three week average calorie deficit > 750 and no weight loss

mahutga4
mahutga4 Posts: 19
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi. I'm fairly new. I started using this with fitbit about three weeks ago. I'm trying the "kinda hard" setting (750 cal deficit), and have been averaging an even larger deficit for three weeks. I just weighed myself and I've gone nowhere.

What could cause this? Am I failing to input calories correctly (I try to overestimate when eating out and things like that)? Is there something wrong with my metabolism (recently had my thyroid checked and it was fine)? Could fitbit be overestimating my burned calories? Any other folks with similar experience?

I'm pretty overweight and so thought it would be easy to shed it now...

Thanks,
«13

Replies

  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    Open your diary.
  • amandzor
    amandzor Posts: 386 Member
    Are you exercising as well? Eating too few calories can put your body in to 'starvation mode' and it will hold on to everything it's got.

    My advice? Make sure you're at 1200-1400 calories depending on you rcurrent weight/height/gender, up your exercise intensity a little and make sure to stay hydrated.

    Good luck!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    Are you exercising as well? Eating too few calories can put your body in to 'starvation mode' and it will hold on to everything it's got.

    My advice? Make sure you're at 1200-1400 calories depending on you rcurrent weight/height/gender, up your exercise intensity a little and make sure to stay hydrated.

    Good luck!

    The OP is a man so he needs more than that.


    OP, are you measuring food (doesn't seem you are), also, how much are you eating and do you exercise?
  • born2drum
    born2drum Posts: 731 Member
    please post stat: none of this is helpful.
  • mahutga4
    mahutga4 Posts: 19
    Open your diary.

    What do you mean? I open it every day (many times a day)?
  • kzakian
    kzakian Posts: 45 Member
    I'm in the same boat. Been counting calories for three weeks and so far no results. I made a thread about this yesterday if you want to see some people's suggestions.

    Basically I got a lot of mixed advice, but I decided i'd raise my calorie limit a little bit just in case I wasn't eating enough for my body to want to lose. So fingers crossed I'll start seeing results soon. Same for you!
  • mahutga4
    mahutga4 Posts: 19
    I am exercising, but only moderating. I've gone over 10000 steps virtually every day. Sometimes twice that.
  • mahutga4
    mahutga4 Posts: 19
    please post stat: none of this is helpful.

    What stats? How do I post them?
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Average calorie intake?
    Height?
    Weight?
    Age?
    Are you using a kitchen scale to measure all your food?
    Are you drinking enough water?
    Are you working out? If so is are you new to working out? Or did you recently start a new workout program?
    How are you weighing? Clothes on/off? Same Scale? Same time of Day? Scale placed on hard surface? Scale in same spot every time?
    Sodium intake on average? Or even look at the past few days before you weighed, was one day really high?

    edit: I have a fitbit and it underestimates my calorie burns. My husband has one as well, but hasn't had it long enough for me to determine if it's under or over. He is losing weight following its plan (set to 1000 calorie deficit), but it's only been 3 weeks. I'll wait till the 3 month mark to judge its accuracy.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Open your diary.

    What do you mean? I open it every day (many times a day)?

    It means let others view it...not jus your friends
  • onefitsurvivor
    onefitsurvivor Posts: 108 Member
    Make sure you are measuring your portions accurately. I truly was surprised by what I "thought" was a cup and the difference when I measured.

    Just a thought...

    Also, your diary is not available for everyone to see what you're logging. If you adjust your settings so others can view your food and exercise, you might get better feedback.

    Good luck!
  • mahutga4
    mahutga4 Posts: 19
    Are you exercising as well? Eating too few calories can put your body in to 'starvation mode' and it will hold on to everything it's got.

    My advice? Make sure you're at 1200-1400 calories depending on you rcurrent weight/height/gender, up your exercise intensity a little and make sure to stay hydrated.

    Good luck!

    The OP is a man so he needs more than that.


    OP, are you measuring food (doesn't seem you are), also, how much are you eating and do you exercise?

    I measure food by calories on box. Sometimes by using the app on my phone to take pictures. I just returned from a long vacation where it was hard to do (I was in Europe), so I was just conservative. When I ate 5 slices of ham for breakfast that looked exactly like the slices of (lunchmeat) ham in the states, I would enter 7 slices into my diary. Of course there were times I ate out where I had no real idea (how many calories are in this beef burgundy, for example), so I would find the meal in the app and just pick what seemed like a pretty high calorie count and use the portion that seemed to fit what I ate.

    Even if I underestimated, It's hard to imagine that I underestimated 751 calories a day (on average), right?
  • RAEQ127
    RAEQ127 Posts: 106 Member
    I've been there, done that. I still don't understand why I didn't lose for a solid month. All I can say is, watch your sodium levels,drink tons of water to flush your system of any toxins,start doing research on how to improve your metabolism and to fix that. Those are the things I am doing on top of cardio,strength training, vitamins, and starting yoga. I'll be seeing a dietian soon and if I still see nothing I am making an appointment to have my RMR checked. I did see one thread where a woman had hers tested and it was 400 calories a day lower than she thought, and if you're cutting 500 a day and your RMR is that far off then clearly you wont lose anything. Best of luck!
  • garyday7
    garyday7 Posts: 1
    If possible, make your diary view-able to the general public, that way we can see what you're eating. The "starvation mode" thing could be in effect with you. Be sure to eat as healthy as possible, and as portion controlled as possible. One of the things that may need to be cut out, if it is part of your diet, is soda and alcohol. I've seen plenty of people who do that and have dropped massive amounts of weight.
  • RAEQ127
    RAEQ127 Posts: 106 Member
    Make sure you are measuring your portions accurately. I truly was surprised by what I "thought" was a cup and the difference when I measured.

    Just a thought...

    Also, your diary is not available for everyone to see what you're logging. If you adjust your settings so others can view your food and exercise, you might get better feedback.

    Good luck!

    This is so true as well. Measuring your portions, and buying a food scale are going to be top on the suggestions list.
  • DVaughan1975
    DVaughan1975 Posts: 158 Member
    Open your diary.

    What do you mean? I open it every day (many times a day)?

    It means let others view it...not jus your friends
    If you want us to be able to view it then go to My home/Settings/Diary Settings/Diary Sharing and change it to public. Unless you want to keep it private which is ok too. But this way people will able to see if your hitting your macros or going over on sodium and give you a few pointers. It helped me when I was stuck. Someone pointed out that I needed to cut my sodium. Didn't even realize it.
  • mahutga4
    mahutga4 Posts: 19
    Okay, diary opened...thanks!
  • xjoseyx
    xjoseyx Posts: 74
    I agree, watch your salt intake. I didnt lose for a month and then lowered my salt intake and boom! the weight started coming off.
  • shannonmarie752487
    shannonmarie752487 Posts: 30
    I really don't know why this calculator isn't standard on this site: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    I really don't know why this calculator isn't standard on this site: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    I'm not sure how he would use that since he has a fitbit (which gives an estimated TDEE for the day based on what you do and takes a deficit off of that).
  • mahutga4
    mahutga4 Posts: 19
    I really don't know why this calculator isn't standard on this site: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    Thanks for this; I tried it. myfitnesspal's estimate of calories burned is actually lower than this calculator, but only by 30 calories or so.
  • mahutga4
    mahutga4 Posts: 19
    I agree, watch your salt intake. I didnt lose for a month and then lowered my salt intake and boom! the weight started coming off.

    ****, my sodium is high about every week. Can y'all see my diary now?
  • TheRealJigsaw
    TheRealJigsaw Posts: 295 Member
    If you ask me, it looks like you are overestimating your calories burned. It also looks like you are loaded in carbs and sodium and not enough protein. You should start tracking those 3.

    Good luck
  • 18guyhornet
    18guyhornet Posts: 195 Member
    I looked at your diary just for today and if that's all you have consumed my question is where is all the protein? I'm hoping you're not done for the day.

    Also, watch processed foods - they have a ton of salt. Avoid them as much as possible. All processed lunch meats have a ton of salt.
  • Mia_RagazzaTosta
    Mia_RagazzaTosta Posts: 4,885 Member
    Do you have your Fitbit linked to this site? If so, how do you have your calorie goal set on MFP?
  • ddky
    ddky Posts: 381 Member
    How are you getting your exercise calorie totals. I see one day that says you earned 2300 calories from exercise. That would be a whole lot of exercise. I read an article that said a 160 pound person would burn around 2800 calories when running a MARATHON. Be careful to not overestimate workouts or underestimate food calories. It takes some trial and error to find out what works for you. For my husband eating 2000 calories a day has him losing about 2 pounds a week. He works in maintenance so he is on his feet all day and doing physical work, so he doesn't really do any other exercise. Good luck to you.
  • mahutga4
    mahutga4 Posts: 19
    If you ask me, it looks like you are overestimating your calories burned. It also looks like you are loaded in carbs and sodium and not enough protein. You should start tracking those 3.

    Good luck

    My calories burned come directly from fitbit; I don't enter them in manually at all. I was walking some 13 mile days while in Europe. Do you still think that they could be overestimated?
  • mahutga4
    mahutga4 Posts: 19
    Do you have your Fitbit linked to this site? If so, how do you have your calorie goal set on MFP?

    I do have it set; my calories burned sync over from fitbit. I have my calorie goal set at "kinda hard" (750 a day) and am under that, on average.
  • mahutga4
    mahutga4 Posts: 19
    How are you getting your exercise calorie totals. I see one day that says you earned 2300 calories from exercise. That would be a whole lot of exercise. I read an article that said a 160 pound person would burn around 2800 calories when running a MARATHON. Be careful to not overestimate workouts or underestimate food calories. It takes some trial and error to find out what works for you. For my husband eating 2000 calories a day has him losing about 2 pounds a week. He works in maintenance so he is on his feet all day and doing physical work, so he doesn't really do any other exercise. Good luck to you.

    My calories burned come directly from fitbit; I don't enter them in manually at all. I walked a lot in Europe; even logged some 10+ mile days. Do you think that they could be overestimated?
  • mreeves261
    mreeves261 Posts: 728 Member
    Do you have your Fitbit linked to this site? If so, how do you have your calorie goal set on MFP?

    I do have it set; my calories burned sync over from fitbit. I have my calorie goal set at "kinda hard" (750 a day) and am under that, on average.

    Just so I understand, you need roughly 3800 calories a day to sustain your current weight?

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