What gives?

Smitty197391
Smitty197391 Posts: 6 Member
edited November 22 in Health and Weight Loss
MFP has my calories set at 1770,for sedentary which I use when logging my calories. I exercise 4 days a week with a average 550-600 burn. I never eat my exercise calories back and had been losing 2 pounds a week. Last week I decided to cut my daily intake to 1500, and continue to work out 4 times a week. I only loss 1 pound this week! How is that possible? I trying to figure out how to loss weight cause I have alot to lose. For information I'm 42 and started off weighing 308,im down to 285.5. I know a loss is a loss but I expected to be losing more per week if I'm not eating my calories back from exercise.

Replies

  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
    Weight loss doesn't always work that way. It isn't linear. And there's water weight. There will be some weeks where you won't lose a pound. There will be some when you will even gain.
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    I truly hate this expression, but weight is not linear. Meaning that sometimes you will lose three pounds a week, sometimes gain half a pound in the same time. Overall, you will lose. You can't go from day to day or even week to week. Have patience, keep eating less and exercising more. It will happen.
  • ElleMarieRose
    ElleMarieRose Posts: 37 Member
    I agree with what everyone else said. Congrats on the weight loss so far. Just wait until you get down some more and stop losing for like 3 months! That's always fun! lol Keep at it.
  • jaqcan
    jaqcan Posts: 498 Member
    edited August 2015
    If you're not eating any exercise calories back, you're not giving your body enough. On your days working out you're only giving your organs 800-900 calories to work on. ORGANS need more to function. Your numbers should NET 1500 at least.
    Just my opinion.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    I truly hate this expression, but weight is not linear. Meaning that sometimes you will lose three pounds a week, sometimes gain half a pound in the same time. Overall, you will lose. You can't go from day to day or even week to week. Have patience, keep eating less and exercising more. It will happen.
    I hate it, too, lol! It is linear! The lines go up and down, but they're still lines! It's just not a straight slope. I never said it, but I don't like it, either.

    I never say it because I agree with the point.

    OP, the scale goes up and down all the time. I've gone 4-5 weeks losing nothing and then dropped several pounds in a few days. People call it a "whoosh" and lots of people lose in whooshes.

    Don't sweat the fluctuations. Watch the overall trend. :)
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
    2 pounds a week was fine. Stick with the program and don't try to change things up.
  • Smitty197391
    Smitty197391 Posts: 6 Member
    Thanks for all that replied, I always been scared to eat some off my calories back.Ill try that for a week and see what happens. I guess from watching shows like the Biggest loser, I expected weight to drop off every week if you're doing the "right" things. :smile:
  • azulvioleta6
    azulvioleta6 Posts: 4,195 Member
    Your body is not a calculator.

    Be patient.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
    godgrif wrote: »
    Thanks for all that replied, I always been scared to eat some off my calories back.Ill try that for a week and see what happens. I guess from watching shows like the Biggest loser, I expected weight to drop off every week if you're doing the "right" things. :smile:

    The biggest loser is the worst thing to compare your weight loss journey to. The way that show does weight loss is unhealthy and not sustainable. You should google previous contestants from the biggest loser. It's not all sunshine & roses.

  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    most of us don't have that much to lose in comparison to biggest losers
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    godgrif wrote: »
    Thanks for all that replied, I always been scared to eat some off my calories back.Ill try that for a week and see what happens. I guess from watching shows like the Biggest loser, I expected weight to drop off every week if you're doing the "right" things. :smile:

    1. The contestants devote almost their entire day to losing weight
    2. Many of them gain the weight back when the contest is over

  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    godgrif wrote: »
    Thanks for all that replied, I always been scared to eat some off my calories back.Ill try that for a week and see what happens. I guess from watching shows like the Biggest loser, I expected weight to drop off every week if you're doing the "right" things. :smile:

    1. The contestants devote almost their entire day to losing weight
    2. Many of them gain the weight back when the contest is over

    Nevermind that a "week" on biggest loser is actually 10-12 days...
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    so- I'll be the dumb one- why did you change it if it was working out perfectly?


    secondly - 1500 is way not enough food- as a female eating between 1600-1800- I can tell you 1500 for a grown man just isn't enough.

  • Bshmerlie
    Bshmerlie Posts: 1,026 Member
    If I were you I would continue to eat exactly as you have eaten. You're losing 2 pounds per week which is the safest recommended amount that you should be losing per week. The fact that you only lost one pound in the last week doesn't really mean much because weight fluctuates all the time...because human beings are made up of water. Maybe you had more sodium last week which affected how much the scale says. Keep doing exactly what you're doing and be happy with your 2 pounds per week.

    However I do believe you are consuming more than the 1770 that MFP recommended if you are not eating back any of your exercise calories. Tighten up your logging if you can as it will matter more as you begin getting lighter. Right now it obviously doesn't matter due to your size. Go through all your typical items that you eat and make sure you are chosing the correct entries in the MFP data base. Also make sure you weigh everything with a food scale....etc, etc.
  • Smitty197391
    Smitty197391 Posts: 6 Member
    Bshmerlie wrote: »
    If I were you I would continue to eat exactly as you have eaten. You're losing 2 pounds per week which is the safest recommended amount that you should be losing per week. The fact that you only lost one pound in the last week doesn't really mean much because weight fluctuates all the time...because human beings are made up of water. Maybe you had more sodium last week which affected how much the scale says. Keep doing exactly what you're doing and be happy with your 2 pounds per week.

    However I do believe you are consuming more than the 1770 that MFP recommended if you are not eating back any of your exercise calories. Tighten up your logging if you can as it will matter more as you begin getting lighter. Right now it obviously doesn't matter due to your size. Go through all your typical items that you eat and make sure you are chosing the correct entries in the MFP data base. Also make sure you weigh everything with a food scale....etc, etc.

    I use food scales and scan any with bar codes, I'm confident that I'm logging my food accurately. I will watch the sodium, which know I go over at times.I wanted to lose a extra pound which was the reason why I cut my calories a bit more . Thanks for sharing your knowledge, this is my first serious attempt at dropping weight and trying to do it the right way.
  • diods87
    diods87 Posts: 24 Member
    if you really want your body to be burning fat cut down on CARBS replace carbs with protein - a lot of chicken, turkey, protien shakes and others. and if you do cardio on the top of that you will soon see results. no fast food
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Why would a 285lb be eating 1500 calories and not eating back purposeful exercise hence netting 1000 calories

    Why?

    Dude <fishslap> stop that! Net a decent amount of calories and help preserve your lbm

    Weight loss isn't linear you can only look at averages over 6-8 weeks and not on a ate x this week lost y this week basis ...that's not how it works, that's just how you want it to work
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    diods87 wrote: »
    if you really want your body to be burning fat cut down on CARBS replace carbs with protein - a lot of chicken, turkey, protien shakes and others. and if you do cardio on the top of that you will soon see results. no fast food

    Oh irrelevant and ridiculous ...did he say he was interested in low carb to hit his calorie defecit? No he did not

    So why would he want to manipulate his water weight for a whoosh and then return to a standard CICO but managed through low carb ...he sounds like he's quite happy with logging calories
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    godgrif wrote: »
    Bshmerlie wrote: »
    If I were you I would continue to eat exactly as you have eaten. You're losing 2 pounds per week which is the safest recommended amount that you should be losing per week. The fact that you only lost one pound in the last week doesn't really mean much because weight fluctuates all the time...because human beings are made up of water. Maybe you had more sodium last week which affected how much the scale says. Keep doing exactly what you're doing and be happy with your 2 pounds per week.

    However I do believe you are consuming more than the 1770 that MFP recommended if you are not eating back any of your exercise calories. Tighten up your logging if you can as it will matter more as you begin getting lighter. Right now it obviously doesn't matter due to your size. Go through all your typical items that you eat and make sure you are chosing the correct entries in the MFP data base. Also make sure you weigh everything with a food scale....etc, etc.

    I use food scales and scan any with bar codes, I'm confident that I'm logging my food accurately. I will watch the sodium, which know I go over at times.I wanted to lose a extra pound which was the reason why I cut my calories a bit more . Thanks for sharing your knowledge, this is my first serious attempt at dropping weight and trying to do it the right way.


    You just need to hold your nerve ...scale weight goes up and down and stays static even when doing the right thing

    Get a trendweight app if you want to smooth it all out ..libra / happy scale ...I personally like to use trendweight.com because my logged weights in MFP automatically transfer over through my fitbit link (you can set up a free fitbit account without having one and get the same result) ...it gives you evening out and extrapolation data over time

    Eg this is me in maintenance ...logging properly ...see how my weight still fluctuates ..because we don't have a scale weight but a scale weight range ...black dots are scale weights ..the line is my path that tells me if I should increase or decrease my calories

    6r4hi1k30gce.jpg
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