Advice from BodyBuggers

I bought a bodybugg last year and had the same problem as you. There was always a deficit but the weight loss wasn't happening. My personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness thought there might be something wrong with the bodybugg that I got. I never looked into that but you might want to. I simply stopped wearing mine when my subscription ran out & am just trying the old fashioned way now (heart rate monitor & counting calories).

I've been using mine for the last year, and during the times where I have a long string of meeting my goal deficit, the scale matches pretty well - on average. I've never lost exacty 2 pounds a week even when I had a string of weeks that had a 7000 deficit. However, it usually averaged out over time. One week I may lose 1, one week I may gain 2, one week I may lose 3, etc. But when I averaged it out, I was losing pretty close to 2 pounds a week - when I had strings of consistency. When I have days where I mess up, it throws everything out of wack. It seems like I have to be perfect all the time in order to lose weight. Of course, usually on those days when I go off-track, I don't track my food, so I really don't know what my deficit/surplus was.

However, now that I'm down to 150 (or so), I'm losing much much slower. I can't seem to lose 2 pounds a week anymore. In fact, I'm currently stuck - I've lost 2 real pounds since Dec 20 - but this week, that's back too. So I've increased my calories in goal to 1500 and am trying to get 2500 burn - not that I meet it every day. I know my weight loss is going to slow down now - I just don't like it. And I hate being stuck. I just don't think our bodies drop exactly based on our deficits. There's so much more going on - and I sure wish I could figure it out because I'm getting very discouraged being stuck here, and it's showing in my workouts and my food intake!! I'm adding strength now, but I know you already do that. I think if we keep pushing out those good days, our bodies will adjust.

I believe our bodies have something like a "set point" where it likes to be. I always notice that my body will gain or lose the same 3-5 pounds either way from this point. Until I do something to break that point, my body just fights to stay there. Once I break it, my body seems to find a new set point, and I'll drop a few pounds relatively quickly till it stops again. I've noticed that I seem to hit a new set point faster now than when I was heavier. Like I used to lose about 10 pounds and then I would platau for a while around that point. Now it seems to happen every 2-3 pounds, and it's harder to break it. That probably sounds rediculous, but that's what I've noticed for me. Like now I'm hovering right around 150. When I'm eating perfectly, my weight will drop to 148 (my lowest). But when I eat a little extra on a day (even if I still have a deficit), it jumps to the highest in the range (around 153). But unless I do something to really change that point, it will just continue to stay there. I know I have to have a nice long string of "good" days to get past it - but it's hard to do that when nothing happens!

What have your weekly deficits been at? If I crunched the numbers at all close, I'm guessing your deficits are between 3000 - 6500 a week depending on how many times you worked out that week? That's supposed to give you somewhere between 1-2 pounds lost a week. But you don't have much to lose, right - so it's going to come off more slowly. And you get plenty of strength work in, so you are probably making some very nice changes that just don't reflect on the scale. Have you noticed any changes outside of the scale - like measurements or muscle tone?