Plateaued With Heavy Exercise. Troubleshooting?
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So there IS progress here, but I'm not yet familiar enough to know how to really translate that. I'm going to research.
This is how you translate it. Losing inches is more important than what's on the scale. Or, you know, if your goal was to gain weight/inches.
Also, you seem to be taking some of the advice on here personally. These people have found success and are just trying to put out there things you might not have considered. Take the advice or leave it but they have a lot of posts for a reason.20 -
My point in responding was to help you. As people helped me when I started out - when things I thought I knew turned out to be incorrect....
Take free advice given in good faith or discard it - entirely your choice. You asked for help because you aren't getting the results you expect, you stated many things that are simply incorrect, I thought it was helpful to point out those inaccuracies. I'm very chilled thanks, doesn't spoil my day in any way if my advice is ignored.
The process is more simple than you believe and more in your control than you believe.
Good luck.
BTW - the book The Chimp Paradox would be a very good read for you. It gives a great insight as to how our minds work and tools to improve those aspects that need work (the struggles you mention).
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My point in responding was to help you. As people helped me when I started out - when things I thought I knew turned out to be incorrect....
Take free advice given in good faith or discard it - entirely your choice. You asked for help because you aren't getting the results you expect, you stated many things that are simply incorrect, I thought it was helpful to point out those inaccuracies. I'm very chilled thanks, doesn't spoil my day in any way if my advice is ignored.
The process is more simple than you believe and more in your control than you believe.
Good luck.
BTW - the book The Chimp Paradox would be a very good read for you. It gives a great insight as to how our minds work and tools to improve those aspects that need work (the struggles you mention).
I'm advising that you may be scaring off people instead of helping. Personally, I can handle that.
A year ago I wouldn't have been able to say the same thing.
Take THAT advice how you will, as you advise me to do with yours.23 -
So OP, since you don't seem satisfied with the responses you're getting, I'll boil it down to this - if you haven't lost weight for more than 4 weeks, you're eating too much. Full stop. Otherwise you would be defying the laws of physics.
Chances are either your food logging is off or your exercise calories are off. If you feel like all your numbers are correct, get a check up and see if you have any medical conditions that might be dragging down your TDEE.
It's generally a good idea to not infer tone into posts, it can be difficult to type and read tone accurately. Everyone who posted a response to you was trying to help you, as we do for lots of others, and I was genuinely surprised you took offense. You've gotten about as much guidance as internet strangers can give you. Best of luck.31 -
So OP, since you don't seem satisfied with the responses you're getting, I'll boil it down to this - if you haven't lost weight for more than 4 weeks, you're eating too much. Full stop. Otherwise you would be defying the laws of physics.
Chances are either your food logging is off or your exercise calories are off. If you feel like all your numbers are correct, get a check up and see if you have any medical conditions that might be dragging down your TDEE.
It's generally a good idea to not infer tone into posts, it can be difficult to type and read tone accurately. Everyone who posted a response to you was trying to help you, as we do for lots of others, and I was genuinely surprised you took offense. You've gotten about as much guidance as internet strangers can give you. Best of luck.
I'm not offended, I'm acknowledging that I would have been earlier in my journey and it would have prevented me from asking for advice. That in and of itself is pretty important information, especially if someone doesn't realize that it reads that way. I'm undereducated in this, and have taken a bunch of advice from this thread. I'm trying to point out in posts when I do that or don't understand something
*shrug*14 -
The biggest takeaway I've got here is that my calorie burning estimates are likely WAY off, and adjusting my intake to accomodate that incorrect deficit is probably a big part of what is going on.
Did a little research.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-fitness-tracker-accuracy/how-good-are-activity-trackers-at-counting-calories-burned-idUSKBN18L2OZ2 -
I'm going to read up a bit more to see what an appropriate adjustment from daily normal intake would be considering the previously posted equation for calories burned while running. Sometimes feels like reinventing the wheel.1
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My point in responding was to help you. As people helped me when I started out - when things I thought I knew turned out to be incorrect....
Take free advice given in good faith or discard it - entirely your choice. You asked for help because you aren't getting the results you expect, you stated many things that are simply incorrect, I thought it was helpful to point out those inaccuracies. I'm very chilled thanks, doesn't spoil my day in any way if my advice is ignored.
The process is more simple than you believe and more in your control than you believe.
Good luck.
BTW - the book The Chimp Paradox would be a very good read for you. It gives a great insight as to how our minds work and tools to improve those aspects that need work (the struggles you mention).
Also, for the record, I totally am on board with the whole 'fat burn zone' being BS.
Part of why I was surprised to not see results with a concerted effort to raise and keep my heart rate up.
Probably best choice is to figure a better way (including the above equation) to calculate my calories burned myself instead of relying on the fitbit.
But this is me thinking out loud.
Actually, know what? I think I'm going to start a new thread on that specific topic.
I've bogged this one down with at least partially unnecessary 'tude and multiple self replies.
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Yes, calories burns from exercise are often overstated. Doesn't matter whether it's from fitness machines, apps like map my run (that one's notorious for it), this database or fitbit for many people. Just to give you an example. I went on a small, slow cycle ride on Sunday. 83km sounds like a lot, but if you just cycle about and enjoy the weather, stop every now and then to take a photo, and have lunch somewhere it isn't. My fitbit gave me 1800kcal for that. I'm a smallish, normal weight woman. If I use strava's estimate for power, distance and weight then I probably end up at 800kcal. Now imagine I did this more often, and ate those 1800kcal in addition that Fitbit gave me.6
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Yes, calories burns from exercise are often overstated. Doesn't matter whether it's from fitness machines, apps like map my run (that one's notorious for it), this database or fitbit for many people. Just to give you an example. I went on a small, slow cycle ride on Sunday. 83km sounds like a lot, but if you just cycle about and enjoy the weather, stop every now and then to take a photo, and have lunch somewhere it isn't. My fitbit gave me 1800kcal for that. I'm a smallish, normal weight woman. If I use strava's estimate for power, distance and weight then I probably end up at 800kcal. Now imagine I did this more often, and ate those 1800kcal in addition that Fitbit gave me.
I want to discuss this more, and it looks like you can probably help. I'm starting a new thread, if you wouldn't mind following me to it.1 -
IDeserveBetter wrote: »Yes, calories burns from exercise are often overstated. Doesn't matter whether it's from fitness machines, apps like map my run (that one's notorious for it), this database or fitbit for many people. Just to give you an example. I went on a small, slow cycle ride on Sunday. 83km sounds like a lot, but if you just cycle about and enjoy the weather, stop every now and then to take a photo, and have lunch somewhere it isn't. My fitbit gave me 1800kcal for that. I'm a smallish, normal weight woman. If I use strava's estimate for power, distance and weight then I probably end up at 800kcal. Now imagine I did this more often, and ate those 1800kcal in addition that Fitbit gave me.
I want to discuss this more, and it looks like you can probably help. I'm starting a new thread, if you wouldn't mind following me to it.
Not sure, I'm just a data geek sheep
But I'll have a look tomorrow morning (off to bed now). 1 -
Hello again Something I do (that is completely unscientific) is to only eat back a proportion of my exercise calories. I briskly walk 2.5 miles twice a day over hilly terrain thanks to owning dogs which at my lard level means I "could be" burning around 450 calories. I then do other exercise on top of that most days but I only give myself half of the dog walking calories in extra nibbles. Keeps things simple.
Also, this may just be me, but the less sugar in my diet, the more direct correlation there is between my net calories and weight loss - gets a bit weirdy with diet drinks too. Worth noting though that I still have a load of chub to lose which may explain the impact of sugar.
Well done on the inch reduction and good luck moving forward !
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IDeserveBetter wrote: »My point in responding was to help you. As people helped me when I started out - when things I thought I knew turned out to be incorrect....
Take free advice given in good faith or discard it - entirely your choice. You asked for help because you aren't getting the results you expect, you stated many things that are simply incorrect, I thought it was helpful to point out those inaccuracies. I'm very chilled thanks, doesn't spoil my day in any way if my advice is ignored.
The process is more simple than you believe and more in your control than you believe.
Good luck.
BTW - the book The Chimp Paradox would be a very good read for you. It gives a great insight as to how our minds work and tools to improve those aspects that need work (the struggles you mention).
Also, for the record, I totally am on board with the whole 'fat burn zone' being BS.
Part of why I was surprised to not see results with a concerted effort to raise and keep my heart rate up.
Probably best choice is to figure a better way (including the above equation) to calculate my calories burned myself instead of relying on the fitbit.
But this is me thinking out loud.
Actually, know what? I think I'm going to start a new thread on that specific topic.
I've bogged this one down with at least partially unnecessary 'tude and multiple self replies.
What you actually wrote was "I understand that once you hit a peak, you stop burning calories despite what my Fitbit versa might record".
If you had mentioned fat burn zones my response would have addressed that subject instead. Remember people can only respond to what you actually write and not what you intended to write.
You would do better to estimate your running calories from physics rather than HR - or at least validate one method against the other.
On level ground running net calories estimates can be reasonable from using bodyweight in pounds X miles run X (efficeincy ratio) 0.63
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Hi OP, I just wanted to second the comment you received about being aware that a big running effort can be countered by (potentially subconscious) inactivity during the rest of the day. If you used to be big into your walking and you were also quite active in the rest of the day, you may have been burning similar to what you are now that you’ve switched to running. (Not sure if I’ve explained that very well...).
Also, please do take on board the advice to weigh all your foods, it’s very surprising if you do. Even pre-packaged foods are legally allowed to be 20% higher (or indeed lower) in their calorie count. That would likely wipe out some people’s deficit in itself. If nothing else, humour us for a few weeks and give it a whirl? What’s the worst that can happen? I bet you’ll find some things that genuinely surprise you and tightening these up will help in the long term.12 -
IDeserveBetter wrote: »My point in responding was to help you. As people helped me when I started out - when things I thought I knew turned out to be incorrect....
Take free advice given in good faith or discard it - entirely your choice. You asked for help because you aren't getting the results you expect, you stated many things that are simply incorrect, I thought it was helpful to point out those inaccuracies. I'm very chilled thanks, doesn't spoil my day in any way if my advice is ignored.
The process is more simple than you believe and more in your control than you believe.
Good luck.
BTW - the book The Chimp Paradox would be a very good read for you. It gives a great insight as to how our minds work and tools to improve those aspects that need work (the struggles you mention).
Also, for the record, I totally am on board with the whole 'fat burn zone' being BS.
Part of why I was surprised to not see results with a concerted effort to raise and keep my heart rate up.
Probably best choice is to figure a better way (including the above equation) to calculate my calories burned myself instead of relying on the fitbit.
But this is me thinking out loud.
Actually, know what? I think I'm going to start a new thread on that specific topic.
I've bogged this one down with at least partially unnecessary 'tude and multiple self replies.
What you actually wrote was "I understand that once you hit a peak, you stop burning calories despite what my Fitbit versa might record".
If you had mentioned fat burn zones my response would have addressed that subject instead. Remember people can only respond to what you actually write and not what you intended to write.
You would do better to estimate your running calories from physics rather than HR - or at least validate one method against the other.
On level ground running net calories estimates can be reasonable from using bodyweight in pounds X miles run X (efficeincy ratio) 0.63
Nah, you mentioned the fat burn zone thing in a later post and I didn't feel like dredging up the exact post to quote. That is where I got that11 -
sarabushby wrote: »Hi OP, I just wanted to second the comment you received about being aware that a big running effort can be countered by (potentially subconscious) inactivity during the rest of the day. If you used to be big into your walking and you were also quite active in the rest of the day, you may have been burning similar to what you are now that you’ve switched to running. (Not sure if I’ve explained that very well...).
Also, please do take on board the advice to weigh all your foods, it’s very surprising if you do. Even pre-packaged foods are legally allowed to be 20% higher (or indeed lower) in their calorie count. That would likely wipe out some people’s deficit in itself. If nothing else, humour us for a few weeks and give it a whirl? What’s the worst that can happen? I bet you’ll find some things that genuinely surprise you and tightening these up will help in the long term.
I will try to get in the habit of weighing things more.
Part of this is growing pains in attempting to slowly add more and more things into my daily routine so that they become habit. Logging at all used to be quite the chore.
Not that it matters to the exact point of the thread, but I'm actually a widow with three young children, so it can be pretty hard to develop healthy habits for time constraints and daily responsibilities alone. The ones that I've established are kind of bordering on herculean efforts already. Not to diminish other people's experiences, this is just a snapshot of my own. Part of why I'm so focused on readings and calculations. It feels concrete, and doable once I become adept enough to use any specific tool accurately.4 -
I imagine the general concensus would be that this is an overly complex equation for the same thing?
[(Age x 0.2017) + (Weight x 0.09036) + (Heart Rate x 0.6309) - 55.0969] x Time / 4.184}
"On level ground running net calories estimates can be reasonable from using bodyweight in pounds X miles run X (efficeincy ratio) 0.63"1 -
From someone who has spent a lot of time trying to be very accurate (and who still does so compared to most).
You don't need to be in order to see results. You do need to be consistent. AND adjust based on your body's feedback.12 -
You've changed your exercise. That can cause water retention. It can also cause compensation with reduction to your NEAT if you're more tired.
Your inches may or may not be real. Hopefully they are. I find it harder to measure than get on a scale.5 -
IDeserveBetter wrote: »IDeserveBetter wrote: »My point in responding was to help you. As people helped me when I started out - when things I thought I knew turned out to be incorrect....
Take free advice given in good faith or discard it - entirely your choice. You asked for help because you aren't getting the results you expect, you stated many things that are simply incorrect, I thought it was helpful to point out those inaccuracies. I'm very chilled thanks, doesn't spoil my day in any way if my advice is ignored.
The process is more simple than you believe and more in your control than you believe.
Good luck.
BTW - the book The Chimp Paradox would be a very good read for you. It gives a great insight as to how our minds work and tools to improve those aspects that need work (the struggles you mention).
Also, for the record, I totally am on board with the whole 'fat burn zone' being BS.
Part of why I was surprised to not see results with a concerted effort to raise and keep my heart rate up.
Probably best choice is to figure a better way (including the above equation) to calculate my calories burned myself instead of relying on the fitbit.
But this is me thinking out loud.
Actually, know what? I think I'm going to start a new thread on that specific topic.
I've bogged this one down with at least partially unnecessary 'tude and multiple self replies.
What you actually wrote was "I understand that once you hit a peak, you stop burning calories despite what my Fitbit versa might record".
If you had mentioned fat burn zones my response would have addressed that subject instead. Remember people can only respond to what you actually write and not what you intended to write.
You would do better to estimate your running calories from physics rather than HR - or at least validate one method against the other.
On level ground running net calories estimates can be reasonable from using bodyweight in pounds X miles run X (efficeincy ratio) 0.63
Nah, you mentioned the fat burn zone thing in a later post and I didn't feel like dredging up the exact post to quote. That is where I got that
Untrue.
8
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