Please help with bmr/tdee, Obese, 12days Not losing :(

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Body fat% 54-59
Height 5'1.5"
Weight 194lbs
Female Age 36
Sedentary

KM model says BMR=1147 TDEE=1376
MStJ formula says BMR=1505 TDEE=1806
HB formula BMR=1612 TDEE=1935

I thought Id go in the middle and attempt 1425-1450/day to see, as tdee averaged out to 1600 ish. BUT Ive only eaten a net of 1175/day till last 2 days (& then stilll less than 1300) & tracked cals *religiously* on livestrong since 12 days ago.
I excercised 4-5 times that I normally would not have as well. (Ate back 100-200 less than estimated excercise cals)
I have lost nothing. :(
So discouraging

Replies

  • Mardill
    Mardill Posts: 141 Member
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    Check your sodium levels. I found I retained fluids when my sodium intake was high and this caused me not to lose weight.
    Add me as friend & we can encourage each other.:flowerforyou:
  • veeve1
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    Thanks :)
    I went and checked that out and its been 6 days 1700mgs or slightly less and 6 of them 2500 or a bit less. Is this amount excessive?

    **looked it up, 2000/day is recomended in canada.

    Im just worried that if I continue to eat what I am longer & still dont lose weight, Im wasting time. If I need to cut it down more I will try but it seems so low already :S
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Are you weighing and measuring your food? Deficit = weight loss. If you're not losing your not eating at a deficit.
  • BoxerBrawler
    BoxerBrawler Posts: 2,032 Member
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    Sodium and too much fruit were my biggest issues when it came to not being able to lose weight, bloat, fat.

    My nutritionist took a look at my diary for a week and noted that I was eating too much fruit. Yes... fruit is really good for you and you should have the appropriate amount of servings but, sugar is sugar and your body doesn't know the difference. The mistake I was making was eating too much fruit at night. But that's me, we are all different. I just thought it was worth a mention. I only do some blueberries and/or blackberries and/or strawberries in the morning with my yogurt and that's it for the day. About a half a serving. That worked. Also, the sodium was making me bloated even though I drink enough water.
  • wellnessjunkie
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    Check your sugar intake. Such as refined, simple carbs, and sugar from fruit, baked goods, candies, processed foods, etc. Eat carbs with low glycemic index for optimal health and results.
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
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    If you've done 5 days of exercise that you normally would not do that is likely the culprit.

    When you start a new exercise routine (or for seasoned exercisers, when you switch it up or increase intensity), your muscles will protest. They will hold on to water to both cushion and repair themselves. This will often show up either as an actual GAIN of weight, or as a "no-loss" situation as you are describing (where you have lost some but you can't see it on the scale due to the retained water weight). It will dissipate as your muscles get used to the exercise and you'll see the loss show up. Give it some more time, 12 days is not long enough to be wanting to throw in the towel already. Did you get obese in 12 days? Then why expect to see dramatic loss in that amount of time? Be realistic.
  • kevinsmithrn
    kevinsmithrn Posts: 70 Member
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    If you've done 5 days of exercise that you normally would not do that is likely the culprit.

    When you start a new exercise routine (or for seasoned exercisers, when you switch it up or increase intensity), your muscles will protest. They will hold on to water to both cushion and repair themselves. This will often show up either as an actual GAIN of weight, or as a "no-loss" situation as you are describing (where you have lost some but you can't see it on the scale due to the retained water weight). It will dissipate as your muscles get used to the exercise and you'll see the loss show up. Give it some more time, 12 days is not long enough to be wanting to throw in the towel already. Did you get obese in 12 days? Then why expect to see dramatic loss in that amount of time? Be realistic.

    WELL SAID!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,389 MFP Moderator
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    Are you weighing and measuring your food? Deficit = weight loss. If you're not losing your not eating at a deficit.

    The OP hasn't been doing this long enough to make the assumption. Water retention, sodium and carb level can all masked fat loss. I agree we do need to know if the OP is using a food scale and probably should see if the OP will open her food diary.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,389 MFP Moderator
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    Check your sugar intake. Such as refined, simple carbs, and sugar from fruit, baked goods, candies, processed foods, etc. Eat carbs with low glycemic index for optimal health and results.

    Unless a person has a medical condition, this is wrong. The GI scale is skewed because it doesn't test foods when combined with fats and proteins. Overall, as long as you have a deficit you will lose weight. Losing weight is provide the biggest benefit to health and you can eat all of those foods and be healthy. I do and every single one of my numbers has improved and I am about 13-15% body fat.
  • arrseegee
    arrseegee Posts: 575 Member
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    It's only been 12 days. Stick with it - if your calculations are right and you are logging everything after weighing it then the weight will come off. If after a month you don't see any weight loss try chatting with a doctor or opening your diary for some feedback from MFP. Make sure you are weighing your food and checking that the nutrition labels on your food have similar information to what is in the database - there are a few things that I've found where calories are way underreported in the database and if they're your staple foods then you could be underestimating your intake.
  • sharonpink
    sharonpink Posts: 76 Member
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    It's hard to believe, but if you eat too little, your body will shut down it's metabolism. You need to eat all of your calories and see if that doesn't boost your metabolism and jump start you again.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    You have to adjust your numbers for actual results, but the Katch McArdle is typically the most accurate if you have a decent body fat estimate. The others often overstate calories needed for people who need to lose weight.

    The calculator I'm looking at gives a TDEE of 1687 for 3 days/week exercise. If you are only just starting, I think that's a fair estimate, as it probably takes time to work up to more intense exercise.

    What that--as well as the numbers you are giving--indicate is that your margins are going to be kind of low. Even at 1200 and no logging errors you'd be losing only about 1 lb/week or just under. That, plus the fact that sometimes people don't do the big drop off, but start slow, and the fact that you are adding in exercise which can cause water to be retained, not to mention the fact it's only been 12 days and there's usually some kind of monthly pattern that you don't know yet, makes me think that just staying the course is probably the answer.

    One thing, though, is that it is a narrow margin, so you might want to have people check on your logging. Errors such as choosing the wrong entries (it takes a while to be able to recognize these easily) could be blowing your deficit.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    It's hard to believe, but if you eat too little, your body will shut down it's metabolism. You need to eat all of your calories and see if that doesn't boost your metabolism and jump start you again.
    There's a reason it's hard to believe.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    OP, 12 days isn't long enough to decide whether or not it's working. Stick with it for 4-6 weeks and then re-evaluate. (If you're doing something that you can't maintain for 4-6 weeks, that's a major problem). During that time, make sure you're tracking your intake as accurately as possible. That means using a food scale or, at the very least, measuring cups and spoons for everything.
  • veeve1
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    Thanks everybody :) I didnt think my excercise was strenuous enough to cause muscle gain, but I did notice today my feet were very swollen so the water retention thing could very well be correct! I sure hope so!

    Ive been meticulous about measuring/matching up cups/tbsps/grams so recorded caloric intake should be very close to actual. If i dont find an appropriate listing I add them in myself as extra calories.

    As for my food diary, I have only enetered the total cals/day here and am tracking actual amounts and foods over on livestrong. I like the setup better there but msg boards are dead.

    Thanks for the encouragement. Its much needed. 12 days feels so long when you see no results, regardless of logical timing to get healthy!

    updated w last 2 days **average cals /day over last 14days = 1245.28

    Also: SOoo, obese people generally do well with the Katch-Mcardle calculation then?
  • veeve1
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    When you start a new exercise routine (or for seasoned exercisers, when you switch it up or increase intensity), your muscles will protest. They will hold on to water to both cushion and repair themselves.

    Would a water pill be detrimental to the healing process then? My feet are aching from the swelling