Weight is not coming off....Why??
colindp
Posts: 23 Member
Hi,
Desperation is now setting in...the details....I am a 55 yr old male current weight is 114kg.
OK, so it's not all bad I started out at 124kg and a trip to the doctors to see what was the best way to ward off type 2 diabetes, I have been reasonably active for a while but due to a significant knee trauma a year ago mobility has been seriously affected hence the 124kg.
So my doctor undertook blood testing...nothing there....sent me to a dietitian got loads of good advice.
I have for a number of years commuted to work by bicycle but again due to knee injury this had to be put on hold...however I was finally able to get back seriously riding again and my commute each day totals 35km and burns around 2100 calories I often try to get a longer ride in at the weekend with the maximum distance covered so far being 64km and burned over 3,000 calories. However for the last two months I have failed to lose a single gram considering I am following dietitian advice and sticking to their programme, I guess my daily intake is around 1800.
So to recap burning approx 2100 per day, intake approx 1800 per day...weight loss per week 0???
Anyone out there got any ideas...please!!!
Thanks
Colin....
Desperation is now setting in...the details....I am a 55 yr old male current weight is 114kg.
OK, so it's not all bad I started out at 124kg and a trip to the doctors to see what was the best way to ward off type 2 diabetes, I have been reasonably active for a while but due to a significant knee trauma a year ago mobility has been seriously affected hence the 124kg.
So my doctor undertook blood testing...nothing there....sent me to a dietitian got loads of good advice.
I have for a number of years commuted to work by bicycle but again due to knee injury this had to be put on hold...however I was finally able to get back seriously riding again and my commute each day totals 35km and burns around 2100 calories I often try to get a longer ride in at the weekend with the maximum distance covered so far being 64km and burned over 3,000 calories. However for the last two months I have failed to lose a single gram considering I am following dietitian advice and sticking to their programme, I guess my daily intake is around 1800.
So to recap burning approx 2100 per day, intake approx 1800 per day...weight loss per week 0???
Anyone out there got any ideas...please!!!
Thanks
Colin....
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Replies
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Do you use a food scale?0
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My guess - you aren't eating nearly enough if you are correctly tracking your calories (both food and activity). Increase your caloric intake by 250 calories every 1-2 weeks and watch how your body responds. I would think your maintenance calories as a man would be well over 2,000 calories a day. Add on all that exercise with only 1800....that's extremely stressful on your body. Give it a try.0
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Rarely, mostly due to sticking to advice from dietitian....only my evening meal would be subject to weighing0
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Something is off with your math. If you are eating 1800 calories and just your bike ride alone burns 2100 calories you are in a couple thousand calorie deficit, not a 300 calorie deficit.
Either you burn less than you think or you eat more than you think. Guessing is a bit of a problem because you can't make accurate changes.
How do you know you eat "about 1800" and how do you know you burn 2100?0 -
Rarely, mostly due to sticking to advice from dietitian....only my evening meal would be subject to weighing
If you aren't weighing your food, you don't know how many calories you are consuming. Everything can be weighed… fruits, veggies, meat, cereal, crackers, chips, pretzels, ice cream, etc.0 -
I would guess that the figures quoted are as close as they can be, I use Endomondo to track activity and that app links in with MFP...I had doubts about the accuracy but my Doctor seems to think that either is not too far off0
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Sounds like you are eating too much if your goal is to lose weight. All calorie intake and activities are estimates and it is not hard to be off by 200-300 even when trying to be accurate or even one day of over eating can use up your deficit. Could be what is happening with you.
Try to accurately weigh and measure your food when you can. Lower your calorie intake by another 100 for a week or two and see if you see a change.
I know it gets said a lot on here but adding in some strength training would help a ton. This will help reuce age related muscle loss called Sarcopenia. As you lose muscle you lose strength, increase injury risk, and your calorie needs start to drop.0 -
I agree with FatFree (nice name btw
It is so important that you measure and weigh your food. I guarantee you are incorrectly estimating your caloric intake - and men are usually ones to over-estimate their calories (women the opposite - we love to underestimate). If you are doing either, it can severely damper your progress. Give it a try. For 2 weeks. It's really not that bad. Go get yourself some cool measuing cups, measuring spoons, and a scale. Worth every bit of this very small investment.0 -
sodakat,
Stats from my ride today recorded with Endomondo
DISTANCE 18.52 km
DURATION 38m:46s
AVG. SPEED 28.7 km/h
MAX. SPEED 46.3 km/h
CALORIES 1134 kcal
HYDRATION 0.44L
MIN. ALTITUDE 7 m
MAX. ALTITUDE 79 m
TOTAL ASCENT 11 m
TOTAL DESCENT 63 m
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Fat Free....Only my evening meal is subject to weighing...Breakfast is a manufacturer measured portion in a sachet, lunch is again a manufacturer measured portion, my evening meal portions are small and whilst I concede I should be measuring I am confident I am not cancelling out my output.0
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Fat Free....Only my evening meal is subject to weighing...Breakfast is a manufacturer measured portion in a sachet, lunch is again a manufacturer measured portion, my evening meal portions are small and whilst I concede I should be measuring I am confident I am not cancelling out my output.
You can be confident all you want but the results dont lie. If you were in a deficit you would be losing weight.
Gadgets are fun and all but it is still just an estimate. Same goes for food labels.0 -
The math is absolute. Calories in - calories out = weight gain or loss. If you are not losing weight, one of your numbers is off. Period.
If you are logging your food correctly, maybe you are overestimating your exercise (it is veeery unlikely that you are burning 1000+ calories in 40 minutes of cycling), or perhaps MFP's tdee calculation for you is incorrect (there are multiple formulas, it might be wise to seek out a few calculators yourself).
Everyone's metabolism is different, everyone's efficiency when it comes to exercising is different, and everyone's estimated portion sizes are different. One of your presumed numbers isn't accurate, there's no other explanation.0 -
Maybe you could try eating more fibers like beans and such... Maybe you have a slow metabolism and it needs a little help. I have a very fast one... My MFP plan was to lose .5 lb per week and I am losing much more and I eat exactly the calories I can... So my guess is the suggested calories are for a standard individual but they may vary. Since you don't want to starve yourself you might want to speed your digestion.0
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mustgetmuscles1 wrote: »Sounds like you are eating too much if your goal is to lose weight. All calorie intake and activities are estimates and it is not hard to be off by 200-300 even when trying to be accurate or even one day of over eating can use up your deficit. Could be what is happening with you.
Try to accurately weigh and measure your food when you can. Lower your calorie intake by another 100 for a week or two and see if you see a change.
I know it gets said a lot on here but adding in some strength training would help a ton. This will help reduce age related muscle loss called Sarcopenia. As you lose muscle you lose strength, increase injury risk, and your calorie needs start to drop.
Thanks mustgetmuscles1
I have undertaken strength training before my worry is with my knee , although I am able to cycle without too much difficulty I am concerned with overloading given I destroyed my ACL, MCL and meniscus in my right knee...I appreciate fully I can works on other areas but obviously would not want to completely avoid working the legs.0 -
-mumma2boyz wrote: »I agree with FatFree (nice name btw
It is so important that you measure and weigh your food. I guarantee you are incorrectly estimating your caloric intake - and men are usually ones to over-estimate their calories (women the opposite - we love to underestimate). If you are doing either, it can severely damper your progress. Give it a try. For 2 weeks. It's really not that bad. Go get yourself some cool measuing cups, measuring spoons, and a scale. Worth every bit of this very small investment.
Thanks....I have all those things already so I'll give it a go and see what happens....but thank you everyone your advice is very much appreciated
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Fat Free....Only my evening meal is subject to weighing...Breakfast is a manufacturer measured portion in a sachet, lunch is again a manufacturer measured portion, my evening meal portions are small and whilst I concede I should be measuring I am confident I am not cancelling out my output.
Your output is incorrect, that's not an 1100 calorie ride. 11m gain, 17mph avg. If I were to throw a number out there, I'd say it's probably closer to 350 calories.
If you have a similar level of inaccuracy with your intake, you'll probably hit a point where you are not losing weight, or may begin gaining weight.
Only you will know if you hit a point where you are not losing, or begin gaining.0 -
Fat Free....Only my evening meal is subject to weighing...Breakfast is a manufacturer measured portion in a sachet, lunch is again a manufacturer measured portion, my evening meal portions are small and whilst I concede I should be measuring I am confident I am not cancelling out my output.
Your output is incorrect, that's not an 1100 calorie ride. 11m gain, 17mph avg. If I were to throw a number out there, I'd say it's probably closer to 350 calories.
If you have a similar level of inaccuracy with your intake, you'll probably hit a point where you are not losing weight, or may begin gaining weight.
Only you will know if you hit a point where you are not losing, or begin gaining.
Thanks for that...definitely not losing been the same for over four weeks, in that case does anyone know of a good reasonably accurate way to calculate calories burned during such activities?
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I use my heart rate monitor.Fat Free....Only my evening meal is subject to weighing...Breakfast is a manufacturer measured portion in a sachet, lunch is again a manufacturer measured portion, my evening meal portions are small and whilst I concede I should be measuring I am confident I am not cancelling out my output.
Your output is incorrect, that's not an 1100 calorie ride. 11m gain, 17mph avg. If I were to throw a number out there, I'd say it's probably closer to 350 calories.
If you have a similar level of inaccuracy with your intake, you'll probably hit a point where you are not losing weight, or may begin gaining weight.
Only you will know if you hit a point where you are not losing, or begin gaining.
Thanks for that...definitely not losing been the same for over four weeks, in that case does anyone know of a good reasonably accurate way to calculate calories burned during such activities?
I know for an hour where I'm pounding really silly hard on my trainer, doing sprints, intervals, etc, and keeping my average heart rate over 140, I will get a caloric burn reading of 900 cals or so, and I'll log it as 450.
A ride where I'll run a circuit a bit like yours, it will tell me I've burnt about 500 calories, so I'd log it at 300.
Unfortunately, it's not very hilly around here, so I'll never get more than about 10-15m of gain in a ride unless I want to put a 20+ mile ride together.
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Honestly, what I'd do. Log it all as 1 calorie.0
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I use my heart rate monitor.Fat Free....Only my evening meal is subject to weighing...Breakfast is a manufacturer measured portion in a sachet, lunch is again a manufacturer measured portion, my evening meal portions are small and whilst I concede I should be measuring I am confident I am not cancelling out my output.
Your output is incorrect, that's not an 1100 calorie ride. 11m gain, 17mph avg. If I were to throw a number out there, I'd say it's probably closer to 350 calories.
If you have a similar level of inaccuracy with your intake, you'll probably hit a point where you are not losing weight, or may begin gaining weight.
Only you will know if you hit a point where you are not losing, or begin gaining.
Thanks for that...definitely not losing been the same for over four weeks, in that case does anyone know of a good reasonably accurate way to calculate calories burned during such activities?
I know for an hour where I'm pounding really silly hard on my trainer, doing sprints, intervals, etc, and keeping my average heart rate over 140, I will get a caloric burn reading of 900 cals or so, and I'll log it as 450.
A ride where I'll run a circuit a bit like yours, it will tell me I've burnt about 500 calories, so I'd log it at 300.
Unfortunately, it's not very hilly around here, so I'll never get more than about 10-15m of gain in a ride unless I want to put a 20+ mile ride together.
Thank you....was thinking of investing in a HRM, now I will!
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I'd strongly suggest it.
You know, even a used one is fine. They aren't 100% accurate, but they'll get you 80% of the way there. Working intervals with one can be quite enlightening.0 -
HRM are a nice tool to have, but they are inaccurate also. They'll give you an accurate number of heart beats per minute, but converting heart beats to calories is just an estimate. I've heard that Endomondo runs on the high side. I've seen the same problem with MapMyRide, so I just tell it that I weigh less than I do so it will report a calories burned number that is more consistent with other estimating tools.
The most accurate method for determining calories burned is to measure your oxygen usage while exercising. But most of us don't have ready access to the required equipment.0 -
I'd say a bike ride like that would burn around 350-400 calories, max. I've used a HRM for spinning before. While I appreciate spinning is indoors, there are no hills, just resistance, and no wind or anything to worry about, but it's close enough. I burned about 350 calories in 45 mins of hardcore spinning.
Maybe vary your exercise a bit. If you cycle a lot your body is probably used to it. I second strength training.
I also agree with logging food and weighing to to be accurate, although some people do take it a bit far.0 -
Chiming in to agree that your calories burned estimate for cycling is on the high side--probably by at least 2x.0
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Quotes like this always bother me - they also tend to come from the less experienced in life. NOTHING is absolute about weight loss. Any number of factors could have changed - blood pressure, muscle mass and water retention to name a few. You can't measure someone over the internet - it's about as accurate as a BMI which is also complete crap. He is asking for assistance not a lecture from a child who thinks she has the world figured out as much as her Pokemon. The lecturing way you posted this is unhelpful - that is ABSOLUTE.The math is absolute. Calories in - calories out = weight gain or loss. If you are not losing weight, one of your numbers is off. Period.
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The math is absolute. Calories in - calories out = weight gain or loss. If you are not losing weight, one of your numbers is off. Period.
If you are logging your food correctly, maybe you are overestimating your exercise (it is veeery unlikely that you are burning 1000+ calories in 40 minutes of cycling), or perhaps MFP's tdee calculation for you is incorrect (there are multiple formulas, it might be wise to seek out a few calculators yourself).
I agree that the math doesn't lie; if you're burning more than you're consuming your body will lose it.
Also, it is really really unlikely to burn 1,000+ calories in 40 minutes. I do an hour of spin which is pretty intense and MFP tells me I burn 954 calories, but I half that to ensure I'm not going over my limits for the day.
I think you're over estimating what you burn.0 -
Out of interest, what do you eat in an average day? If you're eating pre-packaged stuff it's not necessarily the most healthy. Maybe try changing what you eat. 2 months is long enough to tell it's not working. Although have you taken measurements as well as weighing yourself?
I do agree that weight loss isn't always that simple. I lose weight pretty slowly, and I do use a food scale, and I'm very active, and I see people on my friends list eat more, and more junk, and yet they lose more quickly than I do. We all have different metabolisms.0 -
Given that you have been plateaued for 2 months it's unlikely at this point to be fluid retention in my opinion. Might still be possible of course, but I have my doubts.
The most likely scenario is that you're eating at maintenance.
I would examine your logging and tracking habits (food scale use, consistency, etc) and if that doesn't solve the problem I'd consider a slight reduction in calories.0 -
Well here's the thing - some, yes only some, people can get away with varying factors to explain why the weight isn't coming off. However, the number of people who claim to have metabolic disorders vs the number of people who actually do is very high. The simple fact, for the majority of people, is that if you're eating too much you gain weight (or you won't lose, whichever way you want to look at it). If this man's math is off by let's say 300 cal. which another poster already said his tracking device could be off by that puts him at burning what he's consumed. And that changes a whole heck of a lot. Also, if his math is right his deficit is in the thousands and he should be experiencing symptoms of organ shut down/failure and hair loss, sallow skin, zero energy, etc. Also what those who have been anorexic for along time experience. And the damage is irreversible at this rate.
I highly doubt he would have the energy to keep going if his numbers were right. It's not bad that they're wrong, it just answers why he isn't dropping.
Further, if you aren't weighing your food you are more than likely consuming more than you think you are. I was until I started weighing and realized what a portion of this or that looks like.
Don't be rude - many people use these varying factors to explain, politely, that they're just eating too much. Ever heard of starvation mode, eat more to lose, etc. It doesn't work the way many people think it does but yet so many people are using it as a reason they aren't losing when in fact they're probably eating more than they think now. It's not being rude, it's being honest.
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