I can't believe I overestimated this bad.
endermako
Posts: 785 Member
In 30 days I burned 56936 calories TDEE based on my fitbit 24/7 hrm charge 3 blah blah blah
I supposedly ate 51632 calories in this span of time
So roughly I should have only lost 1.5 pounds this month. I've lost 8.6 pounds.
How did I fall into this trap, I'm usually the one providing advice too! I weigh everything that I'm able to and do my best with portion sizes in the cafe at work. I didn't think I could overestimate calories this badly.
This is mainly a vent, as I can't really complain to anyone else. They would just roll their eyes at me. They don't understand that I'm worried about losing muscle mass.
I supposedly ate 51632 calories in this span of time
So roughly I should have only lost 1.5 pounds this month. I've lost 8.6 pounds.
How did I fall into this trap, I'm usually the one providing advice too! I weigh everything that I'm able to and do my best with portion sizes in the cafe at work. I didn't think I could overestimate calories this badly.
This is mainly a vent, as I can't really complain to anyone else. They would just roll their eyes at me. They don't understand that I'm worried about losing muscle mass.
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Replies
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Is it possible it's your calories out that is more the culprit? Did you change anything that might have caused you to dump some water weight?
I understand venting, vent away!7 -
Is it possible it's your calories out that is more the culprit? Did you change anything that might have caused you to dump some water weight?
I understand venting, vent away!
I've been on a deficit with a few diet breaks thrown in since December 2017, My last diet break was in November 2018 so I don't think it's a big drop in water weight like you'd normally expect starting a deficit. I thought fitbit had overestimated calories burned, not underestimated. Lol this is so silly that I'm venting about this. i could have been eating more this whole time.3 -
Is this your first month on plan? If so, the difference could just be water weight, some of which may go back on in the next couple of weeks.
Is your Fitbit new? If so, it takes a while for it to become more accurate as it gains more data.
If not, I would start by adding some calories. Maybe try 200 per day and see how it shakes out next month.1 -
Are you on any new medications or supplements that might have caused a water drop?0
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Is this your first month on plan? If so, the difference could just be water weight, some of which may go back on in the next couple of weeks.
Is your Fitbit new? If so, it takes a while for it to become more accurate as it gains more data.
If not, I would start by adding some calories. Maybe try 200 per day and see how it shakes out next month.
I'm a deficit vet December 2017 was when I started. Got my fitbit in November 2018 as well. I'm going to reach out to my online trainer and ask her if I can increase my cals.0 -
Is it possible that your Fitbit underestimates? I know my Watch is under by about 20 percent for me...2
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I would have to think you would have noticed a change in how you feel if your deficit suddenly escalated to almost 6 times what you normally run. Still seems like water weight may be a culprit on at least some of it.3
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firecat1987 wrote: »Is this your first month on plan? If so, the difference could just be water weight, some of which may go back on in the next couple of weeks.
Is your Fitbit new? If so, it takes a while for it to become more accurate as it gains more data.
If not, I would start by adding some calories. Maybe try 200 per day and see how it shakes out next month.
I'm a deficit vet December 2017 was when I started. Got my fitbit in November 2018 as well. I'm going to reach out to my online trainer and ask her if I can increase my cals.
Is this a faster pace than you were losing at the last couple of months, or were you aiming for a slower loss this month and it didn't slow down as expected?1 -
firecat1987 wrote: »Is this your first month on plan? If so, the difference could just be water weight, some of which may go back on in the next couple of weeks.
Is your Fitbit new? If so, it takes a while for it to become more accurate as it gains more data.
If not, I would start by adding some calories. Maybe try 200 per day and see how it shakes out next month.
I'm a deficit vet December 2017 was when I started. Got my fitbit in November 2018 as well. I'm going to reach out to my online trainer and ask her if I can increase my cals.
Is this a faster pace than you were losing at the last couple of months, or were you aiming for a slower loss this month and it didn't slow down as expected?
I was shooting for a -500 deficit each week. So even the 1.5lbs expected based on my stats doesn't make sense. Maybe that extra 5 lbs is some sort of water weight. I have suspected that my estimated calorie burns on the weekends seems too low...
ETA: I'm 5'4 CW is 153.6 as of this morning so my goal is 1550 cals each week0 -
Did your trainer put you on the calorie intake you are on (looking at your diary)? Following TDEE or MFP method?
If MFP method, you are not eating back exercise cals causing a bigger deficit. If TDEE, then that is off and needs adjusting.2 -
Did your trainer put you on the calorie intake you are on (looking at your diary)? Following TDEE or MFP method?
If MFP method, you are not eating back exercise cals causing a bigger deficit. If TDEE, then that is off and needs adjusting.
My trainer gave me macros to eat. MFP just equates it to 1550. I have premium so I manually inputted my daily macro goals, with 20% less carbs on non training days.
Fat: 50
Protein:100
Carbs: 1750 -
How often do you weigh yourself? Are these average/trending weights for start and end? Or single data points that could be anywhere within a fluctuation range?2
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firecat1987 wrote: »Did your trainer put you on the calorie intake you are on (looking at your diary)? Following TDEE or MFP method?
If MFP method, you are not eating back exercise cals causing a bigger deficit. If TDEE, then that is off and needs adjusting.
My trainer gave me macros to eat. MFP just equates it to 1550. I have premium so I manually inputted my daily macro goals, with 20% less carbs on non training days.
Fat: 50
Protein:100
Carbs: 175
Forget about the Fitbit.
Your real world results based on your current intake and weight loss (assuming that nothing can contribute to water weight loss) is your driver on what to do.9 -
firecat1987 wrote: »firecat1987 wrote: »Is this your first month on plan? If so, the difference could just be water weight, some of which may go back on in the next couple of weeks.
Is your Fitbit new? If so, it takes a while for it to become more accurate as it gains more data.
If not, I would start by adding some calories. Maybe try 200 per day and see how it shakes out next month.
I'm a deficit vet December 2017 was when I started. Got my fitbit in November 2018 as well. I'm going to reach out to my online trainer and ask her if I can increase my cals.
Is this a faster pace than you were losing at the last couple of months, or were you aiming for a slower loss this month and it didn't slow down as expected?
I was shooting for a -500 deficit each week. So even the 1.5lbs expected based on my stats doesn't make sense. Maybe that extra 5 lbs is some sort of water weight. I have suspected that my estimated calorie burns on the weekends seems too low...
ETA: I'm 5'4 CW is 153.6 as of this morning so my goal is 1550 cals each week
As Novus said, it feels like there must be some kind of water weight drop in there, because losing 2 lbs of fat a week considering your stats should have caused some kind of hunger or workout fatigue or something. I wouldn't increase cals too much right away jic, maybe just 250 and see what happens.4 -
Duck_Puddle wrote: »How often do you weigh yourself? Are these average/trending weights for start and end? Or single data points that could be anywhere within a fluctuation range?
I record my weight every Sunday, But I weigh everyday pretty much. I've had the normal 1-2 lb weight fluctuations per week. It really depends on when I recover from leg day honestly. Sunday is the furthest day from leg day and it's always my lowest weight day.0 -
Didn't have a surprise chinese dinner that Sat at the start of the 30 days?
The macro method can be fine - protein based on LBM and activity level, fat set amount per lb - but carbs makes up the difference in calories to the selected level.
So even using the trainer's macro setup - there's a daily burn value in the math at some point - and it's wrong obviously.
Though I'll agree some was likely some water weight.
With winter and colder - are you sweating as much, doing as much cardio, ect?
Those things affect blood volume, and water weight from it.4 -
If you're that worried about it, I humbly suggest you get a couple of dunk tests 6 months apart to establish some reality beyond whatever the scale can tell you.3
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JeromeBarry1 wrote: »If you're that worried about it, I humbly suggest you get a couple of dunk tests 6 months apart to establish some reality beyond whatever the scale can tell you.
Actually - that is ONLY going to give you a bodyfat % figure - and from there still a formula driven BMR, and then estimated TDEE from self selection.
If anything, an RMR test, and from there a TDEE estimate, leaves out 1 estimate.3 -
Deducting 20% of your carb grams on non training days - are you making those 140 calories up in other macros? If not, what about eliminating that deduction to slow the weight loss a bit (not sure how many training days you have in a week).0
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It could be water retention, if you have a refeed day during the night there’s a really good chance your body will flush out the excess water and you will lose some pounds overnight.2
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Are the weigh-ins both from the same phase of your cycle? That could impact water as well.0
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collectingblues wrote: »Is it possible that your Fitbit underestimates? I know my Watch is under by about 20 percent for me...
Yeah: Could it be this? Maybe it's not you.
My Garmin Vivoactive 3 underestimates my TDEE by something in the 20%-30% range. (I've had and routinely worn the Garmin since August 2018, have done its self-test for VO2max, and have the HR ranges set based on tested max. I haven't checked/set my stride length, because a truly negligible amount of my activity is steps (bad knee).) I'm comparing the Garmin's numbers to experience from a few months under 4 years of MFP logging and weight loss/maintenance.
At 5'4", 173 for you, and pretty active, if you're eating 1550 gross calories, that seems kind of low to me.
If you ate 51,632 calories, and lost 8.6 pounds in 30 days, that adds up to roughly 81,732 calories total (51,632 + (8.6 x 3500) = 81,732). That would imply a TDEE of 2,724 calories . . . which really doesn't seem out of this world crazy to me, for an active woman your size.
At 5'5", 135, my TDEE is somewhere in the mid-2000s, in summer at least; and I'm fairly sedentary outside of intentional exercise, and pretty old. (Your fat and protein gram goals are the same as mine, by the way.)
You know better than I, of course, whether 2,724 is plausible.1 -
magnusthenerd wrote: »Are the weigh-ins both from the same phase of your cycle? That could impact water as well.
I don't have a cycle0 -
collectingblues wrote: »Is it possible that your Fitbit underestimates? I know my Watch is under by about 20 percent for me...
Yeah: Could it be this? Maybe it's not you.
My Garmin Vivoactive 3 underestimates my TDEE by something in the 20%-30% range. (I've had and routinely worn the Garmin since August 2018, have done its self-test for VO2max, and have the HR ranges set based on tested max. I haven't checked/set my stride length, because a truly negligible amount of my activity is steps (bad knee).) I'm comparing the Garmin's numbers to experience from a few months under 4 years of MFP logging and weight loss/maintenance.
At 5'4", 173 for you, and pretty active, if you're eating 1550 gross calories, that seems kind of low to me.
If you ate 51,632 calories, and lost 8.6 pounds in 30 days, that adds up to roughly 81,732 calories total (51,632 + (8.6 x 3500) = 81,732). That would imply a TDEE of 2,724 calories . . . which really doesn't seem out of this world crazy to me, for an active woman your size.
At 5'5", 135, my TDEE is somewhere in the mid-2000s, in summer at least; and I'm fairly sedentary outside of intentional exercise, and pretty old. (Your fat and protein gram goals are the same as mine, by the way.)
You know better than I, of course, whether 2,724 is plausible.
I feel like this sounds about right. My trainer is bumping me up an additional 200 cals in carbs to see if that helps. She may bump me up again in two weeks.3 -
Taking a step back, just for context...
This is very valuable information to have. Yes, your estimates do seem to be off, but it's only been a month. IMO, nothing significant happens in a month.1 -
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Has this past month (expected loss: 1.5lbs, actual loss, 8+) been indicative of the entire year?2
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Has this past month (expected loss: 1.5lbs, actual loss, 8+) been indicative of the entire year?
This is what I was trying to get at earlier. How much were you losing per week last month? And the month before? I feel like we don't have context. We know you were in a deficit for over a year, and we know what you expected to happen this month, but how is this different from your pace last month? And did the 8 lbs come off evenly at @ 2 lbs per week, or was it mostly in one or two readings?2 -
I lost 10lbs in the first month now I'm at a steady 1lbs per week. It's you're body eliminating unneeded water and glucosamine that was in you're body.
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