Is it possible my body doesn't want to lose more?

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

  • PrincessSlytherin
    PrincessSlytherin Posts: 181 Member
    RoxieDawn 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.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    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.
  • PrincessSlytherin
    PrincessSlytherin Posts: 181 Member
    apullum 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.
  • andreaen
    andreaen Posts: 365 Member
    RoxieDawn 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.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    apullum 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.
  • michaelwyatt8262
    michaelwyatt8262 Posts: 17 Member
    Your weight will always be a matter of math. Calories in vs calories out is always going to be king.
  • PrincessSlytherin
    PrincessSlytherin Posts: 181 Member
    edited April 2018
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    RoxieDawn 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!

    In 2015, the only exercise I was doing was running on a treadmill. This time around I purposely began incorporating weight machines. I have been slowly increasing my weights on the machines and have seen an increase in strength this time around. I alternate which muscle groups I work on the give my body a chance to rest. As for cardio, I am currently using the C25k app.

    Other than increasing my intentional exercise nothing has really changed about my daily life, except that I have started calorie counting again.

    Sorry if I just seem to be rattling off answers, but I wanted to answers as many of your questions as I could! Thank you for the insight.
  • poisonesse
    poisonesse Posts: 573 Member
    edited April 2018
    I agree with every post here. But I did notice you say that you're in deficit mode, but only by a little? Therein might lie your problem. Remember, it takes a 3500 calorie burn to lose one pound. If you're only under by "a little" it can take a VERY long time to see it on the scales. Gotta up the ante, more exercise or less food. ;-)

    And a PS... if you're trying to lose and not losing while eating back your exercise calories... then maybe you should stop doing that? I never use those, that's what's making me lose weight. ;-)
  • ekim2016
    ekim2016 Posts: 1,199 Member
    edited April 2018
    Ive been stuck at the same weight give or take 2 pounds for a year now. Logging and weighing my food... 1560 cal per day, 5'10 male. I just figure my body decided to stop losing. I do no exercise except walking due to health issues. I figure my medications are blocking my loss. I did lose around 40 pounds after I joined mfp May 2016, but just stopped losing. But I'm fine with it for now as I am not gaining and staying at 235 ish. I would like to be 200 again.. someday!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,225 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    RoxieDawn 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!

    In 2015, the only exercise I was doing was running on a treadmill. This time around I purposely began incorporating weight machines. I have been slowly increasing my weights on the machines and have seen an increase in strength this time around. I alternate which muscle groups I work on the give my body a chance to rest. As for cardio, I am currently using the C25k app.

    Other than increasing my intentional exercise nothing has really changed about my daily life, except that I have started calorie counting again.

    Sorry if I just seem to be rattling off answers, but I wanted to answers as many of your questions as I could! Thank you for the insight.

    Mostly rhetorical questions, anyway. ;)

    Sounds like you're on a reasonable track.

    It's not clear to me how long you've been really trying for loss, this round. If it's less than a month(ish) that you've been doing the weight machine work, you might still have some water weight (from muscle repair) temporarily masking fat loss.

    It sounds like you're on a sensible track.

    With slightly different details, I might suggest you think about a structured diet break (http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks), but it sounds like you'd been not trying hard to lose for a while, then re-started seriously somewhat recently.

    If that's a correct assumption, I'd suggest you stay the course you're on for 4-6 weeks, possibly with a small calorie reduction.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    urloved33 wrote: »
    there is actually a theory that our bodies know best and so if we let it,.our body will self regulate. I cant say I buy into that completely but...

    Are you referring to set point theory? The scientific theory, not the excuse people use in dieting forums? If so, it's true, but it's easily overridden. Refer to the "if we let it" part of your original statement.