Confession from someone that can't lose weight.

wellbert

Yep.

I was one of those special snowflakes.

I used several popular sites to calculate my TDEE/BMR, all that whosit.

At 6'7, 233lbs, 32 year old male I came up with: 2900 calories TDEE 2300 calories BMR.

I ate back all my excercise calories (heart rate monitor) and netted a "loss" of 500 calories consistently at a minimum.
But here's the funny thing - I slowly started to gain weight.

So I convinced myself, by reading other's experiences, that I wasn't eating /enough./ and started eating at only a 200 calorie deficit.

I got fatter, faster.

At that point, I did what most people in my situation do: Cried like a little baby on the forums about being a magical unicorn that can't lose weight.


I messed around with PSMF and Paleo/Primal, but was never able to stick to it. Though they usually showed a little bit of a loss.

I looked everywhere for excuses. Thyroid test, hormone tests...

But then I said: Screw it. I upped my calories to 3500 a day and started lifting even harder. I did some programs with some incredible volume. Now, my recovery was great, but I gained weight like crazy, up and over 260lbs.

A little over 260, I got a little disgusted with myself. I read some articles from Lyle Mcdonald (Macdonald?) about how everyone, in a controlled environment, will lose weight in a deficit.



And like Tom Venuto and others said. Something in the math is wrong.

So I set out to lose weight again.

I knew my rate of fat gain at 3500 calories a day, so I based weight loss on that. I stopped eating most of my exercise calories back. In 3 weeks, I'm down from over 260 to around 250. (I had a couple bad days recently, but.)... It turns out I needed less calories than I thought I did. Also, maybe I wasn't tracking things perfectly? Now I track everything 100%. Every bit of oil or butter I cook with, ever piece of candy I eat.

I'm careful with it. I'm testing levels where I can still feel great during the day, but see a loss at the end of the week.

So if I seem a little pushy, or even harsh, when people say 'they can't lose weight.' Well, it's because BTDT.


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tl;dr: i used results on the scale to determine my weight gain/loss calorie intake, and gave up on using calculators and started losing weight again.

Hendrix7

so what calorie intake are you losing weight on in the end?

wellbert

so what calorie intake are you losing weight on in the end?

Around 1800-2100 gross caloric intake. I'll eat some of my exercise calories back if I feel like I'm not getting enough recovery from my exercise.

florymonde

Good on you for having the patience to figure it out! We're all so different, at 6'7", you know you're not going to fit the standard charts. I think MFP's recommendations are a good starting point for most of us (especially people like me who have more than a few pounds to lose). But, if you're very close to goal, highly athletic, of unusual build or metabolism, then you're just going to have to experiment to find out what works!

cwolfman13

Congrats OP....Yup, I generally find that when someone isn't losing weight on a "deficit" it is because they're not really at a deficit. I think people instinctively want to cheat themselves when they're starting out...bad math and/or setting themselves up as lightly active when in reality, they're sedintary...or lightly active but they also log their 1/2 hr walks in the park and eat those calories back...not logging everything 100%...using way too many guestimates, etc. Not sure why people do this to themselves, but it's probably a certain element of fear when you look at that net calorie goal for the first time...and then you don't want it to go red so you don't log that extra 1/4 cup of blue berries or whatever. They're all kind of little things, but as is usually the case, it's the little things that make all the difference.

Congrats to you and keep up the good work.

sheleen302

Good for you, Wellbert. Persistence, patience and flexibility. Like most people on MFP, I love the idea of being able to eat more to lose more,--it does NOT work for me. Tried it, and found out for myself. Recently read that as little as 28 cals a day over TDEE for someone my height (5') can cause a 4.5lb gain in a years time. That's how closely I have to monitor my intake--totally understand about logging everything. I also don't eat excercise cals back unless I need to.

wellbert

thanks