If calories in vs. calories out is what matters, why no weight loss?
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quoted from synacious: "If you've read up on how inaccurate all fitness trackers are, you wouldn't have posted this.
I have read articles that have debated the inaccuracies of fitness trackers but that doesn't mean they are inaccurate for everyone. From the articles I've read and the experiences from users that I've read, it seems like the more overweight someone is, the more Fitbit overestimates their TDEE. Also, some of the articles were based on self-reported data which, in my opinion, must be taken with a grain of salt."
I was 19.5 bmi when I got a fitbit. I gained 10 pounds in about a month and a half using that thing. It estimated calorie burns when I was traveling in a car as if I was walking! They are cool for aome people, I felt wierd like using it, it alarm for getting up, clock everything, I guess I just didn't like having a little machine on me always like a control thingy.
Not liking it is fair enough, but I have a question for you about your statement. You said you gained 10 pounds in a month and a half; were you eating the calories you got for driving? When did you finally notice you were getting calories for driving? Where I'm from there is no need to drive, so I can't relate to this aspect of it, but I know people who use it that drive and they make some sort of adjustment for this in their data.
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Am I the only one who's had a fitbit actually work like it's supposed to?
ETA: OP, if you ever come back could you supply your stats and unlock your diary. If your numbers are right, you'd be losing weight.14 -
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Am I the only one who's had a fitbit actually work like it's supposed to?
ETA: OP, if you ever come back could you supply your stats and unlock your diary. If your numbers are right, you'd be losing weight.
I think what happens is people rely too heavily on the tech and all common sense goes out the window. If you know you drove your car all day then obviously the 30,000 steps it might be showing didn't happen so ignore it.
Like all data it is just data, the fitbit does not go buy the gallon of ice-cream and feed it to you with a spoon, that is all on you.
My fitbit has been spot on - but the only reason this is the case is because I have remained vigilant and the first sign it was not working I would have corrected my deficit right away and not waited until I was lb's heavier. I will not be looking to use a bit of plastic as an excuse for me failing.14 -
Am I the only one who's had a fitbit actually work like it's supposed to?
ETA: OP, if you ever come back could you supply your stats and unlock your diary. If your numbers are right, you'd be losing weight.
Love mine.
It's calorie burn is accurate for me as long as I'm accurate as I can be with my logging. My logging however, well that's another story.
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shadow2soul wrote: »Am I the only one who's had a fitbit actually work like it's supposed to?
ETA: OP, if you ever come back could you supply your stats and unlock your diary. If your numbers are right, you'd be losing weight.
Love mine.
It's calorie burn is accurate for me as long as I'm accurate as I can be with my logging. My logging however, well that's another story.
I have a different fitness tracker but works great...usually within range of burns for my loss.2 -
shadow2soul wrote: »Am I the only one who's had a fitbit actually work like it's supposed to?
ETA: OP, if you ever come back could you supply your stats and unlock your diary. If your numbers are right, you'd be losing weight.
Love mine.
It's calorie burn is accurate for me as long as I'm accurate as I can be with my logging. My logging however, well that's another story.
I'm willing to bet that's the OP's issue.
For example, I have a Fitbit. My average TDEE is 2100 cals at 5'7" and 158 lbs, so I get 500 exercise calories a day and eat like 1400 cals net.
I could not figure out why I kept gaining and losing the same weight because I have a fairly decent deficit and TDEE. Then a day ago I realized that my pre-packaged foods weighed a lot more than what was stated on the package. Enough to wipe out my deficit and add on additional calories. The 520 calorie pizza I've been eating is actually 900+.
So now I log and weigh everything and I hope the scale starts going down. I'm willing to be that's the OP's problem.0 -
quoted from synacious: "If you've read up on how inaccurate all fitness trackers are, you wouldn't have posted this.
I have read articles that have debated the inaccuracies of fitness trackers but that doesn't mean they are inaccurate for everyone. From the articles I've read and the experiences from users that I've read, it seems like the more overweight someone is, the more Fitbit overestimates their TDEE. Also, some of the articles were based on self-reported data which, in my opinion, must be taken with a grain of salt."
I was 19.5 bmi when I got a fitbit. I gained 10 pounds in about a month and a half using that thing. It estimated calorie burns when I was traveling in a car as if I was walking! They are cool for aome people, I felt wierd like using it, it alarm for getting up, clock everything, I guess I just didn't like having a little machine on me always like a control thingy.
Not liking it is fair enough, but I have a question for you about your statement. You said you gained 10 pounds in a month and a half; were you eating the calories you got for driving? When did you finally notice you were getting calories for driving? Where I'm from there is no need to drive, so I can't relate to this aspect of it, but I know people who use it that drive and they make some sort of adjustment for this in their data.
Hi, yes exactly! I lived in Calabria and we moved to Venice. We rented a car and drove to Venice. I had just got the fitbit from peson who was given it as a gift from their place of business at Christmas who didn't want it. I noticed the calores were coming in as I was riding in the car for a few days, so I just ate accordingly. Then in Venice we walked so much, no cars there, so I just kept eating according to the burn rate and beinggiven extra calories that I wasn't aware were wrong. No scale at the new house and by the time I weighed again, viola, added kilos.
I had a very hard time correcting that weight gain too!
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Same here- I have been on this weightloss-log everything- exercise daily for at least 30 minutes- drink my water for 23 days- scale hasn't moved even a tenth of a percent....so I had my metabolic weight test done....and I have the metabolic age of a 54 yr old woman- I am 39- I have ZERO metabolism- I have followed ALL of the jumpstart and even had bloodwork done- all clear- but the scale isn't budging.....even tried the nurse's scale where I work....she said it is "totally accurate".......and guess what same as the scale at home to the tenth I have started Plexus Slim.....to try to jumpstart.......we shall see.
Woah there, I'm coming up on 50 and have a metabolism, sure hope there isn't any drastic change at 54. Zero would mean dead. Are you actually fat? Or just trying to lose the last few vanity pounds? Small changes go slowly, you can't and shouldn't drop the last 5 pounds quickly, there isn't a lot of fat in there to burn. Try increasing exercise intensity if you do only 30 minutes. And good luck with your supplement.1 -
To you folks who had all these driving steps added, surely you didn't actually believe you had walked all those steps? it takes around an hour for me to run 10,000 for starters.....
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I don't have that issue with my Fitbit charge HR. We just drove in a car for 30 minutes and the road had lots of bumps and my steps stayed at 2,057.4
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RunRutheeRun wrote: »To you folks who had all these driving steps added, surely you didn't actually believe you had walked all those steps? it takes around an hour for me to run 10,000 for starters.....
This would fall under common sense7 -
RunRutheeRun wrote: »To you folks who had all these driving steps added, surely you didn't actually believe you had walked all those steps? it takes around an hour for me to run 10,000 for starters.....
Yeah, I was trying to be kind about it above, but something like that is more of an error on the user than Fitbit's problem.
I'm 5'3" and 112 pounds and I usually walk 20,000+ steps per day; I don't bat an eye when Fitbit says I can eat ~2,300 (give or take a few hundred) to maintain my weight. I'm on my final cut now and I've been losing the last five pounds on 1,900 calories per day. I haven't gained any weight except for my intentional bulk for the past few months and even then I actually gained less than Fitbit said I would. Fitbit's not perfect of course but I really have to wonder how much of the terribly huge errors people report come down to lack of common sense or poor food logging/calorie tracking. If I knew I was in a car for most of the day, I wouldn't believe I walked 20,000+ steps or could eat 2,000+ calories just because Fitbit said I could. Even now, if Fitbit says I can eat more and I'm not hungry, I don't eat more food just because a fitness tracker tells me I can.6 -
shadow2soul wrote: »misschellechelle wrote: »RoseTheWarrior wrote: »Since you've mentioned that you weigh and log everything, I would ask how often you wor out? Are you giving yourself rest days? Also please realize that the last 5 lbs will be the hardest to lose. You'll have to be incredibly patient.
I workout 6 days a week. I lift weights, do circuit training, and a mix of HIIT and speed walking. I do take a rest day for recovery.
The calorie expenditure of weight lifting and circuit training is very low. Wearing a fitbit there doesn't help either. You lift up a weight, your HR goes up, you put the weight down, your heartrate still remains high for a while while you're just sitting around and not doing anything. A high HR doesn't equal energy burn!
And school physics: Work =mass(kg)*height(meters)*9.81ms^2. Say you deadlift 50kg half a meter that will give you 245.25J = 0.06kcal
Of course a bit more goes into the total for lowering the weight to the floor again, and for stabilizing your body during the lift, but really, the energy expenditure for weight lifting is not particularly high.
Am I the only person that this doesn't happen to? My avg HR during weight lifting sessions is usually 100-110. Stronglifts or Strong Curves, doesn't seem to matter. My HR goes up and quickly heads back to resting during my rest periods.
The rate at which your HR drops is a good measure of cardiovascular fitness. I expect you're ahead of the curve in that regard.
I started experiencing the same thing, but only after I started running in addition to lifting.1 -
CICO is about half of it. the last few pounds are hard to lose and you need to focus more on your macros, nutrient timing, food quality and exercise. This depends on if these last few pounds puts you at a low body fat percentage - those pounds are harder to lose - or if they are just the last ones to your goal and you could lose a bit more if you wanted to. In the latter case, you still need to dial in the other aspects that affect changing body composition and you probably have been doing some of the same things for a while and need to change it up to trick the adaptation cycle. you can do it!1
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It simply means it's not really a deficit or you did not wait long enough. Just like that flow chart above. There is no other answer. It will always be that answer. Sometimes the scale does not give you the answer as your body is mostly WATER. Sometimes constantly checking the body weight scale is a hindrance to your mindset. The process works even if you never step on the body weight scale. Focus on the food scale and workouts, know what your deficit its, have some eating up to normal maintenance at least one day a week. Don't go over maintenance, have more deficit days a week compared to maintenance. Don't eat to low. Food intake and workouts; nothing else matters. Give it time.0
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gataman3000 wrote: »Keep in mind when you post in these boards, you are asking for advice from people who have been overweight their entire life, asking people who have been u healthy their entire life how to be healthy. Go to they gym and talking to them, they will give you better advice or a nutritionist.
Just because someone uses myfitnesspal doesn't mean they've been overweight their entire life. I have never been overweight a day in my life. However, I use myfitnesspal to log macronutrients so that I am eating exactly the amount I want, to ensure muscle gain etc.
[edited by MFP Moderator]2 -
I dont think you are eating enough if you truly exercise that much. Research IIFYM it is handsdown the best W.O.E. i have ever done. Your body is a machine that needs good consistent fuel. If you weigh and measure everything, track every day, and are exercising as much as you say, you are undereating which will cause a stall. also if you are down to the last 5-7 pounds, it could take much longer to lose simply because there's not much left. Do you lift weights or anything? or just cardio?0
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WinoGelato wrote: »
Me too1 -
Measurements not weight, are you comfortable defining your total and complete body composition by your weight? Sincere question, not trying to be a "richard" If that is your "must have" and focus is to hit that target number, maybe go and get a "body pod" done to get an accurate idea of what the weight consists of, water, muscle, fat and skeletal.0
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GuitarJerry wrote: »Because fit bits are inaccurate. That's why. Total pieces of crap. I gained weight using mine. They don't work.
Why I also found the fit bit to be inaccurate for me as well, that doesn't mean its inaccurate for everybody. The biggest problem with fitbit is there is no way to adjust the algorithm to your actual results so if it works for you great, if not then it can't be relied on for caloric intake.0 -
gataman3000 wrote: »Keep in mind when you post in these boards, you are asking for advice from people who have been overweight their entire life, asking people who have been u healthy their entire life how to be healthy. Go to they gym and talking to them, they will give you better advice or a nutritionist.
Never waste time with a nutritionist. They have no formal training or education. And eating more is NEVER the key to weight loss.0 -
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GuitarJerry wrote: »Because fit bits are inaccurate. That's why. Total pieces of crap. I gained weight using mine. They don't work.
Why I also found the fit bit to be inaccurate for me as well, that doesn't mean its inaccurate for everybody. The biggest problem with fitbit is there is no way to adjust the algorithm to your actual results so if it works for you great, if not then it can't be relied on for caloric intake.
Just because you guys gained weight doesn't mean it's fitbit. I didn't lose any weight with mine because I apparently wasn't logging as accurately as I thought I was.0 -
gataman3000 wrote: »Keep in mind when you post in these boards, you are asking for advice from people who have been overweight their entire life, asking people who have been u healthy their entire life how to be healthy. Go to they gym and talking to them, they will give you better advice or a nutritionist.
Never waste time with a nutritionist. They have no formal training or education. And eating more is NEVER the key to weight loss.
Just like with any profession, there are good ones and bad ones. Absolutes are never good.0 -
lizzy_satellite wrote: »
Mine seems to be pretty accurate too. In the last 8 weeks according to my data I should have lost 11.67 pounds and I only lost 10.20. But I know that my logging for Easter weekend was mostly guessing and I also had my birthday during that time. Plus I eat out pretty regularly at a locally owned resturant that I have to guess at so I think the difference is in my food logging more than the fitbit. But even if it is the fitbit that is off that is close enough for me.0 -
Someone might have mentioned it already but I read that when you are wearing a HR or something else that counts calories burned, you do NOT keep it measuring your heart rate while doing strength training. You pause it until you go back into cardio exercises.0
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Ohjeezitskim wrote: »Someone might have mentioned it already but I read that when you are wearing a HR or something else that counts calories burned, you do NOT keep it measuring your heart rate while doing strength training. You pause it until you go back into cardio exercises.
how do you pause a fitbit? that would be great, cos every now and then i gain steps while cycling.0 -
You're eating 1200 calories a day, but exercising 2200-2300? I really hope those numbers are incorrect. You're not giving your body enough fuel and nutrients and in the long run, doing yourself more harm than good. If you do that daily, you'll lose lean body mass--not the weight you want to see come off.
That being said, if those numbers were happening you would be losing weight. I just want to address the idea of being in the red by the end of the day--it's not healthy.
She's saying her fit bit reports a TOTAL daily burn of 2200, it's not all exercise it's basic bodily functioning as well.
I honestly suggest a refeed day. If you've been at it a while maybe your body is way used to everything you do and isn't working as hard. Fit bit won't account for that. I suggest eating at maintenence or close to it for a day or even two, and switch up your exercise routine. Swap your cardio for a different style, take a boot camp class, something new to your body. Then resume your desired caloric intake and see what happens after a week. I'm going to guess your body is just super used to your exercise and not burning as many calories as your fitbit is suggesting. I do believe they are accurate for your average person, but perhaps you're dealing with an overly efficient body not being challenged as much. The refeed is something I have always found to be helpful even if only mentally. There will be folks with science to back it up, but I just speak from experience. Especially with your calories so low you can't eat less it might be worth a try.
Another strategy is to increase calories but burn them off with a new or additional exercise. So eat 1400 but do an exercise that you can estimate is at least 200 calories and see if just changing the equation a bit helps.0
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