What can cause someone to lose more than their estimate weekly goal?
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DupreeTheTRex
Posts: 105 Member
Hello,
I’m really invested in trying to learn as much as I can about the human body with regards to my body weight/health and this mystery continues to elude me.
I’m on week four of my weight loss journey and despite setting a goal of 1lb per week, I dropped another 3lbs this week (totalling 15lbs for the month).
A few obvious possibilities come to mind. Perhaps I’m inputting my calories incorrectly and my deficit is much less than what I’m recording. I measure everything on my food scale before inputting it onto my diary. I would hope that my entries are fairly accurate.
I set my daily activity level to sedentary since my commute to work is about 15 seconds and I rarely leave the house for anything other than picking up groceries (which are delivered to my car in the parking lot).
Another one being that my body is still adjusting to the new lifestyle and things will eventually balance out.
I was also wondering how put metabolisms work. I used to play competitive sports until I was 18. When I stopped I started gaining weight, so I began going to the gym more regularly. At one point, I was spending 4-6 hours at the gym a night. Could my past have played a factor in the amount of energy I burn daily?
I’m really invested in trying to learn as much as I can about the human body with regards to my body weight/health and this mystery continues to elude me.
I’m on week four of my weight loss journey and despite setting a goal of 1lb per week, I dropped another 3lbs this week (totalling 15lbs for the month).
A few obvious possibilities come to mind. Perhaps I’m inputting my calories incorrectly and my deficit is much less than what I’m recording. I measure everything on my food scale before inputting it onto my diary. I would hope that my entries are fairly accurate.
I set my daily activity level to sedentary since my commute to work is about 15 seconds and I rarely leave the house for anything other than picking up groceries (which are delivered to my car in the parking lot).
Another one being that my body is still adjusting to the new lifestyle and things will eventually balance out.
I was also wondering how put metabolisms work. I used to play competitive sports until I was 18. When I stopped I started gaining weight, so I began going to the gym more regularly. At one point, I was spending 4-6 hours at the gym a night. Could my past have played a factor in the amount of energy I burn daily?
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Replies
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I really don't know, Dupree The TRex. I just know that broken metabolisms aren't really a thing we need to worry about. I think yours is probably running on all cylinders.
I have to work like hail for everything. Sure do. I can't coast on my laurels or fly by the seat of my pants but I'm happy for you. Really.3 -
Your past activity likely has left you with a good amount of muscle. Muscle burns more calories when sedentary than fat. You will get closer to the mfp numbers unless you do something to upkeep the muscle amount.2
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Diatonic12 wrote: »I really don't know, Dupree The TRex. I just know that broken metabolisms aren't really a thing we need to worry about. I think yours is probably running on all cylinders.
I have to work like hail for everything. Sure do. I can't coast on my laurels or fly by the seat of my pants but I'm happy for you. Really.
I’m sorry to hear that. My best friend is kind of in the same situation as you. His experience has been opposite and through talking the only obvious difference we could think of between the two of us was either genetics or our upbringings. I find it crazy how little we know about the human body with regards to controlling our weight. I always feel so confused and lost when I’m trying to learn something.
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Your past activity likely has left you with a good amount of muscle. Muscle burns more calories when sedentary than fat. You will get closer to the mfp numbers unless you do something to upkeep the muscle amount.
That’s what I think too - but then again could be anything right? I’m not exercising this time around so presumably it will balance itself out over time. My biggest worry is when I have to adjust to maintenance. Still a long way away but it’s got to be a nightmare figuring out and watching your weight to make sure you’re not regaining the weight. I’m not looking forward to the stress/anxiety that will come with that.
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Your entries are inaccurate. Not by any fault of yours, but because without fancy lab equipment, you can never know with 100% certainty how many calories are in your food. Not only that, nutrition labels on foods are allowed to have a margin of error of 20%.
Additionally, food has variable TEF values. The Thermic Effect of Food is the calories burned as a result of the effort expended digesting the food. So you're never absorbing exactly as many calories as you eat. And it is variable depending on the food's composition so can't really be estimated well.
As for your metabolism, they don't really go fast or slow, but muscle mass plays a small role in how it works. Your body burns 2 calories to maintain a pound of fat, but something like 4-6 per pound of muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest just breathing. It's not a huge amount but it adds up over time.
And the more active you are, the more calories you burn. So of course a very active person burns more than a sedentary one. But also people who fidget a lot burn more than people who sit still.
And scales weigh everything indiscriminately. So you might miss fat loss because of water gain, food waste or other chemical build ups in the body.
Basically, CICO is the name of the game, but the actual numbers are all guesswork and estimates based of the incredibly complex system that is an organic body. You need a lot of data to form trend lines and you adapt from there. You're not gonna see the kind of linear results you might think just because someone told you 1 pound of fat = ~3500 calories. Nevertheless, it still works really well.7 -
Remember that all the BMR and TDEE calculators in the world are just estimates. Everyone is an experiment of n=1. If you feel that your current intake is sustainable,continue for another month and see what happens. It's not uncommon to lose a lot more in the first few weeks. If you're still losing at that clip, add 250 calories a day and see what happens in another month.
There are tons of moving parts to weight loss, it may take a little time to figure it out.4 -
Welcome!!!
Congratulations for taking your first steps toward a healthier you. And congratulations on your 15lb weight loss.
You’ve found a great app and community to improve or maintain your health and fitness. Whatever you’re goals are, there is a place for you here.
You are in the right place. Remember this is not a program or a diet, it is a lifestyle to a healthier you.
Your unexpected weight loss could be the result of losing water weight, over recording calories eaten, under recording calories expended, or any number of other of reasons.
My suggestions are to start with:
- make a small sustainable change eg., if you like to drink pop, then switch that out for water or sparkling water with lemon or lime in it.
- Once you’ve adjusted to that change then make another small sustainable change eg., if you like to eat rice, switch that out for brown rice
- Track what you eat
- Monitor your macros
- Monitor your metrics (weight and measurements)
- Then adjust as needed
- As you lose weight, your body is going to change, not only in appearance, but also in how it reacts to different foods.
You’ve made a fantastic first step by logging into MFP.
We are all here to support each other.1 -
As a first option of why you lost more than expected, I'd say scale error. That can work both for and against you but it evens out after a few more measurements. Second reason might be salt intake, maybe you didn't eat much salt a day or two before your weighing. I'd say that energy value calculations are rather low on the list of possible reasons. If you were losing fat faster than expected, you'd probably feel quite hungry.
Anyway, enjoy the extra loss. I'd put money on your next weighing showing a smaller than expected loss.1 -
If, over an extended period of weeks, your weight loss is faster or slower than MFP's estimate (or a TDEE calculator's estimate), one very real possibility is that you're simply not average.
The calculators essentially spit out the average expected calorie need for someone similar to you on a very small number of data points (height, weight, age, etc.). Most people are close to average. A few are a bit off, high or low. A very rare few can be quite a bit off the estimate. That's the nature of statistical estimates. Everyone isn't average. Everyone is individual.
To be far off average is unusual, but not impossible. After a month of logging, it's starting to be more likely that your calorie needs are higher than average, which wouldn't be extremely surprising with a strong athletic history. But there needn't be a clear reason. It might be multiple small factors (muscularity, TEF of your preferred eating, fidgetiness, . . . ).
Most people, if loggng incorrectly, log *fewer* calories than they actually eat. It would be unusual - not impossible - to log dramatically fewer calories than one eats. (Reseach studies have shown that most people underestimate intake, and overestimate exercise.) If you're losing 3+ pounds a week when you "should" be losing 1 pound a week, the implication is that you'd have to be logging 1000+ more calories daily than you're actually eating, if logging is to account for the discrepancy. Does that seem very likely to you? (It doesn't, to me.)
I've been logging carefully for over 5 years now, and logging daily weights in a weight trending app. I did and do weigh food to the gram. Based on results, I maintain at a calorie level 25-30% higher than MFP estimates I need. (Even my good brand/model fitness tracker estimates similarly low.) It's unusual, but it happens.
If you can eat more calories than the average person, and you don't have any health symptoms that suggest you're not absorbing nutrients properly, or any other negative health conditions that would account for it . . . well, I think most people would consider that happy news.
If you're logging carefully and accurately, your actual rate of loss is a better guide to your calorie needs than any calculator. One implication is that fast loss alone, if continued over a period of many weeks, could be a reason to eat more to slow loss down a bit. If you start feeling any otherwise unexplained weakness or fatigue, or start seeing symptoms like hair loss, for sure eat more.
Best wishes!8 -
Go with weight trend level changes over 2-3 weeks (~4 weeks for females) not individual weigh ins.
Adjust your deficits based on reasonable goals and actual results once weight trend is relatively obvious... not on what either you or the app believe should be your results.1 -
I took a really quick look at your diary - you are eating 100-500 calories a day less than your goal. That could account for faster weight loss than expected. If you are losing faster than you want, eat up to your goal amount.5
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@AnnPT77 Very helpful and insightful. You mentioned my body possibly not absorbing nutrients properly. This could very well be the case. I’ve got an undiagnosed gastrointestinal problem that my doctors are watching closely. It’s one of the reasons that I’m taking Metamucil daily. Somehow I caused some damage and the specialist recommended I take the Metamucil for two months and try to adjust my diet to include more fibre to help with healing and prevent further damage. I thought it was a good opportunity to also try to lose the 100lbs I put on in the last five years.
I’ll be keeping a close eye on my weight loss and make adjustments accordingly. My wife is helping me on my journey by participating in logging calories. She’s eating at a maintenance but has lost 4lbs in 3 weeks. So we’re both a bit perplexed as to why that might be. I’m also wondering if perhaps it’s not safe to lose that much weight that fast and if that’s the case at which point should I make adjustments to my daily intake. I’ve been able to drop 50lbs in 2 months taking extreme, unhealthy (but monitored by professionals) measures that in retrospect were not sustainable. I’m taking a much more relaxed approach this time to my lifestyle changes.
For example, I’m over two years sober and I’ve quit drinking energy drinks for two months now (averaged 3-4 per day, around 800 calories). I found a substitute that only takes up 60 calories a day and has all natural ingredients. I’m also about 2 weeks in without have pop daily. When I started my diet I was having one can a day.4 -
I took a really quick look at your diary - you are eating 100-500 calories a day less than your goal. That could account for faster weight loss than expected. If you are losing faster than you want, eat up to your goal amount.
Yes this has happened, I worry about getting hungry throughout the day so I have a tendency to eat more snacks at night. Problem is that I end up getting too full to eat and then I go to bed. I’ve had some entries a while back that were over my goal as well.
For example, my dinner’s average around 700 calories per meal. My dinner today was closer to 900. It’s hard to plan ahead without inputting the meal ahead of time and I don’t plan that far ahead. I plan my meals for the week, just not which meal I’m going to eat on which day.1 -
Bro, if you're working out, you're NOT sedentary. You're eating probably for a 2lbs loss a week. Just up your calories 500 a day.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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DupreeTheTRex wrote: »@AnnPT77 Very helpful and insightful. You mentioned my body possibly not absorbing nutrients properly. This could very well be the case. I’ve got an undiagnosed gastrointestinal problem that my doctors are watching closely. It’s one of the reasons that I’m taking Metamucil daily. Somehow I caused some damage and the specialist recommended I take the Metamucil for two months and try to adjust my diet to include more fibre to help with healing and prevent further damage. I thought it was a good opportunity to also try to lose the 100lbs I put on in the last five years.
I’ll be keeping a close eye on my weight loss and make adjustments accordingly. My wife is helping me on my journey by participating in logging calories. She’s eating at a maintenance but has lost 4lbs in 3 weeks. So we’re both a bit perplexed as to why that might be. I’m also wondering if perhaps it’s not safe to lose that much weight that fast and if that’s the case at which point should I make adjustments to my daily intake. I’ve been able to drop 50lbs in 2 months taking extreme, unhealthy (but monitored by professionals) measures that in retrospect were not sustainable. I’m taking a much more relaxed approach this time to my lifestyle changes.
For example, I’m over two years sober and I’ve quit drinking energy drinks for two months now (averaged 3-4 per day, around 800 calories). I found a substitute that only takes up 60 calories a day and has all natural ingredients. I’m also about 2 weeks in without have pop daily. When I started my diet I was having one can a day.
If healing something is among your goals, keeping weight loss more moderate (not fast) would be a good bet-hedge. @RAinWA had a good point about trying to eat at least close to your goal daily, as a good start. GIven the healing issue, I personally wouldn't go much longer losing at 3+ pounds a week.
You may want to ask your doc if under-absorption could be happening. (You could lose weight faster than average even if absorption is fine, so I wouldn't take faster than expected loss as a sure sign that you are under-absorbing nutrition.) If it did turn out you're not absorbing all the nutrients you eat, then eating enough of them (and the calories that inevitably come with them) would be a good idea IMO.
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@ninerbuff I stopped working out five years ago when I moved in with my girlfriend (now wife). I couldn’t afford the gym membership and that’s when I put on 100+ lbs. I never liked working out and don’t intend to incorporate that back into my lifestyle. I do want to play hockey again though but couldn’t because I didn’t own a car until this year. Hard to lug around goalie equipment on public transportation. Especially since my cities transit is garbage.2
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DupreeTheTRex wrote: »I took a really quick look at your diary - you are eating 100-500 calories a day less than your goal. That could account for faster weight loss than expected. If you are losing faster than you want, eat up to your goal amount.
Yes this has happened, I worry about getting hungry throughout the day so I have a tendency to eat more snacks at night. Problem is that I end up getting too full to eat and then I go to bed. I’ve had some entries a while back that were over my goal as well.
For example, my dinner’s average around 700 calories per meal. My dinner today was closer to 900. It’s hard to plan ahead without inputting the meal ahead of time and I don’t plan that far ahead. I plan my meals for the week, just not which meal I’m going to eat on which day.
Keep in mind that you needn't balance exactly day by day. It's not as if your body resets at midnight. If you don't eat the calories one day, use them to add a snack or bigger meal the next day, maybe balance by the week. (There's a page in the phone/table app that makes it easy to figure out where you are in a weekly average.)
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DupreeTheTRex wrote: »I took a really quick look at your diary - you are eating 100-500 calories a day less than your goal. That could account for faster weight loss than expected. If you are losing faster than you want, eat up to your goal amount.
Yes this has happened, I worry about getting hungry throughout the day so I have a tendency to eat more snacks at night. Problem is that I end up getting too full to eat and then I go to bed. I’ve had some entries a while back that were over my goal as well.
For example, my dinner’s average around 700 calories per meal. My dinner today was closer to 900. It’s hard to plan ahead without inputting the meal ahead of time and I don’t plan that far ahead. I plan my meals for the week, just not which meal I’m going to eat on which day.
Keep in mind that you needn't balance exactly day by day. It's not as if your body resets at midnight. If you don't eat the calories one day, use them to add a snack or bigger meal the next day, maybe balance by the week. (There's a page in the phone/table app that makes it easy to figure out where you are in a weekly average.)
I’ll have to check this out. My main goal is to maintain some form of normalcy with my lifestyle choices. Me and my wife both agreed we were eating out too much so we have cut back. Perhaps I can give myself one day where I eat a little more and that could be the day we decide to eat out.
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I took a really quick look at your diary - you are eating 100-500 calories a day less than your goal. That could account for faster weight loss than expected. If you are losing faster than you want, eat up to your goal amount.DupreeTheTRex wrote: »Yes this has happened, I worry about getting hungry throughout the day so I have a tendency to eat more snacks at night. Problem is that I end up getting too full to eat and then I go to bed. I’ve had some entries a while back that were over my goal as well.
For example, my dinner’s average around 700 calories per meal. My dinner today was closer to 900. It’s hard to plan ahead without inputting the meal ahead of time and I don’t plan that far ahead. I plan my meals for the week, just not which meal I’m going to eat on which day.
The last week you left 2,582 calories on the table. Does your wife do this as well? This would certainly contribute to her losing faster than expected.
The above is my third thought.
My first thought was that you are exercising, and not eating back exercise calories. But I'm confused because you subsequent said you are not working out at all, and this would also not account for your wife's loss.
My second thought was that some of the entries are significantly off, or that many of the entries are off by a little. If my 3rd thought does not explain things, let us know, and we can scour your diary entries more closely for foods you eat commonly that use bad entries.
Here's my standard bit on that:
Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both user-created entries and admin-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. To find admin entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP.
The USDA changed the platform for their database in 2019 and it is unfortunately a little more difficult to use. I uncheck everything but SR Legacy - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.
Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was user entered.
For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct.)4 -
kshama2001 wrote: »I took a really quick look at your diary - you are eating 100-500 calories a day less than your goal. That could account for faster weight loss than expected. If you are losing faster than you want, eat up to your goal amount.DupreeTheTRex wrote: »Yes this has happened, I worry about getting hungry throughout the day so I have a tendency to eat more snacks at night. Problem is that I end up getting too full to eat and then I go to bed. I’ve had some entries a while back that were over my goal as well.
For example, my dinner’s average around 700 calories per meal. My dinner today was closer to 900. It’s hard to plan ahead without inputting the meal ahead of time and I don’t plan that far ahead. I plan my meals for the week, just not which meal I’m going to eat on which day.
The last week you left 2,582 calories on the table. Does your wife do this as well? This would certainly contribute to her losing faster than expected.
The above is my third thought.
My first thought was that you are exercising, and not eating back exercise calories. But I'm confused because you subsequent said you are not working out at all, and this would also not account for your wife's loss.
My second thought was that some of the entries are significantly off, or that many of the entries are off by a little. If my 3rd thought does not explain things, let us know, and we can scour your diary entries more closely for foods you eat commonly that use bad entries.
Here's my standard bit on that:
Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both user-created entries and admin-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. To find admin entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP.
The USDA changed the platform for their database in 2019 and it is unfortunately a little more difficult to use. I uncheck everything but SR Legacy - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.
Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was user entered.
For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct.)
So I looked at my wife’s weekly stats and it does seem to line up with the amount of weight she’s lost. There’s still about a .75 lbs deficit unaccounted for with me, but that could be anything. It’s actually way less significant now looking at it from a bigger picture.
I guess my only concern now would be whether or not it’s safe to be withholding that many calories a week. I honestly have not felt stressed at all this time around. Im never hungry and when I am I eat. I’m eating fast food still, ordering sushi (my favourite meal) but I’m just more aware of portion sizes. So I’m not eating as much when I do those things as I used to.
I think I’m going to start using the weekly tracker to justify possibly treating myself to something bigger once a week or every two weeks. That should balance things out.
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