Losing faith in higher calories..

lozzieemayjenkins
lozzieemayjenkins Posts: 71 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I eat 1600-1800 calories a day, and workout at least six days a week.. combining heavy weight training followed by cardio.

I eat mainly clean fresh foods, drink plenty of water and watch my macronutrients. I stay away from processed or junk foods as much as possible..

But I'm not seeing ANY progress.

Since mid January I've lost 40lbs.. but the bulk of that was lost through eating low calories and having one high calorie day a week. It's only the last 6-8 weeks that I've upped calories to a higher amount and it's since then that I've seen no results.

I don't just mean on the scales either - my body fat percentage and inches have barely changed either. I've been losing and gaining the few pounds for weeks and just fluctuate between 183-187lbs.

Here are my stats from the last month or so to show the lack of results..

07/04/2013

Weight - 13 stone 7lbs
Body Fat - 39%
Bust - 40"
Upper Arms - 13"
Waist - 34"
Hips - 42"
Thighs - 26.5"
Calves - 17"

21/04/13
Weight - 13 stone 4lbs
Body Fat - 38.5%
Bust - 40"
Upper Arms - 13"
Waist - 33"
Hips - 41"
Thighs - 27"
Calves - 17"

Today.
Weight - 13 stone 3lbs
Body Fat - 38.3%
Bust - 39"
Waist - 34"
Hips - 41"
Thighs - 27"
Calves - 17"


Somebody please shed some advice? I'm working so hard and seeing so little progress that it tempts me to go back to low calories with the one high calorie day plan.. that worked for me but I don't think this does!!

Replies

  • AbsoluteNG
    AbsoluteNG Posts: 1,079 Member
    Sounds like your eating at maintenance. One extremely low cal day and one maintenance day is fine and healthy.
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    Looks like weight and body fat % are both dropping.

    That said, why did you switch up plans?
  • lozzieemayjenkins
    lozzieemayjenkins Posts: 71 Member
    Looks like weight and body fat % are both dropping.

    That said, why did you switch up plans?

    I saw so many posts and threads on here really preaching how eating more is better & decided to try it.. but I don't think it works for me.
  • lozzieemayjenkins
    lozzieemayjenkins Posts: 71 Member
    Sounds like your eating at maintenance. One extremely low cal day and one maintenance day is fine and healthy.

    Well my BMR is 1656, and with being lightly active in day to day life my TDEE is 1987.. add in a 400 calorie burn on a gym day and I'm burning 2487 calories and only eating 1600-1800.. so I should be losing weight but km just not.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    BMR depends on the formula you use, and only 70% of people fall within 10% either side of the estimate.

    Katch McArdle equation puts you at 1488 BMR. Sedentary job takes that to a TDEE of 1786. If that's 10% the wrong way it could be 1600 cals.

    But even then your exercise should take your TDEE over what you say you've been eating.
  • j6o4
    j6o4 Posts: 871 Member
    wow your working out atleast 6 days a week, i think that should be the max you should workout. mayb your over training your body
  • AbsoluteNG
    AbsoluteNG Posts: 1,079 Member
    Looks like weight and body fat % are both dropping.

    That said, why did you switch up plans?

    I saw so many posts and threads on here really preaching how eating more is better & decided to try it.. but I don't think it works for me.

    The eat more to lose weight is a marketing scheme to promote a website. Don't get caught up in the hype. Nothing is wrong with their program but you need to understand that their goal is to make you lose at a modest deficit which can sometimes cause you to overestimate how much you should be eating. You have to have a deficit to lose weight no matter what you do. A deficit means eating less, not more! How large or small of a deficit is up to you. Stick with what works for you because doing something over and over again knowing that the results will be the same just means that you are insane.
  • Mads1997
    Mads1997 Posts: 1,494 Member
    Looks like weight and body fat % are both dropping.

    That said, why did you switch up plans?

    I saw so many posts and threads on here really preaching how eating more is better & decided to try it.. but I don't think it works for me.

    Didn't work for me either I just gained. I don't believe in the whole eat more rubbish.

    I went back to what did work for me.
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
    OP, how carefully do you track your food? Are you weighing/measuring and logging everything?
  • Sapporo
    Sapporo Posts: 693 Member
    The online calculators are just an estimate, not everyone can be exactly the same. You don't need to go to extremes either. Instead of just switching to low cal, cut 200 or so per day or a certain number from your weekly average.
    I just switched to calorie cycling and it works better for me.
  • lozzieemayjenkins
    lozzieemayjenkins Posts: 71 Member
    OP, how carefully do you track your food? Are you weighing/measuring and logging everything?

    I log every tiny morsel and weigh and measure all food.. always been very accurate at tracking calories.
  • AbsoluteNG
    AbsoluteNG Posts: 1,079 Member
    I agree with the estimation comment. Everything we do here is a numbers guessing game. You are without a doubt overestimating something. The only fact we know for sure is that your weight has been the same for over a month which means your eating at maintenance, fact. If you want to eat every day and still lose weight at a modest deficit, cut by 200 calories like someone said earlier or you could cut faster by going back to your last diet but include one or two more maintenance days a week.
  • jimithegreek
    jimithegreek Posts: 78
    I'd cut back just a little, but eat above BMR.....so instead of 1800, which was the higher side of what you eat in a day, try staying between 1600 and 1700.
  • lozzieemayjenkins
    lozzieemayjenkins Posts: 71 Member
    I'd cut back just a little, but eat above BMR.....so instead of 1800, which was the higher side of what you eat in a day, try staying between 1600 and 1700.

    Most of the time I am eating 1600.. it's only now and again that I'll eat over 1600, it's very rare.. some days I'm even eating 1400-1500.
  • SteelySunshine
    SteelySunshine Posts: 1,092 Member
    You could be retaining water. I am actually pretty sure you are since your waist measurement went up and nothing else did and your BF has a bit of a downtick.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    It seems very low for maintenance though. I think I'd eat at 1700 for a couple weeks. I guess it depends on what kind of lifting and cardio you do also, and what you do the rest of the time.

    I sympathize though, I've lost 30lbs since January and I'm now down to 178 but it's been extremely slow and I've only lost 2lbs the last 3 weeks... I moved to 1800 calories a week ago and hoping it will help me though.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    If you don't believe it's the quantity, perhaps we should discuss the quality of the calories. Your diary isn't open for viewing, but you could consider changing macronutrients within your 1600 calories.

    Protein at about 35% of calorie intake generally works well for weight loss. Reducing carbs can also help. Where are you starting ?
  • jcoco
    jcoco Posts: 138 Member
    I also had a major plateau so I tried zig zagging my calories. I ate at BMR 3 days, ate at BMR minus 500 the other 3, than had 1 day where I ate twice my BMR. (free day). It worked FANTASTIC for me, I lost 30lbs doing that. Good luck, plateaus suck but hang in there!
  • pspetralia
    pspetralia Posts: 963 Member
    Did you start weight lifting and the higher cals at the same time? When you start a lifting program your muscles hold on to glycogen and the scale can reflect that. Most people level off by the one month mark, but it took me longer.
  • okremix
    okremix Posts: 38 Member
    Get a bodymedia or something to help you monitor your habits and burns. It is helping me tremendously. I do EM2LW but the calculators were just a couple of hundred cals too high and the deficit/fat loss was so painfully slow that it was hard to notice and I would get discouraged. I got a body media and track where I'm at in real time so I know if I need to step it up to meet my deficit goal for each day. It's not the greatest for intense stationary exercises like lifting but it is very accurate with movement exercises. I've had much better success with individualized numbers then guess work.
  • bethlaf
    bethlaf Posts: 954 Member
    OP- i can say this, i see a lot of people who have similar complaints, but 1. without seeing your diary i cant really look into what youre eating ,
    but i will say about 40% of the people who have issues with this over estimate BMR and under estimate calorie and portion sizes, just a thought, do you use a scale for your foods ?
    what kind of fuel are you giving the motor???
    calories are fuel , but theres a good deal of difference between quality available at each filling station , mc donalds french fry calories are not the same as subway chopped salad calories...
  • AbsoluteNG
    AbsoluteNG Posts: 1,079 Member
    Sounds like your eating at maintenance. One extremely low cal day and one maintenance day is fine and healthy.

    Well my BMR is 1656, and with being lightly active in day to day life my TDEE is 1987.. add in a 400 calorie burn on a gym day and I'm burning 2487 calories and only eating 1600-1800.. so I should be losing weight but km just not.


    I think I see what you are doing wrong. TDEE stands for total daily energy expenditure. Assuming you went to a random website or found the TDEE formula somewhere, you should know that it already includes exercise calories. You added an additional 400 calories over your TDEE, which is the wrong way to calculate your deficit.
  • blackermagic
    blackermagic Posts: 32
    I think the TDEE stuff is bogus, and I have posted that before. If I eat much over 1500 I gain weight...it doesn't matter that I am running 7 miles 5 days a week and lift 3 days a week. Some days I burn more than I eat...and still gain a pound.

    Do what you were doing when you were losing weight...some other thoughts, eat a high protein, low fat and low carb diet if you aren't already. That worked for me.

    Good luck!
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
    I'd cut back just a little, but eat above BMR.....so instead of 1800, which was the higher side of what you eat in a day, try staying between 1600 and 1700.

    this
    Did you start weight lifting and the higher cals at the same time? When you start a lifting program your muscles hold on to glycogen and the scale can reflect that. Most people level off by the one month mark, but it took me longer.

    and this.
  • jimithegreek
    jimithegreek Posts: 78
    can you make your diary public?
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member

    Since mid January I've lost 40lbs.. but the bulk of that was lost through eating low calories and having one high calorie day a week. It's only the last 6-8 weeks that I've upped calories to a higher amount and it's since then that I've seen no results.

    So you were getting results, and then you changed it?

    Why?

    You shouldn't change things up unless you stop getting the expected results.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I also had a major plateau so I tried zig zagging my calories. I ate at BMR 3 days, ate at BMR minus 500 the other 3, than had 1 day where I ate twice my BMR. (free day). It worked FANTASTIC for me, I lost 30lbs doing that. Good luck, plateaus suck but hang in there!

    I made another thread about this because I see the appeal, but that's not really something that you can keep doing long term though... and um yeah I'd starve at 1100 calories 3 days a week.
  • Shr3dded
    Shr3dded Posts: 232
    You're on the right track, it's only been two weeks. You will see continuous results if you stick with it. Going 1200 or below is unhealthy and puts the body into starvation mode causing you to store fat for survival.

    Healthy weight loss takes time, stick with your routine and keep going strong. You'll get it.
  • lozzieemayjenkins
    lozzieemayjenkins Posts: 71 Member

    Since mid January I've lost 40lbs.. but the bulk of that was lost through eating low calories and having one high calorie day a week. It's only the last 6-8 weeks that I've upped calories to a higher amount and it's since then that I've seen no results.

    So you were getting results, and then you changed it?

    Why?

    You shouldn't change things up unless you stop getting the expected results.

    I changed because I hit a plateau and then started gaining weight..

    and I'm making my diary public now.

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