Not losing weight fast enough

I'm 36 years old, male, 330 pounds (roughly).

I have used BMI calculators.. or maybe it was a resting metabolic rate calculator.. can't remember which.. to figure out how many calories I needed to consume daily in order to maintain my weight. Then I figured if I eat less calories than what is required just to maintain my weight, I would lose weight? Simple enough.

Something is going wrong, because I've been consuming around 2000 calories for about four weeks now with no weight loss.

My scale might be broken or I might be doing it all wrong.

Can anyone make recommendations on what to do? The last time I used a calculator to figure calories for maintaining body weight.. it came out to roughly 1000 calories per 100 pounds of body weight. Does that sound correct? If that is correct, I should be coming up with a 1300 calorie per day defecit. That would be 11 pounds of weight loss over 30 days, keeping in mind that one pound of fat is 3500 calories.

Replies

  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
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    1.jpg 135.4K
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    lykhxw3mtyhb.jpg

    This is amazing
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    At that weight you should be losing at 2000 calories. You should be able to lose at more calories in that actually. You are consuming more calories than you think. This is absolutely normal with beginner dieters and it's easy to fix.

    Get a digital kitchen scale and weigh all your solid foods. Measure liquids with a measuring cup. Log everything using verifiable entries in the mfp database (those that match food labels, are from the usda, etc.)
  • mis1022
    mis1022 Posts: 109 Member
    Also you should look at the scale you are weighing on, from my experience not all home bathroom scales will work at your starting weight. Either use the one at the gym or look at buying a new one.
  • Pandawdy
    Pandawdy Posts: 12 Member
    I appreciate the replies. I do suspect something is going on with my scale. It's a digital health o meter scale and I had been using it on carpet. I thought something was up so I moved it to a hard surface today and got totally different readings. On carpet the thing is totally inaccurate. This is really heart breaking because it's been giving me low readings all this time, making me think I had lost more weight than I really did.

    I may have lost weight.. but because I was weighing myself wrong, I can't know that for sure. Also it's possible the scale is just trash and needs replaced.

    Can anyone recommend a good, accurate scale?
  • Pandawdy
    Pandawdy Posts: 12 Member
    mis1022 wrote: »
    Also you should look at the scale you are weighing on, from my experience not all home bathroom scales will work at your starting weight. Either use the one at the gym or look at buying a new one.

    Mine is supposed to be accurate up to 400 pounds but reading some reviews on Amazon, it looks like it's not a very accurate scale.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    Pandawdy wrote: »

    Can anyone recommend a good, accurate scale?

    I have this one:
    http://www.amazon.com/EatSmart-Precision-Bathroom-Capacity-Technology/dp/B001KXZ808/ref=sr_1_6?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1453660367&sr=1-6&keywords=weight+scale

    I love it. Works great and easy to read. I keep mine in the kitchen rather than the bathroom. Sounds odd, I know, but it serves as a good reminder.

    Also consider a food scale and weigh your food for accuracy.
    http://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-Digital-Multifunction-Kitchen-Elegant/dp/B004164SRA/ref=sr_1_4?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1453660502&sr=1-4&keywords=food+scale

  • Equus5374
    Equus5374 Posts: 462 Member
    I suggest ditching the bathroom scale altogether, investing in a good digital kitchen scale as has been recommended already, and practice (and get good at) weighing and measuring for the closest caloric accuracy. Forget weighing yourself for a while. Concentrate really hard on knowing almost exactly how many calories you are putting into your body and give it a few weeks. THEN go somewhere and weigh yourself, or get a new scale. Sometimes weighing every day is a large source of disappointment and frustration for newbies because they don't understand that weight loss isn't linear and will fluctuate daily. They focus on the wrong scale! Get your mind off that scale and on the kitchen scale, and on your daily caloric intake. Better yet, put your stats into MFP and log DAILY.
  • bioklutz
    bioklutz Posts: 1,365 Member
    Don't weigh yourself on carpet. A scale should be on a flat even surface.

    You should also be weighing yourself under the same circumstances. For example I weigh myself in the morning after I used the bathroom but before eating. I weigh myself without clothes on.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    At that weight you should be losing at 2000 calories. You should be able to lose at more calories in that actually. You are consuming more calories than you think. This is absolutely normal with beginner dieters and it's easy to fix.

    Get a digital kitchen scale and weigh all your solid foods. Measure liquids with a measuring cup. Log everything using verifiable entries in the mfp database (those that match food labels, are from the usda, etc.)

    Cosigned.
  • allenpriest
    allenpriest Posts: 1,102 Member
    You have to weigh on a flat surface. So you don't have any valid numbers to work from.
  • ericvaldesere
    ericvaldesere Posts: 16 Member
    Ditch the scale all together use a tape on your self. Measure at less 3 spots chest waist and hips, you can do more but at less these 3 spots. Do it only once a week just like a scale. Every day me will play with your mind
  • allenpriest
    allenpriest Posts: 1,102 Member
    Since you don't have meaningful starting numbers, don't worry about it. Take measurements, get a good starting weight, and work from there.
  • gostumpy
    gostumpy Posts: 156 Member
    edited January 2016
    I'm a numbers guy so I do it every day, but I kNOW that it will flucutate up and down... I'm happy to see it not go back up as high, and overjoyed when I reach a new low..

    I didn't like the once a week measuring because what if you measured on a low morning last time, and now you're measuring on a high morning? A full week's work appears like no progress was made......

    I scale myself as often as possible, daily when I remember.

    I also have the Biggest Loser food scale, it works great. Used it so much I've had to replace the batteries :)
  • namelesshere
    namelesshere Posts: 334 Member
    Many bathroom scales have a 300 lb limit. Most digital scales will also read inaccurately if the batteries are low. I wouldn't worry so much right now about weighing yourself but commit to weighing and logging your food accurately using the MFP database. Just get in the habit and you will find the weight will gradually come off. Give yourself 6 months to establish the habit of weighing and logging your food. If you want an accurate starting weight get one at your doctor's office.
  • HutchA12
    HutchA12 Posts: 279 Member
    Ditch the scale all together use a tape on your self. Measure at less 3 spots chest waist and hips, you can do more but at less these 3 spots. Do it only once a week just like a scale. Every day me will play with your mind

    That works until they need to adjust weight for calorie calculations.
  • CasperNaegle
    CasperNaegle Posts: 936 Member
    You need to weigh/measure all your food. My guess is you are eating way more calories than you think.
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