Reduced food, increased exercise, but my weight went up not down?

helaurin · June 2020

Trying to figure out why my weight went UP 1.6 pounds last week when I thought it should be going DOWN. I need some help or advice on this.

My primary dedicated exercise activities are walking outside and using an elliptical inside (very low impact, due to psoriatic arthritis and existing joint damage). I'm using a Fitbit for tracking.

Exercise/Step Count:
Last week, I averaged 9,920 steps per day.
Week prior, I averaged 8,380 steps per day.
So last week was an 18% increase in steps vs the week prior.

I am weighing/measuring my foods. I have a nutritional scale, etc. I have MFP settings for me as sedentary. My calorie goal is 1,400 calories per day or less.

Net Calories
Last week, I averaged 576 net calories per day.
Week prior, I averaged 797 net calories per day.
So last week was a 27% decrease in net calories vs the week prior.

So:
18% exercise increase
27% net calorie decrease
Shouldn't my weight be going down, instead of up? What am I missing?

Other:
I'm 58, female, weigh about 178 pounds, am 5' 0" short. I marked my activity level as sedentary, as I usually am working on a laptop for 8-11 hours a day.

Pickle107 · June 2020

Got to leap in and say that 576 net calories a day is waaaaay too low. While I appreciate 1200 cals a day might be a bit much for weight loss given your height, you'll struggle to get all your vits and minerals with less.

MFP is your calorie goal plus exercise. So 1400 plus your exercise calories, or at least some of them.

Weight fluctuations can be caused by hormones, salt in the diet, fibre, how hot it's been and how much you've been sweating, how much you're going to the loo. You need to chart yourself for 4-6 weeks to see if there's been a downwards trend.

helaurin · June 2020

I'm still trying to figure this out.

I set myself as sedentary, and MFP set me at 1,400 calories. I think that's supposed to be what it takes for me to basically live without overt exercise.

So if I need/want to lose weight, at let's say 1-pound per week, I need to create a 500-calorie deficit on average per day, right?

So shouldn't I be trying to get my net calories to 900 or less per day on average? (1,400 to maintain, 500 to lose = 900)?

Looking at the most recently completed six days:

Target 1,400 calories (maintenance level)
minus 26 calories (averaged 1,374 eaten per day, so that's a 26 calorie deficit)
minus 602 calories exercised per day (based on Fitbit interacting with MFP)
equals 771 net calories

or a 6-day deficit of 3,768 calories

So, in theory (barring sodium, time-of-month, etc.) - I should have seen a one-pound weight loss.

Instead, I gained 1.6 pounds....

If it's just a temporary water fluctuation, time of month, sodium... If I keep on this way, shouldn't I see additional weight loss, hopefully sooner, vs. later? side note - I'm doing a 6-month dietbet, and really want to hit the goals each month (which I think are reasonable).

The dietbet goals are:

Started May 4 at 187.6

June 4th goal: 182 lbs <--- met that goal
July 4th goal: 176.3 lbs <--- getting worried about making this one given this past week
Aug 4th goal: 172.3 lbs
Sep 4th goal: 170.7 lbs
Oct 4th goal: 168.8 lbs
Nov 4th goal: 168.8 lbs (maintenance)

janejellyroll · June 2020

If you told MFP you wanted to lose weight, that 1,400 already includes a deficit. The size of the deficit is based on how much you told MFP you wanted to lose each week. You do not need to create an additional deficit on top of that. Pushing yourself hard to do that can *complicate* your weight loss by resulting in extra stress on your body and temporary retention of water weight due to intense activity. This isn't to say that you won't lose weight in a deficit (you will), but you can't really expect to see perfectly trackable results within the span of a few days, especially if you're putting your body through unnecessary stress in the process.

1.6 pounds is not much weight at all. It could easily be caused by temporary water weight, hormonal fluctuations, or even food making its way through your system.

briscogun · June 2020

helaurin wrote: »

I'm still trying to figure this out.

I set myself as sedentary, and MFP set me at 1,400 calories. I think that's supposed to be what it takes for me to basically live without overt exercise.

So if I need/want to lose weight, at let's say 1-pound per week, I need to create a 500-calorie deficit on average per day, right?

So shouldn't I be trying to get my net calories to 900 or less per day on average? (1,400 to maintain, 500 to lose = 900)?

Looking at the most recently completed six days:

Target 1,400 calories (maintenance level)
minus 26 calories (averaged 1,374 eaten per day, so that's a 26 calorie deficit)
minus 602 calories exercised per day (based on Fitbit interacting with MFP)
equals 771 net calories

or a 6-day deficit of 3,768 calories

So, in theory (barring sodium, time-of-month, etc.) - I should have seen a one-pound weight loss.

Instead, I gained 1.6 pounds....

If it's just a temporary water fluctuation, time of month, sodium... If I keep on this way, shouldn't I see additional weight loss, hopefully sooner, vs. later? side note - I'm doing a 6-month dietbet, and really want to hit the goals each month (which I think are reasonable).

Depends.

When you chose your settings, how much of a weight loss rate did you choose? Is the 1,400 calories at maintenance? Or did you choose 1 lb loss per week?

If you already chose a 1 lb per week rate of loss than that 1,400 calories has that built in for you. Eat at that level, plus any exercise calories you burn. So if you burn 250 calories exercising one day, you would eat 1,650 calories that day.

No matter what, you should NOT eat below 1,200 calories regardless of what math you think works out for your preferred rate of loss. The human body should NOT have less than that ever (1,200 min for women, 1,500 for men).

helaurin · June 2020

Ok, so my BMR is estimated at 1,416. Theory is that to lose 1 pound a week, I need to create a 500/day calorie deficit. If the Fitbit and MFP are correct, I've been creating a 602/day deficit simply through exercise, assuming that 1,416 is actually the correct maintenance level for me. Just frustrated.

harper16 · June 2020

Set your weight loss goal to 1 lb a week. Set your activity level before any exercise. Whatever calories it gives you eat. Log any exercise separate and eat back those calories. Please don't eat under 1200 calories a day. Your heart is a muscle and you need to fuel it.

mmapags · June 2020

helaurin wrote: »

Ok, so my BMR is estimated at 1,416. Theory is that to lose 1 pound a week, I need to create a 500/day calorie deficit. If the Fitbit and MFP are correct, I've been creating a 602/day deficit simply through exercise, assuming that 1,416 is actually the correct maintenance level for me. Just frustrated.

BMR is not maintenance level. It is subsistence level. If you laid in bed all day and did nothing, you would burn your BMR. So, if you are set at BMR plus 602 calorie burn from exercise (how? What exactly are you doing to get that burn?) and not eating back exercise calories, you are at likely over a 1000 calorie per day deficit or more.

You deficit is taken from Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE, not Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR. My TDEE is more than 700 calories higher than my BMR. Sounds like you are substantially undereating of you are eating 1400 minus 600+ in exercise calories. You don't really understand how to use the system.

Plug your numbers into MFP goal setting and set your rate of loss to 1lb per week. Log accurately both food and exercise. Eat back exercise calories. Or a least a substantial portion of them. Some estimates of burns are overblown.

kimny72 · June 2020

helaurin wrote: »

Ok, so my BMR is estimated at 1,416. Theory is that to lose 1 pound a week, I need to create a 500/day calorie deficit. If the Fitbit and MFP are correct, I've been creating a 602/day deficit simply through exercise, assuming that 1,416 is actually the correct maintenance level for me. Just frustrated.

Your BMR is not your maintenance, it's how much your body would burn in a coma.

Weight loss is not linear, and even if you did everything perfectly, you would not see a steady 1 lb loss every week. The scale doesn't just weigh your fat, it weighs everything in your body, and all that other stuff fluctuates.

You need to be patient, you are looking for a downward trend over weeks and months, not days.

Check out the Most Helpful Posts threads pinned to the top of each sub-forum lots of great info there. Good luck!

PAV8888 · June 2020

You don't lose weight out of your BMR which is the energy your body needs to keep your organs going in a coma. You lose out of your TDEE which is your total daily energy expenditure. This is a multiple of your BMR (by something known as an activity factor if you need to know).

Stop trying to double guess the app and go with the flow while set to 1lb a week or less.

Measure your weight using a weight trend app and looking at your long term trend. You CAN'T RELY ON DISCRETE SCALE RESULTS to establish your actual weight trend. All you're going to do by that reliance is OVER-REACT to blips till your head spins. Such as your recent blip that prompted your post

Concentrate on LOGGING CORRECTLY (by weight of what you ear, selecting correct, double checked by you, entries) and establishing true parameters and long term behaviours and actions instead of trying to will the scale to move.

Five years from now the ESTABLISHED behaviours will matter. by contrast your extra willing will require continuous re-applications to get you results.

Your Fitbit is NOT SHOWING AN EXERCISE when it "interacts" with MFP. It is showing an independent estimate of your TDEE which is correcting the estimate MFP generated by your inputs. Your inputs being your stated activity level during guided setup and anything you add to your day directly in MFP

In other words you gave information to MFP that established an estimate of what you would burn. Then Fitbit comes along and CORRECTS THIS with an exercise adjustment based on what it THINKS it has detected.

**Note: DO NOT start logging exercise directly in MFP as you will only end up creating errors when it comes to your Fitbit adjustment. Your direct logged entries could over-write what Fitbit detects on its own.**

Go back and re-run your guided setup in MFP and READ WHAT IT TELLS YOU. The "I am planning to exercise x amount of times" section is irrelevant. It is not taken into account in any of the calculations. Do not choose a loss rate higher than 1lb a week based on amount left to lose and TDEE being at or under 2500.

Based on everything you say your Gitbit is estimating a TDEE of about 2500 (which you can find on your Fitbit dashboard if you log into your account)

I'm coming up with that based on 1400 eating goal, 500 deficit to lose 1lb a week probably selected in MFP, and a 600 Cal average exercise adjustment from Fitbit = 1400+500+600) , which means you could probably eat significantly more than you do now and still lose weight.

in other words you're stressing your body un-necessarily.

BTW: lose the bets. The best won't help you maintain your weight 5 years from now. Establishing things that actually work for you no matter how long it takes you to do so WILL. Possibly. Trying to force your weight loss to meet a timetable, won't. <obviously this is an opinion, not based on studies!>

Reduced food, increased exercise, but my weight went up not down?

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