Help me figure out my TDEE? Not losing weight and i think my Apple Watch is totally wrong

Losingthedamnweight
Losingthedamnweight Posts: 536 Member
edited November 30 in Health and Weight Loss
The past couple weeks I’ve logged my calories to a T. I’ve weighed out each and every thing i put in my mouth. I haven’t drank anything with calories. I haven’t had any snacks. Everything is going straight into loseit.

Despite being at a good sized calorie deficit the past couple weeks, i haven’t lost any weight and it’s getting demoralizing. I was shooting for a 1,000 calorie deficit and 2lbs lost a week but that just isn’t happening. I was partially going off my Apple Watch TDEE estimation and figuring “light activity” but i think even that may be too much and i may be sedentary.

Here’s my stats. I’m 40 years old at 253 lbs male at 5’8. My work week is pretty chill. I don’t do any extra exercise i just go to work pretty much and come home. I’m a security officer that works nights and i don’t really have to walk around hardly at all. I get out of my office and check people in and out and other than that, i do inventory for an hour and a half and thats it. And inventory is just driving around in the site truck for an hour and a half.

I do that for 8 hours a day and then come home and sleep. I’m home being a sloth until dinner then i cook and get ready for work and do it all again.

My Apple Watch says everyday this week I’ve burned 3000 calories. A couple days even 3100. That seems a bit much for what i do. I feel like THAT activity level would be moderate or something but idk. My loseit says at light activity i would eat about 1900 and sedentary 1500. How many calories should i be eating?
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Replies

  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    You've been logging your calories consumed and you haven't lost any weight for at least two weeks. Eat less than you have been. Try 500 calories less per day than your average intake over the past two weeks.
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,867 Member
    You're over-complicating it, OP. Calculators, watches, guessing what "activity level" you are based on the arbitrary definitions of this or that site, is all just estimates to get you a starting point.

    If you haven't started doing a lot of exercise (which might cause some water retention), and you've been tracking your input calories perfectly (including all sauces, drinks, good estimates of portion sizes, etc.?), then your input calories plus weight change informs your TDEE. If you've been consuming X calories and your weight stays the same, then X is your TDEE.

    As another data point, this calculator estimates 2,438 for your TDEE as sedentary.

    https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,596 Member
    With apologies for coloring outside the lines of OP's post somewhat, I wouldn't trust the weekly average weight change in less than 4-6 weeks on a new routine, since a change in eating style or exercise can change typical water retention in crazy ways for up to the first couple of weeks.

    I'd go with 4-6 weeks minimum before adjusting, personally . . . whole menstrual cycles for women who have those (that's the part I know doesn't apply to you, @Losingthedamnweight - sorry, but I know sometimes others read replies here).

    For sure, I endorse using one's own experiential data once there's enough of it to get reasonable averages. I'm just quibbling about what's an adequate amount of data.

    Calculators and even fitness trackers are just starting estimates. They'll be close for a lot of people, because they're based on population averages, and by definition many people are close to average.

    A few people can be noticeably far off average, high or low . . . and a rare few surprisingly far off. That's also just how statistics work generally. Calorie needs are a normal distribution, IMU. Loosely speaking, normal distributions are bell curves with a big hump in the middle (lots of instances) and smaller amounts (fewer instances) as you get to either end of the curve. How wide the spread is will depend on the standard deviation, but the concept is still the same: Lots near the average, few as you get further from average.

    Personally, MFP and my good brand/model fitness tracker - one that's quite accurate for some others here who've said they use it - are off by 25-30% compared to 9+ years of MFP logging experience plus my weight changes during loss and maintenance. It's rare to be that far off, but it can happen, and the reasons aren't always obvious.

    You're using LoseIt to log, not MFP. I doubt that makes any difference in these generalities, but I don't know for sure. I only use MFP.
  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 3,797 Member
    edited December 1
    I agree with all above.
    Your calorie target is based on YOU, your body, not the average. But if you're used to 3000 calories a day, going to 2000 a day may cause knawing-your-arm-off snapping-at-the-mailman hunger. Maybe try cutting to 2500 for a few days. Then decide the next step.
    Hints.
    Protein is satiating to most people. As you cut calories it may be helpful to add a little protein.
    Instead of thinking about what you can't eat, add low calorie foods you like.
    A small bowl of soup or salad before your meal may blunt the hunger pains enough that you can make wise choices.
    Sugar just makes you hungry 20-30 minutes later.
    It's a roll-with-the-punches game, not black and white.
    Any calorie deficiency will cause weight loss.
    Weight loss won't be a straight line. Mine has been a roller coaster.
    Exercise won't matter much directly in weight loss, but indirectly, it can be a game changer. I highly recommend starting with a 15 minute walk daily. You may start breathing easier, sleeping better, having a better overall attitude, drinking more water, having a clearer mind. I did.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,247 Member
    edited December 1
    Apps suggestions for calories is a starting point only. Couple that with inaccurate weekly calorie counting and tracking and you have a recipe for being way off.

    No loss in 4 weeks means you’re eating at maintenance and need to drop weekly calories. At your stats you can run a big deficit of 750-1,000 per day. Start at 500 and work your way to the higher numbers. Lower deficits are fine it just depends on how fast you want to lose. You’ll normally shoot for a 1-2 lb per week loss.

    Make an attempt to get some exercise in even if it’s just on the weekends. While it isn’t really going to be a game changer fatloss wise, it’s amazing for getting more in touch with your body.
  • ddsb1111
    ddsb1111 Posts: 885 Member
    If you’ve been weighing and logging perfectly and haven’t lost anything in weeks, there’s a silver lining… you likely found your personal TDEE. This is usually the first advice we give to someone when getting started. Now that you have that, I’d choose your calorie deficit, continue to track accurately and consistently, and watch the trend for the next 4 weeks. Then, adjust and repeat, until you’re dialed in.

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