Why am I losing weight?
ap1972
Posts: 214 Member
For the past 6 weeks I have pretty much been eating at maintenance or above but have still managed to lose around 3 pounds during that time. Anyone have any thoughts other than natural fluctuations?
1
Replies
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If you're certain that your food weights are accurate, perhaps consider consulting your physician to make sure you don't have a medical issue causing the weight loss. I wouldn't suggest this for a week or two's worth, but six weeks at a steady drop when you know you're eating at or above maintenance might be some fluctuation or inaccurate entries, but if it continues over the next couple of weeks, I would see my doctor if it were me just to rule out anything that might need medical attention.4
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For the past 6 weeks I have pretty much been eating at maintenance or above but have still managed to lose around 3 pounds during that time. Anyone have any thoughts other than natural fluctuations?
These numbers are all best estimates, so maybe your maintenance is a little higher than you think. If the trend keeps up and you are trying to maintain bump your calories up accordingly.9 -
Depends on how you're calculating the 3 pounds, is it one weigh in of 3 pounds loss in 3 weeks or a number of weigh ins over the same period.
If it's a number of weigh ins over the 6 weeks maybe you're not actually at maintenance, it's all averages and it would be easy to underestimate exercise and activity/overestimate food enough to be out by 250 cals per day which is all it would take.
If it's a one off weigh in then yes it's also in the realms of a normal water weight fluctuation.
Just monitor and adjust as necessary2 -
tinkerbellang83 wrote: »Depends on how you're calculating the 3 pounds, is it one weigh in of 3 pounds loss in 3 weeks or a number of weigh ins over the same period.
If it's a number of weigh ins over the 6 weeks maybe you're not actually at maintenance, it's all averages and it would be easy to underestimate exercise and activity/overestimate food enough to be out by 250 cals per day which is all it would take.
If it's a one off weigh in then yes it's also in the realms of a normal water weight fluctuation.
Just monitor and adjust as necessary
It's based on daily weigh ins using Libra1 -
4legsRbetterthan2 wrote: »For the past 6 weeks I have pretty much been eating at maintenance or above but have still managed to lose around 3 pounds during that time. Anyone have any thoughts other than natural fluctuations?
These numbers are all best estimates, so maybe your maintenance is a little higher than you think. If the trend keeps up and you are trying to maintain bump your calories up accordingly.
I realise it's all estimates but this experience for me is showing a minimum of 15% discrepancy which is not very accurate.0 -
tinkerbellang83 wrote: »Depends on how you're calculating the 3 pounds, is it one weigh in of 3 pounds loss in 3 weeks or a number of weigh ins over the same period.
If it's a number of weigh ins over the 6 weeks maybe you're not actually at maintenance, it's all averages and it would be easy to underestimate exercise and activity/overestimate food enough to be out by 250 cals per day which is all it would take.
If it's a one off weigh in then yes it's also in the realms of a normal water weight fluctuation.
Just monitor and adjust as necessary
It's based on daily weigh ins using Libra
If you're using Libra, look at the rate in the bottom box and it will tell you an approximate calorie deficit using your real world results. Just add in an extra snack to that amount to your day.3 -
3lbs over 6 weeks really isn't a ton. More than likely, you maintenance level is slighter higher. TDEE is a calculation, and while pretty accurate, the body doesn't burn calories like a perfect math equation, some times it does require a little tweaking for the individual. I would try adding 200-300 calories per day and then play with the numbers more from there as needed.0
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tinkerbellang83 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »Depends on how you're calculating the 3 pounds, is it one weigh in of 3 pounds loss in 3 weeks or a number of weigh ins over the same period.
If it's a number of weigh ins over the 6 weeks maybe you're not actually at maintenance, it's all averages and it would be easy to underestimate exercise and activity/overestimate food enough to be out by 250 cals per day which is all it would take.
If it's a one off weigh in then yes it's also in the realms of a normal water weight fluctuation.
Just monitor and adjust as necessary
It's based on daily weigh ins using Libra
If you're using Libra, look at the rate in the bottom box and it will tell you an approximate calorie deficit using your real world results. Just add in an extra snack to that amount to your day.
I'm aiming for weight loss so no need to add any extra snacks
6 -
Goodness gracious. Just keep doing what you are doing then. Don’t question the scale gods.25
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Sounds like you are eating below maintenance.
You're not going to exactly back into your maintenance calories by taking your weight loss calories and adding back the caloric equivalent of your average weight of loss. That's only going to give you an estimate. Once you start eating more, your body burns more calories due to needing to digest that food and you are going to move more without even thinking about it. It's pretty normal for those things to add 100-200 or so calories to your TDEE.0 -
Sounds like you are eating below maintenance.
You're not going to exactly back into your maintenance calories by taking your weight loss calories and adding back the caloric equivalent of your average weight of loss. That's only going to give you an estimate. Once you start eating more, your body burns more calories due to needing to digest that food and you are going to move more without even thinking about it. It's pretty normal for those things to add 100-200 or so calories to your TDEE.
Actually due to certain circumstances I have actually been a lot more sedentary during that period than normal.
If anyone suggested that eating more would mean that you burn more in a post about not losing weight they would be laughed off this forum
1 -
4legsRbetterthan2 wrote: »For the past 6 weeks I have pretty much been eating at maintenance or above but have still managed to lose around 3 pounds during that time. Anyone have any thoughts other than natural fluctuations?
These numbers are all best estimates, so maybe your maintenance is a little higher than you think. If the trend keeps up and you are trying to maintain bump your calories up accordingly.
I realise it's all estimates but this experience for me is showing a minimum of 15% discrepancy which is not very accurate.
If you look at studies on the issue of energy burned (don't have links handy), it's not at all out of the question that you might burn 10-15% more than you think. There are too many variables for estimates to actually be calculations. I'm sure a population bell curve would put the calories burned of 70% of the population within about 5% of the mean and 95% within 10% of the mean. Of course, there would be outliers that could range higher. (Note these numbers are for illustration - I can't remember what the studies' variations were).
The only accuracy you really have is your best estimates of intake, your best estimates of burned calories, and a long term relationship between your numbers and the scale. You can (somewhat) control the intake accuracy, (somewhat less) control the burn accuracy, and then just tweak over long term variations.0 -
Sounds like you are eating below maintenance.
You're not going to exactly back into your maintenance calories by taking your weight loss calories and adding back the caloric equivalent of your average weight of loss. That's only going to give you an estimate. Once you start eating more, your body burns more calories due to needing to digest that food and you are going to move more without even thinking about it. It's pretty normal for those things to add 100-200 or so calories to your TDEE.
Actually due to certain circumstances I have actually been a lot more sedentary during that period than normal.
If anyone suggested that eating more would mean that you burn more in a post about not losing weight they would be laughed off this forum
Well then the laughers need to be educated.
https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/3500-calorie-rule.html/1 -
Sounds like you are eating below maintenance.
You're not going to exactly back into your maintenance calories by taking your weight loss calories and adding back the caloric equivalent of your average weight of loss. That's only going to give you an estimate. Once you start eating more, your body burns more calories due to needing to digest that food and you are going to move more without even thinking about it. It's pretty normal for those things to add 100-200 or so calories to your TDEE.
Actually due to certain circumstances I have actually been a lot more sedentary during that period than normal.
If anyone suggested that eating more would mean that you burn more in a post about not losing weight they would be laughed off this forum
I'd suggest that's entirely not true. As long as it is put into appropriate context
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10672650/eat-more-to-lose-more
1 -
stanmann571 wrote: »Sounds like you are eating below maintenance.
You're not going to exactly back into your maintenance calories by taking your weight loss calories and adding back the caloric equivalent of your average weight of loss. That's only going to give you an estimate. Once you start eating more, your body burns more calories due to needing to digest that food and you are going to move more without even thinking about it. It's pretty normal for those things to add 100-200 or so calories to your TDEE.
Actually due to certain circumstances I have actually been a lot more sedentary during that period than normal.
If anyone suggested that eating more would mean that you burn more in a post about not losing weight they would be laughed off this forum
I'd suggest that's entirely not true. As long as it is put into appropriate context
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10672650/eat-more-to-lose-more
Not going to trawl through that but pretty sure noone there suggested eating more would mean you burn more, and I know we do but only by a matter of a 20/30 calories on the figures I am talking about.2 -
Sounds like you are eating below maintenance.
You're not going to exactly back into your maintenance calories by taking your weight loss calories and adding back the caloric equivalent of your average weight of loss. That's only going to give you an estimate. Once you start eating more, your body burns more calories due to needing to digest that food and you are going to move more without even thinking about it. It's pretty normal for those things to add 100-200 or so calories to your TDEE.
Actually due to certain circumstances I have actually been a lot more sedentary during that period than normal.
If anyone suggested that eating more would mean that you burn more in a post about not losing weight they would be laughed off this forum
Well then the laughers need to be educated.
https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/3500-calorie-rule.html/
Eating extra calories will never cause you to burn more than those extra calories though!!!! I'm eating around an extra 300 calories even with the extra burn from digestion that is still wiping out my deficit3 -
Sounds like you are eating below maintenance.
You're not going to exactly back into your maintenance calories by taking your weight loss calories and adding back the caloric equivalent of your average weight of loss. That's only going to give you an estimate. Once you start eating more, your body burns more calories due to needing to digest that food and you are going to move more without even thinking about it. It's pretty normal for those things to add 100-200 or so calories to your TDEE.
Actually due to certain circumstances I have actually been a lot more sedentary during that period than normal.
If anyone suggested that eating more would mean that you burn more in a post about not losing weight they would be laughed off this forum
Well then the laughers need to be educated.
https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/3500-calorie-rule.html/
Eating extra calories will never cause you to burn more than those extra calories though!!!! I'm eating around an extra 300 calories even with the extra burn from digestion that is still wiping out my deficit
Nobody is saying it does. I'm saying you're burning and extra 30 or so calories just by eating 300 more calories than you were 7 weeks ago. Your NEAT very likely has gone up at least a bit without you realizing it. So perhaps your total calorie burn has increased by 125. Between that and the fact that delayed weight loss is as much a reality as delayed weight loss (i.e., weight loss is not linear, short stalls are normal), you're down a few pounds.0 -
stanmann571 wrote: »Sounds like you are eating below maintenance.
You're not going to exactly back into your maintenance calories by taking your weight loss calories and adding back the caloric equivalent of your average weight of loss. That's only going to give you an estimate. Once you start eating more, your body burns more calories due to needing to digest that food and you are going to move more without even thinking about it. It's pretty normal for those things to add 100-200 or so calories to your TDEE.
Actually due to certain circumstances I have actually been a lot more sedentary during that period than normal.
If anyone suggested that eating more would mean that you burn more in a post about not losing weight they would be laughed off this forum
I'd suggest that's entirely not true. As long as it is put into appropriate context
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10672650/eat-more-to-lose-more
Not going to trawl through that but pretty sure noone there suggested eating more would mean you burn more, and I know we do but only by a matter of a 20/30 calories on the figures I am talking about.
Several hundred calories or more a dayJust to be clear/complete... it sounds like there are 2 slightly different themes to the responses here.- Eat more... magic happens... scale starts moving again
- Eat more... feel better, move more, adhere better, deficit better... scale starts moving
The first one is a thing, but not for most people. There's a good thread going about refeeds - look it up if you think this scenario applies to you. The hugely oversimplified cliff notes is that if you maintaining a big enough deficit for long enough, your body/hormones adapt and what was a deficit no longer is. Eating more can help "reset" things.
The second scenario is the case for far more people. They maintain a deficit, lose some weight, then plateau. That plateau could happen for a number of reasons... because they get lazy with their logging/tracking, they get lazy with their workouts, they are moving less in general (NEAT), simply don't have the drive they did when they started out, etc etc. In this case, eating more can help with some of those "symptoms"... and the trickle down effect of eating more is a more consistent deficit which means weight loss... but that only happens IF those symptoms are aleviated. If you eat more but continue to be lazy, unmotivated, sloppy with your logging, etc etc, you won't see any improvement in weight loss.
The vast majority of people should assume they fall into #2. Because they probably do.
Really no need to trawl through, you could have just flipped to the last page and read a couple comments.1 -
tinkerbellang83 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »Depends on how you're calculating the 3 pounds, is it one weigh in of 3 pounds loss in 3 weeks or a number of weigh ins over the same period.
If it's a number of weigh ins over the 6 weeks maybe you're not actually at maintenance, it's all averages and it would be easy to underestimate exercise and activity/overestimate food enough to be out by 250 cals per day which is all it would take.
If it's a one off weigh in then yes it's also in the realms of a normal water weight fluctuation.
Just monitor and adjust as necessary
It's based on daily weigh ins using Libra
If you're using Libra, look at the rate in the bottom box and it will tell you an approximate calorie deficit using your real world results. Just add in an extra snack to that amount to your day.
I'm aiming for weight loss so no need to add any extra snacks
Huh? You seem to be complaining about losing weight in your OP and talk about eating at maintenance but now you are saying that you are trying to lose weight? Color me confused.14 -
Sounds like you are eating below maintenance.
You're not going to exactly back into your maintenance calories by taking your weight loss calories and adding back the caloric equivalent of your average weight of loss. That's only going to give you an estimate. Once you start eating more, your body burns more calories due to needing to digest that food and you are going to move more without even thinking about it. It's pretty normal for those things to add 100-200 or so calories to your TDEE.
Actually due to certain circumstances I have actually been a lot more sedentary during that period than normal.
If anyone suggested that eating more would mean that you burn more in a post about not losing weight they would be laughed off this forum
Well then the laughers need to be educated.
https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/3500-calorie-rule.html/
Eating extra calories will never cause you to burn more than those extra calories though!!!! I'm eating around an extra 300 calories even with the extra burn from digestion that is still wiping out my deficit
Nobody is saying it does. I'm saying you're burning and extra 30 or so calories just by eating 300 more calories than you were 7 weeks ago. Your NEAT very likely has gone up at least a bit without you realizing it. So perhaps your total calorie burn has increased by 125. Between that and the fact that delayed weight loss is as much a reality as delayed weight loss (i.e., weight loss is not linear, short stalls are normal), you're down a few pounds.
I'm sorry but you are trying to tell me that over a third of my extra calories are going to be burnt just through digestion?........I've already said my activity levels have gone down not up..........1 -
michelle172415 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »Depends on how you're calculating the 3 pounds, is it one weigh in of 3 pounds loss in 3 weeks or a number of weigh ins over the same period.
If it's a number of weigh ins over the 6 weeks maybe you're not actually at maintenance, it's all averages and it would be easy to underestimate exercise and activity/overestimate food enough to be out by 250 cals per day which is all it would take.
If it's a one off weigh in then yes it's also in the realms of a normal water weight fluctuation.
Just monitor and adjust as necessary
It's based on daily weigh ins using Libra
If you're using Libra, look at the rate in the bottom box and it will tell you an approximate calorie deficit using your real world results. Just add in an extra snack to that amount to your day.
I'm aiming for weight loss so no need to add any extra snacks
Huh? You seem to be complaining about losing weight in your OP and talk about eating at maintenance but now you are saying that you are trying to lose weight? Color me confused.
Not complaining at all......... Looking for some form of explanation.......... The obvious one is that MFP have grossly underestimated my maintenance level.2 -
Sounds like you are eating below maintenance.
You're not going to exactly back into your maintenance calories by taking your weight loss calories and adding back the caloric equivalent of your average weight of loss. That's only going to give you an estimate. Once you start eating more, your body burns more calories due to needing to digest that food and you are going to move more without even thinking about it. It's pretty normal for those things to add 100-200 or so calories to your TDEE.
Actually due to certain circumstances I have actually been a lot more sedentary during that period than normal.
If anyone suggested that eating more would mean that you burn more in a post about not losing weight they would be laughed off this forum
Well then the laughers need to be educated.
https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/3500-calorie-rule.html/
Eating extra calories will never cause you to burn more than those extra calories though!!!! I'm eating around an extra 300 calories even with the extra burn from digestion that is still wiping out my deficit
Nobody is saying it does. I'm saying you're burning and extra 30 or so calories just by eating 300 more calories than you were 7 weeks ago. Your NEAT very likely has gone up at least a bit without you realizing it. So perhaps your total calorie burn has increased by 125. Between that and the fact that delayed weight loss is as much a reality as delayed weight loss (i.e., weight loss is not linear, short stalls are normal), you're down a few pounds.
I'm sorry but you are trying to tell me that over a third of my extra calories are going to be burnt just through digestion?........I've already said my activity levels have gone down not up..........
LOL. You are clearly being deliberately obtuse so I'm done here. Best of luck in your journey!16 -
michelle172415 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »Depends on how you're calculating the 3 pounds, is it one weigh in of 3 pounds loss in 3 weeks or a number of weigh ins over the same period.
If it's a number of weigh ins over the 6 weeks maybe you're not actually at maintenance, it's all averages and it would be easy to underestimate exercise and activity/overestimate food enough to be out by 250 cals per day which is all it would take.
If it's a one off weigh in then yes it's also in the realms of a normal water weight fluctuation.
Just monitor and adjust as necessary
It's based on daily weigh ins using Libra
If you're using Libra, look at the rate in the bottom box and it will tell you an approximate calorie deficit using your real world results. Just add in an extra snack to that amount to your day.
I'm aiming for weight loss so no need to add any extra snacks
Huh? You seem to be complaining about losing weight in your OP and talk about eating at maintenance but now you are saying that you are trying to lose weight? Color me confused.
Not complaining at all......... Looking for some form of explanation.......... The obvious one is that MFP have grossly underestimated my maintenance level.
Or you have grossly underestimated your activity level. It's uncommon, but would be just as reasonable an interpretation.
Most people who taper into maintenance find that they continue losing for 2-6 weeks while they find their actual maintenance calorie balance point.3 -
stanmann571 wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »Sounds like you are eating below maintenance.
You're not going to exactly back into your maintenance calories by taking your weight loss calories and adding back the caloric equivalent of your average weight of loss. That's only going to give you an estimate. Once you start eating more, your body burns more calories due to needing to digest that food and you are going to move more without even thinking about it. It's pretty normal for those things to add 100-200 or so calories to your TDEE.
Actually due to certain circumstances I have actually been a lot more sedentary during that period than normal.
If anyone suggested that eating more would mean that you burn more in a post about not losing weight they would be laughed off this forum
I'd suggest that's entirely not true. As long as it is put into appropriate context
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10672650/eat-more-to-lose-more
Not going to trawl through that but pretty sure noone there suggested eating more would mean you burn more, and I know we do but only by a matter of a 20/30 calories on the figures I am talking about.
Several hundred calories or more a dayJust to be clear/complete... it sounds like there are 2 slightly different themes to the responses here.- Eat more... magic happens... scale starts moving again
- Eat more... feel better, move more, adhere better, deficit better... scale starts moving
The first one is a thing, but not for most people. There's a good thread going about refeeds - look it up if you think this scenario applies to you. The hugely oversimplified cliff notes is that if you maintaining a big enough deficit for long enough, your body/hormones adapt and what was a deficit no longer is. Eating more can help "reset" things.
The second scenario is the case for far more people. They maintain a deficit, lose some weight, then plateau. That plateau could happen for a number of reasons... because they get lazy with their logging/tracking, they get lazy with their workouts, they are moving less in general (NEAT), simply don't have the drive they did when they started out, etc etc. In this case, eating more can help with some of those "symptoms"... and the trickle down effect of eating more is a more consistent deficit which means weight loss... but that only happens IF those symptoms are aleviated. If you eat more but continue to be lazy, unmotivated, sloppy with your logging, etc etc, you won't see any improvement in weight loss.
The vast majority of people should assume they fall into #2. Because they probably do.
Really no need to trawl through, you could have just flipped to the last page and read a couple comments.
That comment does not suggest that you burn more though......... It says you have the energy to move more which then burns more....... As I have said already I have had less activity on the period I have been eating in maintenence so that is actually a factor that makes the maths even further out.4 -
Sounds like you are eating below maintenance.
You're not going to exactly back into your maintenance calories by taking your weight loss calories and adding back the caloric equivalent of your average weight of loss. That's only going to give you an estimate. Once you start eating more, your body burns more calories due to needing to digest that food and you are going to move more without even thinking about it. It's pretty normal for those things to add 100-200 or so calories to your TDEE.
Actually due to certain circumstances I have actually been a lot more sedentary during that period than normal.
If anyone suggested that eating more would mean that you burn more in a post about not losing weight they would be laughed off this forum
Have you reduced planned exercise but increased NEAT?
At the last place I lived, my NEAT went up Spring - Fall as I was always running out to the garden, which was down a flight and a half of stairs and out back. While I do log prolonged time spent gardening, I don't log all that running back and forth. At my new place, there are no stairs and the garden is closer and smaller, so I'm not seeing that NEAT benefit.1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Sounds like you are eating below maintenance.
You're not going to exactly back into your maintenance calories by taking your weight loss calories and adding back the caloric equivalent of your average weight of loss. That's only going to give you an estimate. Once you start eating more, your body burns more calories due to needing to digest that food and you are going to move more without even thinking about it. It's pretty normal for those things to add 100-200 or so calories to your TDEE.
Actually due to certain circumstances I have actually been a lot more sedentary during that period than normal.
If anyone suggested that eating more would mean that you burn more in a post about not losing weight they would be laughed off this forum
Have you reduced planned exercise but increased NEAT?
At the last place I lived, my NEAT went up Spring - Fall as I was always running out to the garden, which was down a flight and a half of stairs and out back. While I do log prolonged time spent gardening, I don't log all that running back and forth. At my new place, there are no stairs and the garden is closer and smaller, so I'm not seeing that NEAT benefit.
No my activity levels have gone down causing a decrease in NEAT as well as the amount of exercise decreasing which is irrelevant to net calories anyway as I eat back calories burned.4 -
michelle172415 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »Depends on how you're calculating the 3 pounds, is it one weigh in of 3 pounds loss in 3 weeks or a number of weigh ins over the same period.
If it's a number of weigh ins over the 6 weeks maybe you're not actually at maintenance, it's all averages and it would be easy to underestimate exercise and activity/overestimate food enough to be out by 250 cals per day which is all it would take.
If it's a one off weigh in then yes it's also in the realms of a normal water weight fluctuation.
Just monitor and adjust as necessary
It's based on daily weigh ins using Libra
If you're using Libra, look at the rate in the bottom box and it will tell you an approximate calorie deficit using your real world results. Just add in an extra snack to that amount to your day.
I'm aiming for weight loss so no need to add any extra snacks
Huh? You seem to be complaining about losing weight in your OP and talk about eating at maintenance but now you are saying that you are trying to lose weight? Color me confused.
This is a very nice way to put what I was thinking.8 -
Anyone have any thoughts other than natural fluctuations?
That's the most likely explanation in my opinion.
The timescale is too short and the loss not large enough to draw any meaningful conclusions.
If it carries on for another 13 weeks or so then report to the nearest weight loss company and prepare to get mad sponsorship!
3 -
I think the best explanation is simple. We are trying to calculate exact numbers for individuals based on simplified estimates for large populations, whose variances are constantly changing because of a multitude of constantly changing variables.
The OP may have a higher metabolism than the general population, but is basing calculations on "calculators" based on estimates. It really doesn't matter. Over time, you adjust to what the results are....1
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