested macros for 2k? Was going to guess like 200p 150c then rest in fats0 -
Looking at your diary, your logging looks pretty consistent, particularly recently. Compared to your average over the 240 logged days prior, the last 28 days have fewer total calories consumed (2,200 vs 2,450), fat as a lower percentage of total calories (33% vs 36%, with the change split evenly between carbs and protein), and significantly more logged exercise (160 calories per day vs 50).
When I first went from zero cardio to regular cardio with basically no transition time, my giant spreadsheet actually showed that I got no additional net calorie burn from that exercise, even with a 90-day window to analyze. A combination of sloppier logging (oooh, brains are sneaky, tricksy things) and reduced non-exercise activity was enough to completely offset the calories burned by intentional exercise. So you may want to keep an eye out for that.
My personal guess is that you need patience more than an additional calorie cut. I'm 43 and 5'3 and when my weight is in the 150s, I maintain on 2,100 plus intentional exercise. My giant spreadsheet of doom calculates more or less month-by-month; some months imply (based on intake and scale change) that maintenance for me is as low as 1,850 or as high as 2,500, and I've even had a 3-month period where it looked like maintenance was 1,900. But I've got a 636 day span of data when my weight was relatively consistent, and across that entire period, 2,100 is the right number.8 -
A few things you can try, one at a time or all at once
-If it's only been 1 month, stay the course and stay as diligent for another month.
-Drop 100 calories per day, taking you down to 2,100
-Don't eat back cardio calories
-Make sure you're measuring all oils. There are maybe a few items that are missing cooking-ingredients0 -
Looking at your diary, your logging looks pretty consistent, particularly recently. Compared to your average over the 240 logged days prior, the last 28 days have fewer total calories consumed (2,200 vs 2,450), fat as a lower percentage of total calories (33% vs 36%, with the change split evenly between carbs and protein), and significantly more logged exercise (160 calories per day vs 50).
When I first went from zero cardio to regular cardio with basically no transition time, my giant spreadsheet actually showed that I got no additional net calorie burn from that exercise, even with a 90-day window to analyze. A combination of sloppier logging (oooh, brains are sneaky, tricksy things) and reduced non-exercise activity was enough to completely offset the calories burned by intentional exercise. So you may want to keep an eye out for that.
My personal guess is that you need patience more than an additional calorie cut. I'm 43 and 5'3 and when my weight is in the 150s, I maintain on 2,100 plus intentional exercise. My giant spreadsheet of doom calculates more or less month-by-month; some months imply (based on intake and scale change) that maintenance for me is as low as 1,850 or as high as 2,500, and I've even had a 3-month period where it looked like maintenance was 1,900. But I've got a 636 day span of data when my weight was relatively consistent, and across that entire period, 2,100 is the right number.
Wow, @allyphoe, you really like analysis, huh? That is awesome!2 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »Wow, allyphoe, you really like analysis, huh? That is awesome!
Yes, yes, I do.
4 -
What would be a good BPM to calories burned calculator to use0
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kommodevaran wrote: »You are eating more than you think. You are not as active as you think, You are retaining water from exercise. You are constipated. You aren't patient enough. You are expecting too much too soon.
Yep.0 -
What would be a good BPM to calories burned calculator to use
There are several, but Shape Sense has some online. They are, like a lot of things, estimates, but they do disclose their formulas, so if you are spreadsheet savvy, you can plug them yourself. You can't really find VO2Max without a lab test, but they give you some different methods of approximation. For me, it turns out that each of their methods are very close to what Fitbit ends up with for cardio workouts, and for (very) brisk walks.
shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.shtml0 -
Silentpadna wrote: »Silentpadna wrote: »Maxematics wrote: »Actually, if the before picture is you, you might be able to maintain on fewer calories than the calculators suggest. Studies disagree about whether preserving lean mass helps prevent the "reduced obese" phenomenon, but it does exist - people who lost a lot of weight are found to burn fewer calories than people of the same (current) weight who were never obese.
But THAT much? I'm 5'3", 113 pounds, and I lose on 2000 calories. I truly think, depending on how long he's been at this, he's being impatient or highly underestimating his food intake. I'm leaning toward the latter even though he says he weighs everything in grams. Do you have cheat days?
If I cheat it's usually not a day. Maybe not even a meal more like a cheat item. Like this past Sunday for breakfast I had pancakes with my eggs and blueberries. As for weighing intake I've got so meticulous about it I'll take the scope from the protein powder put it on the scale zero it out then scope out the powder to be 36g as the label says is one serving.
I doubt the pancakes are any big deal in the scheme of things. Do you have a heart rate monitor for your cardio workouts? Weight training doesn't burn a ton, but on the cardio side of things, that will give you a pretty good idea of your burns. I don't count anything for my strength exercises, but for cardio, my Fitbit does a pretty good job, both for steps, and for cardio workouts. Cross referencing those with some calculators, including VO2Max and heart rate types show the monitor tracks well. I've come to trust the Fitbit for measuring burn rates because my measured deficit appears to match my expected weight loss over the long term.
My weight loss has been relatively steady, with one hiccup very recently - looked like a water retention thing mostly. Are your cardio workouts intense? Do you know your average heart rate during those times? How many steps to you take in a given day?
I had a Fit bit HR but it was smashed at work. While I had it I was hitting between 10k and 15k steps a day. As for heart rate I'll use a chest strap that connects to a watch then average it out for the session. Usually between 140-150 BPM is the average to be over 30-45 mins
Your steps look about the same as mine. So does your cardio. Unless I missed something, you haven't mentioned how long you've been at 220? If you intake really is 2200, you ought to be losing fat at a reasonable rate, but if the time is relatively short, you probably are, but it's being masked by our inevitable fluctuations. If it's longer term, then I'd consider making adjustments, like down to 2000 or whatever makes things move again. Of course, you would have to give that some time too.....
Any suggested macros for 2k? Was going to guess like 200p 150c then rest in fats
That's a personal thing for most people. I can only speak for me, but I basically shoot for 1g protein per pound of lean body mass (not my actual weight) - for me that's about 155g. I let the carbs and fat fall wherever they may, but I do not restrict fat content. Not worried about low-carb because I like my fruits and occasional treats too much. So I shoot for minimum protein and not worry about much else, other than calories of course. The only thing I mess with from time to time is fiber, mostly for regularity, not that I have ever been regular...ever.0
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