Calories In VS Calories Out Not Equal Weightloss??

Don't get discouraged, you might be holding water weight.

It is possible your not eating enough. My BMR is 1615 and if I burn say 500cals on that day, it means I need to eat 2115 cals just to net my BMR cals. Need to fuel your body for such expenditure of cals by exercise.

also you may be losing inches

There are a bunch of things from water retention to incorrect calorie amounts estimated from activity or calories consumed. I am guessing it would be water retention. For many people they can be in a calorie deficit for several weeks and not see a significant change on the scale, then suddenly for no apparent reason there is the "whoosh effect" (not my description by the way) and they lose a bunch of weight faster than their weekly calorie deficit would account for. If you have been measuring your food portions carefully, keep at it, the weight will come off, bur realize weight loss is not linear.

its same with me I have a deficit of 7000 calories a week which should be 2lb a week loss but generally i lose 1lb
the reasons being
1.BMR is an estimate
2.Fitbit estimates calorie burn using your BMR as a base rate so if thats wrong in first place so will the calorie burn fitbit says you reach

This is most likely the case. As the others say, it could be water as well. Weight loss is not linear.

Even weighing everything - can you be sure that the potato you just weighed definitely has the same calories as the batch last week that were picked earlier in the season, or even came from a different farm etc?

It's all one big 'fudge', but it does sound like you're on the right track even if the bathroom scales aren't being so kind.

The reason is because you're going off of what a fitbit says. Those things are not nearly as accurate as people believe and typically lead to overestimated daily burns.

I apologies for the long post but I didn't have a lot of info to go on. Here are something to look at:

1)One thing I read about the fitbit is that is a glorified pedometer. The problem with pedometers is it doesn't measure how much energy you put into take those steps (did you just lift you feet and put them back down or did you move your body and take a full step), how fast you did them, how your Heart rate. I have also heard that it can tell you your took a bunch of steps when you are just sitting the your car on your way somewhere. The calories estimates can be off greatly. (Please correct me if I'm wrong but these are the reason I decided not to buy this product)

2)Now on the flip side, are you estimating your food intake? Or are you measuring it out? If you have a huge calorie deficient and just want to lose weight, you aren't concerned with how fast then ball parking it might be ok. But if you have a very limited amount of calories to work with and/or are concentrating on how fast I strongly recommend getting some good measuring cups and a kitchen scale and be vigilant. I have found I have also helped me learn to estimate better for those occasions you don't have them (like at someone else's house for dinner).

3)Another thing to look at isn't just you BMR like Tracey suggested. This can be a problem, but going farther. What activity level do you have yourself listed as? As a rule of thumb if you want to enter it DO NOT include it in you estimate of your activity levels. Example, Let's say you have yourself listen as moderate activity level and you put yourself there because you are always on the move at work. Then you are wearing your fitbit while you work. You take 5000 steps at work. You go home and enter those steps, but this is NOT what should be done! You are basically counting those calories twice. Once in your estimate of you activity level and the second time when you enter exactly what you did. If you plan to enter the exact what you did, don't include it. if you enter every calorie you burn then put your activity level as sedentary (i know that sucks but that is what you should. If you are counting twice and eating what it tells you then you are eating way too many calories.

4)Then after you check those thing make sure you are drinking enough water, especially if you have high sodium intake as that will make you retain water. Do not count caffeinated beverages, although caffeine is a diuretic that helps against water retention if you have not had enough water they will cause the process of water retention.

5)If you have added more exercise to your day you may have gained some muscle, even doing cardio. Muscle weighs more than fat. Other things that can impact the scale are when you weigh in, what you are wearing. If you weigh in to regularly then you will see much more fluctuation. What you ate the night before. Meat and fiber take longer to digest and can stick around for awhile. As well as bathroom habits.

6) Measure! Sometime we lose inches not weight, seeing those numbers change can help you when your scale isn't behaving.

7) There is another theory that as fat cells enter very fast the body is thinking they will be filled up again so it moves water into them as a place holder until they fill back up. This theory help explain the yoyo effect as well. If they stay empty long enough this water will release and you suddenly drop weight. This process is different than regular water retention and drink extra water won't help. What will help is unknown because it is just a theory, one that make a lot of sense, but still not proven.

TLDR: Check that your calories in and calories out are correct. Tons of things can impact the scale, don't get hung up on the scale being a little off if you know you are doing the correct thing. Drink plenty of water and don't give up. The scale will eventually catch up to where it should be.

I apologies for the long post but I didn't have a lot of info to go on. Here are something to look at:

1)One thing I read about the fitbit is that is a glorified pedometer. The problem with pedometers is it doesn't measure how much energy you put into take those steps (did you just lift you feet and put them back down or did you move your body and take a full step), how fast you did them, how your Heart rate. I have also heard that it can tell you your took a bunch of steps when you are just sitting the your car on your way somewhere. The calories estimates can be off greatly. (Please correct me if I'm wrong but these are the reason I decided not to buy this product)

2)Now on the flip side, are you estimating your food intake? Or are you measuring it out? If you have a huge calorie deficient and just want to lose weight, you aren't concerned with how fast then ball parking it might be ok. But if you have a very limited amount of calories to work with and/or are concentrating on how fast I strongly recommend getting some good measuring cups and a kitchen scale and be vigilant. I have found I have also helped me learn to estimate better for those occasions you don't have them (like at someone else's house for dinner).

3)Another thing to look at isn't just you BMR like Tracey suggested. This can be a problem, but going farther. What activity level do you have yourself listed as? As a rule of thumb if you want to enter it DO NOT include it in you estimate of your activity levels. Example, Let's say you have yourself listen as moderate activity level and you put yourself there because you are always on the move at work. Then you are wearing your fitbit while you work. You take 5000 steps at work. You go home and enter those steps, but this is NOT what should be done! You are basically counting those calories twice. Once in your estimate of you activity level and the second time when you enter exactly what you did. If you plan to enter the exact what you did, don't include it. if you enter every calorie you burn then put your activity level as sedentary (i know that sucks but that is what you should. If you are counting twice and eating what it tells you then you are eating way too many calories.

4)Then after you check those thing make sure you are drinking enough water, especially if you have high sodium intake as that will make you retain water. Do not count caffeinated beverages, although caffeine is a diuretic that helps against water retention if you have not had enough water they will cause the process of water retention.

5)If you have added more exercise to your day you may have gained some muscle, even doing cardio. Muscle weighs more than fat. Other things that can impact the scale are when you weigh in, what you are wearing. If you weigh in to regularly then you will see much more fluctuation. What you ate the night before. Meat and fiber take longer to digest and can stick around for awhile. As well as bathroom habits.

6) Measure! Sometime we lose inches not weight, seeing those numbers change can help you when your scale isn't behaving.

7) There is another theory that as fat cells enter very fast the body is thinking they will be filled up again so it moves water into them as a place holder until they fill back up. This theory help explain the yoyo effect as well. If they stay empty long enough this water will release and you suddenly drop weight. This process is different than regular water retention and drink extra water won't help. What will help is unknown because it is just a theory, one that make a lot of sense, but still not proven.

TLDR: Check that your calories in and calories out are correct. Tons of things can impact the scale, don't get hung up on the scale being a little off if you know you are doing the correct thing. Drink plenty of water and don't give up. The scale will eventually catch up to where it should be.

Some great advice here I have myself listed as sedentary and then if i wanted I could eat back excercise calories (usually dont)
I also use a hrm for excercise as fitbit does not measure intensity
In all honesty my fitbit is there as a reminder to keep moving only

Your body retains all sorts of liquid (water) and solids (waste). The math DOES equal out, however, you just need to be patient. For instance, one week where I should have lost a pound I didn't--but the next week I also should have lost a pound, but I lost 2.

It happens all of the time, yes it's discouraging, that's why you should measure inches as well!

From my fitbit it shows in a week:

Total Cals Burned = 13422
Total Cals Eaten = 8467
Deficit = -4795

If the science works, how can this not equate to at least 1 lb of weightloss?

Your body is the end game, not any of the calculators.

There is no mystery to weight loss, everyone thinks something is wrong, their metabolism is broken, they have low thyroid, they have menopause or whatever issue, they are as unique as a snowflake, whatever. I thought a lot of these things once too but once the doctor helped resolve the health issues for me I learned there is still no magic pill. Most people eat more than they need to and are not at good at estimating calories as they think they are. Most people have a lower BMR than they think they do. The only way to know for sure is to go to a lab and have it tested. It doesn't seem fair to have to eat less and feel a little hunger. It's hard to face the truth of it, very hard. It's not fun. It's drudgery at times. But if you learn to enjoy your smaller amounts of food (necessary to lose weight, since the reason we got fat in the first place was eating too much whether we knew it or not), and rejoice in your victories it can be done.

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

To say eat more is wrong.

To say eat less is wrong.

To find the exact calories needed for YOU to be in a healthy sustainable calorie deficit is the right answer. Wait, if you need to adjust by 100 do it, wait, adjust, wait, adjust, wait. The tortoise wins this race.

All that matters is calories. A healthy balanced diet within a calorie budget for a deficit that is right for YOU is all that matters for weight loss. Don't make it complicated.

I've found that week to week can vary quite a bit. BUT month to month is usually quite accurate.

<snip>

^^^^

Weight loss is not linear, but averages over time show the math to be correct every time.

(ETA: I should add: barring a medical condition)

From my fitbit it shows in a week:

Total Cals Burned = 13422
Total Cals Eaten = 8467
Deficit = -4795

If the science works, how can this not equate to at least 1 lb of weightloss?

There are margin of errors in both intake and burned calories.

Secondly, water retention can mask fat loss. If you know you've burned more than you've consumed, you have burned fat. Sometimes it takes a couple of weeks for your body to drop the water its holding to see a scale drop.

it's NOT as simple as calories in vs calories out. You have to fuel your body properly and you're not feeding it what it needs.

Not fueling your body means that you will be hungry when in a calorie deficit. But you will still lose weight, albeit some will be LBM instead of fat without the proper protein. But sheerly for weight loss, it *is* as simple as cals-in/cals-out.

its same with me I have a deficit of 7000 calories a week which should be 2lb a week loss but generally i lose 1lb
the reasons being
1.BMR is an estimate
2.Fitbit estimates calorie burn using your BMR as a base rate so if thats wrong in first place so will the calorie burn fitbit says you reach

This is most likely the case. As the others say, it could be water as well. Weight loss is not linear.

Not day to day, but a moving average on a graph should nearly be a perfectly straight line at the rate you set. If not adjust your goals, improve your estimating technique, and/or do a better job sticking to your goals.