1000 calorie deficit, still not losing weight

[shurst05]

I've been logging my food meticulously, getting 10K - 15K steps per day, tracking sleep, and adhering to a 1000 calorie per day deficit.  My weight is yo-yoing back and forth by about 4 pounds.  Two weeks into this, I am currently at my starting weight.  Calories are coming from proteins, fruits, veggies, and lean meats.  I have no known health issues...thyroid function is normal. 

This is so frustrating.  A friend is doing weight watchers, eating way more food than I am, and she has lost 10 pounds in two weeks.  Is the fitbit's process of tracking your calorie burn truly accurate?

[Adevlin93]

I recommend using an app called MyFitnessPal. It has a vast food database, including several restaurants. It also gives you a slightly bigger budget to work with, then what FitBit does. You can also see how much sugar, fat, etc. you've consumed in one day and if you've met the recommended goal or have gone over. It connects with your tracker to adjust your calories based on your activity. It's a very useful tool and even has a barcode scanner. 

Good luck in your journey!

[Liz_J]

I understand your frustration. I've always found counting calories too tedious. I used to count fat grams and aim for 20-25. That way some foods are free of fat and you can keep track easily. Sometimes sticking to the same menu helps. Ie: I always have muesli and all bran for breakfast, tuna for lunch at work, dinner of meat and veg. I cut out potato and rice. Meat has to be no bigger than a pack of cards. No snacking unless it's fruit. Sometimes you can have too little calories. You MUST have breakfast.
As for the steps. I do between 10000 and 14000 a day but some HAS to be HIGH INTENSITY. I see people walk around my area that are simply strolling. You have to walk a bit at a power walk and at night time I run part way nd gradually build up another block or so. After 8 weeks I started noticing weight around my middle going. Takes a while depending on how much you have to lose. Etc.

[idahopacker]

How is your sodium and water intake?  I've had yo-yoing issues when I drink or eat too much sodium or don't drink the recommended amount of water each day.

[shurst05]

Sodium intake is well within range, as I have been eating mostly fresh fruits and veggies. I'm struggling to down 32 oz of water a day. I was used to diet sodas, and although I don't miss them, I have to force myself to drink the water. Think if I up my water and lower the sodium it will help?

Sent from my iPhone

[idahopacker]

---

Sometimes you can have too little calories. You MUST have breakfast.

Great advice!

[idahopacker · Accepted solution]

Water is a tough one for many people.  Try flavoring your water. Some like fresh fruits (lemons, strawberries...) but my favorites are Kool-Aid liquids. They have zero calories, sodium and sugar.  There are a lot of artificial flavor drink products available and I'm sure you can find something out there that will help you drink more.

[Liz_J]

Hmm
Water is a must but I don't touch soft drink. I actually don't like them. Stay away from diet coke etc. they only made me bloated. Try lemon in hot water before breakfast. Some people have sluggish systems too. Metamucil at night is good for emptying out. After a week you have a flatter tummy.

[MelissaBoyd2909]

Water is a must and you need to drink half your body weight in ounces (200 lb person drink 100 ounces  water). I know that sounds like a lot but I went from drinking 5 20 oz cokes a day to drinking 5 liters of water a day within 2 weeks. I have tried for 15 years to unsuccessfully get off soda. I purchased a SodaStream machine so I could fizz my water. All I use it for is to fizz the water and then I add fresh or frozen fruits such as berries, mango, cucumbers, lemon and lime or a mix of them. I started by allowing myself 8 oz. soda after drinking 1 liter of water. Like I said, within 2 weeks I didn't even want soda. The lemon/lime helps alkalize the body and you don't get the caffeine/sugar headaches as bad.

[shurst05]

I'm up to 64 oz of water a day, haven't had soda or anything but skim milk in three weeks. I'm finally down five lbs, it just feels like the weight should be coming off faster. Do you feel that the calories burned part of the Fitbit product is correct?

Samantha Hurst
4th Grade Teacher

[Snowflakepdx]

You could be eating too few calories and my need to focus on building muscle mass before losing fat.  You have a good start and remarkable self control to limit your food intake so you can congratulate yourself.  You have every advantage for being really successful and your 5 pound weight loss is a great start...that is nearly a full clothing size.    Find a role model and see what they do to stay active and maintain their weight.  Then evaluate your exercise intensity.  

Nobody asked about alchohol consumption.  It is hard to lose weight consitently with any amount of alchohol. 

[MelissaBoyd2909]

That's great you are down 5 lbs! And you are upping your water. Good for you!

[Heybales]

---

@MelissaBoyd2909 wrote:

That's great you are down 5 lbs! And you are upping your water. Good for you!

As for your question re: the calories burned reading on the FB...I think it gives too many calories burned.

I had my metabolism tested last year and one of the things we learned is that my metabolism is super slow. I only burn 1300 calories at most while at total rest and during exercise I was only burning half of what the drs. said I should be for that intensity level. My FB always shows I burn 2000-2300 per day no matter if I have worked out or not. I eat 1500 per day on averaage so I should be losing weight and I am either gaining or maintaining weight. I eat only fresh fruits, veg and protein. I do not eat grains (other than oatmeal occasionally), sugar, dairy, wheat, soy, preservatives etc. Nothing comes from a package.

---

That is exactly the effect you can get by taking to great a deficit, or yo-yo dieting many years, each time losing more muscle mass.

Fitbit is assuming with BMR calc that you have average ratio of fat to non-fat mass as others your age, weight, height - but if you've burn muscle mass off, you can be left with lower metobalism.

But beyond that, you can also suppress it below what it could be. And you can recover it at least. But it makes the case for taking a reasonable deficit in the first place. Drastic diets cause drastic effects.

The bad news:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i_cmltmQ6A

The good news:

 http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004377

Participants had to be between BMI 25-30, overweight category, but healthy otherwise. They were excluded if they smoked, exercised more than twice a week, were pregnant, lactating or post-menopausal, had a history of obesity (BMI>32), diabetes, cardiovascular disease, eating disorders, psychological disorders, substance abuse or regularly used medications except for birth control. So that may have a bearing in comparison.

Diet was 55 / 15 / 30 for C / P / F. 

CR (Calorie Restriction) was 25% deficit from TDEE, so not massive.

CR + EX (EXercise) was 12.5% deficit plus 12.5% calories burned in cardio exercise 5 x week, each session being 403-569 calories for 45-53 min (women and men difference).

LCD (Low Calorie Diet) was 890 cal/day until 15% of weight was loss, then back to maintenance calories by month 3, whatever it was then. That's a tad massive

DEXA scans for body composition of LBM (Fat Free Mass (FFM)) and Fat Mass (FM). Sedentary TDEE measurements in a metabolic chamber for 23 hrs. SMR (Sleeping Metabolic Rate (BMR)) measured chunk of night no movement.

Several formulas related to measured Sedentary TDEE at baseline based on all available stats, to compare down the road when stats changed.

At 3 month check, sedentary TDEE had dropped by the following amounts, below what the formulas would have indicated for new measured LBM and FM, and SMR. In other words, it lowered the expected amount, and an additional...

CR - 371

CREX - 2

LCD -  496

At 6 month check, there was some recovery to be had, and reminder the LCD was at maintenance this entire time from 3-6 months...

CR - 209

CREX - 129 over expected

LCD -  275

So notice that even after 3 months maintenence level eating, the initial LCD group still had a TDEE 275 below what was expected for their current LBM and FM. Perhaps more time at maintenance it would have recovered?

The CR group slightly recovered, but still 209 lower than expected. 

The CR+EX group actually had an increased TDEE.

Now that was Sedentary TDEE in the lab that was compared.

Daily TDEE with all activity was also compared to their SMR, TDEE/SMR for physical activity rate (PAR).

At month 3, CR and LCD had significant drops in PAR below what would have been expected for their current LBM and FM, by CR 350 and LCD 497, with CR-EX having none. At month 6, CR 215 and LCD 241, so again some recovery.

So the NEAT part of their day decreased as expected because of lower weight, but even more than expected because of less movement, resulting in lowered figures above.

So, that is how much their TDEE dropped along with their lower eating level and weight.

Now imagine during your weight loss, is your TDEE being lower going to help or hinder you for sticking to an eating level? May depend on how little you really want to eat.

They lost in total CR - 8.3, CR-EX - 8.4, LCD - 11.2.

So while the LCD did lose the most (in 3 months too compared to 6), their TDEE had only recovered from 496 to 275 below what it could be, perhaps more recovery was coming. So no wonder the first few months of maintenance could be the hardest, you have the most suppressed metabolism then.

And notice that even the great results of the CR-EX group, still meant 8.4 lbs in 6 months of dieting, with a 25% deficit in essence, 12.5 created by diet, with additional 12.5 by extra exercise. But no loss of TDEE, in fact increase, and mere decent level of cardio.

Other point to keep in mind - no more than 2 x exercise a week was being done prior - so they had a lot of room for improvement. No weight loss prior, so full burning metabolism. And in overweight range, not obese where these effects might not be so bad.

Thought it was interesting info to know. So when you are talking about metabolism slowing down, it's more correctly your TDEE slowing down with all the components of it to some degree, beyond what was going to happen anyway. And recovery to expected levels could be well over 3 months when at maintenance. They reference another study where it took 6 years to.

[Mary · Accepted solution]

---

@shurst05 wrote:
I'm up to 64 oz of water a day, haven't had soda or anything but skim milk in three weeks. I'm finally down five lbs, it just feels like the weight should be coming off faster. Do you feel that the calories burned part of the Fitbit product is correct?

Samantha Hurst
4th Grade Teacher

---

5 lbs is terrific.  Don't compare yourself to others.  Calories burned here was accurate for me over a 35 lbs. loss.  If you've been doing this 2-3 weeks and logging 1000 calorie deficits per day, you should've lost around 5 lbs.  And you did!  

The hard part about 1000 calorie deficits is adherence.  It FEELS like deprivation so you feel robbed if that scale doesn't comply on your schedule.  It might be less stressful to run a shallower deficit or avoid the scale and focus instead on rewards directly within your control-- Log a whole week, get a pedicure.  

Good luck!  

[JoanneY]

I have been frustrated by the slowness of my weight loss, too.  I am regularly close to 1K under on in vs. out.  What I do find is that my body IS getting smaller, so regardless what the scale numbers say, the activity is having desired effect.  

My body fat measurements have been too high, and are slowly going down.  I find the proportion of foods makes a great difference in whether I lose or not.  I am 51, and used to just be able to count calories and all would be great.  Not anymore.  I find it easier, and better for my weight loss, to count carbohydrates, and keep that ratio % lower than that of protein, and even at times, fat.  When I do that right, I lose like crazy.  When I don't, I don't lose much at all.

In the past week I have finally started to get that balance, and I really am seeing great results again, and find that not only am I not hungry between meals, I feel stronger, and able to do more.    Take a look at the balance of what you are eating when you log your food.  (And if you are not logging everything you eat, it would be a good idea to start! Was completely eye opening for me.  I thought I WAS eating lower carb, and I really was not at all!)  

Also, while keeping carbs lower, make sure to drink your water (and then some, if you can), and from those carbs, try to get the fiber up to between 25 and 35 grams a day. Again, this can be difficult at first, and was for me, too.  I found by eating a lot of un-starchy, not sweet vegetables and lower sugar fruits I got there, though.

A week down with the balance in control, and I lost 2.5  pounds total this week.  So far, I have lost about 15 pounds.  Realistically, that may not seem slow to some, but compared with other times I have attempted the weight loss roller coaster, it is for me, so I did my experimentation with the food, and find I am now more in the loss range I kind of expected.

[slysam]

---

@shurst05 wrote:

I've been logging my food meticulously, getting 10K - 15K steps per day, tracking sleep, and adhering to a 1000 calorie per day deficit.  My weight is yo-yoing back and forth by about 4 pounds.  Two weeks into this, I am currently at my starting weight.  Calories are coming from proteins, fruits, veggies, and lean meats.  I have no known health issues...thyroid function is normal. 

This is so frustrating.  A friend is doing weight watchers, eating way more food than I am, and she has lost 10 pounds in two weeks.  Is the fitbit's process of tracking your calorie burn truly accurate?

---

The fluctuation you refer to is likely the retention and release of fluids. This is effected by lots of things including sodium consumption, carb consumption, hormone cycles, dehydration, vigorous exercise, illness, etc. A potential 4 pound fat loss can easily be masked by fluids that can fluctuate 5 pounds or so in either direction. I think you need more time to see whether your program is working--it needs weeks beyond the range of your fluid fluctuations. I find my fitbit one pretty accurate with my calorie burn when I log my non-step exericse from my heart rate monitor, and a little low when I don't log exercise. But this may vary by the person as there are variations in metabolism.

About your friend who eats more and loses faster... Don't compare. People with more fat to lose (regardless of weight) might lose faster as do new dieters. People with more muscle mass (compared to someone with less who weighs the same) will often have faster metabolisms. Hormone balance also effects metabolism as do a lot of other things. And certain types of diets can cause a dramatic early loss mainyl from fluid release (this often happens with low carb diets and also can happen with reducing sodium intake especially if someone goes from lots of processed foods to whole foods/home made foods).  There are a lot of variables. But saying that, it may be that a 2 pound a week loss/1000 calorie deficit is too much for your body. In that case, you might do better with a smaller deficit. Some people do. 

[Liz_J]

Some of your steps need to be at a high intensity. Especially to move fat from the waist and stomach. It is the most resistant. So if you walk you must up the pace for half the walk or do interval training. 2 minutes fast, 2 minutes faster etc. add a little jog for 2 minutes.

Liz

[Liz_J]

You need carbs. Better to count fat. Increase the pace of some of your walks. Lift some weights.
Liz

[Melissa68]

It's all about WATER !! I drink a llittle over a gallon a day..my body is starting to crave it  ( as strange as that sounds ) . I used to be a big soda drinker, Its been just over a month since I had any soda and I don't miss it! That combined with the clean eating program I started almost 2 weeks ago.. I have dropped 17 pounds and 22 inches! I feel great !!

[GrapeJelly]

You lost 17 pounds and 22 inches in two weeks?