In a calorie deficit but haven’t lost weight
ohigenbottam
Posts: 4 Member
Hi all,
4 weeks ago I started out at 16st 13lb, I’m a 6ft2 40 year old male.
I started tracking daily calorie and exercise on the MFP App. I lost a fair bit in week one and have lost 2lbs a week since then. But this week, nothing has changed in my diet or exercise plan (that has been working) and I’ve put on 1lb.
I’m not weightlifting at all due to an injury so I’m only doing HIIT sessions on a Watt Bike 3 times per week. Could additional muscle in my legs be compensating fat loss here?
Just seems strange I was on a pretty steady pattern and now it’s changed.
I weigh myself the same time once a week in the morning, post pee, pre water/breakfast.
Any ideas?
4 weeks ago I started out at 16st 13lb, I’m a 6ft2 40 year old male.
I started tracking daily calorie and exercise on the MFP App. I lost a fair bit in week one and have lost 2lbs a week since then. But this week, nothing has changed in my diet or exercise plan (that has been working) and I’ve put on 1lb.
I’m not weightlifting at all due to an injury so I’m only doing HIIT sessions on a Watt Bike 3 times per week. Could additional muscle in my legs be compensating fat loss here?
Just seems strange I was on a pretty steady pattern and now it’s changed.
I weigh myself the same time once a week in the morning, post pee, pre water/breakfast.
Any ideas?
2
Replies
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A bump one week doesn't mean you are off track. It could be a range of things - more water retention, stress, sleep etc. A 1lb rise in one week doesn't change the overall picture. Keep a trend over the weeks and notice the general pattern. That's what is important7
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Weight loss is not linear, better get your head around that 🙂 weight loss is best evaluated over a longer period of time, for example with a weight trending app like Libra of Happyscale.
Muscle gain is highly unlikely after only a few weeks.
It's most likely water retention related:
- your body balancing water weight after a loss of water weight at the beginning.
- water retention from the exercise you're doing (to repair your muscles)4 -
ohigenbottam wrote: »I’m not weightlifting at all due to an injury so I’m only doing HIIT sessions on a Watt Bike 3 times per week. Could additional muscle in my legs be compensating fat loss here?
No that's highly unlikely.
If you were building leg muscle from your cycling (that only normally happens when riding is a novel exercise and is of very limited extent compared to lifting) it can't explain your weight loss stalling.
But remember that weight loss isn't just related to fat, if you are in a genuine calorie deficit you must still be losing fat and most likely explanation you are seeing a variation in water weight. Sore leg muscles if your cycling is a new routine is a possible explanation. You are too early to see a pattern and a week is far too short a duration to make any conclusions.
Two things regarding the Wattbike:
Although it uses a highly accurate power meter it does absolutely bizarre maths with that data and its calorie estimates are badly inflated. Even their own Helpdesk couldn't explain why they don't use the very accurate and well known maths of average watts per hour X 3.6 = a very accurate and net calorie estimate.
But you can do those maths yourself to correct the estimate.
Why HIIT x3 a week? That sounds like a very unbalanced training pattern, HIIT is best used as a condiment and not the main course! What are your training goals from your cycling?5 -
Thanks for your replies. I’ll stick at it.
I’ll use the 3.6 x watts per hour from now on. Thanks for the heads up.
I don’t particularly like or enjoy cardio or even cycling. I much prefer weights/TRX/resistance bands etc. I can’t run or sprint as I’ve had 3 knee ops so I got the Watt bike just so I can exercise during our lockdown. I’m getting in to it a bit more so maybe I’ll start a proper program. I’m doing HIIT just to get more calories for my time0 -
I'm also pretty new to this and have noticed a bit of a pattern where I will have one week good loss (roughly 3lbs) followed by one week of more modest loss (less than 1lb) with no major change in my calories or exercise. It's coming close to balancing out what I'm aiming for, which is 2lbs a week. And this week, I saw a big jump (3lbs) before it all came off again and a bit more by today.
It seems that for me the big things that affect me is how much salt I eat. My weight is always more disappointing after the weekend, and most of my loss comes during the week. I put that down to the fact that although I stay within my 1750 cal average across the week, I have more at weekends and less during the week, and the food I eat at weekends is more likely to be salty. And last weekend in particular I had a LOT of salt (takeaways, butter popcorn etc) - so I assume my body responded by holding on to water and my weight went up. But by today, that seems to be all gone (plus some).
So I wouldn't worry too much about short term fluctuations. I certainly did at the start, but it's getting easier to just rationalise it and assume that if the numbers don't look right for one day or one week, but I'm doing everything right, that it will correct itself in due course.1 -
ohigenbottam wrote: »Thanks for your replies. I’ll stick at it.
I’ll use the 3.6 x watts per hour from now on. Thanks for the heads up.
I don’t particularly like or enjoy cardio or even cycling. I much prefer weights/TRX/resistance bands etc. I can’t run or sprint as I’ve had 3 knee ops so I got the Watt bike just so I can exercise during our lockdown. I’m getting in to it a bit more so maybe I’ll start a proper program. I’m doing HIIT just to get more calories for my time
HIIT is actually mostly a moderate calorie burn rate, the recovery intervals bring down the average to equal what wouldn't be a very taxing steady state ride. e.g. 150w average from a tough and fatiguing HIIT session would be an easy steady state ride for me which induced no fatigue and, if interested in burning calories, I could do it lot longer.
The workouts on the Wattbike Hub app are very well designed by the way, worth having a look through. Having a structure to follow keeps the brain ticking over and a lot less dull than just ploughing away on the bike.2 -
Yes I’m following the workouts on the Watt Bike hub. I have the Nucleus so easy to follow on the screen. I can’t just get on it and plough away!! So boring!!0
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ohigenbottam wrote: »Yes I’m following the workouts on the Watt Bike hub. I have the Nucleus so easy to follow on the screen. I can’t just get on it and plough away!! So boring!!
They why do it? Do something you enjoy doing.
Look, I didn't try to sound snarky, but wanting to lose weight doesn't mean you need to feel miserable. Thus if you want to do something then chose an activity that you like. If not then don't. Losing weight is all about creating a calorie deficit, and the easiest way is to eat less. Actually, if you enjoy strength training: Do it! It also prevents muscle loss while you lose weight.3 -
I'm going to switch out of bike/athletic mode and address weight loss.
Some quick and rough math (double check would be wise) says you started in the low obese category and after a more than 10lb loss in 4 weeks are in the overweight category. It also sounds as if you're fairly athletic with a fair chance you have more muscle mass than your average cat, which may be putting your eventual goal closer to the upper than the lower part of the normal weight range for your height.
a) you may want to switch to using a weight trend application to evaluate your general weight level moving forward as opposed to just looking at your specific single scale reading weight in values.
b) your two pound a week rate of loss and currently large deficit may be up for review with the consideration of reducing your caloric deficit to no more than 20% of your total daily energy expenditure now that you're no longer carrying energy reserves commensurate to being classified in the low obese category3 -
They why do it? Do something you enjoy doing.
Look, I didn't try to sound snarky, but wanting to lose weight doesn't mean you need to feel miserable. Thus if you want to do something then chose an activity that you like. If not then don't. Losing weight is all about creating a calorie deficit, and the easiest way is to eat less. Actually, if you enjoy strength training: Do it! It also prevents muscle loss while you lose weight.
I’m pretty limited at the moment. I have a torn bicep tendon (awaiting op soon) and I’ve had 3 knee ops on my right knee and 2 on my left. Also in full lockdown here so can’t get to a gym. So I’m stuck with walking, cycling and core work
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ohigenbottam wrote: »
They why do it? Do something you enjoy doing.
Look, I didn't try to sound snarky, but wanting to lose weight doesn't mean you need to feel miserable. Thus if you want to do something then chose an activity that you like. If not then don't. Losing weight is all about creating a calorie deficit, and the easiest way is to eat less. Actually, if you enjoy strength training: Do it! It also prevents muscle loss while you lose weight.
I’m pretty limited at the moment. I have a torn bicep tendon (awaiting op soon) and I’ve had 3 knee ops on my right knee and 2 on my left. Also in full lockdown here so can’t get to a gym. So I’m stuck with walking, cycling and core work
Oh I'm sorry! I'm sure you mentioned your biceps but I read past it. I hope you get better soon.
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