Strict calories deficit: not losing weight!!!!!
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bethanyjxx wrote: »
Making a diet even more extreme is an even better method to stress the body out.
Stressed bodies will adapt to the foolishness.
Muscle doesn't add that fast, you train to use better what you got already first.
With that many steps, putting you clearly over the Active level if those are outside of exercise, I'm betting you selected Sedentary (not very active) just to be on the "safe side"?
Are you getting the sense perhaps your method wasn't great for the past month, extreme diet and such?
Good job weighing food.
What do you think is a healthy and reasonable speed since you have experience with that you say?
Sounds like your stress level from your post is through the roof - reread everyone's comments about stress.
Worth reading again.
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I just posted this same issue and basically got told that I'm logging my calories wrong... I do think being older, especially as a woman, can complicate things. I'm having to workout harder, eat less and be hungrier. I will tell you, years ago, when I had an autoimmune disease and some food allergies diagnosed, as soon as I quit those foods I lost an immediate ten pounds. Look into an anti-inflammatory, blue zone, or plant based (not vegan) diet. Also think about getting your thyroid tested, having a hormonal panel run, and getting tested for allergies. I also lost weight after having my hormones run by Dr who did a whole panel run multiple times during my luteal phase. I was very imbalanced and some supplementation for a few months helped me lose weight and get back in balance. Right now though I'm in the same boat as you. Going up and down a pound despite herculean efforts. I'm going back to the doctor soon. I'm sick of it and tired of being told I don't know how to count my calories 🙄
I dont understand why some many people don't understand how much hormones a can affect a woman's weight. They acknowledge that women hold onto it often during their periods but not that the same could be true if hormones are out of whack all month long.
But what they're holding onto is water weight, not fat. Hormones don't allow women to create energy out of thin air, or for their bodies to do work (everything from cellular functions to breathing, digesting, walking, lifting...) without using energy.
As one loses fat, one would have to retain even more water to mask each extra pound of fat that is lost. Water weight can mask weight loss for a while, but eventually (and the length of "eventually" depends on the size of one's calorie deficit) if increased water retention continues to mask fat loss, it's going to show up as obvious bloating and edema.7 -
bethanyjxx wrote: »So OP a couple of very simple questions without you having to open your diary.
1) do you weigh everything, or use measuring cups? And by everything, we mean everything. If you take a couple of slices of bread, do you weigh them? Do you weigh packaged food? Or just go by what's stated on the packet. You said you measure milk and butter, that's good. Again, do you weigh these or cups/spoons?
2) what sort of calories from exercise do you get each day, and what exercises are you doing, for how long? How are you working out the calories?
3) are you eating all those exercise calories?
4) whats your deficit set to?
1. i use weighing scales - i don't tend to weigh things like bread, but if i was to eat anything out of a packet it'd be weighed (i even weigh minor minor minor things like broccoli and lettuce, which barely take up my calories). i do weigh as much as possible.
2. i tend to walk an average of 10k steps a day (some days its a little less, some days its a lot more, it really depends) and then i have a 1 hour weight session comprising of legs (glute dominant days and quad dominant days), push days and pull days. usually i go the gym 4 times a week, but sometimes more/less depending on how busy i am. never less than 3 though.
3. i don't eat back exercise calories, and have only went over my calories (by roughly 200) on a handful of days
4. my setting is set to lose 2 pounds a week, which gives me a deficit of 1410.
You should start weighing bread and "things like bread," whatever that encompasses.7 -
psychod787 wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »psychod787 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »Mouse_Potato wrote: »Today is my eight year anniversary with MFP. I am in maintenance, trying to recomp. I STILL find errors in my logging! Recipes change, pre-packaged foods don't always weigh what you would expect. Bread slices vary. Protein bars! Don't even get me started on how much protein bars can vary from package to package! Weigh your foods. All of them. Even the embarrassing ones.
Yes, I've been here 8 years as well and also still find errors in my food logging.
I was sad when I got a food scale and realized just how small 2T of peanut butter really is and when I learned the weight lifting entry I was using provided WAY too many calories. But I'd rather proceed with accurate info, no matter how sad it makes me.
I'm just not willing to spend a lot of time speculating on what could be causing an OP to not lose weight when there is an easy way for me to rule out the obvious things - the person asking for help makes their diary public.
If they feel strongly that they are not making any errors, then they have an issue for an endocrinologist or other specialist they pay, not free advice on MFP.
Exactly. People think they are being "attacked" because of food choices. Hell, I'll judge no person for what they eat. I might suggest that they eat less of it or consider it a non tolerated food. The Dunning Kruger effect is strong with some folks. Damn, I'm guilty of it, but at least I can admit it. .
Please explain this effect. I googled but don’t really understand. Dumb it down for me. TY. You’re a peach. Lol
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect#:~:text=In the field of psychology,recognize their lack of ability.
Basically people think they are better at something than they are...
I am shocked this has not been discussed more in recent years.
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I will make a final suggestion to O.P. Ok, eat a consistent calorie level, while being completely honest about your calorie intake. Remember, it's hard to be objective when we are subjective. That's why I still suggest you open your diary, but anyways. TREND your weight for 4-6 weeks and see what the trend says. That IS OBJECTIVE info. Why are you in a hurry to lose weight quick? Do you have an underlying medical condition that means you need rapid weight loss? If not, spend some time getting info. Learn life long lessons. The biggest part. RELAX! Yes, easier said than done. I can be neurotic SOB myself. Trust the process. A quote from a hero of mine, "do your best and everything will happen for the best." Much love op....6
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bethanyjxx wrote: »Dogmom1978 wrote: »At 5’7” and 156 lbs, 2 lbs a week is NOT AT ALL REALISTIC.
.5 lbs - 1 lb tops is what you should be set at. Eating fewer calories is NOT the answer since you already don’t eat exercise calories back.
Since your diary is private, I can’t say for sure, but maybe you are greatly overestimating your calories burned during said exercise. Or double dipping. For example, if you have your settings at active and then you add in exercise, you are telling MFP that you are burning twice as many calories as you really are.
I set mine to sedentary (desk job) and then add my exercise calories in separately to avoid double dipping.
No, I do the exact same, I am almost certain I set mine as sedentary (do you know if there is a way I can double check this?). I am not really completely aiming to lose 2 lbs but .5 lbs gave me a large calorie goal which I knew I could eat under and be satiated so that's why I lowered it further
I'll also mention, though, that I'm 5"5" and 170ish lbs...you're a little lighter than me, but taller. MFP calculates 1350 calories a day (net) for me to lose 1 lb/wk. I end up eating about 2000 calories (gross) daily with my exercise and activity cals, and I'm set to sedentary. f you're truly eating only 1400 calories gross, your issue isn't double dipping because you aren't eating exercise calories anyway.0 -
As above, it’s in the goals section. You can update your goals and in there will also be your activity level. I would double check your activity level based on how many calories you say MFP gives you. I am an inch shorter than you at 5’6” and 175. I have mine set to lose 1 lb per week and I get 1340 calories a day before any exercise. Again, I set mine to sedentary and add the exercise in.
Another thought I had, have you updated your goal recently? As you lose weight, MFP does not auto calculate a new calorie goal for you. I just go in and change mine from sedentary to active and then right back to reflect my weight loss. For example, I didn’t do that for AWHILE. I was getting 1500 calories a day. Then I remembered and updated it and dropped to 1340. I was sad 😞0 -
dragon_girl26 wrote: »bethanyjxx wrote: »Dogmom1978 wrote: »At 5’7” and 156 lbs, 2 lbs a week is NOT AT ALL REALISTIC.
.5 lbs - 1 lb tops is what you should be set at. Eating fewer calories is NOT the answer since you already don’t eat exercise calories back.
Since your diary is private, I can’t say for sure, but maybe you are greatly overestimating your calories burned during said exercise. Or double dipping. For example, if you have your settings at active and then you add in exercise, you are telling MFP that you are burning twice as many calories as you really are.
I set mine to sedentary (desk job) and then add my exercise calories in separately to avoid double dipping.
No, I do the exact same, I am almost certain I set mine as sedentary (do you know if there is a way I can double check this?). I am not really completely aiming to lose 2 lbs but .5 lbs gave me a large calorie goal which I knew I could eat under and be satiated so that's why I lowered it further
I'll also mention, though, that I'm 5"5" and 170ish lbs...you're a little lighter than me, but taller. MFP calculates 1350 calories a day (net) for me to lose 1 lb/wk. I end up eating about 2000 calories (gross) daily with my exercise and activity cals, and I'm set to sedentary. f you're truly eating only 1400 calories gross, your issue isn't double dipping because you aren't eating exercise calories anyway.
She still would be double dipping even though she isn’t eating those calories back because she would think her deficit is twice as high as it is in reality. For example: if I switch to lightly active and MFP gives me 1500 calories a day. I then log my 200 calories on top of that. I don’t eat those 200 calories back, but I do eat the 1500, I AM eating back my exercise calories but I don’t realize that. Now I think that I ate 1500 but burned 200 so I believe I netted 1300 calories for the day since I accounted for my exercise twice. A smaller deficit than I think I have will cause me to either not lose at all or lose more slowly than I anticipated.0 -
Dogmom1978 wrote: »dragon_girl26 wrote: »bethanyjxx wrote: »Dogmom1978 wrote: »At 5’7” and 156 lbs, 2 lbs a week is NOT AT ALL REALISTIC.
.5 lbs - 1 lb tops is what you should be set at. Eating fewer calories is NOT the answer since you already don’t eat exercise calories back.
Since your diary is private, I can’t say for sure, but maybe you are greatly overestimating your calories burned during said exercise. Or double dipping. For example, if you have your settings at active and then you add in exercise, you are telling MFP that you are burning twice as many calories as you really are.
I set mine to sedentary (desk job) and then add my exercise calories in separately to avoid double dipping.
No, I do the exact same, I am almost certain I set mine as sedentary (do you know if there is a way I can double check this?). I am not really completely aiming to lose 2 lbs but .5 lbs gave me a large calorie goal which I knew I could eat under and be satiated so that's why I lowered it further
I'll also mention, though, that I'm 5"5" and 170ish lbs...you're a little lighter than me, but taller. MFP calculates 1350 calories a day (net) for me to lose 1 lb/wk. I end up eating about 2000 calories (gross) daily with my exercise and activity cals, and I'm set to sedentary. f you're truly eating only 1400 calories gross, your issue isn't double dipping because you aren't eating exercise calories anyway.
She still would be double dipping even though she isn’t eating those calories back because she would think her deficit is twice as high as it is in reality. For example: if I switch to lightly active and MFP gives me 1500 calories a day. I then log my 200 calories on top of that. I don’t eat those 200 calories back, but I do eat the 1500, I AM eating back my exercise calories but I don’t realize that. Now I think that I ate 1500 but burned 200 so I believe I netted 1300 calories for the day since I accounted for my exercise twice. A smaller deficit than I think I have will cause me to either not lose at all or lose more slowly than I anticipated.
Yeah, but not really. Acrivity level =/= exercise. Activity level is just what you do throughout the day outside of exercise. In my case, I work a desk job so I am sedentary, even though I workout daily.. Double dipping would be more like if you chose lightly active thinking it includes exercise, ate those calories, and then logged exercise and ate those calories as well.2 -
tiptoethruthetulips wrote: »You are already in the healthy weight range for your height (albeit on the higher high of the BMI), weight loss is going to be slow and low. Your calorie intake will need to be on the ball, and you will likely need to weigh everything not just butter and milk.
You need to work out what is making you bloated and gassy, keep a strict food journal and monitor your body's reaction to the foods you are eating.
If you have set your profile to lose 2lb a week you may want to set to 1lb a week given that you are already in the healthy weight range, you will have a higher calorie intake but once you start weighting your solid foods and measuring your fluids (with calories) you will have a more accurate count of calories.
I would say set the goal to lose 1/2 lb. a week.
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bethanyjxx wrote: »Hi guys thanks for all the responses! My diary is completely accurate as I have been doing this for a long time (and will always check if the nutrition on the app lines with the nutrition on my food labels). I presume it is mostly a result of water retention and possibly stress.
I've been on this new diet for a little under 2 months and the only time I seen the scale drop was when I had a week break from the gym, so I do think maybe the heavy lifting is causing me to retain excess water or something along those lines?
When was this drop? How far along were you into your new diet, and how much was the drop? I'm wondering if maybe you are a "whoosh"-er..0 -
psychod787 wrote: »I just posted this same issue and basically got told that I'm logging my calories wrong... I do think being older, especially as a woman, can complicate things. I'm having to workout harder, eat less and be hungrier. I will tell you, years ago, when I had an autoimmune disease and some food allergies diagnosed, as soon as I quit those foods I lost an immediate ten pounds. Look into an anti-inflammatory, blue zone, or plant based (not vegan) diet. Also think about getting your thyroid tested, having a hormonal panel run, and getting tested for allergies. I also lost weight after having my hormones run by Dr who did a whole panel run multiple times during my luteal phase. I was very imbalanced and some supplementation for a few months helped me lose weight and get back in balance. Right now though I'm in the same boat as you. Going up and down a pound despite herculean efforts. I'm going back to the doctor soon. I'm sick of it and tired of being told I don't know how to count my calories 🙄
I dont understand why some many people don't understand how much hormones a can affect a woman's weight. They acknowledge that women hold onto it often during their periods but not that the same could be true if hormones are out of whack all month long.
Hormones I have little doubt can lead to weight gain. Not so much on the calories out side. There are a few conditions that might have a marginal effect, but I think the greatest impact of hormones is calories in. Certain hormones can raise appetite no doubt, but that will not slow weight loss unless one is logging accurately and at the right deficit. I find it odd that many folks who feel too "embarrassed" to open their diaries feel they are on point. One quick look at the research suggest that people under report "bad" foods. I don't think they are "bad", but probably easy to over eat on. The folks with the highest under reporting were overweight and obese women.
Actually, imbalances in your estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, androgen, cortisol, thyroid, or insulin hormones can very definitely cause someone to not lose weight despite the supposed CI/CO being right. It's hard for people who've never experienced it to understand. Yes, science is real, but calorie science isn't the only science there is. People can have real health issues and imbalances that affect how their metabolism works, and they don't have to feel awful to be experiencing it either. It happens. But it's fixable too. But just repeating to someone "count your calories" isn't going to help someone figure out where their imbalances are.
However, looking back at the OP's original post and a PP's comment, I think the OP's goals might be a little agressive and that is why nothing is working...
If someone has a health condition that down-regulates metabolism (such as hypothyroidism), the implication is that they burn fewer calories than an otherwise similar person without that condition. This doesn't make the calorie balance equation invalid or inapplicable, it just means they need to eat somewhat fewer calories than that other person in order to lose the same amount of stored body fat. CICO still applies.
The calorie goal calculators spit out an estimate that will be pretty close for an average person. It will be inaccurate for some, who are not average, such as people with those kinds of health conditions. If the non-average person (with a lower calorie burn) eats fewer calories than they personally are burning, they will lose fat. This is why we suggest people follow the calculator estimate (such as MFP's estimate) for at least a month or so, then adjust.
Three things can go sideways:
1. Some people impatiently adjust calories downward too quickly, and twitch their way into eating few enough calories that fatigue depresses their activity level, and further reduces calorie expenditure. In other words, CI can affect CO.
2. Fat weight and water weight are two different things, of course. I suspect that health conditions or extreme stress can, in some cases, cause water retention to differ in magnitude and duration from the normal fluctuations most of us routinely see. It's not fat, but it confuses things on the scale.
3. There are a few health conditions that cause fluctuating energy levels (some thyroid conditions cycle between hypo and hyper, for example). This doesn't mean that the calorie balance equation fails to work, it just means that it's extremely difficult to estimate and work with, in a practical sense. The person's calorie expenditure can be inconsistent day to day. (These health conditions are not common. Typically, a person would know.)
There are a few end cases (like the cycling thyroid conditions) in which calorie counting, as a technique, will be more difficult for some people, perhaps even not useful. None of that means that CICO doesn't apply to those people, or that some other kind of science is overriding calorie science. Basic physics still applies: If we expend energy, it has to come from somewhere.
I strongly suspect OP's bloating and gassiness are relevant here. There may be practical issues related to logging. Since she mentions being an exercise beginner, new-exercise water weight gains may be timed vis a vis normal monthly hormonal fluctuations to create a long-ish pseudo-planteau that's entirely water weight. There may be slow loss happening, but it's obscured. (I've been losing around half a pound a week in some recent months, and have gone the better part of a month at times with even my weight trending app thinking I'm gaining, when I'm not, let alone how misleading the daily weights look.) She may be underfueling, and subtly fatiguing. There may be an issue with activity level setting. (If her goal is around 1400 at 2 pounds a week, the implication is that her maintenance calories are 2400 before exercise. That's not impossibly high, but it's around the construction laborer kind of job level of activity, for a 5'7" 156 pound woman, so kind of unusual.) There are lots of possibilities.10 -
dragon_girl26 wrote: »Dogmom1978 wrote: »dragon_girl26 wrote: »bethanyjxx wrote: »Dogmom1978 wrote: »At 5’7” and 156 lbs, 2 lbs a week is NOT AT ALL REALISTIC.
.5 lbs - 1 lb tops is what you should be set at. Eating fewer calories is NOT the answer since you already don’t eat exercise calories back.
Since your diary is private, I can’t say for sure, but maybe you are greatly overestimating your calories burned during said exercise. Or double dipping. For example, if you have your settings at active and then you add in exercise, you are telling MFP that you are burning twice as many calories as you really are.
I set mine to sedentary (desk job) and then add my exercise calories in separately to avoid double dipping.
No, I do the exact same, I am almost certain I set mine as sedentary (do you know if there is a way I can double check this?). I am not really completely aiming to lose 2 lbs but .5 lbs gave me a large calorie goal which I knew I could eat under and be satiated so that's why I lowered it further
I'll also mention, though, that I'm 5"5" and 170ish lbs...you're a little lighter than me, but taller. MFP calculates 1350 calories a day (net) for me to lose 1 lb/wk. I end up eating about 2000 calories (gross) daily with my exercise and activity cals, and I'm set to sedentary. f you're truly eating only 1400 calories gross, your issue isn't double dipping because you aren't eating exercise calories anyway.
She still would be double dipping even though she isn’t eating those calories back because she would think her deficit is twice as high as it is in reality. For example: if I switch to lightly active and MFP gives me 1500 calories a day. I then log my 200 calories on top of that. I don’t eat those 200 calories back, but I do eat the 1500, I AM eating back my exercise calories but I don’t realize that. Now I think that I ate 1500 but burned 200 so I believe I netted 1300 calories for the day since I accounted for my exercise twice. A smaller deficit than I think I have will cause me to either not lose at all or lose more slowly than I anticipated.
Yeah, but not really. Acrivity level =/= exercise. Activity level is just what you do throughout the day outside of exercise. In my case, I work a desk job so I am sedentary, even though I workout daily.. Double dipping would be more like if you chose lightly active thinking it includes exercise, ate those calories, and then logged exercise and ate those calories as well.
No, my point still stands. OP believes they are eating in a deficit, but in the following scenario they might not be: If you are sedentary and select active and then enter your exercise on top of it, you’ll look at what you THINK your net calories are and be “how am I not losing weight, this makes no sense” as you will be unknowingly counting exercise twice. Whether or not you eat those calories doesn’t really matter as you believe you are eating fewer of your allotted calories than you are in reality.
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Dogmom1978 wrote: »dragon_girl26 wrote: »Dogmom1978 wrote: »dragon_girl26 wrote: »bethanyjxx wrote: »Dogmom1978 wrote: »At 5’7” and 156 lbs, 2 lbs a week is NOT AT ALL REALISTIC.
.5 lbs - 1 lb tops is what you should be set at. Eating fewer calories is NOT the answer since you already don’t eat exercise calories back.
Since your diary is private, I can’t say for sure, but maybe you are greatly overestimating your calories burned during said exercise. Or double dipping. For example, if you have your settings at active and then you add in exercise, you are telling MFP that you are burning twice as many calories as you really are.
I set mine to sedentary (desk job) and then add my exercise calories in separately to avoid double dipping.
No, I do the exact same, I am almost certain I set mine as sedentary (do you know if there is a way I can double check this?). I am not really completely aiming to lose 2 lbs but .5 lbs gave me a large calorie goal which I knew I could eat under and be satiated so that's why I lowered it further
I'll also mention, though, that I'm 5"5" and 170ish lbs...you're a little lighter than me, but taller. MFP calculates 1350 calories a day (net) for me to lose 1 lb/wk. I end up eating about 2000 calories (gross) daily with my exercise and activity cals, and I'm set to sedentary. f you're truly eating only 1400 calories gross, your issue isn't double dipping because you aren't eating exercise calories anyway.
She still would be double dipping even though she isn’t eating those calories back because she would think her deficit is twice as high as it is in reality. For example: if I switch to lightly active and MFP gives me 1500 calories a day. I then log my 200 calories on top of that. I don’t eat those 200 calories back, but I do eat the 1500, I AM eating back my exercise calories but I don’t realize that. Now I think that I ate 1500 but burned 200 so I believe I netted 1300 calories for the day since I accounted for my exercise twice. A smaller deficit than I think I have will cause me to either not lose at all or lose more slowly than I anticipated.
Yeah, but not really. Acrivity level =/= exercise. Activity level is just what you do throughout the day outside of exercise. In my case, I work a desk job so I am sedentary, even though I workout daily.. Double dipping would be more like if you chose lightly active thinking it includes exercise, ate those calories, and then logged exercise and ate those calories as well.
No, my point still stands. OP believes they are eating in a deficit, but in the following scenario they might not be: If you are sedentary and select active and then enter your exercise on top of it, you’ll look at what you THINK your net calories are and be “how am I not losing weight, this makes no sense” as you will be unknowingly counting exercise twice. Whether or not you eat those calories doesn’t really matter as you believe you are eating fewer of your allotted calories than you are in reality.
Sure, you're in less of a deficit than what you think, but at the end you'd still be in a deficit (after all,, shed be eating base calories + "exercise", which is how MFP is supposed to work...in your example its all just combined under MFP's base calories via activity level setting). It might show that you have 500 calories extra remaining in the green number (or whatever, just an example number here) on top of your deficit. In my scenario, though, in eating your exercise calories twice, you'd possibly be eating your entire deficit.
Either way, OP is doing 10K steps a day, weight training,, and grossing 1400 calories, so if she is truly eating that little for her activity level,, she isn't overeating anyway.0 -
dragon_girl26 wrote: »Dogmom1978 wrote: »dragon_girl26 wrote: »Dogmom1978 wrote: »dragon_girl26 wrote: »bethanyjxx wrote: »Dogmom1978 wrote: »At 5’7” and 156 lbs, 2 lbs a week is NOT AT ALL REALISTIC.
.5 lbs - 1 lb tops is what you should be set at. Eating fewer calories is NOT the answer since you already don’t eat exercise calories back.
Since your diary is private, I can’t say for sure, but maybe you are greatly overestimating your calories burned during said exercise. Or double dipping. For example, if you have your settings at active and then you add in exercise, you are telling MFP that you are burning twice as many calories as you really are.
I set mine to sedentary (desk job) and then add my exercise calories in separately to avoid double dipping.
No, I do the exact same, I am almost certain I set mine as sedentary (do you know if there is a way I can double check this?). I am not really completely aiming to lose 2 lbs but .5 lbs gave me a large calorie goal which I knew I could eat under and be satiated so that's why I lowered it further
I'll also mention, though, that I'm 5"5" and 170ish lbs...you're a little lighter than me, but taller. MFP calculates 1350 calories a day (net) for me to lose 1 lb/wk. I end up eating about 2000 calories (gross) daily with my exercise and activity cals, and I'm set to sedentary. f you're truly eating only 1400 calories gross, your issue isn't double dipping because you aren't eating exercise calories anyway.
She still would be double dipping even though she isn’t eating those calories back because she would think her deficit is twice as high as it is in reality. For example: if I switch to lightly active and MFP gives me 1500 calories a day. I then log my 200 calories on top of that. I don’t eat those 200 calories back, but I do eat the 1500, I AM eating back my exercise calories but I don’t realize that. Now I think that I ate 1500 but burned 200 so I believe I netted 1300 calories for the day since I accounted for my exercise twice. A smaller deficit than I think I have will cause me to either not lose at all or lose more slowly than I anticipated.
Yeah, but not really. Acrivity level =/= exercise. Activity level is just what you do throughout the day outside of exercise. In my case, I work a desk job so I am sedentary, even though I workout daily.. Double dipping would be more like if you chose lightly active thinking it includes exercise, ate those calories, and then logged exercise and ate those calories as well.
No, my point still stands. OP believes they are eating in a deficit, but in the following scenario they might not be: If you are sedentary and select active and then enter your exercise on top of it, you’ll look at what you THINK your net calories are and be “how am I not losing weight, this makes no sense” as you will be unknowingly counting exercise twice. Whether or not you eat those calories doesn’t really matter as you believe you are eating fewer of your allotted calories than you are in reality.
Sure, you're in less of a deficit than what you think, but at the end you'd still be in a deficit (after all,, shed be eating base calories + "exercise", which is how MFP is supposed to work...in your example its all just combined under MFP's base calories via activity level setting). It might show that you have 500 calories extra remaining in the green number (or whatever, just an example number here) on top of your deficit. In my scenario, though, in eating your exercise calories twice, you'd possibly be eating your entire deficit.
Either way, OP is doing 10K steps a day, weight training,, and grossing 1400 calories, so if she is truly eating that little for her activity level,, she isn't overeating anyway.
But she could be overeating if she is eating 1400 AFTER exercise if she also has her activity level set to active when she is sedentary. I don’t know if that’s the case, it’s a hypothesis. She isn’t eating the exercise calories back, but she is (I believe) logging them in MFP to count towards her total caloric intake.1 -
She said she is set to sedentary.
She said she doe not eat back exercise.
She is well above sedentary in daily activity steps besides exercise.
She is creating on paper a bigger deficit. She has given what she thinks is pre-exercise deficit, exercise just adding to it.
There is no double-dipping possible. Exercise doesn't even enter the picture in what she has described.
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msalicia07 wrote: »I track things in my diary that are private so I won't be making it public. Maybe I will find a way to share it through screen shots with someone encouraging in the future. Thanks for all the responses and suggestions!
🤔 trying to figure out what foods are so naughty they can’t be seen. The torture is real.
I've had a couple of binges where I ate things in quantities or combinations that would be . . . awkward if I knew some people IRL knew about them. Over the internet, I tend not to be hung up on it, especially since I'm generally candid about the fact that I've struggled with disordered eating.
I mean, if someone found out about it, I'd deal with the embarrassment, but I can understand why some people might be more shy about sharing their dairy.
(Of course, if I was in the midst of rough things and eating margarine straight out of the tub with Splenda and cinnamon dumped on top, I would also understand why my weight loss wasn't behaving as expected and I wouldn't be blaming it on my hormones, so it's kind of moot for the purposes of this discussion).4 -
Mouse_Potato wrote: »Today is my eight year anniversary with MFP. I am in maintenance, trying to recomp. I STILL find errors in my logging! Recipes change, pre-packaged foods don't always weigh what you would expect. Bread slices vary. Protein bars! Don't even get me started on how much protein bars can vary from package to package! Weigh your foods. All of them. Even the embarrassing ones.
THIS. I have been logging every day since 2015. I'm a food scale devotee who double checks entries for accuracy. Several times a year I STILL find that I've been inadvertently estimating the calories in something. Sometimes it's no big deal because it was something I only ate rarely or a few times. But I've also found some serious goofs for foods that I eat a lot.
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psychod787 wrote: »I just posted this same issue and basically got told that I'm logging my calories wrong... I do think being older, especially as a woman, can complicate things. I'm having to workout harder, eat less and be hungrier. I will tell you, years ago, when I had an autoimmune disease and some food allergies diagnosed, as soon as I quit those foods I lost an immediate ten pounds. Look into an anti-inflammatory, blue zone, or plant based (not vegan) diet. Also think about getting your thyroid tested, having a hormonal panel run, and getting tested for allergies. I also lost weight after having my hormones run by Dr who did a whole panel run multiple times during my luteal phase. I was very imbalanced and some supplementation for a few months helped me lose weight and get back in balance. Right now though I'm in the same boat as you. Going up and down a pound despite herculean efforts. I'm going back to the doctor soon. I'm sick of it and tired of being told I don't know how to count my calories 🙄
I dont understand why some many people don't understand how much hormones a can affect a woman's weight. They acknowledge that women hold onto it often during their periods but not that the same could be true if hormones are out of whack all month long.
Hormones I have little doubt can lead to weight gain. Not so much on the calories out side. There are a few conditions that might have a marginal effect, but I think the greatest impact of hormones is calories in. Certain hormones can raise appetite no doubt, but that will not slow weight loss unless one is logging accurately and at the right deficit. I find it odd that many folks who feel too "embarrassed" to open their diaries feel they are on point. One quick look at the research suggest that people under report "bad" foods. I don't think they are "bad", but probably easy to over eat on. The folks with the highest under reporting were overweight and obese women.
Actually, imbalances in your estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, androgen, cortisol, thyroid, or insulin hormones can very definitely cause someone to not lose weight despite the supposed CI/CO being right. It's hard for people who've never experienced it to understand. Yes, science is real, but calorie science isn't the only science there is. People can have real health issues and imbalances that affect how their metabolism works, and they don't have to feel awful to be experiencing it either. It happens. But it's fixable too. But just repeating to someone "count your calories" isn't going to help someone figure out where their imbalances are.
However, looking back at the OP's original post and a PP's comment, I think the OP's goals might be a little agressive and that is why nothing is working...
If someone has a health condition that down-regulates metabolism (such as hypothyroidism), the implication is that they burn fewer calories than an otherwise similar person without that condition. This doesn't make the calorie balance equation invalid or inapplicable, it just means they need to eat somewhat fewer calories than that other person in order to lose the same amount of stored body fat. CICO still applies.
The calorie goal calculators spit out an estimate that will be pretty close for an average person. It will be inaccurate for some, who are not average, such as people with those kinds of health conditions. If the non-average person (with a lower calorie burn) eats fewer calories than they personally are burning, they will lose fat. This is why we suggest people follow the calculator estimate (such as MFP's estimate) for at least a month or so, then adjust.
Three things can go sideways:
1. Some people impatiently adjust calories downward too quickly, and twitch their way into eating few enough calories that fatigue depresses their activity level, and further reduces calorie expenditure. In other words, CI can affect CO.
2. Fat weight and water weight are two different things, of course. I suspect that health conditions or extreme stress can, in some cases, cause water retention to differ in magnitude and duration from the normal fluctuations most of us routinely see. It's not fat, but it confuses things on the scale.
3. There are a few health conditions that cause fluctuating energy levels (some thyroid conditions cycle between hypo and hyper, for example). This doesn't mean that the calorie balance equation fails to work, it just means that it's extremely difficult to estimate and work with, in a practical sense. The person's calorie expenditure can be inconsistent day to day. (These health conditions are not common. Typically, a person would know.)
There are a few end cases (like the cycling thyroid conditions) in which calorie counting, as a technique, will be more difficult for some people, perhaps even not useful. None of that means that CICO doesn't apply to those people, or that some other kind of science is overriding calorie science. Basic physics still applies: If we expend energy, it has to come from somewhere.
I strongly suspect OP's bloating and gassiness are relevant here. There may be practical issues related to logging. Since she mentions being an exercise beginner, new-exercise water weight gains may be timed vis a vis normal monthly hormonal fluctuations to create a long-ish pseudo-planteau that's entirely water weight. There may be slow loss happening, but it's obscured. (I've been losing around half a pound a week in some recent months, and have gone the better part of a month at times with even my weight trending app thinking I'm gaining, when I'm not, let alone how misleading the daily weights look.) She may be underfueling, and subtly fatiguing. There may be an issue with activity level setting. (If her goal is around 1400 at 2 pounds a week, the implication is that her maintenance calories are 2400 before exercise. That's not impossibly high, but it's around the construction laborer kind of job level of activity, for a 5'7" 156 pound woman, so kind of unusual.) There are lots of possibilities.
Yes, I'm anemic and have been struggling with my iron levels. Since June, I've had one blood transfusion and two iron infusions, and am heading in today and again next week for more infusions. My energy and activity levels fluctuate wildly - I have days when a single flight of stairs is a challenge and days when I can garden for 5 hours.
But as you said, I am well aware of my health condition and varying energy expenditures.6 -
janejellyroll wrote: »msalicia07 wrote: »I track things in my diary that are private so I won't be making it public. Maybe I will find a way to share it through screen shots with someone encouraging in the future. Thanks for all the responses and suggestions!
🤔 trying to figure out what foods are so naughty they can’t be seen. The torture is real.
I've had a couple of binges where I ate things in quantities or combinations that would be . . . awkward if I knew some people IRL knew about them. Over the internet, I tend not to be hung up on it, especially since I'm generally candid about the fact that I've struggled with disordered eating.
I mean, if someone found out about it, I'd deal with the embarrassment, but I can understand why some people might be more shy about sharing their dairy.
(Of course, if I was in the midst of rough things and eating margarine straight out of the tub with Splenda and cinnamon dumped on top, I would also understand why my weight loss wasn't behaving as expected and I wouldn't be blaming it on my hormones, so it's kind of moot for the purposes of this discussion).
Yup.
And while I don't disbelieve people who say their MFP "friends" hector them about their food choices, or that they've seen people be beaten up about it in threads, I haven't really experienced that myself.
I accept all friend requests (except from the guys with no profile info whose friends are all cute flexing woman, and whose forum history is non-existent or all flirty stuff in Chit-Chat 🤣). It's clear from profile page comments and questions that my MFP friends do read my diary. (Just today I was answering questions about edamame fettuccine.)
I'll admit to not logging some of my confusing high days here in year 5 of maintenance, but I've logged them often along the way, and still log some crazy things (irresponsible levels of IPA or cocktails in a day (not driving!!), a whole deep-dish pizza all by myself in one meal, baskets of deep-fried whatever with a bucket'o'ketchup, major wallows in chocolate . . . these are not daily or even super-frequent things, but they're in there, and they're in the diary of someone who regularly encourages good nutrition, so the hypocrisy card could be played, if someone wanted to (I'd laugh, frankly).
There has been no criticism. Crickets.
I don't read every thread (though I'm sure it seems like it), but I haven't seen a lot of criticism in threads, either, outside of the occasional evangelical new convert to a tricksy new eating routine who thinks everyone should follow their One True Way (TM), and those preachers usually get kick-back from folks who enjoy their oreos. Mostly, I've seen comments along the lines that if the the reply-er ate donuts for breakfast they'd be starving by lunch too, or that eating some veggies might help with satiation - mild, and honest but clear stuff.
I don't get the coyness or shame. (Personally, I don't think OP here is being super coy, either, BTW.)
People get better advice when they open up, and have some resilience to others' opinions. 🤷♀️6 -
janejellyroll wrote: »msalicia07 wrote: »I track things in my diary that are private so I won't be making it public. Maybe I will find a way to share it through screen shots with someone encouraging in the future. Thanks for all the responses and suggestions!
🤔 trying to figure out what foods are so naughty they can’t be seen. The torture is real.
I've had a couple of binges where I ate things in quantities or combinations that would be . . . awkward if I knew some people IRL knew about them. Over the internet, I tend not to be hung up on it, especially since I'm generally candid about the fact that I've struggled with disordered eating.
I mean, if someone found out about it, I'd deal with the embarrassment, but I can understand why some people might be more shy about sharing their dairy.
(Of course, if I was in the midst of rough things and eating margarine straight out of the tub with Splenda and cinnamon dumped on top, I would also understand why my weight loss wasn't behaving as expected and I wouldn't be blaming it on my hormones, so it's kind of moot for the purposes of this discussion).
Yup.
And while I don't disbelieve people who say their MFP "friends" hector them about their food choices, or that they've seen people be beaten up about it in threads, I haven't really experienced that myself.
I accept all friend requests (except from the guys with no profile info whose friends are all cute flexing woman, and whose forum history is non-existent or all flirty stuff in Chit-Chat 🤣). It's clear from profile page comments and questions that my MFP friends do read my diary. (Just today I was answering questions about edamame fettuccine.)
I'll admit to not logging some of my confusing high days here in year 5 of maintenance, but I've logged them often along the way, and still log some crazy things (irresponsible levels of IPA or cocktails in a day (not driving!!), a whole deep-dish pizza all by myself in one meal, baskets of deep-fried whatever with a bucket'o'ketchup, major wallows in chocolate . . . these are not daily or even super-frequent things, but they're in there, and they're in the diary of someone who regularly encourages good nutrition, so the hypocrisy card could be played, if someone wanted to (I'd laugh, frankly).
There has been no criticism. Crickets.
I don't read every thread (though I'm sure it seems like it), but I haven't seen a lot of criticism in threads, either, outside of the occasional evangelical new convert to a tricksy new eating routine who thinks everyone should follow their One True Way (TM), and those preachers usually get kick-back from folks who enjoy their oreos. Mostly, I've seen comments along the lines that if the the reply-er ate donuts for breakfast they'd be starving by lunch too, or that eating some veggies might help with satiation - mild, and honest but clear stuff.
I don't get the coyness or shame. (Personally, I don't think OP here is being super coy, either, BTW.)
People get better advice when they open up, and have some resilience to others' opinions. 🤷♀️
Oooh you mentioned Oreos. I love Oreos. 😆
6 -
Dogmom1978 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »msalicia07 wrote: »I track things in my diary that are private so I won't be making it public. Maybe I will find a way to share it through screen shots with someone encouraging in the future. Thanks for all the responses and suggestions!
🤔 trying to figure out what foods are so naughty they can’t be seen. The torture is real.
I've had a couple of binges where I ate things in quantities or combinations that would be . . . awkward if I knew some people IRL knew about them. Over the internet, I tend not to be hung up on it, especially since I'm generally candid about the fact that I've struggled with disordered eating.
I mean, if someone found out about it, I'd deal with the embarrassment, but I can understand why some people might be more shy about sharing their dairy.
(Of course, if I was in the midst of rough things and eating margarine straight out of the tub with Splenda and cinnamon dumped on top, I would also understand why my weight loss wasn't behaving as expected and I wouldn't be blaming it on my hormones, so it's kind of moot for the purposes of this discussion).
Yup.
And while I don't disbelieve people who say their MFP "friends" hector them about their food choices, or that they've seen people be beaten up about it in threads, I haven't really experienced that myself.
I accept all friend requests (except from the guys with no profile info whose friends are all cute flexing woman, and whose forum history is non-existent or all flirty stuff in Chit-Chat 🤣). It's clear from profile page comments and questions that my MFP friends do read my diary. (Just today I was answering questions about edamame fettuccine.)
I'll admit to not logging some of my confusing high days here in year 5 of maintenance, but I've logged them often along the way, and still log some crazy things (irresponsible levels of IPA or cocktails in a day (not driving!!), a whole deep-dish pizza all by myself in one meal, baskets of deep-fried whatever with a bucket'o'ketchup, major wallows in chocolate . . . these are not daily or even super-frequent things, but they're in there, and they're in the diary of someone who regularly encourages good nutrition, so the hypocrisy card could be played, if someone wanted to (I'd laugh, frankly).
There has been no criticism. Crickets.
I don't read every thread (though I'm sure it seems like it), but I haven't seen a lot of criticism in threads, either, outside of the occasional evangelical new convert to a tricksy new eating routine who thinks everyone should follow their One True Way (TM), and those preachers usually get kick-back from folks who enjoy their oreos. Mostly, I've seen comments along the lines that if the the reply-er ate donuts for breakfast they'd be starving by lunch too, or that eating some veggies might help with satiation - mild, and honest but clear stuff.
I don't get the coyness or shame. (Personally, I don't think OP here is being super coy, either, BTW.)
People get better advice when they open up, and have some resilience to others' opinions. 🤷♀️
Oooh you mentioned Oreos. I love Oreos. 😆
I don't. Dark brown fiberboard circles with denatured dollar store toothpaste in between. You can 100% have my share, and welcome to 'em. 🤣
People do get passionate about their Oreos, though! 😉8 -
I don't. Dark brown fiberboard circles with denatured dollar store toothpaste in between. You can 100% have my share, and welcome to 'em. 🤣
People do get passionate about their Oreos, though! 😉[/quote]
Oh my goodness, yes!!! I have never understood the passionate love for Oreos!
4 -
-
Go_Deskercise wrote: »
YES!!! Oreos are my crack and when I have them in my house, my willpower game needs to be ON POINT!3 -
If you're NOT 200lbs and over, then 2lbs may be too aggressive. 1% of your bodyweight a week is much more optimal.bethanyjxx wrote: »So OP a couple of very simple questions without you having to open your diary.
1) do you weigh everything, or use measuring cups? And by everything, we mean everything. If you take a couple of slices of bread, do you weigh them? Do you weigh packaged food? Or just go by what's stated on the packet. You said you measure milk and butter, that's good. Again, do you weigh these or cups/spoons?
2) what sort of calories from exercise do you get each day, and what exercises are you doing, for how long? How are you working out the calories?
3) are you eating all those exercise calories?
4) whats your deficit set to?
1. i use weighing scales - i don't tend to weigh things like bread, but if i was to eat anything out of a packet it'd be weighed (i even weigh minor minor minor things like broccoli and lettuce, which barely take up my calories). i do weigh as much as possible.
2. i tend to walk an average of 10k steps a day (some days its a little less, some days its a lot more, it really depends) and then i have a 1 hour weight session comprising of legs (glute dominant days and quad dominant days), push days and pull days. usually i go the gym 4 times a week, but sometimes more/less depending on how busy i am. never less than 3 though.
3. i don't eat back exercise calories, and have only went over my calories (by roughly 200) on a handful of days
4. my setting is set to lose 2 pounds a week, which gives me a deficit of 1410.
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
4 -
Don't TRY TO FIGURE OUT the math your body knows. If you eat too little, your METABOLIC RATE DROPS. That means you burn LESS CALORIES at rest. And at rest is when you burn the most stored fat calories overall.bethanyjxx wrote: »Dogmom1978 wrote: »At 5’7” and 156 lbs, 2 lbs a week is NOT AT ALL REALISTIC.
.5 lbs - 1 lb tops is what you should be set at. Eating fewer calories is NOT the answer since you already don’t eat exercise calories back.
Since your diary is private, I can’t say for sure, but maybe you are greatly overestimating your calories burned during said exercise. Or double dipping. For example, if you have your settings at active and then you add in exercise, you are telling MFP that you are burning twice as many calories as you really are.
I set mine to sedentary (desk job) and then add my exercise calories in separately to avoid double dipping.
No, I do the exact same, I am almost certain I set mine as sedentary (do you know if there is a way I can double check this?). I am not really completely aiming to lose 2 lbs but .5 lbs gave me a large calorie goal which I knew I could eat under and be satiated so that's why I lowered it further
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 4 -
Don't TRY TO FIGURE OUT the math your body knows. If you eat too little, your METABOLIC RATE DROPS. That means you burn LESS CALORIES at rest. And at rest is when you burn the most stored fat calories overall.bethanyjxx wrote: »Dogmom1978 wrote: »At 5’7” and 156 lbs, 2 lbs a week is NOT AT ALL REALISTIC.
.5 lbs - 1 lb tops is what you should be set at. Eating fewer calories is NOT the answer since you already don’t eat exercise calories back.
Since your diary is private, I can’t say for sure, but maybe you are greatly overestimating your calories burned during said exercise. Or double dipping. For example, if you have your settings at active and then you add in exercise, you are telling MFP that you are burning twice as many calories as you really are.
I set mine to sedentary (desk job) and then add my exercise calories in separately to avoid double dipping.
No, I do the exact same, I am almost certain I set mine as sedentary (do you know if there is a way I can double check this?). I am not really completely aiming to lose 2 lbs but .5 lbs gave me a large calorie goal which I knew I could eat under and be satiated so that's why I lowered it further
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
The bolded happens even if you lose weigh slowly or quickly.5 -
Dogmom1978 wrote: »Another thought I had, have you updated your goal recently? As you lose weight, MFP does not auto calculate a new calorie goal for you.
I was thinking the same thing. If you lost weight initially, it's possible that you're still eating the same calories as before, but it's no longer (much of) a deficit. That, combined with a few days of eating a little more, may well be cancelling out the calories burned from exercise, particularly if your activity level is set to active.
Also, reading through this thread, there may be confusion over who is saying what. The OP is @bethanyjxx and, although I may have missed it, I haven't seen anyone ask her to open her diary and nor have I seen anything where she's refused - that's someone else.
@bethanyjxx go to Goals - View Guided setup (on the website).
Is the Current Weight field showing your current weight?
In the section that asks about your normal daily activities, what do you have selected?
At the bottom where it asks 'What is your goal?', what do you have selected as a rate of loss target?
Click 'Update Profile. How many calories does it allocate a day?
So that people can really try to help, what is your age, height and current weight?
We all think we're logging accurately. If we're not, we usually don't know that it's wrong (and many of us have done that at some point!). If a more experienced person looks at your diary, they may see something that you haven't noticed. If you'd like someone to take a look, go to My Home - Settings - Diary Settings and change it to Public (down the bottom). You can change it back once you've had feedback.
I second a suggestion above to eat and work out as you have been, track everything and see what happens at the end of 6 weeks. Compare your weight, at that time, with your weight today (or tomorrow morning) - and work out at what rate you've actually been losing. From that, you'll know whether you're at a deficit or not and, if so, how much of a deficit you are in. 250 cals = 0.5lb a week.
1 -
True. I was trying to emphasize to the OP that their deficit is too big and that they are compounding the issue.psychod787 wrote: »
Don't TRY TO FIGURE OUT the math your body knows. If you eat too little, your METABOLIC RATE DROPS. That means you burn LESS CALORIES at rest. And at rest is when you burn the most stored fat calories overall.bethanyjxx wrote: »Dogmom1978 wrote: »At 5’7” and 156 lbs, 2 lbs a week is NOT AT ALL REALISTIC.
.5 lbs - 1 lb tops is what you should be set at. Eating fewer calories is NOT the answer since you already don’t eat exercise calories back.
Since your diary is private, I can’t say for sure, but maybe you are greatly overestimating your calories burned during said exercise. Or double dipping. For example, if you have your settings at active and then you add in exercise, you are telling MFP that you are burning twice as many calories as you really are.
I set mine to sedentary (desk job) and then add my exercise calories in separately to avoid double dipping.
No, I do the exact same, I am almost certain I set mine as sedentary (do you know if there is a way I can double check this?). I am not really completely aiming to lose 2 lbs but .5 lbs gave me a large calorie goal which I knew I could eat under and be satiated so that's why I lowered it further
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
The bolded happens even if you lose weigh slowly or quickly.
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
3
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