In a calorie deficit, scale isn't moving

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  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited January 2023
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    autobahn66 wrote: »
    damage_inc74 wrote: »
    Right after Christmas, I started lifting 5X a week (from 3X.)

    I have been in a 500+ calorie deficit or more every day for the last three weeks (I'm taking what my Apple Watch says I'm burning and taking 15% off of that for my burn)

    I weighed 348 lbs the day after Christmas. I weighed in today and the scale hasn't budged.

    What's going on here??

    Have I become confused? Everyone in this thread is acting like there is some long plateau here and that there must be no caloric deficit.

    It hasn't even been three weeks: 18 days since Christmas.

    In my book that is too short a time to see significant changes, particularly given the relatively modest deficit of 500/3500 (compared to TDEE).

    At this deficit, you might see about a pound a week off - so looking at a maximum of 3lbs of actual weight loss: that could totally be masked by other factors. (My daily variability of weight is 2-3lbs at 220lbs)



    That reasoning is not wrong, but it does not take into account that the vast majority of people lose significant amounts of weight in the first few days to the first week of starting a diet, There are several reasons for this, but the fact that the OP does not experience this, does indicate that food intake is too high. For example, when starting a diet, one typically reduces intake, which will lead to a significant weight reduction because less food is coming in, while older, digested food that was taken in during the day or two before the diet started is still being excreted at the old rate.
    Also, unless you have your energy use measured in a room calorimeter, numbers such as TDEE are extremely unreliable, and even if you did (which is highly unlikely) they are still less than reliable. We are not robots made in a factory. We are biological creatures, essentially chemical soups, and we are all very different.

    As for daily variability, yes, that exists. Here is mine, for example:
    pr20rn4ab36h.png
    The highest daily fluctuation (difference between highest and lowest weight on the same day) I had in this graph was 3.5 kg.
  • autobahn66
    autobahn66 Posts: 59 Member
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    BartBVanBockstaele wrote: »
    autobahn66 wrote: »
    damage_inc74 wrote: »
    Right after Christmas, I started lifting 5X a week (from 3X.)

    I have been in a 500+ calorie deficit or more every day for the last three weeks (I'm taking what my Apple Watch says I'm burning and taking 15% off of that for my burn)

    I weighed 348 lbs the day after Christmas. I weighed in today and the scale hasn't budged.

    What's going on here??

    Have I become confused? Everyone in this thread is acting like there is some long plateau here and that there must be no caloric deficit.

    It hasn't even been three weeks: 18 days since Christmas.

    In my book that is too short a time to see significant changes, particularly given the relatively modest deficit of 500/3500 (compared to TDEE).

    At this deficit, you might see about a pound a week off - so looking at a maximum of 3lbs of actual weight loss: that could totally be masked by other factors. (My daily variability of weight is 2-3lbs at 220lbs)



    That reasoning is not wrong, but it does not take into account that the vast majority of people lose significant amounts of weight in the first few days to the first week of starting a diet, There are several reasons for this, but the fact that the OP does not experience this, does indicate that food intake is too high. For example, when starting a diet, one typically reduces intake, which will lead to a significant weight reduction because less food is coming in, while older, digested food that was taken in during the day or two before the diet started is still being excreted at the old rate.
    Also, unless you have your energy use measured in a room calorimeter, numbers such as TDEE are extremely unreliable, and even if you did (which is highly unlikely) they are still less than reliable. We are not robots made in a factory. We are biological creatures, essentially chemical soups, and we are all very different.

    As for daily variability, yes, that exists. Here is mine, for example:
    pr20rn4ab36h.png
    The highest daily fluctuation (difference between highest and lowest weight on the same day) I had in this graph was 3.5 kg.

    Sure.

    A 500 kcal deficit is 85ml of oil. 80g.

    We don't know what the OP did to reduce their calorie intake, but if they were eating at maintainance before then the amount of food intake may be as little as 80g a day less. And maybe they're eating a bunch of veggies now? Lots of bulk.

    Now I know when I eat less fat, I eat more salt, and this holds water. And maybe the OPs holding onto a bit of water due to increasing exercise.

    They also only gave two data points. Who knows what their true weight is?

    I also think it's likely that OP is in a smaller deficit than they think, mainly because they quote their calories burned based on an Apple watch, and are likely over-counting calories burned in exercise. But that's a guess based on pretty minimal information.

    Im saying that most of the advice here is premature, and based on too little information to be useful. It's very easy to say cut calories further now, and obviously that will accelerate weight loss, but we have no sense on how this will actually impact the OP, or how they are managing at even this deficit.

    To the OP:

    I do a 7 and 14 day rolling average of my weight. This is done by weighing every day, at the same time and putting it into an excel sheet, but apps like Libra scale also do something similar.

    This will give you a sense of your weight is stable or falling.

    I would give it another week or two before making further cuts in your calories. You definitely have room to cut further but that depends on how you are feeling and how stable your situation is. My experience is that you can easily burn out by pushing super hard at the start.

    I've been actively managing my weight for 18 months (after many failed attempts). Lost a bunch in the first 6 months. On a 1000kcal deficit, but then maintained for the next year or so. I found 1000kcal deficit tough, and made decent exercise all but impossible. (As a proportion of my daily calories a deficit of 1000 would be about a deficit of 1300 for you, but YMMV)


  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,985 Member
    edited January 2023
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    tomcustombuilder wrote: »
    You aren’t in a deficit.

    Yeah, no weight loss, no deficit, recomp aside, but as a general statement that's probably what's going on, plus considering the average person that is actually tracking their calories studies show they can easily be out 3-400 calories a day, and even dietitians can be off by 200+ a day.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 1,774 Member
    edited January 2023
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    Lol @ 5-7 year deficit plan. Sorry.

    What’s with all these lengthy responses? OP is just taking in too many calories.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,982 Member
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    damage_inc74 wrote: »
    How would you suggest I get my info ? I have a food scale and am keeping track that way. I don’t know how else to track what I burn I know the trackers aren’t 100% accurate. I’ve read to take 15% off what they claim you burn..

    Sometimes trackers include BEE (basal energy expenditure)/BMR (basal metabolic rate) when what you want for MFP is just exercise calories.

    When you put "Strength training (weight lifting, weight training)" in the Cardiovascular section of your exercise diary https://www.myfitnesspal.com/exercise/diary/ how does that compare to what you are given by your Apple watch? If it's much less, use that going forward.

    Note: don't use "Weight training, free weights"
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,403 Member
    edited January 2023
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    I expended over 800 calories yesterday from WALKING. I would have expended more if I had more mass; I am at goal weight and maintaining.

    To be sure, I walked a lot. I had one long walk about four miles, and I also walked to the store and walked out to meet friends later. But it was still 800 calories. That is a 45% increase over my NEAT calorie goal on MFP. I do not find this insignificant. I ate back all my calories, and my scale weight was essentially unchanged. I've been doing this for a while, and the results are similar. I eat over my TDEE and scale goes up. I eat at my TDEE and it stays the same. If I burn more than I eat, it goes down.

    This is the last comment I will make in this discussion so that we can get back to helping @damage_inc74 with the original question asked.
  • Nova
    Nova Posts: 10,004 MFP Staff
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    Some comments were split here for further conversation.
  • cowboygolfer
    cowboygolfer Posts: 1 Member
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    First, I would track everything you eat for a week. You have get a baseline on what you eat so that you can then set a caloric deficit.
    If you use My Fitness Pal, it is easy to enter foods and get nutritional information. Once you have the caloric deficit set, continue to track your foods. No cheating! Get moving outside or at a gym walking on a treadmill for 30-60 minutes a day. You should watch Paul Revelia on YouTube for more
    information. Good luck! You can do this!
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,994 Member
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    autobahn66 wrote: »
    damage_inc74 wrote: »
    Right after Christmas, I started lifting 5X a week (from 3X.)

    I have been in a 500+ calorie deficit or more every day for the last three weeks (I'm taking what my Apple Watch says I'm burning and taking 15% off of that for my burn)

    I weighed 348 lbs the day after Christmas. I weighed in today and the scale hasn't budged.

    What's going on here??

    Have I become confused? Everyone in this thread is acting like there is some long plateau here and that there must be no caloric deficit.

    It hasn't even been three weeks: 18 days since Christmas.

    In my book that is too short a time to see significant changes, particularly given the relatively modest deficit of 500/3500 (compared to TDEE).

    At this deficit, you might see about a pound a week off - so looking at a maximum of 3lbs of actual weight loss: that could totally be masked by other factors. (My daily variability of weight is 2-3lbs at 220lbs)




    Yeah, and it was only 17 days when OP posted. And OP hasn't responded to the question of whether they were tracking calories and whether they were losing at the same calorie level before adding in the two extra days of lifting every week.

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