Extremely slow weight loss despite cal deficit ?
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I should also add that I weigh daily and see massive fluctuations from day to day0
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Thank you for the information everyone. I need to lose around 25lbs to be back to my pre baby weight. The last month I have only lost two pound. But seem to keep losing and gaining that same two pounds. I have increased my workouts to four times a week.
First I will do as suggested and really check I'm logging as accurately as possible. I think I am but It won't hurt to check my measurements and weights of fruit etc. I am into the lower end of the overweight category so thought I would still be losing around 1-2 pounds a week with my calorie deficit.
Reduce your deficit by another 200 cals.
Check your diary for sodium, if your weight fluctuates a lot it may be down to too much salt. Do you drink enough water?0 -
Possibly ur right. I go through phases with water. I try hard to drink my three litres but then I go back to coffee and a few glasses of water for a few days. I also enjoy salt... Himalayan but i imagine that's the same thing when it comes to holding fluid0
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So reduce my deficit do you mean my total Cals for the day to maybe 1200.0
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With exercise that is a VERY low calorie count, your body might be starvation mode and hanging on to everything it can. Trying going up to a safer 1800 net for a couple of weeks to see if your body adjusts and the weight starts slowly coming off.
If I ate 1800 I would gain, my maintance is 1600 so it's quite a bit over. There just isn't enough information there to trow out such advice. Also, starvation mode is a myth.
OP - gaining a few pounds overnight is just water retention, likely caused by sodium. It's not gaining a few pounds of fat overnight and will soon go. I suggest you recalculate how many calories you need as this goes down the more you lose and ensure you log every single bite of everything by weighing accurately and selecting correct database entries.2 -
Why Low-Calorie Diets Slow Your Metabolism
If you are on a very low-calorie diet, you may wonder why the numbers on your scale aren’t budging, but your diet buddy is slimmer by the month.
The reality is that different people respond differently to low-calorie diets. When your body senses that food may not be in plentiful supply, it may slow down your metabolism as protection against the possibility of starvation, even if you are obese and deliberately trying to lose weight.
I guess Internet information is wrong..
Source for this?
And as a counter: aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
http://www.everydayhealth.com/weight/can-more-calories-equal-more-weight-loss.aspx
By Madeline R. Vann, MPH
Medically Reviewed by Lindsey Marcellin, MD, MPH
But you all are right, know nothing about OP and should not try to help.
Also its the internet for every accredited article you can find one that says the opposite, that is what is annoying at times, usually the truth is somewhere in the middle, I don't blindly dismiss anything though...
Unfortunately just because someone is a doctor doesn't mean they are knowledgeable about every aspect of health and many websites are curated or approved by "experts" that don't actually read any of the content.
Eating at a very large deficit for a long period of time can slow your metabolism a bit. But if OP is shorter than avg or already pretty light, 1300-1500 cals wouldn't be a large deficit, and it doesn't sound like she's been doing it for long.
OP, what is your current weight and goal weight? How long has it been and how much have you lost so far?
With an MPH you would think...
And I used the wrong term earlier, should have said reduced metabolic rate, but apparently that is a myth too, just like climate change
Would you let a MPH perform heart surgery on you or do you get a heart surgeon for that?
Here's an article by Dr. Layne Norton, PHD in Nutritional Sciences.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3943438/
There's some adaptations happening, but your body isn't thinking you're starving, and they're counteracted by not being an idiot while losing the weight, having a reasonable deficit and exercising.2 -
I'm losing at the same rate as you, half a lb per week. I have about 30lbs left to lose. Yes it's slow, but it'll be maintainable. Also, as women, We generally retain water like a mofo. It sometimes takes a while for me to actually see my losses cause either hormones or a new workout will cause a ton of rentention.2
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Why Low-Calorie Diets Slow Your Metabolism
If you are on a very low-calorie diet, you may wonder why the numbers on your scale aren’t budging, but your diet buddy is slimmer by the month.
The reality is that different people respond differently to low-calorie diets. When your body senses that food may not be in plentiful supply, it may slow down your metabolism as protection against the possibility of starvation, even if you are obese and deliberately trying to lose weight.
I guess Internet information is wrong... these so called experts, my apologies, carry on.
FWIW, a VLCD is less than 800 calories. A low calorie diet is more, around 1000-1100. Net calories don't really matter here if she is getting the nutrition she needs. As far as metabolism slowing down, it sure does. The less you weigh, the less your BMR. That is NORMAL. As you get smaller, your body needs less fuel to do the same things. There is good information online, but there is also a lot of nonsense. You just have to figure out which is which.
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-topics/weight-control/very-low-calorie-diets/Pages/very-low-calorie-diets.aspx1 -
I would also take a look at food sensitivities!!
I used to be in the same boat, I'm 5', with roughly 40lbs to lose. I exercised 4-5x a week, walked about 45min a day, and ate around 1200 calories. I should also note I ate CLEAN.
However. The weight didn't budge. Not once, for months. No real measurement changes either, except maybe a quarter inch fluctuating. I quit at that point cause there wasn't change. Did a little digging... and found some people have issues where cutting breads, pastas, all that (even if it's whole grain) helps. And just eat lots more veggies in a variety. The weight came off easily. If I introduce even brown rice or anything back into my diet, the weight stalls. So for me, that was the culprit.
Everyone is different of course, but I had the same issue and it's something else to consider that may be contributing! (May not be the same source of course. Some people have problems with some kinds of dairy, etc.)2 -
5lbs a week requires a 17500 calorie deficit per week. Unless you weigh 500lbs, have low bodyfat and are extremely active it is not possible to do it.0
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I'm working out (jogging and weights) doing my 10k steps on fit bit too. I stick to no less than 1300 and no more than 1500 Cals every day yet my losses are v v small if anything. If by any chance I have a meal out and decide to eat a pudding ... The next day I guarantee I will gain two or or more pounds. I can't understand why. What am I doing wrong? Any tips pls
Part 1: how many calories does your Fitbit say you burn in a day? Eating 1300-1500 per day only tells us part of the equation. We don't know how much you weigh or how much you burn in a day, so we can't guess as to how much of a deficit you're creating.
Also, how accurate is your logging? Do you use a food scale sometimes, all the time or never? The more accurate your logging, the more likely you are creating the deficit you think you are.
Part 2: the foods you eat can have a temporary impact on your water weight which influences the # you see on the scale. If you go low carb in general, eating carb will increase your water weight. Eating high sodium will increase your water weight. Just an example. TOM/hormones, stress, muscle fatigue are other causes. Water weight is temporary.2 -
shashadoctor843 wrote: »My goal is to loose 5 lbs every week and i only check my weight on sunday. I set my calorie goal at 1200 with light exercise and I'm doing quite well. If you want, your welcome to look at my food diary.
Did you mean .5 pounds a week? To lose 5 pounds a week safely you would need to weight 500+ pounds. You'd need a 2500/day deficit meaning you would need to burn 4000+. Kind of hard to do for a woman. A 550 pounds, an average height female in her mid 20's might burn 4000 calories in a day mostly from BMR. But a 250 pound woman would only be burning 2500-3000 depending on activity level, exercise.1 -
I see you're following WW points system as well as MFP are you logging all of your fruit and veg on MFP?
EDIT: or any of the zero point foods and condiments3 -
StaciMarie1974 wrote: »shashadoctor843 wrote: »My goal is to loose 5 lbs every week and i only check my weight on sunday. I set my calorie goal at 1200 with light exercise and I'm doing quite well. If you want, your welcome to look at my food diary.
Did you mean .5 pounds a week? To lose 5 pounds a week safely you would need to weight 500+ pounds. You'd need a 2500/day deficit meaning you would need to burn 4000+. Kind of hard to do for a woman. A 550 pounds, an average height female in her mid 20's might burn 4000 calories in a day mostly from BMR. But a 250 pound woman would only be burning 2500-3000 depending on activity level, exercise.
nah shes just new here i saw her other other thread. She lost the initial weight and thinks its sustainable even when told its not at all1 -
I'm working out (jogging and weights) doing my 10k steps on fit bit too. I stick to no less than 1300 and no more than 1500 Cals every day yet my losses are v v small if anything. If by any chance I have a meal out and decide to eat a pudding ... The next day I guarantee I will gain two or or more pounds. I can't understand why. What am I doing wrong? Any tips pls
I have the same issue, I bet you're losing weight overall though!0 -
FWIW, the two big things that cause me the most grief in this are honesty in tracking and sodium. I have a bad habit of going WAY over on sodium and it causes serious fluctuations. The honesty in tracking is HUGE! Its not easy but always assume that you are overestimating how many exercise calories you're burning and underestimating calories consumed. I currently start my day with 2180 calories and I try to leave two to three hundred of them to account for errors in tracking. I eat back between half to three quarters of my exercise calories because everything I have read indicates to me that they are probably being over estimated by me, my fitbit, and by the exercise equipment.
@malibu927 , excellent article! Something to remember that ties in with that article and the whole "starvation mode" debate is that while you may not be losing weight, you may still be losing inches. I had this issue about a decade ago, the last time my wife and I tried to get serious and drop some weight. We started doing some weight training along with Weight Watchers and I was getting frustrated with a plateau until it dawned on me that even though I wasn't dropping weight, I was dropping inches around my waist. I simply had to adjust a bit and the weight started coming off again.
Just remember, CICO is the golden rule. Its probably a good bet that most of us here have complained that we were maintaining a deficit and not losing weight when we were actually eating more than we realized. Hell, my medicines and supplement pills account for almost 100 calories a day!
Oh, one other thing. Be careful with the entries that you log. Someone else had previously mentioned this but felt it could use repeating. A lot of them have been modified and are blatantly wrong. I've started trying to use the app and scan everything I can and even then, I verify what's been added with what's listed on the package. Good luck!1 -
Make sure you never go below 1200 calories, make sure your meals are balanced with carbs, proteins and healthy fats. If you are doing cardio all the time you need to incorporate weights. Low calorie diets makes you lose muscle and without muscle your metabolism slows. Start building muscle back and up the calories in increments depending upon what you are doing for exercise and weight lifting.0
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Thank you for the information everyone. I need to lose around 25lbs to be back to my pre baby weight. The last month I have only lost two pound. But seem to keep losing and gaining that same two pounds. I have increased my workouts to four times a week.
First I will do as suggested and really check I'm logging as accurately as possible. I think I am but It won't hurt to check my measurements and weights of fruit etc. I am into the lower end of the overweight category so thought I would still be losing around 1-2 pounds a week with my calorie deficit.
With 25 lbs to lose, a rate of 0.5 lb/week is appropriate to help preserve lean body mass. Losing 1 lb/week may be possible, but that doesn't mean it is appropriate for your goals. 2 lbs/week is likely not possible.
How old is your baby? Are you nursing?0
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