What am I doing incorrectly?

westrich20940

So...I'd highly recommend you re-calculate what your TDEE is (or your maintenance calories - however you want to measure that).

I used a TDEE cal (but don't know your age)...but even if you were sedentary (which you aren't), your maintenance calories would be ~1700...so you are in a 200 cal deficit.

All I can really tell you is that you are quite close to a healthy weight range anyway for your height...and with a 200 cal deficit, it will just be very slow - and all of those other things that can affect the scale will def affect it (water retention for example). I don't think you're doing anything 'wrong'.

sarabushby

It’s very likely your TDEE estimate is running a little high at 2050 for your current activity level.

Maybe using a ‘sedentary’ setting (1695) then adding exercise calories on the days you do more would show more accurately your likely daily deficit which is evidently less than you’d have hoped for in order to meet your preferred rate of loss.
Doing it this way may also encourage you to go out and take a longer walk or do some more exercise as you can see the difference it makes to how many calories you burn in a day.

Could you consider a Fitbit or other HRM activity tracker that links to MFP? It might be helpful for you.

PAV8888

You don't seem to be at a very high weight and you said as far as I can tell that your goal is t2 remission

I would suggest that a good strategy may be to figure out how soon after a meal (especially your 20% --- and trust me I am not judging, my dessert category hits 50% of my calories at times 🤪) anyway how soon your sugar levels spike.... and be out there doing at least moderate level exercise at that time.

I tend to do my 50% in a good way before or right after a hilly or fast walk. And in a bad for my health way when eating to try to stay awake 🤷‍♂️

It is not just weight but both weight and activity

If the activity you were doing is not to your liking you may want to look for something more compatible? 🤷‍♂️

Silly things like getting up every hour to get the blood flowing also count!

NanethAllen

@ameeters I have your same exact stats, and I also experienced rapid weight gain 1lb / week over the course of a year.

For additional context, this happened to me making the transition from 39 to 40. I had a very active, regular routine - treadmill at a 15 incline at 3-4 speed 30 mins, kettlebells, pilates 4-5 × week 45 mins to 1.5 hours, and what I thought was clean eating.

Here's what I've learned that's helped me to lose 1-2lbs per week with me fitting into previous clothes, several inches in my visceral body fat without losing muscle.

I hired a Dietician. They told me I was grossly underconsuming calories 1200-1300, and I was underconsuming protein and fiber with my workouts. I needed to be closer to 1600. I also needed to up my protein to at minimum to 120g.

She also told me my HIIT workouts were causing extreme inflammation with how often I went into the red with my heart rate. I was averaging around 150-175, and I needed to stay withing the 125-135 max range. If I did peak above that I needed to consciously wait until a lower rate before starting my next set.

She shared my genetic body map of what my body needed with my ratios of macros - 40% carbs / 30% fat / 30% protein.

The one change that had losing weight quickly was implementing a 14-hour fast, just that alone helped with losing 1lb / week.

What's helped accelerate it 2lbs / week is taking the probitic lactobacillus gasseri and Omega 3s. Really sticking to my percentages, and LOTS of protein, lots of legumes and fibrous vegetables.

I also have a sweet tooth, and one thing that helped me was eating Quest protein bars or Think protein bars when that craving would hit. These are low sugar 2-4g with 20-21g of protein. Also, limiting my fruit intake to max 1/2 cup per day.

Also, I'm paying more attention to my InBody scans (Dietician led) and inches lost than my weight. Body recomposition and weight can look totally different based on muscle mass.

Hope this helps!

cupcakesandproteinshakes

If you are binging/overeating once or twice a week then you are erasing your deficit. For me to lose the ‘last 10 pounds’ I had a deficit of 250 Cals week days then maintenance cals at the weekends. It took me a year to lose 10 pounds that way.

Sinisterbarbie1

I don’t mean for this to sound as tough love as this will, but the OP question is what am I doing incorrectly. Many of the answers above offer one idea, but it seems likely that there are multiple things going on.

First it sounds like you are close to your goal weight so in a zone where you have to be super careful in order to actually lose weight (and for some people even to maintain). Instead of weighing yourself regularly, and weighng and logging your food carefully and maintaining the exercise you have been doing to lose weight, it sounds like you
1. Stopped weighng yourself for a period of months (I am really sorry that you were feeling low and I hope you got help and feel better, but when I stop looking at how much I weigh that is already a sign of trouble)
2. are probably overestimating how many calories you are burning if you think you are at 2050 (I am taller than you and trying to GAIN muscle weight and my calories are set well below 2000 by a nutritionist as well as by the site)
3. not accurately weighing and logging the calories you are consuming, (you are probably eating over 1500)
4. regularly having “cheat days” (do you log those at all?) where you could be erasing your entire deficit assuming you have one,
5. Regularly eating lots of sugar heavy desserts as a T2 diabetic which will impact insulin need and other hormones perhaps in ways that are different than for non diabetics and may contribute to inability to manage weight. Besides trying to manage your sweet tooth you should probably be trying to stick to a low glycemic diet to get into remission. If you drink alcohol, you should stop.
6. On top of this you have cut back on cardio exercise (which is most likely to immediately burn calories)

Jacq_qui

As someone who also started re-tracking after christmas I know it took at least a month to get to the level of accuracy I was previously achieving. With hormones, covid, starting weight training again and other life things, I've literally only seen my first loss this week.

I always use sedentary calories though and add in any exercise afterwards. That to me is much more reliable. I know TDEE works for many people, but my life is seldom as consistent as TDEE requires.

ninerbuff

Are you counting accurately? Are you taking insulin?

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition