Eating under my budget and still not losing weight

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emjohnston2014
emjohnston2014 Posts: 38
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone, so last week (my first week on myfitnesspal) I had a calorie deficit of 6,968 ( I eat the recommended 1100-1200 calories but live an extremely active lifestyle) and yet the scale hasnt moved. I was always told that you needed to be at a deficit of 3500 calories to lose 1 pound...and ive almost doubled that..

HELP!
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Replies

  • tquill
    tquill Posts: 300 Member
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    Are you logging exercise or just food?

    EDIT: I'll go ahead and expand on it.

    If you're logging both exercise and food, you're probably over-estimating your burn from exercise... and possibly not logging you're food accurately.

    If you're logging just food... you're probably not logging it accurately.
  • shadowofender
    shadowofender Posts: 786 Member
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    1. weight loss isn't linear...so even though you need a deficit, it isn't going to be exact
    2. Are you accurately logging? If you're guessing portion sizes and quantities, that makes a difference
    3.Maybe you need more calories? If you're extremely active like you say, that could be it.
    4.Give it time. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither does your body recognize the changes in a week.
  • _Resolve_
    _Resolve_ Posts: 735 Member
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    Do you use a food scale?
  • emjohnston2014
    emjohnston2014 Posts: 38
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    I log literally everything and measure all portions using a food scale
  • nomeejerome
    nomeejerome Posts: 2,616 Member
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    It has only been a week.

    How did you come up with the calorie goal of 1100-1200? and how do you know your deficit was 6968?
  • emjohnston2014
    emjohnston2014 Posts: 38
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    i average between 1 hour and 2 and a half hours of excersize a day (50 minute walk to work, 50 minute walk home + hour gym workout) ive lost 45 pounds already and just joined here looking to lose the last 20.... im eating 10 times healthier than ever and working out more...hence my confusion
  • _Resolve_
    _Resolve_ Posts: 735 Member
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    How tall are you?
  • emjohnston2014
    emjohnston2014 Posts: 38
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    i concluded my deficit by adding up the amount of calories I had remaining from my food diary (that could be totally wrong) and 1200 is what the app told me to eat.
  • emjohnston2014
    emjohnston2014 Posts: 38
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    im 6'0 and 166 pounds
  • Laurenloveswaffles
    Laurenloveswaffles Posts: 535 Member
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    You don't look like you have much weight to lose. So only do a deficit of 250 a day from your TDEE. That will give you a .5lb loss a week. You don't need to lose faster than that.
  • AgentOrangeJuice
    AgentOrangeJuice Posts: 1,069 Member
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    Are you building muscle? did you have "weight to lose?" If you're replacing fat with muscle, you won't see a nudge in the scale, a more accurate reading would be to take a seamstress tape measure and measure the diameter of your chest, shoulder, neck, waist, hips, thighs, calves, biceps and forearms. When I started my journey, I lost 14 lbs quick, then didn't move an inch on the scale for almost a month, but my body was changing shape as I was losing fat and gaining muscle.

    QCNerd.
  • _Resolve_
    _Resolve_ Posts: 735 Member
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    Just my .02 but I think you are eating way to few calories for what you are doing. Based on the info you gave us I plugged it into scoobys TDEE calculator and it says 2358/d to lose 1 lb a week. So my suggestion is to start eating more and see if your body responds.
  • emjohnston2014
    emjohnston2014 Posts: 38
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    Thanks everyone!!
  • JenniferIsLosingIt
    JenniferIsLosingIt Posts: 595 Member
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    Just my .02 but I think you are eating way to few calories for what you are doing. Based on the info you gave us I plugged it into scoobys TDEE calculator and it says 2358/d to lose 1 lb a week. So my suggestion is to start eating more and see if your body responds.


    This!!!!! ^^^Try increasing your calories by 200 and see if this helps (hint: two table spoons of PB)
  • BombshellPhoenix
    BombshellPhoenix Posts: 1,693 Member
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    Are you building muscle? did you have "weight to lose?" If you're replacing fat with muscle, you won't see a nudge in the scale, a more accurate reading would be to take a seamstress tape measure and measure the diameter of your chest, shoulder, neck, waist, hips, thighs, calves, biceps and forearms. When I started my journey, I lost 14 lbs quick, then didn't move an inch on the scale for almost a month, but my body was changing shape as I was losing fat and gaining muscle.

    QCNerd.

    You cannot typically build muscle in a deficit (if one was eating at a non aggressive pace and doing a good weightlifting routine, getting a good amount of protien, typically 1g per pound of lean body mass and was a newbie to it, you MIGHT be able to gain a slight amount but it ends quickly).

    OP is eating 1200 or less calories. Her body is NOT going to want to put energy into muscle building, even IF that were plausible. You can lose fat and uncover muscle underneath, which can give the illusion but I certainly do not believe for a second she's built any muscle from her current routine.

    I do agree measurements are a better way to judge than scale but muscle building requires a calorie surplus and heavy lifting. It is nit an easy feat and the gains are slow, even in a surplus.
  • nomeejerome
    nomeejerome Posts: 2,616 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
  • emjohnston2014
    emjohnston2014 Posts: 38
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    I understand how to muscle build, my boyfriends into weight lifting and body building and eats almost double what I do. But thats not neccesarily what im looking for right now.
  • emjohnston2014
    emjohnston2014 Posts: 38
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    Im unfortunately allergic to PB :( as well as all tree nuts, gluten and anything with lactose...-.-
  • _Resolve_
    _Resolve_ Posts: 735 Member
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    Avocado, calorie dense and yummy.
  • emjohnston2014
    emjohnston2014 Posts: 38
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    Not a huge avacado fan (minus they make a great face mask) thank you everyone for the suggestions!

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