Can't get into first gear. Should I cut the carbs?
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I did low carb for a while. I stopped because I didn't have enough energy and had a hard time eating all of my calories. Now, I eat brown rice, whole wheat bread, or sweet potatoes.
If you're lifting, you may be losing inches and fat but gaining muscle. If that is the case, you won't see a budge on the scale.
Also, you may be overestimating calories eaten and actually undereating. Undereating is just as deterimental to weight loss as overeating.
Thanks for the feedback.
Yes, I have heard that theory, but I should have been down at least 4-5 pounds by now. As someone who has lifted pretty seriously in the past, I can say that putting on that amount of muscle is grueling, difficult, and time consuming. It just doesn't seem possible. Especially considering that I've been in what should be a 700 cal deficit, if all things are equal.
Hmmm...so under eating? That does strike me as a lot more likely than inaccurate logging. But I thought the calorie in/calorie out folks say that you'd have to be losing in a case like that. Jeez, there is just so much conflicting information. I'm not looking for miracle results after a month, but I'd imagine I'd see something by now. A couple pounds, at least.
Lots of people on here say eating more calories will make you lose weight.. Man I wish! Does anyone have any study where people ate more and lost serious weight? If so, Please post. I'd love to read it.0 -
I was in a pretty similar situation. I have lost weight in the past with low carb and was tempted to go that route again when I wasn't seeing any change on the scale. From April 18th to mid/late May I only lost about one pound. I did see the scale move, but then I'd see it move back up. And I started with about 90 pounds to lose.
However, I noticed my clothes fitting better and I started taking measurements. I saw changes there before the scale moved. I think I was retaining water from starting a weight program. All of a sudden, since the last week of May, I dropped about 8 pounds on the scale.
I highly recommend that you use a BF% calculator (http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy) and use a TDEE calculation that considers BF% (http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/). The TDEE calculators were telling me to eat WAY too many calories before I gave it my estimated 44% BF and used the Katch-McCardle formula. I am basing my calorie deficit on that much lower TDEE estimate and it's working for me.0 -
Your body takes on water weight when you start a new lifting program. Here is an article I read today which talks about this.
http://berzinatorfitnessdesigns.com/2013/03/15/is-your-scale-deceiving-you-part-2/0 -
I was in a pretty similar situation. I have lost weight in the past with low carb and was tempted to go that route again when I wasn't seeing any change on the scale. From April 18th to mid/late May I only lost about one pound. I did see the scale move, but then I'd see it move back up. And I started with about 90 pounds to lose.
However, I noticed my clothes fitting better and I started taking measurements. I saw changes there before the scale moved. I think I was retaining water from starting a weight program. All of a sudden, since the last week of May, I dropped about 8 pounds on the scale.
I highly recommend that you use a BF% calculator (http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy) and use a TDEE calculation that considers BF% (http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/). The TDEE calculators were telling me to eat WAY too many calories before I gave it my estimated 44% BF and used the Katch-McCardle formula. I am basing my calorie deficit on that much lower TDEE estimate and it's working for me.
Yeah, haha, don't know if my ego can take an honest assessment of my BF% at this point. Honestly, the advice to just kind of stay the course seems to be pretty reasonable and the most sensible. I'm going to try it for at least another 2-3 weeks before switching anything up. Thanks for your feedback.0 -
Also, you may be overestimating calories eaten and actually undereating. Undereating is just as deterimental to weight loss as overeating.
ERM no it isn't. If you under eat you will most definitely still lose weight you will just feel rubbish whilst losing it. There is no way that not eating enough is stopping the OP losing weight. That's so unbelievably misleading.
If under eating stalled weigh tloss people wouldn't starve to death and anorexics COULDN'T exist.
OP, Either you are eating more than you think, exercising less than you think, retaining massive amounts of water, or you need to go to a doctor and have your metabolism tested to check its working properly.
check your salt levels, if you're eating masses then that can stop the scale budging. My guess is that you're accidentally taking in more calories than you are burning. it's the most likely explanation especially since you say you do lose weight with a low carb diet so obviously it is possible for you to lose weight
EDITED TO ADD: If the TDEE method isn't working for you, try investing in a fitbit which will monitor every step you take (since you do a lot of walking), and setting your activity level to sedentary on MFP and logging your exercise as and when you do it.
With TDEE my understanding is that you tell the calculator how much exercise you do and it factors that in when it tells you how many calories you are burning. If you have in any way overestimated how much daily exercise you're doing that could account for it giving you a bigger number to eat than you actually need. Just a thought
I do eat a lot of salt. I'm almost always over my sodium intake for the day. I'd say I'm trying to compensate for the reduced calories by adding more flavor to the meals I eat, but if I'm being honest, I pretty much always love salt. I've always been more of a "savory" eater than someone with a sweetooth. Given the choice between french fries or a piece of cake, and 10/10 times I'll eat the fries (after sprinkling some salt on them).
So I guess I could try to reduce the sodium intake, or proceed on my current course with the notion that I'm just retaining more water from a combo of the high levels of sodium and increased water retention from weightlifting.
To your earlier point, though, shouldn't the exercise just be gravy, anyway, considering I'm eating 300 cals under what's recommended to lose a pound a week? I mean, I'm really not logging anything on MFP for exercise. I manually change the "weightlifting" thing down to 1 calorie burned, and have my profile set up as "lightly active".0 -
Hey man. So I started diet and exercise for weight loss a little over 3 months ago. For the last 100 days I've been tracking my calories and regularly hitting my goals both calorie intake and exercise. I'm 6' tall and I started at 188 pounds, I weighed in this morning at 172. Pretty much every day I weigh myself and this has been the result.
Notice that for the first 5 weeks I experienced essentially no weight loss. That said during that time I dropped about 1.5 inches from my waist and improved my cardiovascular fitness and strength by a good amount. I've learned that switching to a different food intake coupled with starting exercise can cause you to retain a lot of water which will offset your fat loss and obscure it from the scale.
After those first few weeks I've been losing a steady 1.3 pounds a week eating 1800 calories net. Eating back exercise calories means I'm eating about 2100-2200 a day.
Recently on 5/26 I changed my exercise rotinue and as a result my weight loss stalled, again not because i'm no longer losing fat but likely due to water retention...its normal.
In my opinion of your exercise is weight lifting the last thing you want to do is cut out carbs.0 -
Hey man. So I started diet and exercise for weight loss a little over 3 months ago. For the last 100 days I've been tracking my calories and regularly hitting my goals both calorie intake and exercise. I'm 6' tall and I started at 188 pounds, I weighed in this morning at 172. Pretty much every day I weigh myself and this has been the result.
Notice that for the first 5 weeks I experienced essentially no weight loss. That said during that time I dropped about 1.5 inches from my waist and improved my cardiovascular fitness and strength by a good amount. I've learned that switching to a different food intake coupled with starting exercise can cause you to retain a lot of water which will offset your fat loss and obscure it from the scale.
After those first few weeks I've been losing a steady 1.3 pounds a week eating 1800 calories net. Eating back exercise calories means I'm eating about 2100-2200 a day.
Recently on 5/26 I changed my exercise rotinue and as a result my weight loss stalled, again not because i'm no longer losing fat but likely due to water retention...its normal.
In my opinion of your exercise is weight lifting the last thing you want to do is cut out carbs.
Thanks man, that is immensely helpful!0 -
OP I haven't read the rest of this thread so not sure if you already were asked this but have you been measuring your waist with a tape measurer or have you noticed any non-scale progress? Pants fit a little looser, belt up a notch...that sort of thing?0
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Hey man. So I started diet and exercise for weight loss a little over 3 months ago. For the last 100 days I've been tracking my calories and regularly hitting my goals both calorie intake and exercise. I'm 6' tall and I started at 188 pounds, I weighed in this morning at 172. Pretty much every day I weigh myself and this has been the result.
Notice that for the first 5 weeks I experienced essentially no weight loss. That said during that time I dropped about 1.5 inches from my waist and improved my cardiovascular fitness and strength by a good amount. I've learned that switching to a different food intake coupled with starting exercise can cause you to retain a lot of water which will offset your fat loss and obscure it from the scale.
After those first few weeks I've been losing a steady 1.3 pounds a week eating 1800 calories net. Eating back exercise calories means I'm eating about 2100-2200 a day.
Recently on 5/26 I changed my exercise rotinue and as a result my weight loss stalled, again not because i'm no longer losing fat but likely due to water retention...its normal.
In my opinion of your exercise is weight lifting the last thing you want to do is cut out carbs.
Good post0 -
OP I haven't read the rest of this thread so not sure if you already were asked this but have you been measuring your waist with a tape measurer or have you noticed any non-scale progress? Pants fit a little looser, belt up a notch...that sort of thing?
Haven't done the measurement thing yet. My thought process was that because I am currently at a pretty high BF%, the scale should be a good indicator. From reading the responses in this thread, it seems maybe I should add some measurements into my evaluation process.
My pants might feel a hair looser, but I'm definitely not down a whole belt loop or anything. As I mentioned, my wife has said she can see a difference in my appearance. Not that I don't trust her, but I just want some quantifiable way to judge that.
I think you might have posted an x-y scatter plot about your initial weight loss. It's not showing up for me, but judging on what you've said, it would have been pretty flat at the beginning.
Question for you, at 1800 net, how far is that off what the TDEE calculators suggest for steady 1 lb week weight loss? I've been at 1700, but you're 4 inches taller than I am. Is 1700 too high? It doesn't feel like it, that's for sure.0 -
OK, so I've been at this for four weeks. Logging accurately. Weighing with a food scale. Measuring with cups. Nothing lost.
Open your diary.
If your TDEE estimate is 200 calories off and your estimates for your wife's cooking are 200 calories off - both extremely easy to do - you've just blown away a huge chunk of your deficit.0 -
OK, so I've been at this for four weeks. Logging accurately. Weighing with a food scale. Measuring with cups. Nothing lost.
Open your diary.
whoops, thought it was open! Realized it was to "friends" only. Should be good now.0 -
I feel you on the savoury thing, I love salt and all things savoury... sympathies there!To your earlier point, though, shouldn't the exercise just be gravy, anyway, considering I'm eating 300 cals under what's recommended to lose a pound a week? I mean, I'm really not logging anything on MFP for exercise. I manually change the "weightlifting" thing down to 1 calorie burned, and have my profile set up as "lightly active".
it entirely depends on whether the calculations that gave you your TDEE in the first place are accurate and if not, how far out they are. If for example the your activity has been overestimated or the calculation of calories burned is significantly out then that could wipe out your deficit even if you are eating under. 300 calories isn't really a lot, you can wipe that out with 3 extra tablespoons of olive oil ... so even a slight mis estimation on the calorie front could remove the rest of your deficit.
I'm not saying thats definitely it, it sounds like water retention could absolutely be a factor from what the others have said and the extra info you have provided. My point about the TDEE is that you should consider that and maybe if the lbs don't come off soon, try using a sedentary setting and manually logging your exercise instead... if you start losing trying that then you know the calculations were out somehow. Its *more* likely than you having a major metabolic problem or being miracle man that gains while eating at a deficit.0 -
From a quick glance at your diary I think that is some inaccuracy from the entries you are using to log your food. Where possible try and use MFP entries because they are FDA figures.
If you use a brand and the brand is listed then double check the figures are correct, they may be out of date or have been incorrectly entered by another member
Don't choose an entry because it is close enough to what you ate
Also my wife weighs out everything she cooks as one of her ways of supporting me, would your wife be willing to do that?0 -
The only thing absolutely required for fat loss to occur is a calorie deficit. If you are not losing weight you are either eating more than you think or burning less than you think or a combination of both. Either way something is off in the math.
Contrary to what some have said it does not take 7 or 8 weeks for the body to adjust to a lower calories intake to start losing weight, if it took that long for someone to start losing weight that simply means it took that long for that person to finally eat at a energy deficit. Weight loss is absolutely not linear but it will not take 7 or 8 weeks for the body to start using fat for energy if you are not supplying it by food.
Also the first thing people do after reading something like this is get mad because they feel their intelligence is being questioned. I am not questioning yours or anyone elses intelligence when it comes to logging your food, but I will refer back to my first statement.
All that is absolutely required for weight loss to occur is a calorie deficit. If you're not losing you just have to figure out why you are not in a deficit...
Good luck...0 -
The best part about low carb for me personally was after the first two weeks I stopped craving carbs and I hardly ever feel hunger. I think it could kick start your loss to try it. The first couple weeks I did 20 g carbs a day and then upped it to just staying under 100 g a day. I still don't eat breads, pastas or cakes ect but I am eating a lot of fruit and veggie carbs.0
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OP I haven't read the rest of this thread so not sure if you already were asked this but have you been measuring your waist with a tape measurer or have you noticed any non-scale progress? Pants fit a little looser, belt up a notch...that sort of thing?
Haven't done the measurement thing yet. My thought process was that because I am currently at a pretty high BF%, the scale should be a good indicator. From reading the responses in this thread, it seems maybe I should add some measurements into my evaluation process.
My pants might feel a hair looser, but I'm definitely not down a whole belt loop or anything. As I mentioned, my wife has said she can see a difference in my appearance. Not that I don't trust her, but I just want some quantifiable way to judge that.
I think you might have posted an x-y scatter plot about your initial weight loss. It's not showing up for me, but judging on what you've said, it would have been pretty flat at the beginning.
Question for you, at 1800 net, how far is that off what the TDEE calculators suggest for steady 1 lb week weight loss? I've been at 1700, but you're 4 inches taller than I am. Is 1700 too high? It doesn't feel like it, that's for sure.
Yeah I posted an x-y scatter of my weight v time not sure why it doesn't show up for you but basically its dots bouncing around a flat line for about 5 weeks followed by dots bouncing around a steady down-diagonal trend for the next 8 weeks.
I am taller than you but I am also lighter and I think weight has more to do with your caloric requirements than height. I'm small framed as well so I can actually get very light when i get fit, 3 years ago I was at 155 pounds when I hit 15% bodyfat.
So I calculate my TDEE as about 2700-2900 area (I work out 6 days a week). With MFP's system I try to net 1800 calories a day which means most days I'm eating 2100. That would mean my deficit was in the 600-800 range which lines up pretty nicely with my weight loss. I very much doubt you need to be eating less than 1700. Also when you say you are eating 1700 do you mean net after eating back exercise calories or do you mean total. If you mean total then 1700 is actually quite low and there is no way you wouldn't lose fat eating that little.
If I were you I'd think you'd want to be eating about 2000 calories, maybe 1700 net (not total).
My diary is public by the way, feel free to check it out.0 -
Would definitely recommend reading this post
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide0 -
Honestly I took a look at his diary and as long as he is tracking everything it looks pretty good to me. Might he be off a little bit? Sure, who isn't that true for...but there is no way he is off by so much that he wouldn't be losing fat. Guy probably maintains at like 2600 and he isn't eating 2600.0
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From a quick glance at your diary I think that is some inaccuracy from the entries you are using to log your food. Where possible try and use MFP entries because they are FDA figures.
If you use a brand and the brand is listed then double check the figures are correct, they may be out of date or have been incorrectly entered by another member
Don't choose an entry because it is close enough to what you ate
Also my wife weighs out everything she cooks as one of her ways of supporting me, would your wife be willing to do that?
It's too much to ask of my wife when she's running around after our 3 year old, and taking care of our fussy 11 month old, along with everything else she does to keep the house running. I'm sure she'd do it, but I would really much rather just overestimate, at worst. Sorry if that sounds like I'm trying to shortcut, or disregard advice, but it's just not something I want to ask of her. We eat something like oven roasted kale or a roasted sweet potato for maybe 3 or 4 of the 21 meals I eat per week, and I assume I'm eating a full tablespoon of oil in those cases. Maybe I'll up that to eating two full tablespoons of oil.
How can you distinguish the MFP entries? If the nutrition label is consistent with the value I scan from the barcode, isn't it safe to assume that's the correct info, or should I use the MFP entries in those cases, as well?0
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