Far below TDEE .. Not losing weight

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  • daquix
    daquix Posts: 20 Member
    edited July 2017
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    How are you determining things like 1.33 "pieces" of chicken? Generic entries can be really misleading too (how I make my chicken salad may be very different than how you make it, resulting in a big calorie difference). This may not make a difference now, when your deficit is high. However, as you lose weight and your margins are tighter, accurate logging can make a bigger difference.

    Days that are higher in sodium (like your "nuts" day, which isn't all that nuts for calories) can lead to you retaining water weight temporarily. This can make it harder to notice actual fat loss.

    I weigh everything to the closest gram and then divide.

    Thus how I get my weird fractions sometimes.

    The chicken salad is a pre-packaged Costco mix.
  • daquix
    daquix Posts: 20 Member
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    sllm1 wrote: »
    Notice your sodium on the "high in calories" day (which really isn't high for your size)...4500mg sodium will cause you to retain water and the scale will read higher (sometimes for several days).

    Relax. Keep doing what you're doing. The scale will eventually catch up. It's just slow and sometimes stupid.

    Patience.

    Thanks.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    daquix wrote: »

    How are you determining things like 1.33 "pieces" of chicken? Generic entries can be really misleading too (how I make my chicken salad may be very different than how you make it, resulting in a big calorie difference). This may not make a difference now, when your deficit is high. However, as you lose weight and your margins are tighter, accurate logging can make a bigger difference.

    Days that are higher in sodium (like your "nuts" day, which isn't all that nuts for calories) can lead to you retaining water weight temporarily. This can make it harder to notice actual fat loss.

    I weigh everything to the closest gram and then divide.

    Thus how I get my weird fractions sometimes.

    How did you know what the weight of 1.33 pieces of chicken was though? Is this from a package that also listed the weight of a serving in grams?

    The generic chicken salad, I get that you weighed the chicken salad, but how do you know the recipe for that generic chicken salad matched the recipe of what you were eating?

    This stuff may seem really picky and it probably is at this stage of your weight loss. It's stuff to think about if you plateau in the future though.
  • mangofish44
    mangofish44 Posts: 57 Member
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    That's a ton of sodium retaining weight. Your salad might have been bigger than 3 ounces. That's super small.

    Premade soups have crazy sodium amounts. You also eat a ton of cheese products which are super high fat. Try and cut those out.

    Good luck to you!
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
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    Sample day #2 isn't bad at all, and should really be what you aim for calorie-wise every day. Glad to see that you appear to be eating foods you like. You should give attention to your protein, though, so as to help preserve as much lean muscle mass as you can (more of a concern with the low calories). A few good sources without adding a lot of calories are Greek yogurt (Dannon light & fit Greek has 80 calories for 12 g protein), low-fat cottage cheese, and canned tuna.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    That's a ton of sodium retaining weight. Your salad might have been bigger than 3 ounces. That's super small.

    Premade soups have crazy sodium amounts. You also eat a ton of cheese products which are super high fat. Try and cut those out.

    Good luck to you!

    Assuming the logging is accurate, OP's fat consumption is already on the low side. I don't think there would be a benefit to him going lower.
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,337 Member
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    my starting weight was 196 & it gave me 1490/cal/day. the scale didn't move for almost the first 2 weeks. After that the pattern was no weight loss for 1-2 weeks then it came off all at once it seemed, but the main thing is don't give up. It will come off as long as you're weighing everything you eat & eat at a deficit. Personally it sounds like you need to eat more calories. A friend of mine once told me that time will pass weather you're doing anything or not, so do something good.
  • daquix
    daquix Posts: 20 Member
    edited July 2017
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    How did you know what the weight of 1.33 pieces of chicken was though? Is this from a package that also listed the weight of a serving in grams?

    The generic chicken salad, I get that you weighed the chicken salad, but how do you know the recipe for that generic chicken salad matched the recipe of what you were eating?

    This stuff may seem really picky and it probably is at this stage of your weight loss. It's stuff to think about if you plateau in the future though.


    If a package says "1 serving = 300 grams" and I eat 400 grams of it, then I ate 1.33 servings.

    I didn't think it was that complicated haha :)
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    daquix wrote: »

    How did you know what the weight of 1.33 pieces of chicken was though? Is this from a package that also listed the weight of a serving in grams?

    The generic chicken salad, I get that you weighed the chicken salad, but how do you know the recipe for that generic chicken salad matched the recipe of what you were eating?

    This stuff may seem really picky and it probably is at this stage of your weight loss. It's stuff to think about if you plateau in the future though.


    If a package says "1 serving = 300 grams" and I eat 400 grams of it, then I ate 1.33 servings.

    I didn't think it was that complicated haha :)

    Got it, thanks for clarifying.
  • daquix
    daquix Posts: 20 Member
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    That's a ton of sodium retaining weight. Your salad might have been bigger than 3 ounces. That's super small.

    Premade soups have crazy sodium amounts. You also eat a ton of cheese products which are super high fat. Try and cut those out.

    Good luck to you!

    What's wrong with fat?
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
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    A little off-topic, but I love m&ms, and when I first weighed out an actual serving size, I almost cried! I don't believe in completely eliminating foods that I like, but I can't keep them in the house anymore, because it's just too tempting to "grab a few" :(
  • sllm1
    sllm1 Posts: 2,114 Member
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    Nothing is wrong with fat.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
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    daquix wrote: »

    How did you know what the weight of 1.33 pieces of chicken was though? Is this from a package that also listed the weight of a serving in grams?

    The generic chicken salad, I get that you weighed the chicken salad, but how do you know the recipe for that generic chicken salad matched the recipe of what you were eating?

    This stuff may seem really picky and it probably is at this stage of your weight loss. It's stuff to think about if you plateau in the future though.


    If a package says "1 serving = 300 grams" and I eat 400 grams of it, then I ate 1.33 servings.

    I didn't think it was that complicated haha :)

    I do that a lot if I can't readily find a database entry listed in grams. Doesn't mean I'm not weighing :)
  • daquix
    daquix Posts: 20 Member
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    try2again wrote: »
    A little off-topic, but I love m&ms, and when I first weighed out an actual serving size, I almost cried! I don't believe in completely eliminating foods that I like, but I can't keep them in the house anymore, because it's just too tempting to "grab a few" :(

    Same here. It was tiny.
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
    edited July 2017
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    try2again wrote: »
    A little off-topic, but I love m&ms, and when I first weighed out an actual serving size, I almost cried! I don't believe in completely eliminating foods that I like, but I can't keep them in the house anymore, because it's just too tempting to "grab a few" :(

    I don't know how but there is an opened bag of the Costco size M&Ms... sitting in my cupboard; largely ignored. Sometimes I find if I *can* and it's there; I typically don't. Moderation really does get easier with time lol
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,384 Member
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    I think everyone else has covered the "log accurately" and "weight fluctuations" front... so I will just add a bit more.

    You have lost 20lbs in 3 weeks! That's no small accomplishment, so congrats!

    I'd recommend checking out "Libra" on Android or "Happy Scale" on IOS. These are apps that you can log your daily/weekly weights and it will generate a trendline for you.

    Looking at an overall trendline instead of all the little "ups and downs" each day/week is a great way to stay motivated and look at the big picture. As long as your trendline is pointing downwards after a month or two, you're all good.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    daquix wrote: »
    theledger5 wrote: »
    I can easily go 3 weeks in massive calorie deficit and not lose weight. You have to accept that sometimes this is normal. I used to panic and get extremely frustrated but have realised through time and patience that this is OK, after a few weeks boom the weight loss shows again.

    The weight loss will show all at once for you?

    Happens to a lot of people - it even has a name - "The Whoosh".