Eating at a deficit but not loosing weight!! Help!!

leah9985 · January 2018

Hi everyone

I’m really hoping someone could give me some advice with my current weight loss problem!!

Ok so I weigh 126lbs (9 stone) and my goal is to get to appoximately 117lbs (8st 5lbs), but I don’t seem to be loosing weight.

Ok, so I’ll be honest, I don’t eat clean, i really struggle to stick to clean eating but from what I gather, eating at a deficit, no matter what the good is, should still cause me to loose weigt but I don’t seem to be.

I work out three times a week, typically mon, tue, wed as these are my days off work and I usually do 15 minutes on the stepper then I go on to a work out class and this is body conditioning on Monday and Tuesday and boxfit on a Wednesday. The body conditioning classes consist of body weight and actual weights for strength training. In addition to this, I will do my own weight work outs using free weights and machines but not particularly heavy weights.

I tend to try and stick to 1200 cals a day and I eat back half of my exercise calories so I think I must be consuming around 1400 cals on work or days and try to stick to the 1200 cals when not working out.

The thing is, for the last few weeks I haven’t lost a single pound of weight!! Sometimes I might drop a pound but the next day it’s back up again!

I just don’t understand it as surely I’m eating at a deficit???

Can someone please shed some light on what I could be doing wrong??

Thank you in advance

channi_c · January 2018

try increasing your calories, when I was eating at around 1200 I wasn't loosing any weight, I needed to be around 1400 on an average day and slightly more on work out days.

hope this helps

TavistockToad · January 2018

how tall are you?

do you weigh your food with scales?

stevencloser · January 2018

channi_c wrote: »

try increasing your calories, when I was eating at around 1200 I wasn't loosing any weight, I needed to be around 1400 on an average day and slightly more on work out days.

hope this helps

No one loses more weight by eating more calories.

tinkerbellang83 · January 2018

leah9985 wrote: »

Hi everyone

I’m really hoping someone could give me some advice with my current weight loss problem!!

Ok so I weigh 126lbs (9 stone) and my goal is to get to appoximately 117lbs (8st 5lbs), but I don’t seem to be loosing weight.

Ok, so I’ll be honest, I don’t eat clean, i really struggle to stick to clean eating but from what I gather, eating at a deficit, no matter what the good is, should still cause me to loose weigt but I don’t seem to be.

I work out three times a week, typically mon, tue, wed as these are my days off work and I usually do 15 minutes on the stepper then I go on to a work out class and this is body conditioning on Monday and Tuesday and boxfit on a Wednesday. The body conditioning classes consist of body weight and actual weights for strength training. In addition to this, I will do my own weight work outs using free weights and machines but not particularly heavy weights.

I tend to try and stick to 1200 cals a day and I eat back half of my exercise calories so I think I must be consuming around 1400 cals on work or days and try to stick to the 1200 cals when not working out.

The thing is, for the last few weeks I haven’t lost a single pound of weight!! Sometimes I might drop a pound but the next day it’s back up again!

I just don’t understand it as surely I’m eating at a deficit???

Can someone please shed some light on what I could be doing wrong??

Thank you in advance

You said it yourself you are losing weight, you just have so little to lose that it might easily be masked by water weight fluctuations. with only 9lbs to lose your weight loss is going to be exceptionally slow and you shouldn't expect more than a half pound per week to come off.

stanmann571 · January 2018

leah9985 wrote: »

Hi everyone

I’m really hoping someone could give me some advice with my current weight loss problem!!

Ok so I weigh 126lbs (9 stone) and my goal is to get to appoximately 117lbs (8st 5lbs), but I don’t seem to be loosing weight.

Ok, so I’ll be honest, I don’t eat clean, i really struggle to stick to clean eating but from what I gather, eating at a deficit, no matter what the good is, should still cause me to loose weigt but I don’t seem to be.

I work out three times a week, typically mon, tue, wed as these are my days off work and I usually do 15 minutes on the stepper then I go on to a work out class and this is body conditioning on Monday and Tuesday and boxfit on a Wednesday. The body conditioning classes consist of body weight and actual weights for strength training. In addition to this, I will do my own weight work outs using free weights and machines but not particularly heavy weights.

I tend to try and stick to 1200 cals a day and I eat back half of my exercise calories so I think I must be consuming around 1400 cals on work or days and try to stick to the 1200 cals when not working out.

The thing is, for the last few weeks I haven’t lost a single pound of weight!! Sometimes I might drop a pound but the next day it’s back up again!

I just don’t understand it as surely I’m eating at a deficit???

Can someone please shed some light on what I could be doing wrong??

Thank you in advance

You're trying to lose 9 pounds of what is known as "vanity weight" since you're probably already within a healthy weight range.

You'll need to be very diligent and disciplined in your calorie logging and estimation and should expect no more than 2 lbs a month as a loss rate. Most likely it will be slower than that.

sofchak · January 2018

With so little to lose, it’s easy to make a logging mistake and wipe out any deficit you have. Check your logging first.

Personally, I have similar stats and only a 250 deficit per day. I once had a plateau that I couldn’t figure out for the longest time ‘til I checked my logging and realized that the ranch dressing that I thought was 110 calories per container was actually 3 servings in one small container - I was sometimes eating two of those containers a day which adds up to 220-440 calories more per day than I thought I was eating. I was so mad!!!!

Start with checking your logging. Otherwise, it takes a good 4 weeks sometimes to make it past a plateau. Patience is key.

Good luck.

mitch16 · January 2018

What's going on during the weekends when you don't track? If you are having "cheat" days you could be very easily diminishing your deficits from the days you do actually track.

leah9985 · January 2018

Thanks for all of your responses. I think you are right and patience is key and it’s going to come off a lot slower than I was hoping.

At the weekends I am less strict but still try to remain at a deficit on sundays, but saturdays I probably consume around 1500 cals but surely this wouldn’t wipe out my deficit for the week?

I shall make sure that I check what I log but I tend to always over compensate than under. So sometimes if I think I may have had a 1/2 of something I will put a whole so that I am definitely not under logging my food.

I appreciate any input from you guys, it’s good to hear that some people have lost weight but it has just taken time.

Anyone know if eating half your exercise calories back is the right or wrong thing to do??

PikaJoyJoy · January 2018

How long have you been at it that you haven't been seeing any loss? Are you also comparing measurements to see if maybe you're losing inches rather than the scale #?

Do you actually weigh out your portions or are you more eyeballing them?

ETA - And if you're already at what a healthy weight (I'm assuming) and just looking to lose vanity lbs, than you're probably going to look at a 1/2 lb a week loss versus 1 or 2 lbs.

And to put it out there - have you considered more looking into body recomposition versus the scale #? Meaning maybe consider progressing in strength/lifting weight versus more a focus on cardio or lighter weights/higher reps? (You can also progress with bodyweight exercises if you're doing harder versions of certain exercises)

stanmann571 · January 2018

leah9985 wrote: »

Thanks for all of your responses. I think you are right and patience is key and it’s going to come off a lot slower than I was hoping.

At the weekends I am less strict but still try to remain at a deficit on sundays, but saturdays I probably consume around 1500 cals but surely this wouldn’t wipe out my deficit for the week?

I shall make sure that I check what I log but I tend to always over compensate than under. So sometimes if I think I may have had a 1/2 of something I will put a whole so that I am definitely not under logging my food.

I appreciate any input from you guys, it’s good to hear that some people have lost weight but it has just taken time.

Anyone know if eating half your exercise calories back is the right or wrong thing to do??

It depends on what the exercise is, and what estimation method is being used.

1houndgal · January 2018

stevencloser wrote: »

channi_c wrote: »

try increasing your calories, when I was eating at around 1200 I wasn't loosing any weight, I needed to be around 1400 on an average day and slightly more on work out days.

hope this helps

No one loses more weight by eating more calories.

Unless the extra fuel makes you feel more energized to increase your excercise levels.

janejellyroll · January 2018

leah9985 wrote: »

Thanks for all of your responses. I think you are right and patience is key and it’s going to come off a lot slower than I was hoping.

At the weekends I am less strict but still try to remain at a deficit on sundays, but saturdays I probably consume around 1500 cals but surely this wouldn’t wipe out my deficit for the week?

I shall make sure that I check what I log but I tend to always over compensate than under. So sometimes if I think I may have had a 1/2 of something I will put a whole so that I am definitely not under logging my food.

I appreciate any input from you guys, it’s good to hear that some people have lost weight but it has just taken time.

Anyone know if eating half your exercise calories back is the right or wrong thing to do??

If someone says they're "probably" consuming a certain amount on the weekend, that tells me that logging consistency and accuracy may be an issue. Losing the last few pounds generally requires a lot of consistence and accuracy. I suggest tightening up the logging and removing the "probably" from the equation.

1houndgal · January 2018

leah9985 wrote: »

Thanks for all of your responses. I think you are right and patience is key and it’s going to come off a lot slower than I was hoping.

At the weekends I am less strict but still try to remain at a deficit on sundays, but saturdays I probably consume around 1500 cals but surely this wouldn’t wipe out my deficit for the week?

I shall make sure that I check what I log but I tend to always over compensate than under. So sometimes if I think I may have had a 1/2 of something I will put a whole so that I am definitely not under logging my food.

I appreciate any input from you guys, it’s good to hear that some people have lost weight but it has just taken time.

Anyone know if eating half your exercise calories back is the right or wrong thing to do??

It is recommended on mfp to eat at least some of your excercise calories back.

Timshel_ · January 2018

In your response you use "try" "presumably" "probably" "around" "about" "may" and other unmeasured and unsure words. If you've calculated your proper caloric intake and you measure your food for closer to exact calories, you might get better results. I know ther were a lot of times I just assumed calories, portions were something and when I finally got down to checking and measuring I found some big discrepancies.

Worth tightening it up and making sure you consistently strict to the deficit goal every day of the week.

Eating at a deficit but not loosing weight!! Help!!

Replies

Categories