What am I doing wrong?

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  • leeannsummer70
    leeannsummer70 Posts: 6 Member
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    Im 26, 5'9 and now weigh 83k, not ideal ive been stuck for nearly a year now
  • coolbluecris
    coolbluecris Posts: 228 Member
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    leeannsummer70 wrote: »
    Im 26, 5'9 and now weigh 83k, not ideal ive been stuck for nearly a year now

    I think you would look stunning at that weight and height :smile:

  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    Well a couple of things jump out with your stats. You are an overweight BOM but close to normal. Only a couple of points off. So, eating 1200 caps is far too large a deficit. This is likely leading to high cortisol and water retention. You also may have some adaptive thermogenesis going on from such a large deficit for so long.
    Have yoh taken a break from dieting and eaten at maintenance in the last year +?
  • ahamm002
    ahamm002 Posts: 1,690 Member
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    leeannsummer70 wrote: »
    I have a digital scale everything I eat is portion controlled I log very accurately. I also habe a fitbit which I use to help with my calorie intake vs exercise, im too scared to over eat.

    If you're not losing weight there is an error somewhere in your calculations. Either you're overestimating your exercise calories, or underestimating your intake.

    Fitbits are somewhat inaccurate. Really all those exercise calculators are just estimations. And logging food is not perfectly accurate either. If you're not losing weight then look at everything you're eating and try to find any foods you regularly consume that you're underestimating.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    edited November 2017
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    ahamm002 wrote: »
    mmapags wrote: »
    Well a couple of things jump out with your stats. You are an overweight BOM but close to normal. Only a couple of points off. So, eating 1200 caps is far too large a deficit. This is likely leading to high cortisol and water retention. You also may have some adaptive thermogenesis going on from such a large deficit for so long.
    Have yoh taken a break from dieting and eaten at maintenance in the last year +?

    If she maintained that large of a deficit for 5 years she'd still lose weight. Adaptive thermogenesis wouldn't stop that.

    Of course she would. I'm not saying she wouldn't. What I am saying is that adaptive thermogenesis could be making it an uphill battle and along with water weight retention from the stress of such a large deficit could be slowing and masking what ever progress she's making. Add that to no diet break for a year or more and it's a poor formula for progress. Of course all this assumes accurate logging. Which may be a bad assumption.

    OP, here are some resources that may help. Tightening up and being consistent with the logging is key though.
    First, here is a whole thread that discusses refeeds and diet breaks: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1
    An article by Lyle McDonald on diet breaks: https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/
    Article by Lyle McDonald on big deficits: https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html/

  • Lean59man
    Lean59man Posts: 714 Member
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    Calories burned in various activities you could check with your fitbit...

    nutristrategy.com/caloriesburned.htm
  • jlynn1991
    jlynn1991 Posts: 50 Member
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    I’m the same age. I found setting my calorie goal to 1350 really got the scale to move. 1200, I was loosing less than a pound a week or gaining. I work out 20 minutes a day 5 times a week, eat fairly healthy and if I have something junk food like, it still fits in my calorie budget. And its working well for me.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    Spliner1969 wrote: »
    Toss the fitbit in the drawer, stick to your calorie goals and manually enter what you feel is accurate for your exercise calories and eat back only 50% of them. There's a high chance if you're using your fitbit to sync with MFP that your fitbit is overestimating steps or activity and giving you too many calories beyond your 1200. What is your height and current weight, age, activity level without exercise, and your exercise schedule/routine? How intense is your exercise? You can take all of that information plug it into online calculators (like iifym.com), get a general estimate of what you should be eating per day to lose weight and compare it to what you have been doing. If you open your diary people here on the forums can make suggestions as well.

    i cant agree with this more. when i had my fitbit, i didnt lose a bit. i tossed it in a drawer and like magic, started to lose again.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
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    I think the problem with fitbit is that it’s an all-activity tracker. So using it with a tool like MFP means you are getting credit for activity that MFP has already calculated into your daily calories. MFP uses the NEAT method which is based on your daily non-exercise activity. Calories burned during exercise (at least the accurate part of it) should be added to your daily calories given to you by MFP so that you can eat more and still lose at the same rate. However Fitbit gives you exercise calories (which I found very inaccurate) plus more calories for movement you do during the day. At least that’s why I think my wife and I did much better getting rid of the fancy activity tracker and simply log our purposely done exercise using apps on our phones. Hope I explained that well enough lol.

    It’s likely that if you set your MFP calorie goal manually at your sedentary BMR instead of using the NEAT calculation the Fitbit might work better with MFP. /shrug
  • Monisfit4life
    Monisfit4life Posts: 228 Member
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    Your body might be used to the caloric intake try varying your calories, 1200 one day 1400 the next. Also try working out more than 3 times a week. 4-5 times a week is ideal for weight loss. 3 times a week is for maintenance.
  • Monisfit4life
    Monisfit4life Posts: 228 Member
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    Also try weight lifting as well if you are not already. It helps the body to burn more calories at rest. Twice a week is recommended with cardio at least 4 times a week.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    Monisfit4life wrote: »
    Your body might be used to the caloric intake try varying your calories, 1200 one day 1400 the next. Also try working out more than 3 times a week. 4-5 times a week is ideal for weight loss. 3 times a week is for maintenance.

    Working out more will burn more calories. But there is no specific amount of exercise that is "ideal for weight loss" and maintenance. Weight loss, more specifically fat loss, is driven by calorie deficit. To the degree exercise contributes to that, it is helpful but there are many who lose weight with no exercise.
    Also try weight lifting as well if you are not already. It helps the body to burn more calories at rest. Twice a week is recommended with cardio at least 4 times a week.

    There are so many variables, like intensity, duration, volume etc. that impact Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption that it really becomes a non factor. Will it help a little, yeah. How much impossible to say but not enough to make a significant difference especially in a person who is already active.

    The OP has not been back in a while!
  • JayMri
    JayMri Posts: 241 Member
    edited November 2017
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    coolbluecris wrote: »
    leeannsummer70 wrote: »
    Im 26, 5'9 and now weigh 83k, not ideal ive been stuck for nearly a year now

    I think you would look stunning at that weight and height :smile:

    Your calories are too low. Your BMR is around 1600, that's just what your body burns without doing anything, add in little to no exercise and it goes up to around 1900. To loose around a pound a week you'd be better at around 1500 or 1600 calories per day.

    Don't even worry about adding in or eating back exercise calories.

    For years I stuck to the 1200 calorie guideline and didn't loose anything. I uped my calories and loosing was so much easier.

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