ARGH! This doesn't seem to be working!!

rowdylibrarian

Okay, I'm totally on board with the idea of not eating 1200 (or less!) calories a day. What I have been doing doesn't seem to be working, though. Of course, in asking my friends, their first answer is "Eat less!" or "You are eating between 1400-1500 calories a DAY and expecting to lose weight???" I'm sorry to post another numbers question, but I'm really not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Quick stats: 39 years old, female, 63 inches, 158 pounds, 38% body fat (how embarrassing) Goal weight ~125

(Note: At the gym, they measured my body fat with a handheld thing that looked a bit like a PS3 remote, and it came up with 36% bf, which differs from the military fat calculator, but I'll go with the higher number and be happily surprised if it's lower.)

Harris Benedict BMR: 1454
Katch-McArdle BMR: 1299 with a lean body mass of 95 pounds
Scooby BMR: 1445

My average TDEE (according to my Fitbit) is around 2000 with weekly averages for the last three weeks being 1897, 2045, and 2058

I dropped around 5 pounds in the first three weeks on MFP on 1200 calories. Then I got a Fitbit, so I could figure out my TDEE much more accurately. At that point, (July 1st) I was around 155. Then:

Week of July 1-7: Burned 13,281, ate 10,061 = deficit of 3,220--weight 156
Week of July 8-14: Burned 14,315, ate 10,269 = deficit of 4046--weight 158
Week of July 15-21: Burned 14,405, ate 10,522 = deficit of 3883--weight 158

I haven’t finished this full week in my calculations yet, but I’m eating similarly, and still sitting at or a bit below 158 lbs.
Last three complete Sun-Sat weeks: Burned 42,001, ate 30,852 = deficit of 11,149

Since July 1: Burned 51,711, ate 37,795 = deficit of 13,916, have GAINED 3 pounds, instead of losing 4, (according to the approximate formula of losing one pound per every -3500 calories). This doesn’t seem to be adding up.

I’m eating an average of 1,453 per day, exercising off an average of 325 per day (usually by walking 4-5 times per week). I’ve had no measurable changes in inches. What am I doing wrong??????

Thank you ever so much!

Elizabeth

Susan923

I snooped and looked at your diary from this week and I think I know how you can do better to suceed.
Although you are getting your correct goal calories, I don't think you are using the food the way your body needs. I would work on eating real clean. Food the way nature intended it, meaning if you can recognize where it originally came from then eat it. Also its very important to fuel your body throughout the day to keep your metabolism running at its highest level. I would eat breakfast soon after you wake up and then fuel your body with nice healthy food every 3 or 4 hours througout the day.

With your exercise I would do cardio several times a week (which means whatever you are doing, you are breathing nice and heavy not being able to hold a conversation) Also it's important to changing your body to add strength training in. Increasing muscle is the magic key that most people forget. So add a nice muscle workout 2-3 times a week.
Good luck!! :-)

rowdylibrarian

I totally encourage the snooping! I should say, however, that this has been a very, very weird week, food-wise, due to being a little bit sick, and a couple of meals out, including our anniversary dinner. The week before was probably a little more typical, if you don't mind clicking a smidge farther back in the snooping!

bsinno

IT DOES WORK. not because of magic or luck but because ITS THE SAME SCIENCE BEHIND EATING 1200 OR LESS A DAY.

I am still eating a deficit from my TDEE at 1700 cals a day, its just a smaller, healthier deficit

calories in < calories out = weight loss

but when you make the jump your body needs time to adjust and trust that this isn't some random binge. I would give it a full month before messing with any numbers.

HeidiHoMom

It really does take time for your body to adjust and I am thinking you should look into doing a reset.

mishkat

I looked at your diary, last week as you said that's more typical. I found you have high sodium almost every day. I didn't see water tracked. Are you drinking at least 8 glasses a day? With all that sodium , any weight loss is being masked by the water retention. You may in fact have lost some weight but all that sodium is masking your progress. Do your best to keep sodium low this coming week. I mean low as in less than 2k everyday not to have 10g of sodium under and think that's good enough. also drink lots of water, it helps so much!

Btw, I'm on my phone so I can't go search and link studies ATM but the whole eating every 3 hrs to keep your metabolism is crap, same as having to eat 6 meals a day crap. So don't put unnecessary stress on your daily routine thinking you must do that.

Susan923

Yeah I looked back through the whole month of July and saw pretty much the same thing. If you could try and eat a more natural clean diet to get your calories from the day I think you will see great results. Think about food to fuel your body, blood, muscles, mind ect.
If you spend 400 calories on 2 slices of pizza, it will not do your body as well as it would if you eat a great large salad and some meat with a nice whole grain bread would. At least for me, when I eat healthy I feel healthy and energetic. If I go 6 hours without eating and then eat pizza or a pot sticker I would feel tired and lazy. That's why any health professional will tell you to eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day of nice clean food.

You will get many different people on here giving you lots of different advice. I am not a professional and all I can tell you is what I do in my life. I am 41 years old 5'3 1/2" , 125lbs and a size 2-4. It may be crap to others but I am pretty happy with my results. So for me the advice I give you is what I personally do and what works for me. You have to take all of the advice and do what will work for you in your life. :-)

maltipink

The same thing happened to me when I got a body media fit. It was telling me that I was burning 2500 . I was eating 1700 and was gaining weight! What I learned from joining the EM2WL group is that your metabolism gets damaged when eating VLC diets for a long time, which I had been doing for years. When you eat VLC, your body creates a "new" maintenance number of calories. It learns to survive and maintain weight at very few calories. What I had to do was bump my calories up to what my maintenance should be according to my BMF (2500). Initially my body did not like it and there was an initial weight gain. Now, I have been eating 2500 for 4 weeks and I am no longer gaining. In fact, this week I lost a pound! My body now understands what my real maintenance calories are. If you come from a VLCD, It is suggested that you stay at maintenance for 6-8 weeks before you cut. I am so much happier now. I can actually eat! I starved myself for so long and now I don't have to. The possibility of a gain during a metabolic reset is a small set back in order to get a HUGE reward!