Not losing

stuarta99
stuarta99 Posts: 93 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so the first week but doing this I lost potentially 2-3lb although I didn't technically way before I started, just know what I was a couple of weeks ago.

Since then I've been about 200 calories under everyday when I take into account my steps feed from Google Fit. I'm due to weigh tomorrow but at the moment it doesn't look like I'm going to lose anything.

I guess there will be weeks when you don't lose
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Replies

  • stuarta99
    stuarta99 Posts: 93 Member
    Ok thanks. Just case of knowing what I'm doing is correct I guess. I've got a goal of 1500 and earn couple hundred from steps each day and fall short by about 100-200 each day.

    Definitely make me think more about what I eat
  • serindipte
    serindipte Posts: 1,557 Member
    Assuming your male?
    How old are you? What is you current weight and height? 1500 is the bare minimum for men, so you don't need to be under that every day.
  • scarlett_k
    scarlett_k Posts: 812 Member
    If you didn't weigh when you started then you've no way of really knowing.
  • stuarta99
    stuarta99 Posts: 93 Member
    Ok so I'm 43, 5ft 7 and currently weighing 11st. My weight had been pretty consistent for a long time at 11st 2-3 so that's what I started with
  • stuarta99
    stuarta99 Posts: 93 Member
    Just been playing with the goals because I've only set it to lose 2lbs/week and a target of 10st 5. If I put it to maintain weight I have a goal of 1950 calories
  • poisonesse
    poisonesse Posts: 573 Member
    Well, you won't know for sure until you weigh in... remember, it's hard to see a few pound loss in the mirror. But quick question... do you log everything that passes your lips? And do you weigh your food, versus eye-ball the serving sizes or use the "serving size" on the food labels? Believe it or not, a one cup dry measure can weigh over or under the listed gram size, compared to another measuring cup. For instance, I have one measuring cup that is suppose to measure 1/2 cup... but it actually holds 5 ounces weighed, instead of 4. Those inaccurate measures can lead to a very frustrating weight loss experience. 😉
  • stuarta99
    stuarta99 Posts: 93 Member
    poisonesse wrote: »
    Well, you won't know for sure until you weigh in... remember, it's hard to see a few pound loss in the mirror. But quick question... do you log everything that passes your lips? And do you weigh your food, versus eye-ball the serving sizes or use the "serving size" on the food labels? Believe it or not, a one cup dry measure can weigh over or under the listed gram size, compared to another measuring cup. For instance, I have one measuring cup that is suppose to measure 1/2 cup... but it actually holds 5 ounces weighed, instead of 4. Those inaccurate measures can lead to a very frustrating weight loss experience. 😉

    Pretty much weigh everything or take from what it says on the packet and if anything I'm probably over budgeting rather than under.

    As long as my calorie goal is correct for my stats. Not doing any exercise but for instance today I'm on

    1500 - 996 food - 88 exercise (346 steps) leaving 1042. That's taking into account roast pork and frozen roast potatoes. Will have to eat some more but normally ending the day about 100-200 short.
  • stuarta99
    stuarta99 Posts: 93 Member
    edited February 2020
    Ok thanks so what's the suggestion? Stay at 1500 goal? Can't imagine I could eat enough to do the 1950 goal of maintaining
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    You’ve indicated you’ve set MFP to lose weight. If that’s the case, you should not be trying to leave additional calories at the end of the day because your deficit is built in.

    1200 calories/day is as low as MFP will go for calories for women. You might not lose 2 pounds per week as the calories to achieve that might be lower. 2 pounds a week is pretty aggressive and is often too much for many folks, we just pick it because we want to lose the weight as fast as possible. I started out that way.

    And it’s about more than not being hungry. It’s about getting adequate nutrition (which includes calories, vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc.).
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    stuarta99 wrote: »
    poisonesse wrote: »
    Well, you won't know for sure until you weigh in... remember, it's hard to see a few pound loss in the mirror. But quick question... do you log everything that passes your lips? And do you weigh your food, versus eye-ball the serving sizes or use the "serving size" on the food labels? Believe it or not, a one cup dry measure can weigh over or under the listed gram size, compared to another measuring cup. For instance, I have one measuring cup that is suppose to measure 1/2 cup... but it actually holds 5 ounces weighed, instead of 4. Those inaccurate measures can lead to a very frustrating weight loss experience. 😉

    Pretty much weigh everything or take from what it says on the packet and if anything I'm probably over budgeting rather than under.

    As long as my calorie goal is correct for my stats. Not doing any exercise but for instance today I'm on

    1500 - 996 food - 88 exercise (346 steps) leaving 1042. That's taking into account roast pork and frozen roast potatoes. Will have to eat some more but normally ending the day about 100-200 short.

    The 88 exercise calories for 346 steps seems high to me. I get 250-300 for 10,000 steps and I am set at sedentary.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,240 Member
    The calculation there doesn't make sense to me @Psychgrrl or involves a double adjustment for exercise and steps (as opposed to that being the number of steps).

    In any case Google fit would be a tdee adjustment. (And Google fit for me is incredibly innacurate and underestimates my calories by over 17%!!)

    Also I thought op is male?

    To the op. If you're weighing outside the house you will have a hard time seeing this more changes you need to make to slowly trend towards your desired weight.

    Based on what you've said you ought to be aiming to lose about half to a quarter pound per week. Which corresponds to creating a deficit of 500 to 250 Cal a day.

    Your mfp goal already includes your selected deficit. It does not include the exercise you said you were going to do.
    It does include the activity level you selected. However you selecting it does not make that an accurate activity level! To log accurately you probably need to weigh your food. I do not necessarily think that you *need* to log with complete accuracy in order to effectively create the mild caloric deficit you need to create in order to slowly trend towards your desired weight.

    Your weight trend shows you your weight level. Single samples taken a week apart have a harder time showing you your trend since any one of them could be an atypical low or high
  • stuarta99
    stuarta99 Posts: 93 Member
    Never taken any notice and just wanted to get some weight down a bit and thought I would give this a go and just set the figure as a default really to see what happens and to monitor what I'm eating. My weight had stayed stable at that level for a while. Also trying to be motivation for my wife as well to start.

    Sounds as though that what I was eating still had some margin in it before I would put on weight and as mentioned it really doesn't feel I've altered much because when weighing portions, it's pretty much portions we have anyway. I feel I've eaten sufficiently today and even a couple of chocolates tonight and still 180 calories under when taking into account the extra that's been added.

    With regards the steps and exercise, it's just what Google Fit is bringing across, now at 879 steps with 185 calories.

    I guess I just leave it like this a couple of weeks and see what happens.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,240 Member
    The typical advice is to use four to six week intervals and monitor how many calories out and calories in you have logged and how your weight trend has changed over that time frame. The time frame is so as to include a full monthly cycle for women, males may be able to get meaningful results in 3 weeks.

    Each one pound change in weight trend is assumed to be about 3,500 calories of energy imbalance.

    You compare expected results to actual and adjust!
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,240 Member
    The number of steps seems suitable for someone who has not left the house today. Is this the case or are your steps underestimated?
  • stuarta99
    stuarta99 Posts: 93 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    The number of steps seems suitable for someone who has not left the house today. Is this the case or are your steps underestimated?

    Yep thanks to Dennis I never left the house
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    The typical advice is to use four to six week intervals and monitor how many calories out and calories in you have logged and how your weight trend has changed over that time frame. The time frame is so as to include a full monthly cycle for women, males may be able to get meaningful results in 3 weeks.

    Each one pound change in weight trend is assumed to be about 3,500 calories of energy imbalance.

    You compare expected results to actual and adjust!

    I'll just give it a few more weeks which I was going to so anyway and see what happens. Can feel that I've lost some off my waist which was the main aim to lose a couple inches.

    Just adjusted to 0.5lb and gives me a target of 1700. With extra exercise I can't see I'm ever going to eat that amount. Clearly I was eating better than I previously thought.
  • stuarta99
    stuarta99 Posts: 93 Member
    Think I need to get eating. Still based on my 1500 goal I've eaten 442 calories and then 182 exercise from 1297 steps. Normally only average about 800 for dinner. Don't feel particularly hungry but from what we are saying I need to eat anyway
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,240 Member
    At this stage I would look for a better "exercise correction" than what google fit is giving you.

    MFP sedentary level includes an allowance for self care activities. Generally we would assume that the first 3-3500 steps you take will already be included in that allowance!

    On the face of it getting additional calories for a total of less than 3K steps doesn't make much sense and would usually be an indication of an error somewhere (setup stats or times, integration issue, something else)

    That said... think about it: You've eaten 442 Calories today.

    The government of Canada thinks that as a male you will GENERALLY SPEAKING expend approximately:

    Men
    EER = 662 - (9.53 x age [y]) + PA x { (15.91 x weight [kg]) + (539.6 x height [m]) }

    So for me: EER = 662 - (9.53x 54) + (1.48x 1117.9) + (539.6 x 1.7225) = 2731
    By experience I will tell you that for me this is within the ball-park, but probably low by 150-200 Calories.

    Based on your activity factor as you describe it, (Typical daily living activities such as household tasks and walking to the bus) the equation for you would be:
    EER = 662 - (9.53 x age [y]) + 1.0 x { (15.91 x weight [kg]) + (539.6 x height [m]) }

    To change that 1.0 into a 1.11 you would need to move up to: (Typical daily living activities PLUS 30-60 minutes of daily moderate activity (ex walking at 5-7km / h)

    https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/healthy-eating/dietary-reference-intakes/tables.html#rhw

    A more automated approach might be found at a TDEE calculator site such as: https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

    In either case, if you're counting your intake accurately, 1300 Calories for the day would be significantly lower than most of the estimates out there, in terms of what a male should eat in order to not be hungry!

    How much protein and fat and fiber and carbs are you getting with your 1300 Cal?

    And, as mentioned, none of this matters, as what matters is the interaction of what you do with your weight trend and you can adjust behaviour solely on the basis of that trend once you have sufficient data.
  • stuarta99
    stuarta99 Posts: 93 Member
    edited February 2020
    ok thanks, so stick to the 1500 (although if we saying I shouldn't be set to 1 or 2lbs loss and I put it back to 0.5lb then it adjusts to 1690) ignoring the steps. I can't see anything in the Google Fit settings to make it wrong but might be trying a Fitbit Flex 2.

    To be honest last night was bad night and ended up with McDonalds so had 42%/50%, 43%/30% Fat, 15%/20% Protein. I ended on 304 exercise for 1971 steps and ate 1831. Looking back at the past week my Carb's average 50%, Fat 30% and Protein around 20%

    I see the sailrabbit website shows my average BMR at 1553, TDEE at 1863 and on 1lb/week loss a calorie deficit of 500 and total of 1553.

    I'll get some more weeks under my belt and see what happens.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,240 Member
    Just as a point of information, I screwed up the brackets above, and the equation comes in at about +400 Cal in my case which means it over-estimates me as opposed to underestimate by the amount I had stated.

    In terms of deficit, you are correctly getting that you want your deficit to be off your TDEE.

    In general, though, as a male, you don't want your eating calories to be below 1500. If nothing else, you have to account for about 0.8g to 1g of protein per lb of weight within the normal range... so that by itself usually takes care of a good 5 to 600 Cal for most males.

    In any case, regardless of the goal you had selected (2lbs a week), your TDEE is not high enough for you to pursue such a goal without dipping below the minimum of 1500 Cal a day for males. As such your goal became 1500, which in your case with a TDEE around 1900 is expected to result in a loss of a bit less than 1lb a week.

    Which is actually a fine goal, assuming your TDEE really is at that level!

    While I am perfectly willing to believe that your TDEE is higher than 1900, and that's what Google Fit implies with the adjustment, the information you've given about the number of steps you take and the lack of any mention of other exercise activity makes me very hesitant to believe that you're expending calories above the sedentary level!

    Your strategy of doing all this and re-evaluation is A1--by far the best and only way to have real answer!

    Looking forward to seeing you announce your success!!!

    Cheers.
  • stuarta99
    stuarta99 Posts: 93 Member
    ok thanks @PAV8888 so in other words I'm doing everything correctly and I need to hit my 1500 goal calories and any extra that I earn from exercise?
  • stuarta99
    stuarta99 Posts: 93 Member
    If I am doing it correctly, I guess I might be in the window of not eating enough to lose? I don't feel that my eating patterns have changed and therefore I was never eating anywhere near the 1940 it suggests to maintain weight
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,240 Member
    I am basing my answer on your evaluation of yourself as sedentary. With the corroborating evidence that you usually log less than 3500 steps a day.

    Under these conditions your expected TDEE seems to be in the 1875 to 1950 range (sailrabbit using an activity factor of 1.2; MFP using 1.26

    Any exercise beyond your sedentary level (of about 3500 steps/about an hour of moving around in a day) should be added on top. Anything below is already included.

    An adjustment from Google fit for a few hundred steps does not make any sense when your total steps do not exceed 3-3500.

    Please note that you lose weight any time you are below TDEE. You don't have to be -450 below every day. A maintenance day like you had yesterday is perfectly acceptable.

    You've never detailed how you weigh yourself but with small caloric deficits water weight moves much faster than fat induced weight change.

    You will have a hard time figuring out your trend until you manage to gather sufficient weight samples collected under similar conditions

    A 400 Cal deficit is substantial given how little weight you have to lose and your current TDEE.

    Given that you're already within normal BMI, and given that you appear to be quite sedentary based on what you said, I would like to draw your attention to the WHO minimum exercise recommendations what you can find online

    You might actually derive more health benefits by implementing them even if this involves just a couple of 15-minute walks a day and some basic strength exercises. You may find this more beneficial than deliberately reducing your body weight.

    Give it a thought when you get a chance!

    And your one day of McDonald's doesn't really matter if most of your days meet your goals!
  • angelexperiment
    angelexperiment Posts: 1,917 Member
    It’s more about diet than exercise. Honestly portions are a big one. Are you weighing food? Doesn’t seem like a big thing I know but it is a more accurate estimate of calories than reading a food label or taking it off the database sometimes those are incorrect. It’s so important when you can’t figure why you aren’t losing it’s usually that my idea of a portion was not the what a actual portion would be. Mine was like 2x the amount ! Lol and reading good label portions before consumption! For example I like love chocolate granola I had a bowl without measuring and it was full 😂 a portion was a 1/3 cup. It ended up being I just ate 1000 calories 😟. Little things can be big things later was my lesson! And personally I never ate back my exercise calories when I could unless it was still very early in day or I was very short on calories or something
  • stuarta99
    stuarta99 Posts: 93 Member
    Oooh we, just gone to complete my diary for tonight and I've had a warning to say I've not eaten enough.

    I've eaten 371 for lunch, 515 for dinner, and 322 in snacks. It's added on 290 for 2348 steps so left me with 582. I think maybe I should turn off the steps

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