Is it possible my body doesn't want to lose more?
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PrincessSlytherin
Posts: 181 Member
I know that if you eat less calories than you expend you will lose weight. This principle has worked for me. However, I was looking at my weight over the last 3 years and whether I was trying to lose weight or not trying, I have remained at roughly 150 lbs. Even now that I am trying, I can't seem to break much lower than that. I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts.
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Replies
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How accurate is your logging?10
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Most likely it's more a function of habit and balance - based on your normal habits/tendencies, your energy balance levels out at 150lbs. If you were to "buckle down" and be diligent and consistent for 8 weeks, do you think you'd lose?12
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Food scale?
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Your diary shows weighing food which is good, but you eat higher some days and lower other days. Does these calories at the the end of the week put you in a 'weekly deficit' according to what you set up MFP to lose weight?
In any regard, if you want to lose more weight you can. Consistency with your intake and your activities/exercise (if you exercise) is all you need.8 -
Most likely it's more a function of habit and balance - based on your normal habits/tendencies, your energy balance levels out at 150lbs. If you were to "buckle down" and be diligent and consistent for 8 weeks, do you think you'd lose?
I agree. Your body doesn't "want" things, but it sounds like your preferred way of eating has you landing right around the calories that maintain your weight at 150. You can certainly be healthy at that weight, but if you want to lose, you need to look at how to change those habits for good. Think about your social, family, and work life - what habits do you have around food, and are there areas you'd be happy cutting calories not just for the time it takes to lose weight, but for the rest of your life? You have to eat less to maintain a lower weight, and sometimes that trade-off isn't worth it. That's for you to decide.12 -
Does MFP show that you are eating at a deficit? Because the scale is telling you that you are probably eating at maintenance and don't realize it.11
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To put it this way: If you were left on a deserted island with nothing to eat and you went with minimal food for a few months, do you think your body would start feeding on its fat storage or would you just die of starvation at 150lbs? I think the former.
What is most likely happening is that when you weigh less you expend fewer calories because you are carrying around a lighter load and there is less of you to keep alive. In addition to this, you lost quite a lot of weight very fast before, so your body has probably found ways to spare energy by reducing the subconscious movements such as the extra bounce in your step and tapping your fingers when you diet.
The good news is that it is absolutely possible for you to lose this weight, but it might be a little more uncomfortable than it was the first time. Good luck though, many have succeeded before you, and you can too!13 -
Luckily, this is way less mysterious than you might think, but unfortunately, also takes much more effort than you might think. Your body doesn't have a will of its own. You, on the other hand, have a set of "eating and moving" habits and preferences that keeps you at your current weight. You can lose weight, but you have to stop trying, and start doing. Whether or not you think you're in a calorie deficit, doesn't matter, what matters, is that you are. So you would have to log diligently - weigh and log everything, use genuine entries, the recipe builder, no cheating or guessing - and hit your calorie target every day, and keep doing it, for weeks and months.10
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Your diary shows weighing food which is good, but you eat higher some days and lower other days. Does these calories at the the end of the week put you in a 'weekly deficit' according to what you set up MFP to lose weight?
In any regard, if you want to lose more weight you can. Consistency with your intake and your activities/exercise (if you exercise) is all you need.
I looked at my weekly deficit for the past month and a half and I have been under, although sometimes not by a lot. I go to the gym 5 days a week, and do roughly 30 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of weight mschines. I track my calorie expenditure using fitbit.
When I started the gym I was concerned about severely under eating, so I was eating back my exercise caloroes. Should I try to limit those calories to 25% eaten back? I don't want to undereat, but I don't know how much my fitbit could be overestimating by.0 -
No, it's not possible. Your body does not "want" to be at any particular weight. Your calories eaten and calories burned are simply balancing out, on average. You are in maintenance. If you want to lose weight and don't have much weight to lose, then your deficit will likely be very small and you'll have to be very precise about weighing and logging all of your food.0
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No, it's not possible. Your body does not "want" to be at any particular weight. Your calories eaten and calories burned are simply balancing out, on average. You are in maintenance. If you want to lose weight and don't have much weight to lose, then your deficit will likely be very small and you'll have to be very precise about weighing and logging all of your food.
Thank you for your input! Is 25 lbs considered little to lose? Not trying to argue, but this seems like a lot still to me. Jowever, that might just be because it's my body! In the bigger picture, it might be small.1 -
PrincessSlytherin wrote: »Your diary shows weighing food which is good, but you eat higher some days and lower other days. Does these calories at the the end of the week put you in a 'weekly deficit' according to what you set up MFP to lose weight?
In any regard, if you want to lose more weight you can. Consistency with your intake and your activities/exercise (if you exercise) is all you need.
I looked at my weekly deficit for the past month and a half and I have been under, although sometimes not by a lot. I go to the gym 5 days a week, and do roughly 30 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of weight mschines. I track my calorie expenditure using fitbit.
When I started the gym I was concerned about severely under eating, so I was eating back my exercise caloroes. Should I try to limit those calories to 25% eaten back? I don't want to undereat, but I don't know how much my fitbit could be overestimating by.
This is something you just have to experiment with...but I'd wager that your calorie expenditure isn't off by 75%. Most people arbitrarily do 50% and adjust as necessary.
Gadgets and calculators can only give you an estimate...your real world results are what actually matter. If you're not losing weight, you're eating maintenance likely due to a combination of overestimating energy expenditure and logging errors.
If you're maintaining at your current calorie intake with the exercise you do, and you want to lose 1 Lb per week, all you have to do is back out 500 calories from what you're currently doing. You have your own data at this point to work with...use it.8 -
PrincessSlytherin wrote: »Your diary shows weighing food which is good, but you eat higher some days and lower other days. Does these calories at the the end of the week put you in a 'weekly deficit' according to what you set up MFP to lose weight?
In any regard, if you want to lose more weight you can. Consistency with your intake and your activities/exercise (if you exercise) is all you need.
I looked at my weekly deficit for the past month and a half and I have been under, although sometimes not by a lot. I go to the gym 5 days a week, and do roughly 30 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of weight mschines. I track my calorie expenditure using fitbit.
When I started the gym I was concerned about severely under eating, so I was eating back my exercise caloroes. Should I try to limit those calories to 25% eaten back? I don't want to undereat, but I don't know how much my fitbit could be overestimating by.
If you are not losing weight you have to eat less calories or expend more. If those come from the workout calories or you just drop the goal for every day down by 100 calories doesn't matter, as long as you eat less or move more. And if you move more you can't eat back those calories, then you are back at ground 0.3 -
PrincessSlytherin wrote: »No, it's not possible. Your body does not "want" to be at any particular weight. Your calories eaten and calories burned are simply balancing out, on average. You are in maintenance. If you want to lose weight and don't have much weight to lose, then your deficit will likely be very small and you'll have to be very precise about weighing and logging all of your food.
Thank you for your input! Is 25 lbs considered little to lose? Not trying to argue, but this seems like a lot still to me. Jowever, that might just be because it's my body! In the bigger picture, it might be small.
Well, according to the google, the average American is about 17 pounds overweight, which puts 25 pounds just above an average amount to lose. But it's all relative - I've got about 25 to go after losing 50 and I can say for sure that having 25 pounds to lose feels a lot more manageable than 75 did.
ETA: I suspect the earlier comment was referencing safe rates of loss when they said 25 pounds isn't much to lose. The rule of thumb if you want to lose mostly fat instead of muscle mass is no more than 1% of total body weight a week.5 -
PrincessSlytherin wrote: »Your diary shows weighing food which is good, but you eat higher some days and lower other days. Does these calories at the the end of the week put you in a 'weekly deficit' according to what you set up MFP to lose weight?
In any regard, if you want to lose more weight you can. Consistency with your intake and your activities/exercise (if you exercise) is all you need.
I looked at my weekly deficit for the past month and a half and I have been under, although sometimes not by a lot. I go to the gym 5 days a week, and do roughly 30 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of weight mschines. I track my calorie expenditure using fitbit.
When I started the gym I was concerned about severely under eating, so I was eating back my exercise caloroes. Should I try to limit those calories to 25% eaten back? I don't want to undereat, but I don't know how much my fitbit could be overestimating by.
You've been basically maintaining weight, perhaps with a small deficit through food, but maybe not so much with eating back exercise calories.
I would take the data I have and experiment. If you maintain on x calories, deduct 250 from your intake. Trend that for 4 weeks (a full monthly cycle). You can do it faster but I think implementing smaller changes over a longer period of time gives you wiggle room to work with cals eaten back through exercise and your actual intake and working through your comfort level trying to lose weight again and still be fueling your day to day and exercise..
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PrincessSlytherin wrote: »No, it's not possible. Your body does not "want" to be at any particular weight. Your calories eaten and calories burned are simply balancing out, on average. You are in maintenance. If you want to lose weight and don't have much weight to lose, then your deficit will likely be very small and you'll have to be very precise about weighing and logging all of your food.
Thank you for your input! Is 25 lbs considered little to lose? Not trying to argue, but this seems like a lot still to me. Jowever, that might just be because it's my body! In the bigger picture, it might be small.
"A lot" is definitely relative. 25 pounds feels like a little to me because I lost 100
By the time I got down to the last 15-20 pounds, I really had to tighten up my logging because I didn't have as big a deficit as I once had. If you're looking to lose weight and it's not happening, then something is going on to keep you out of a deficit. You're either eating more than you think, or not burning as many calories in exercise as you think. Those last pounds were when I really had to start being meticulous with weighing my food. 3 -
Your weight will always be a matter of math. Calories in vs calories out is always going to be king.0
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I have not lost a lot of weight, ever--I have been at varying ends of a healthy weight range (around 10 lbs). And I find it incredibly difficult to go from the top of that range to the bottom of it. It's not due to lack of trying, but I will say that to lose weight, I have to be under 1400 calories WITH exercise 5-6 days a week, which is not easy. Plus, I don't always have the motivation to stick to my plan, as I am already healthy and fit--it's vanity weight for me.
But I absolutely CAN and have lost weight and know how to do so. So my guess would be that it's both emotionally and physically harder for you to get below 150, since you would need to further reduce your calories and might not see the point. But you could. You would just need to decide you wanted to.5 -
PrincessSlytherin wrote: »Your diary shows weighing food which is good, but you eat higher some days and lower other days. Does these calories at the the end of the week put you in a 'weekly deficit' according to what you set up MFP to lose weight?
In any regard, if you want to lose more weight you can. Consistency with your intake and your activities/exercise (if you exercise) is all you need.
I looked at my weekly deficit for the past month and a half and I have been under, although sometimes not by a lot. I go to the gym 5 days a week, and do roughly 30 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of weight mschines. I track my calorie expenditure using fitbit.
When I started the gym I was concerned about severely under eating, so I was eating back my exercise caloroes. Should I try to limit those calories to 25% eaten back? I don't want to undereat, but I don't know how much my fitbit could be overestimating by.
The devices (like Fitbit) and calculators (like MFPs) don't calculate your calorie burn, they estimate it based on things like heart rate or movement that usually correlate roughly with calorie burn. They're usually pretty close for most people, but not for everyone. It's best practice to adjust your intake based on actual results. Your intake seems medium-low, but not dangerously low. It might we worth cutting back a bit for perhaps 4-6 weeks (as long as you don't have negative symptoms) and see what happens.
When you say that you "haven't been under by a lot" in the last month, I wonder if that kind of "different from population averages" issue might be a factor.
At 25 pounds to go, yes, that's "relatively little" left to lose. For most people, it gets slower, accuracy becomes more important (if one's going to calorie count), and the target loss rate (based on your actual results) should be slow. Certainly you shouldn't lose more than about a pound a week now, and half a pound would be fine. (I understand that you're losing little or nothing at the moment - all of this should be based on actual results).
I see that you had a pretty large, pretty fast weight drop back there around 2015.
Were you working out then, in ways that would've helped you preserve muscle? How is your body composition now? Since you've more recently been working out more, including weight machines, and apparently eating close to maintenance, are you seeing strength gains, and are you increasing the weight on the machines so that you keep challenging yourself (in a safe and moderate way, of course)? Do you avoid working the same muscles every day, since you're doing (it sounds like) the same general workout 5 days a week? (Rest is a necessary part of preserving/improving muscle.)
One thing to look at is your daily life (non-exercise activity): Is there any chance that either your life has changed a little, or that your energy level has dropped a bit? Non-exercise activity contributes a surprising amount to calorie burn. Sometimes, when we lose a good bit fairly rapidly, our non-exercise activity can subtly down-regulate and reduce our TDEE, so that weight loss slows. Fortunately, this is something we can influence.
Are there things you can do to increase activity more in daily life? It's that silly little stuff like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking at the far end of the lot, shopping with a handbasket rather than a cart when feasible, injecting extra movement into daily tasks (dancing in the kitchen while you wait for the microwave, for example
).
Life changes can also have made a difference. Some examples are seemingly trivial things like changing your office location so it's closer to co-workers and copy machine; moving to a house where you don't have a garden; etc.
Best wishes!
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PrincessSlytherin wrote: »Your diary shows weighing food which is good, but you eat higher some days and lower other days. Does these calories at the the end of the week put you in a 'weekly deficit' according to what you set up MFP to lose weight?
In any regard, if you want to lose more weight you can. Consistency with your intake and your activities/exercise (if you exercise) is all you need.
I looked at my weekly deficit for the past month and a half and I have been under, although sometimes not by a lot. I go to the gym 5 days a week, and do roughly 30 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of weight mschines. I track my calorie expenditure using fitbit.
When I started the gym I was concerned about severely under eating, so I was eating back my exercise caloroes. Should I try to limit those calories to 25% eaten back? I don't want to undereat, but I don't know how much my fitbit could be overestimating by.
You say you do 30 minutes of cardio? Is that on a treadmill? walking? running? I used to do "cardio" on treadmills forever and I would maintain my weight, but never got the look I was wanting. Once I started doing workout DVD's that really pack a lot of exercises in a little bit I time is when I started seeing what I really wanted, which was a lower BF %, which in turn also leads to a lower weight, at least for me. Try to switch up your exercises and make that 30 minutes of cardio really worth it by burning more calories.
Also try working with free weights at the gym, instead of those machines. I feel like you get a better workout with free weights too.9
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