Confused

Options
tony090370
tony090370 Posts: 10 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi All,

Hoping someone can point me in the right direction?!

I'm just under 300lbs and trying to lose 1lb per week, so my daily calorie goal is set at 2180 as I'm an office worker and therefore have my activity set at "Not very active"

Recently I've been doing a lot of walking (5-6 miles per day) whilst wearing a Fitbit, so my net calories each day are much lower, sometimes only 800-900 net per day. I don't eat back the exercise calories and I rarely reach the 2180 target, and I'm pretty accurate and honest at recording all my food, so really confused as to why I seem to be losing only 0.4lb per week sometimes?

I'm enjoying the walking, so don't want to stop doing that as it must be good for me right? But I would like to see better results for my efforts. I thought I understood the calories in/calories out thing, but does anyone think I'm missing something?

Thanks in advance,
Tony
«1

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Options
    Weight loss isn't linear, but why are you eating so little?
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
    Options
    Weight loss isn't linear. And eat more...netting 800-900 calories is way too low. Ideally you should be netting the 2180 MFP gave to you. Undereating can end up doing more harm than good in the long run.
  • tony090370
    tony090370 Posts: 10 Member
    Options
    Thanks for the replies!

    I am eating around 1800-2000 calories per day, but my Fitbit says I'm burning a lot due to the extra walking. I have had weeks recently where I lost 2.5lbs, so I guess the weight loss not being linear is the answer to my question!
  • Saltine24
    Saltine24 Posts: 143 Member
    Options
    tony090370 wrote: »
    Hi All,

    Recently I've been doing a lot of walking (5-6 miles per day) whilst wearing a Fitbit, so my net calories each day are much lower, sometimes only 800-900 net per day. I don't eat back the exercise calories and I rarely reach the 2180 target, and I'm pretty accurate and honest at recording all my food, so really confused as to why I seem to be losing only 0.4lb per week sometimes?

    I'm enjoying the walking, so don't want to stop doing that as it must be good for me right? But I would like to see better results for my efforts. I thought I understood the calories in/calories out thing, but does anyone think I'm missing something?

    Thanks in advance,
    Tony

    I was under the same impression earlier this year, eating just around 1,000 calories a day and was working out about 2 hours a day walking & running 10+ km every day and seeing no loss on the scale. So I decided to see a Dietitian last month and she suggested I eat no less than 1,200 calories per day and no less than 120 carbs. As soon as I made these changes I started seeing results on the scale.

    Think of your body as a vehicle, if you don't have enough gas in the tank you will not get to your destination...so if you don't fuel your body properly you will not reach your goal & could possibly cause you more health issues in the long run.

    I am not sure what a male should be netting but eating as close to your MFP macros would be a good start.

    Good luck on your journey!
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Options
    tony090370 wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies!

    I am eating around 1800-2000 calories per day, but my Fitbit says I'm burning a lot due to the extra walking. I have had weeks recently where I lost 2.5lbs, so I guess the weight loss not being linear is the answer to my question!

    I highly recommend using a weight trending app (like Happy Scale for Apple or Libra for Android). You enter your weight regularly and it gives you a trend you can focus on. It helps filter out a lot of the "noise" of weight loss.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Options
    WatchitBeginAgain wrote: »
    Might be too much salt. Keep in mind quality of food is also important. You want to concentrate on minimally processed food. But you are making good stride so don't panic. And disclaimer, I am not a nutritionist, but I doubt any nutritionist on the planet would have an issue with the advice of "eat more broccoli."

    You'll lose weight in a deficit regardless of how much processed food you're eating.

    And "eat more broccoli" wouldn't be great advice for someone who wasn't getting sufficient fat and/or protein. The overall context of the diet is important when making recommendations.
  • raymax4
    raymax4 Posts: 6,070 Member
    Options
    Are you weighing every thing you eat and logging it.
    A good kitchen scale can do wonders for weight loss!
  • tony090370
    tony090370 Posts: 10 Member
    Options
    I'm pretty sure I'm being honest with my food intake. I do weigh and log everything, and even review meals that I have regularly to make sure I don't just copy forward from the first ever time and accidently add more as time goes by.

    I'm pretty good with food, it's the effect of the exercise that's thrown me. I guess I thought that if I eat roughly my calorie goal and then burn 500-1000 calories per day then I should lose 3lb per week most weeks whilst I'm this heavy.

    Appreciate all the advice. I am happy to lose 1lb per week, so will try to eat more and get my net calories up to something more sustainable.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,572 Member
    Options
    tony090370 wrote: »
    I'm pretty sure I'm being honest with my food intake. I do weigh and log everything, and even review meals that I have regularly to make sure I don't just copy forward from the first ever time and accidently add more as time goes by.

    I'm pretty good with food, it's the effect of the exercise that's thrown me. I guess I thought that if I eat roughly my calorie goal and then burn 500-1000 calories per day then I should lose 3lb per week most weeks whilst I'm this heavy.

    Appreciate all the advice. I am happy to lose 1lb per week, so will try to eat more and get my net calories up to something more sustainable.

    Ah, so you're not eating calories back but expect the calorie burn to increase the deficit by that much. It's really not consistent like that. Calorie burns are not an efficient way to create a deficit (perhaps enlarge one a bit) but it can vary so much. In general, walking doesn't burn that many calories. Don't get me wrong, do it! I factor my walking into my lifestyle activity. I know that if I don't get an average of X amount of steps, I might drop into being sedentary which would lower the amount of calories I can eat to maintain weight.
  • Marilyn0924
    Marilyn0924 Posts: 797 Member
    Options
    You should be eating back some of those exercise calories as well. While losing fast is something that seems like a great idea, you might not be getting enough nutrients into your system by eating well below your calorie allotment it can also cause additional muscle loss, which you do not want.
  • TravisJHunt
    TravisJHunt Posts: 533 Member
    edited February 2018
    Options
    I'd also think you're over estimating your effort. 500-1000 calories burned would be a hell of a set of multiple workouts. A lot of estimates have running a 5k at between 200-300 calories and that's running it. So if you're just walking it, its going to be a lot less than that. So let's even say 200, so do you really think you're walking 15 miles (25k) extra a day? That would be around 33000 steps above what you would need to hit your normal activity. That's the problem with FitBits, etc. most are terrible at giving you a good estimate on calories burned during exercise. Even the HR ones which are wrist based are pretty terrible. Most people seem to agree around 3,500 calories equals about 1 pound (0.45 kilogram) of fat, so you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in to lose 1 pound. So, in general, if you burned an extra 500 calories a day from walking, you'd only lose about 1 pound a week over whatever you set as your goal into MFP just by dieting. So 2 lbs total would be a good week. You've said you've hit that and then some on weeks. So I'd say you're doing better than you think.
  • Marilyn0924
    Marilyn0924 Posts: 797 Member
    Options
    bbell1985 wrote: »
    Marilyn0924 wrote: »
    You should be eating back some of those exercise calories as well. While losing fast is something that seems like a great idea, you might not be getting enough nutrients into your system by eating well below your calorie allotment it can also cause additional muscle loss, which you do not want.

    If he is losing 1 pound per week at 300 lbs, do you really think he needs to eat those calories back from walking? I'd say he is doing well.

    Fair enough!
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    Options
    TravisJHunt wrote: »
    I'd also think you're over estimating your effort. 500-1000 calories burned would be a hell of a set of multiple workouts. A lot of estimates have running a 5k at between 200-300 calories and that's running it. So if you're just walking it, its going to be a lot less than that. So let's even say 200, so do you really think you're walking 15 miles (25k) extra a day?

    ?????

    Running a 5 K at 300 lbs is going to burn (5*.621)*.63*300 =~585 calories. I'm 210 lbs and burn ~ 400 calories running a 5K.

    Walking 5K should burn (5*.621)*.3*300 ~280 cals.

    Weight loss isn't linear seems to be the answer. How much have you lost in total since starting, and what time frame? You should be able to average 1-2 lbs per week.
  • tony090370
    tony090370 Posts: 10 Member
    Options
    I've been at it since July 16, and have lost around 50lb to date - I will add to that though that I've had long periods of "not trying", so could have been much more. I've lost 14lb in 2018 so far.

    When I am trying, then I regularly lose at least 1lb per week without doing much in the way of exercise - I would usually go for a 3-4 mile walk on Saturday and Sunday, but not much at all in the week. What's thrown me is doing the same things food-wise, but increasing exercise to 3-4 miles daily seems to change the weight loss to 0.5 lb per week? My legs were already pretty muscly due to walking around carrying 350lb, so I don't think it's extra muscle weight being formed either.

    Don't get me wrong, I aim to carry on with the walking and cutting intake, but I like to try to understand what's happening and why increased exercise seems to have slowed weight loss.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Options
    tony090370 wrote: »
    I've been at it since July 16, and have lost around 50lb to date - I will add to that though that I've had long periods of "not trying", so could have been much more. I've lost 14lb in 2018 so far.

    When I am trying, then I regularly lose at least 1lb per week without doing much in the way of exercise - I would usually go for a 3-4 mile walk on Saturday and Sunday, but not much at all in the week. What's thrown me is doing the same things food-wise, but increasing exercise to 3-4 miles daily seems to change the weight loss to 0.5 lb per week? My legs were already pretty muscly due to walking around carrying 350lb, so I don't think it's extra muscle weight being formed either.

    Don't get me wrong, I aim to carry on with the walking and cutting intake, but I like to try to understand what's happening and why increased exercise seems to have slowed weight loss.

    Many people find that when they increase the intensity or frequency of their exercise, it can add temporary water weight. It's related to muscle recovery. I run and when I increase my mileage or do an especially long run, I can usually see it on the scale. This may be what you're seeing on the weeks when you increase your exercise and see less loss.

Categories