Unable to drop weight even after calorie deficit and active lifestyle
Background
Age & Stats: 37 years old, 175 cm, currently weighing 81 kg. Active lifestyle, working out 3-4 times per week.
In early 2020, I took drastic steps to improve my health—quit smoking, reduced alcohol intake, cleaned up my diet, and started working out.
During lockdown, I maintained a calorie deficit by meal prepping and tracking everything in MyFitnessPal, averaging 1,700-1,800 kcal/day.
I walked 14-15k steps daily and worked out 3-4 times per week, leading to rapid weight loss—dropping from 86 kg to 74 kg in less than two months.
Fast Forward to Today
I've stayed consistent with daily walks, increasing my average to 20k steps per day over the past 3-4 years.
My workout intensity has also increased, including Barry's HIIT workouts (burning ~500 kcal per session).
However, I stopped measuring food intake, and over time, my weight crept up from 75 kg in 2020 to 82 kg in 2024, along with noticeable belly fat gain.
Recent Efforts (Last 1.5 Months)
I’ve started tracking food again, aiming for a calorie deficit (~2,000 kcal/day) while maintaining 20k steps minimum and working out 3-4 times per week (HIIT, strength training, or 3-4k runs).
Carb intake is higher than I’d like, and I’m not meal prepping as strictly as before.
Despite burning way more calories than in 2020, my weight and belly fat haven’t budged.
Any tips or suggestions on how to get rid of this belly fat which seems harder to do this time around?
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Replies
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After a month with no loss, you’re not in a weekly calorie deficit8
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It seems that you are, in fact ,not in a calorie deficient. I assumed you were a woman and put in your numbers being. Calculating your tdee with moderate exercise 4x a week. maintenance is calculated at 2282 calories. So if you are eating 2000 calories that may be within the margin of 'we are all different' or you are losing at such a slow rate that it's hard to tell.
The best thing to do is get something to help you log your exercise and log your food accurately. It's not that hard nor does it take that long and you get the benefit of knowing exactly what is going on and how to tweak what you are doing.
If you are truly in a calorie deficiency and haven't lost weight in over a month, then you need to go see a doctor.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/147555-speak-friend-and-enter1 -
My total calories burnt on average is 2800-3500 calories per day (20k steps, and some workouts), tracked on Samsung health with a watch daily for the past 3-4 yesrs
My total calories intake is about 2200-2400 spread across 3 meals and tracked via MyFitnessPal pal for the past month. I occasionally go above with a beer or two. And carb intake is slightly higher than it should be but below my average since I started tracking.
Pretty sure some of this can be attributed to muscle gain as I've observed/been told that my arms/chest look bigger and posture improved.
However the belly fat and overall weight count remain the same and haven't moved much for a few months now0 -
calculating calorie intake and calories burned is all well and good, but the proof is in the actual outcomekushaltandon wrote: »My total calories burnt on average is 2800-3500 calories per day (20k steps, and some workouts), tracked on Samsung health with a watch daily for the past 3-4 yesrs
My total calories intake is about 2200-2400 spread across 3 meals and tracked via MyFitnessPal pal for the past month. I occasionally go above with a beer or two. And carb intake is slightly higher than it should be but below my average since I started tracking.
Pretty sure some of this can be attributed to muscle gain as I've observed/been told that my arms/chest look bigger and posture improved.
However the belly fat and overall weight count remain the same and haven't moved much for a few months now
No weekly calorie deficit.
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How carefully (and honestly) are you tracking and logging?
I see “not as I should be” and other flags sprinkled throughout your original post.
I put on 8 after several years of tight maintenance following a pair of foodie trips to Eastern Europe and one of the ‘Stans. I thought I’d easily be able to drop it within weeks, as I have before.
No dice.
So yet again, I increased activity, thinking that would help.
It wasn’t till I sat down and did a deep dive into my logging that I realized, while my daily was at goal, my weekly average was well above. I was allowing myself a day every week or two to “top up” because I was keeping “such a large deficit”.
It wasn’t til I really looked at the numbers that I realized what I was doing. Essentially a massively huge cheat day every ten days erased my hard earned deficit days.
I, of all people, should know that, since I preach here, talk the talk, regularly. I was really mad at myself
I’ve cracked down on the numbers, have kept them steady, eating a bit
More when I do feel I need it, but avoiding binge days. Finally, the weight is starting to drop back off
We can absolutely convince ourselves we are doing right, when we are doing so, so ineffectively wrong.
Thankfully, I’ve logged every single day for six and half years, so I had the data to fall back on.
Two more upcoming trips. I will not allow myself to “taste it all because I won’t have another chance”.
Besides, half of what I ate in one country wasn’t worth the calories, famed for beautiful, stamped bread, it was the blandest thing I’ve ever tasted, but I kept hoping the next one was better. It wasn’t. I should have figured it out after the first day or two, but, like many french pastries, it was gorgeous, yet tasteless. Our eyes perceive beautiful food as worthy. Bleccch. Not always. I’d have taken a torn corner off a peasant loaf from one place over the beautifully decorated bread of the other in a heartbeat.8 -
Most above agree and I agree as well. I would add that the “not as I used to’s” lead one to believe there is either a problem with actual serving sizes or omission of items in the log. For me (yes I was guilty) it was both. But my main “omission” was alcohol. My nightly cocktails or beers werent logged. It made a huge difference once I did because I had to make choices. So make sure you measure/weigh and the rule of if it goes in the mouth? It goes on the log first. Good Luck! Wishing you success!!0
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kushaltandon wrote: »My total calories burnt on average is 2800-3500 calories per day (20k steps, and some workouts), tracked on Samsung health with a watch daily for the past 3-4 yesrs.
(snip)
On top of the solid advice you've received above, with which I agree:
I hope you realize that what Samsung Health tells you is an estimate, not a measurement. It's a nuanced estimate, but an estimate nonetheless.
If your logging were routinely meticulous, and your adherence to calorie goal consistent, that estimate could still be out of sync with your results.
Believe the results.
I've logged carefully, and usually consistently, since mid-2015, successful loss then maintenance. In late 2018, I started wearing a good brand/model tracker, one that estimates calories well for others who've mentioned it here. I upgraded to a different model a few years later. Both have given me similar estimates for all day calories.
My long term logging/bodyweight results differ from those tracker estimates by about 400-500 calories per day. This big a discrepancy is rare, but it can happen.
Repeat: Believe your results.4 -
What everyone is saying above is spot on. WE determine how many calories we burn on average per day based on the results we are getting. It looks like you've found your maintenance calorie range. Now, it's time to lower into a deficit.1
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Best thing to do is track consistently your meals then calculate your average calorie intake per 7 days of tracking consecutively. Then adjust your calories by 100 - 500 calories. You can get a DEXA scan to know how much muscle mass and fat you have.
I personally don't concern myself with calories burned, just focus on being in a calorie deficit, eat according to your goals, workout, drink enough water, increase your neat energy PLUS track your weight and body measurements, take progress pics.
If you stay within a deficit and stay active but show no signs of progress, then go see your doctor check your thyroid, hormones, and insulin.
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I think you are in a calorie deficit, however calories are not the primary driver of weight. You may want to play with the timing of your meals, to lower insulin sensitivity. Try no snacking, eating 3 meals only, and not eating at night for at least 12-14 hours without adjusting your calories for 2 weeks and see if there is movement in the scale.
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I think you are in a calorie deficit, however calories are not the primary driver of weight.
I'm sorry, this is incorrect. Calories are, without debate, the primary driver of weight and weight loss. Someone in a calorie deficit WILL lose weight. Various factors may prevent them being in a calorie deficit, but the laws of thermodynamics are immutable.
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this is not correct.
you may want to play with timing of meals to see what suits you best re satiety, adherence etc - but timing or non eating windows are not the issue,overall calories in/ out is.
eat one meal a day, eat 20 times a day, eat till midnight, whatever - it is the calories in/ out that matters.
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"Calories are not the primary driver of weight"? I'm another skeptic. Do you have some cites for that?
Here are a couple of random ones for comparison:
"Body weight reflects the chronic balance between energy intake and energy expenditure."
Source:
"Conclusion
Energy intake that exceeds energy expenditure is the main driver of weight gain. The quality of the diet may exert its effect on energy balance through complex hormonal and neurological pathways that influence satiety and possibly through other mechanisms."
Source:
Yes, it's complicated. Nutrition is a separate dimension from calories; nutrition affects calorie expenditure through energy level and more; calories in affects calories out through energy level, too . . . calorie balance is dynamic, not static. And water retention plus digestive contents that will become waste both show up on the bodyweight scale, further confusing matters.
But calories are the foundation when it comes to body fat gain, loss or maintenance. No change in body tissue weight over a period of weeks means a person isn't in a calorie deficit. Why that's true is a different and more complicated question.
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meal timing, meals per day, not eating at night have nothing to do with weight loss.
Weight loss is a product of a consistent weekly calorie deficit over time.
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They believe it's all about insulin. That if you just produced less insulin, you're body wouldn't store excess fat. And that the more insulin they produce, the more fat they store automatically, regardless of how much food they eat. It's mostly bunk, but they like the idea.
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I listened to a podcast, the topic.. how cutting calories for weight loss.. ends with a lower BMR and major muscle loss.
It creates a vicious cycle where regain is almost always likely and the gain is in fat complicating the problem This is why I concentrate on getting I gram of protein for each pound I weigh.. eating clean and not starving myself.
..so I say up your protein and lift heavy weights
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Yeah, of course. I was expecting a Fung-y response - if any - or something similar drawn from one of the other iconoclasts who believe the entire medical profession and diet industry are lying to us about weight loss. 😆
If that were the perspective, nothing I quote from mainstream science will be convincing, because everyone in mainstream science is in on the conspiracy. I was hoping some cites might give pause to people who are on the fence, but still looking for the hack, or the one weird trick, or some other form of the magic secret.
There's no secret, if you ask me. And there's nothing so, so, difficult that we need to pay some influencer/marketer to clue us in on it.
If there's a secret, that's it: No secret. Just personal commitment, effort, patience. Darn it.
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not having a Magic Secret doesn't sell books or get Youtube followers and subscribers.
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