Is weight loss really as simple as eating less?

davidparziale · May 2019

I hear people say this all the time: "Forget keto, Atkins, and other diets. Just eat real food and stay in caloric deficit to lose fat."
Is it really that simple? My experience says otherwise. I've had success this year losing about 15 pounds in 3 months -- not a tremendous weight loss, but something is better than nothing. Over the past several weeks, however, my weight loss has stalled. I'm eating as clean as ever (excepting one cheat meal per week, but I've recently cut that out) Color me disappointed and surprised. Now to the nitty gritty for those of you (myself included) who like to crunch the numbers:

I'm 24, 6'2" tall, weigh 245 pounds at 25% bodyfat. My goal is to get into the 8-12% range at which I should weigh 198-207lbs. Bodybuilding.com's calculator says I should consume 2400 calories to maintain my weight with my current lightly-active lifestyle of sedentary work and weight lifting 3x per week. I've been consuming about 1800 calories per day which puts me in a 600 calorie deficit that should translate to a 1.2 pound per week weight loss. It should, but doesn't.

Here comes the tricky part: out of desperation, I cut calories further to 1500-1600/day while doing 30-45 minutes of intense cardio 5x per week. I did this for 4 weeks and lost a whopping ZERO pounds. Cutting calories and increasing exercise only makes sense if it comes with great results, otherwise it's unsustainable. Note: I've tried multiple macro ratios, prioritizing protein 200-250g/day. I've tried carb cycling with 100/150/150/400g 4 day cycles. After the first 8-12 weeks, it's all stopped working. Now I'm trying keto with 1800 cals @ 70% fat, 25% protein, and 5% carbs. I'll be sure to mention if it works a couple of days from now at my weekly weigh in.

What are your thoughts and recommendations everybody? I feel like I've tried almost everything and I'm getting desperate. Next thing on my list would be an extreme, 500 calorie-a-day starvation diet which I'm very reluctant to do.

emmamcgarity · May 2019

Increasing exercise can cause water retention which can mask fat loss. Weight loss is all about calories. How are you tracking your calorie intake? Are you tracking your weekly cheat meal?

L1zardQueen · May 2019

How are you tracking your calorie intake? Do you pick the right entries from the database? Do you use a food scale?

MikePTY · May 2019

Yes it is as simple as calories in vs calories out. The could be several reasons why you weren't losing. One of them is that you aren't properly measuring your food. If you are not properly measuring, the 1600 you think you are eating could really be 2400. Another thing is water weight gains. For various reasons, your body can retain more water at certain times than others. That could be what's happening.

If you are ketoing, a word of warning: you are likely to get some nice scale readings the next few weeks, because depleting your glycogen stores will cause a fair amount of water weight loss. That's not the same as fat loss though. So scale movement does not necessarily mean fat movement.

Keto is fine though if you find you enjoy it and you are able to keep a reasonable calorie deficit. The last thing you should do is try an extreme diet like 500 calories a day. That will lose you weight, but you'll burn a lot of that muscle mass you are trying hard to preserve. That is the opposite of what you are trying to accomplish.

davidparziale · May 2019

I track my calories with the barcode scanning feature (yes, I cross reference against the labeled nutrition facts) and I use a food scale. I recently stopped the cheat meal, but yes I did track it. On my cheat days, my caloric intake would not exceed 3000 calories. Recording used to be pretty easy, as my meals were the same every day. Now my meals are still consistent, but with different macro breakdowns than before.

NovusDies · May 2019

I have eaten a few different ways over the course of 15 months and never failed to lose weight because I stay in a calorie deficit.

It is unlikely the bathroom scale will give you linear results. I have seen a couple of people who claimed they never fluctuated but they seem to be the minority and I am not even sure how that is possible. It can take 3 weeks for me to see a new low weight but it always comes eventually. I was at a new low weight today but I will definitely be up a couple of pounds tomorrow because of a higher sodium meal I had that will make me retain water.

Here is an article to help you understand the bathroom scale better:

http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

Here is a thread about using a food scale:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

Here is a thread about logging accurately:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

earlnabby · May 2019

davidparziale wrote: »

I track my calories with the barcode scanning feature and with a food scale. I recently stopped the cheat meal, but yes I did track it. On my cheat days, my caloric intake would not exceed 3000 calories.

The scanning is frequently wrong.

NovusDies · May 2019

davidparziale wrote: »

I track my calories with the barcode scanning feature and with a food scale. I recently stopped the cheat meal, but yes I did track it. On my cheat days, my caloric intake would not exceed 3000 calories.

You have to verify the scanned items too. The database is full of errors.

AnnPT77 · May 2019

davidparziale wrote: »

I track my calories with the barcode scanning feature (yes, I cross reference against the labeled nutrition facts) and with a food scale. I recently stopped the cheat meal, but yes I did track it. On my cheat days, my caloric intake would not exceed 3000 calories. Recording used to be pretty easy, as my meals were the same every day. Now my meals are the consistent with different macro breakdowns than before.

But do you weigh your food on a food scale, measure it with cups/spoons, or eyeball it?

Unlike some, I don't think it's mandatory to weigh your food. But if you're not doing it, and your loss stalls but you don't know why, it's a darned good way to make sure you know what's going on. The best part is that it's quicker and easier than most people imagine. A scale only costs about $20. Buy one, use it for a couple of weeks (or forever

). Learn the efficiency tips in this thread (ignore the clickbait title):

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10498882/weighing-food-takes-too-long-and-is-obsessive

emmamcgarity · May 2019

Keto, Atkins, Weight Watchers, etc are just ways of eating to help you stay in a calorie deficit. If that way of eating appeals to you, try it out. I personally have used low carb recipes from Atkins websites. I’ve also used many Weight Watchers recipes and strategies. My macros vary from day to day. I enjoy the freedom of counting calories and choosing the foods I want.

davidparziale · May 2019

Thanks for the responses everyone! In case I didn't make it clear, yes I do use a food scale for meats and measuring cups for vegetables, nuts, and carbs like rice and oatmeal.

Kmywalker3 · May 2019

I read a book called The Obesity Code. It helped me view weight loss differently. Hormones... particularly insulin play a huge role in weight loss. I’m working with the suggestions from the book to improve my insulin resistance, fight inflammation and lose weight. Might be worth looking into if you’re having trouble and have a history of dieting and not losing or regaining.

Jut a thought... but it’s made a big difference for me!

AnnPT77 · May 2019

davidparziale wrote: »

Thanks for the responses everyone! In case I didn't make it clear, yes I do use a food scale for meats and measuring cups for vegetables, nuts, and carbs like rice and oatmeal.

Use the scale for everything. It's quicker, easier, and more accurate than cups for anything other than liquids . . . and maybe even for those. And no extra dishes to wash, besides.

lynn_glenmont · May 2019

I find the numbers relating to time in your OP very confusing. Maybe you can clarify?

1) lost 15 pounds in three months this year.
Even if you started on Jan. 1, that gets us through the end of March.
2) "out of desperation" you cut to 1500-1600 cals for four
Even assuming no lapse of time for "desperation" (you were desperate over losing 15 lbs in three months, which is a good rate of loss?), that gets to the end of April, or at least April 28
3) then you did something different and after "the first 8 to 12 weeks" it "stopped working"
Even using just the 8 week figure (and I don't understand why you don't know whether its 8 weeks or 12 weeks), that brings us to mid to late June, but we're really still in May.

It sounds as though you have unrealistic expectations about weight loss, and a great deal of impatience, and you're not giving anything much of a chance until you jump to something else, and possibly you're not tracking what you do carefully enough or not being realistic about how long you really give one approach before switching to something else, since your account for what you've done is, at a bare minimum, several weeks off what the calendar would allow for.

Are you using a different calendar?

PAV8888 · May 2019

Use a scale for nuts. Verify your rice and oatmeal is an uncooked value while measuring dry product. Use a scale. Hello scale. Also use a weight trend app. also ensure your floor is not yielding and your scale doesn't change spots and has no dirt trapped under. Last applies to body scale mostly; but, kittens, it probably works for both kitchen and bath scales!!!

Unknown · May 2019

This content has been removed.

Dvdgzz · May 2019

Yes, no measuring cups or spoons. They are essentially useless if you want to progress. They can make your counting very inaccurate.

ChrisCatMama · May 2019

Another question: do you measure yourself? You could be gaining in muscle while losing fat.

GaleHawkins · May 2019

davidparziale wrote: »

I hear people say this all the time: "Forget keto, Atkins, and other diets. Just eat real food and stay in caloric deficit to lose fat."
Is it really that simple? My experience says otherwise. I've had success this year losing about 15 pounds in 3 months -- not a tremendous weight loss, but something is better than nothing. Over the past several weeks, however, my weight loss has stalled. I'm eating as clean as ever (excepting one cheat meal per week, but I've recently cut that out) Color me disappointed and surprised. Now to the nitty gritty for those of you (myself included) who like to crunch the numbers:

I'm 24, 6'2" tall, weigh 245 pounds at 25% bodyfat. My goal is to get into the 8-12% range at which I should weigh 198-207lbs. Bodybuilding.com's calculator says I should consume 2400 calories to maintain my weight with my current lightly-active lifestyle of sedentary work and weight lifting 3x per week. I've been consuming about 1800 calories per day which puts me in a 600 calorie deficit that should translate to a 1.2 pound per week weight loss. It should, but doesn't.

Here comes the tricky part: out of desperation, I cut calories further to 1500-1600/day while doing 30-45 minutes of intense cardio 5x per week. I did this for 4 weeks and lost a whopping ZERO pounds. Cutting calories and increasing exercise only makes sense if it comes with great results, otherwise it's unsustainable. Note: I've tried multiple macro ratios, prioritizing protein 200-250g/day. I've tried carb cycling with 100/150/150/400g 4 day cycles. After the first 8-12 weeks, it's all stopped working. Now I'm trying keto with 1800 cals @ 70% fat, 25% protein, and 5% carbs. I'll be sure to mention if it works a couple of days from now at my weekly weigh in.

What are your thoughts and recommendations everybody? I feel like I've tried almost everything and I'm getting desperate. Next thing on my list would be an extreme, 500 calorie-a-day starvation diet which I'm very reluctant to do.

@davidparziale you raise good points and why at the age of 63 with health crashing faster than ever I decided to never to try to lose weight again.

Since back in 2014 at the age of 63 I have focused on regaining my health and in the process was eating 2000-3000 calories a day to stay full all of the time. Within a year I had lost 50 pounds and have maintained that loss for 4 years now eating the same level of calories.

I came to learn we do not become obese directly from from overeating calories but because of some health failure(s) first. I had been eating to feel better for years but I was eating the macros that made me feel worse. The first two months of eating your current macros I did not lose any weight but I lost inches and my pain level was dropping like a rock.

After my 40 years of life defining IBS started to resolve my weight started dropping without me cutting my calorie intake.

After I said NO MORE dieting to lose weight was when my weight starting going down. Over time eating the best macros (varies from person to person I am sure) started reversing my 40 years of health decline. At 68 my health and health markers are better than decades ago.

Let go of the cruel myth that weight loss is all about cutting calories and find the calorie sources that works best for your health so body weight has a chance to automatically regulate. I think you to may come to realize the need to count calories to lose/maintain weight is often due to some prior health failure(s) that first need to be addressed before weight loss can become autoregulated once again. Most all animals can become obese eating the wrong macros and humans are no different.

Quasita · May 2019

You basically ruin any benefit keto-style eating gives by having a huge cheat every week. You state your "cheat" day was 3000 calories approximately. That day alone offsets at least one if not more days of your calorie cut. You can't really do cheat days on ketogenic diets because having even one day where you spike over 30g of carbs can halt your ketosis progress. It takes you 2-4 weeks to get into a solid keto spot in the first place so... I highly suspect you really haven't made it there at all. Did you use keto sticks to verify, or were you just guessing based on what you chose to eat?

Your post also indicates that you don't eat back calories, and thus, your deficit is potentially much more severe than you're considering... and while weight loss IS a CICO balance, medical problems can occur if you get "desperate" and start chasing unrealistic expectations by dipping under 1500 NET calories.

Any website is using simply a guess and estimate based on averages. My experience states that if you're above average height and above average weight, you cannot use a tool based on averages to dictate your goals without tinkering with it. Those websites tell me that I burn less calories than I actually do when exercising (this measured by calorimeter vs. looking at the website data) and that I need to eat more than I actually need on a daily basis to maintain my weight (again, calorimeter, addressing a generally slower metabolic rate and thus, lower caloric intake needs).

I agree with most people here, in the sense that it sounds like a mix of unrealistic expectations, lack of experience/education, and impatience. Averaging 1lbs/week is normal and great loss, and having a short term stall after a few months is also pretty normal. It's not even really considered a weight loss stall from the medical perspective unless you're at 3+ months, and generally not a cause for concern unless you're at a year or more and still have a lot of weight to cut.

You don't mention anywhere what your current weight is, but you don't appear to be 100+ pounds overweight based on your photo. You're not going to lose large chunks of weight in fast amount of time in any sustainable way. You can either focus purely on weight loss and concentrate on dietary intake, or you can work on a full lifestyle change, including workouts. Either way, progress isn't dictated by the number on the scale.

Responding to slower than desired results with starving yourself and openly considering eating disorder behaviors is a cause for concern that should be taking you to a therapist, not the the forums on MFP, in my opinion. This kind of plan is reckless and could cause you actual physical harm. If you're that concerned about your progress, talk to your doctor about setting realistic expectations. Understand that the numbers are an average.

The last thing I'll say is... When I see stuff like this, I tend to point out that what you're discussing isn't even advisable or recommended for bariatric patients. If it wouldn't be advisable for someone who is in a medically supervised weight loss program, then it's likely not a safe way for you to be doing this without any medical supervision.

davidparziale · May 2019

@lynn_glenmont I realize the timeline is hard to follow. Some of the time periods I mentioned overlap. I began a fitness challenge this year at the beginning of January until the end of March. In the first 4 weeks, I lost 10 pounds. In the next 4 weeks, I only lost 5. Over the last 4 weeks of the challenge I tried cutting calories again and upping my cardio which didn't work. I haven't lost any weight in the last 6 weeks. My impatience during this phase was because of the competition.

lynn_glenmont · May 2019

davidparziale wrote: »

@lynn_glenmont I realize the timeline is hard to follow. Some of the time periods I mentioned overlap. I began a fitness challenge this year at the beginning of January until the end of March. In the first 4 weeks, I lost 10 pounds. In the next 4 weeks, I only lost 5. Over the last 4 weeks of the challenge I tried cutting calories again and upping my cardio which didn't work. I haven't lost any weight in the last 6 weeks. My impatience during this phase was because of the competition.

How many different things have you done in the last six weeks? (i.e., how many different calorie levels, how many changes in exercise, etc.). It doesn't sound like you really are giving any thing long enough to assess what the results are before you jump to doing something different.

davidparziale · May 2019

So, I've made a handful of tweaks to my diet, (moderate carb, low carb, carb cycle, keto, more cardio) but the caloric deficit has been constant week after week. According to those who claim that caloric deficit is all that is needed for weight loss, I should have been losing for the past several weeks; hence my question: is a caloric deficit really all you need to burn fat?

Redordeadhead · May 2019

davidparziale wrote: »

So, I've made a handful of tweaks to my diet, (moderate carb, low carb, carb cycle, keto, more cardio) but the caloric deficit has been constant week after week. According to those who claim that caloric deficit is all that is needed for weight loss, I should have been losing for the past several weeks; hence my question: is a caloric deficit really all you need to burn fat?

To answer your question, yes.

However other things can influence weight fluctuations like more water weight following changes to your exercise regime, sodium, changes in carb intake, stress etc., hence people's other questions about how long you try things for and what you have done over the last 4-6 weeks.

Maxematics · May 2019

Your caloric observations aren't valid because you've confirmed that you only use a food scale for meat. Based on prior comments posters have left, it seems to boil down to: 1) Eating more than you think, 2) Unrealistic expectations.

AnnPT77 · May 2019

ChrisCatMama wrote: »

Another question: do you measure yourself? You could be gaining in muscle while losing fat.

Very unlikely to explain a stall.

Muscle gain is slow: Half a pound weekly would be a great rate for a man (half that for a woman), and that fast would normally require surplus calories and a serious progressive strength training program. (People often think they're gained because of quick big strength improvements from neuromuscular adaptation plus retained water weight for muscle repair.)

On the flip side, half a pound weekly would be about the slowest perceivable fat loss.

A realistic rate of muscle-mass gain is very unlikely to outpace any reasonable rate of fat loss.

I think OP is mismeasuring intake; maybe has over-restricted to the point of enough fatigue to reduce non-exercise calorie expenditure; and has jacked around with his routine enough that water-weight fluctuation is all over the place, obscuring what's going on. Just a guess, though.

nowine4me · May 2019

TLDR but OP.... I’m a 54 year old woman who weighs 140-146 and I lose weight on (an accurately tracked) diet of 1800 per day.

Theoldguy1 · May 2019

AnnPT77 wrote: »

ChrisCatMama wrote: »

Another question: do you measure yourself? You could be gaining in muscle while losing fat.

Very unlikely to explain a stall.

Muscle gain is slow: Half a pound weekly would be a great rate for a man (half that for a woman), and that fast would normally require surplus calories and a serious progressive strength training program. (People often think they're gained because of quick big strength improvements from neuromuscular adaptation plus retained water weight for muscle repair.)

On the flip side, half a pound weekly would be about the slowest perceivable fat loss.

A realistic rate of muscle-mass gain is very unlikely to outpace any reasonable rate of fat loss.

I think OP is mismeasuring intake; maybe has over-restricted to the point of enough fatigue to reduce non-exercise calorie expenditure; and has jacked around with his routine enough that water-weight fluctuation is all over the place, obscuring what's going on. Just a guess, though.

Thumbs up to the bolded. We're talking a serious program, think Division 1 or professional sports offseason training intensity, not 3 sets of curls a could times a week between phone use at the gym.

jgnatca · May 2019

Weight loss is not directly correlated with fat loss because there is also water weight that goes up and down fairly quickly. If you want to go down crazy road, try weighing yourself several times a day.

If you consistently eat less than you burn you will lose fat.

This will become obvious over the months.

I think some of your frustration comes from trying to “eat clean” and very restrictively six days out of seven.

Sure, lean meats are good for you, with plenty of veggies and so on. But eat a little more, man. Still in a deficit of course.

cooperscuba · May 2019

Have you been increasing your resistance weights? Could be muscle increase is cancelling fat loss. When I started a calorie deficit diet and exercising, the weight plunged for the first three months, then gradually slowed to almost, apparently, nothing (but my muscle gains were cancelling out the fat loss). This was on a 25% deficit (1500 calories as opposed to 2000).

lemurcat2 · May 2019

davidparziale wrote: »

@lynn_glenmont I realize the timeline is hard to follow. Some of the time periods I mentioned overlap. I began a fitness challenge this year at the beginning of January until the end of March. In the first 4 weeks, I lost 10 pounds. In the next 4 weeks, I only lost 5. Over the last 4 weeks of the challenge I tried cutting calories again and upping my cardio which didn't work. I haven't lost any weight in the last 6 weeks. My impatience during this phase was because of the competition.

You said your deficit (1800) should lead to 1.2 lb/week. You started with over 2 lb/week (normal for beginning), and then lost 5 lb in 4 weeks, or 1.25 lb/week. Then you for some reason cut calories and upped cardio, which likely caused a water weight increase and might have messed with your plan in other ways (if you have a cheat day, cutting cals too low can lead to more uncontrolled eating and excess on the cheat day, or more water weight fluctuations).

I would go back to the 1800 that was working initially and focus on accurate logging. I would also set some workout goals that seem sustainable and focus on them rather than merely on weight loss (very often it helps to think in terms of a longterm healthy lifestyle and not on the specific losses -- helps with patience). Give it 4 more weeks (no "cheat" days, but if you want to work in a higher cal day weekly budget for it by cutting 100 cals more on each other day and count the cals on the cheat day), and I suspect you will see losses again. If not, at that point lower cals if necessary, but that seems unlikely.

The stress, on your body and otherwise, is probably contributing to water retention at the moment.

Is weight loss really as simple as eating less?

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