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?

[LesleyJ]

I know it sounds counterintuitive, but sometimes you need to eat more.  Too much of a calorie deficit and your body goes into starvation mode and holds on to the pounds. What's been working for me (I am the queen of stalled weight loss) recently, is to eat a bit more healthy food on a daily basis and have one day a week where I just drink 3 or 4 Premier Protein drinks (I get them from Costco). That seems to do the trick - although I keep waiting for the loooooong plateau. I'm not losing fast, but it has been a steady 1 to 2 pounds a week. Good luck to you. I know how hard it is and feel your pain.

[anrento]

Use MFP>>>>myfitnesspal. It will tell you that you are not eatting eough.

[mike824]

I second the MyFitnessPal app .. It's not abut counting calories on the back of the package all the other stuff in the bag count too. It's not the 700 calories big mac that's going to kill you its the 2000 mg. of sodium your not counting that will. MFP tracks everything and gives you a idea of how much you should consume in a day. It works for me.. I'm personally down 40 lbs in 6 months (208 to 168)   ..My daughter is down 55 lbs in the same time period. Give it a try you have nothing to lose but weight.

[anrento]

It is working for me. MFP I track everything

[levans147]

agree with this, you have to push your heart rate into the 100's to get into fat burning mode. Obviously you will be burning calories walking anyway, but by increasing your heart rate you ensure you are burning stored fat and raising your metabolism following the walk. If you have a fitbit HR its great keeping track of your heart rate and know whether you need to push yourself a bit harder.

Good luck 🙂

[mike824]

I have the Charge HR and it's great but when I'm at the gym it never shows the same as the built-in one on the equipment. Example the elliptical may say 170 and my HR shows 136 not sure which to believe .. Checking the chart after I'm done there is never a reading that high at all.

[Heybales]

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@mike824 wrote:

I have the Charge HR and it's great but when I'm at the gym it never shows the same as the built-in one on the equipment. Example the elliptical may say 170 and my HR shows 136 not sure which to believe .. Checking the chart after I'm done there is never a reading that high at all.

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If you have 2 hands on the built in one - it's likely more accurate using EKG accuracy level looking at electrical impulses in your body.

So your calorie burn per Fitbit is badly underestimated for that big difference.

Then again, the elliptical isn't basing calorie burn on HR since that's optional, but on it's own formula's - and there are no good formula's for elliptical and calorie burn, because there are too many variables of the machine and the way it's done.

I'd suggest try to get the Fitbit HR reading correctly - many tips in that device section in the community to try.

[macdosl]

I have been using a Fitbit Zip for the past week and a half.  I set my goal to -1000 a day to lose 2 pounds per week and my steps to 15,000.  My weekly report came in today and it states:  Total Steps 102,583;  Caleries Burned 16,332;  Caleries eaten 7702.  My interpretation of this is that I am in deficit of 8630 so I should have lost 2.5 pounds.  Instead I gained 0.8 pounds.  I drink water by the gallon, weigh/measure all food and log it all.  I eat nothing after supper.  After supper I look to see how many caleries I ate for the day and how many I burned for the day.  If I ate example, 1200 caleries then I know I have to have burned 1200+1000=2200 caleries in order to be in deficit by 1000.  Something is not working right???!!!!  I have 30 pounds to lose so it is not like I am down to my last 10.

[anrento]

Your body needs at least 1200 calories to function or it will go into starvation mode. Use Myfitnesspal to tract food and it will tell you that you are in starvation mode. 

[Baseball_Nut]

Hi.  I'm thinking you might be taking too much of a cut and therefore stalled your weight loss.  I personally dropped 100 pounds in a year and then I stalled out, completely stalled, for 3 years.  I kept eating 1200 calories a day, working out at the gym, and very active in my daily life and didn't lose anything.  I got the fitbit and saw how much I'm truly burning in a day (upwards of 3,000 plus).  I also researched the Eat More 2 Weigh Less program and it's like a HUGE spotlight pointing at what I was doing wrong.  

[CaptPugwash]

Hi Samantha, greetings.   Like many other Fitbit users I am convinced that the calorie burn calcualtions are on the excessive side especially when not actually exercising. Both the step count and calories are being somewhat over calculated.  My goal is to set my own calorie intake in the 1700-2000 (235lb male) calories per day for at least 5 days per week. Must admit that I have blown out the intake approximately twice per week. Despite the blow out still very happy with the overall result.  28 lbs loss in 7 weeks.  Another 37 lbs to go.

[CaptPugwash]

Hi Samantha, greetings.   Like many other Fitbit users I am convinced that the calorie burn calcualtions are on the excessive side especially when not actually exercising. Both the step count and calories are being somewhat over calculated.  My goal is to set my own calorie intake in the 1700-2000 (235lb male) calories per day for at least 5 days per week. Must admit that I have blown out the intake approximately twice per week. Despite the blow out still very happy with the overall result.  28 lbs loss in 7 weeks.  Another 37 lbs to go. Keep going and look for the right balance that works for you.

[Heybales]

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@macdosl wrote:

I have been using a Fitbit Zip for the past week and a half.  I set my goal to -1000 a day to lose 2 pounds per week and my steps to 15,000.  My weekly report came in today and it states:  Total Steps 102,583;  Caleries Burned 16,332;  Caleries eaten 7702.  My interpretation of this is that I am in deficit of 8630 so I should have lost 2.5 pounds.  Instead I gained 0.8 pounds.  I drink water by the gallon, weigh/measure all food and log it all.  I eat nothing after supper.  After supper I look to see how many caleries I ate for the day and how many I burned for the day.  If I ate example, 1200 caleries then I know I have to have burned 1200+1000=2200 caleries in order to be in deficit by 1000.  Something is not working right???!!!!  I have 30 pounds to lose so it is not like I am down to my last 10.

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Yikes!

You ate 1/2 of what your body would have liked based on what you burned.

I would hope that doesn't even sound like a good idea.

And guess what, you can make that 30 lb just as stressful on your body as people end up making the last 10 lbs. People that have problems with last 10 have reached that point and have an abused unhealthy body usually, which isn't going to cooperate on losing anymore weight.

But you can stress it out with 30 lbs to go too, just as much.

Reasonable weight loss for you with only 30, is 1 lb weekly.

You didn't gain it fast, likely not even that fast, don't attempt to lose it fast.

You gained water weight probably from starting exercise, and most likely because you have increased the stress hormone cortisol, which causes water retention - upwards of 20 lbs.

You can mask any fat loss for 10 weeks doing this routine - will that stress you out more?

Suggest you lighten up on the deficit to something realistic, your body may even respond to that stress worse than average healthy body would.

1200 is the recommended bare minimum merely to get all nutrients in for average sedentary gal.

Are you sedentary?

Do you want to be average, or get minimum results?

Eat more than 1200.

[Jon_P]

Not a doctor here so take with a grain of salt (or don't - Salt's bad for you...)

A colorie is a unit of heat measure.  It really isn't the whole story.  We all need all elements of diet; the 4 macro-nutrients:

• Water
• Fat
• Protien
• Carbs

We also need micro-nutrients.  Most of us don't get enough of those given the food choices we make.  You will want to focus more on just counting calories and make sure you get those calories from nutrient rich foods e.g. spinach or kale is better than iceberg lettuce. Most of us are overweight because we have eaten foods that are calorie-dense and we are surrounded by poor food choices.  I sometimes feel like it is an all-out attack. You end up reaching a calorie quota quickly but are still hungry.

The biggest factor for me was really taking hold and realizing what I just mentioned and making an effort to put more good foods in my diet so I do things like eat a large spinach salad first, drink more water, add nutrient rich foods to recipies and severely limit or eliminate the junk. (Thinks that are processed, bleached, filled with high fructose corn syrup, MSG, saturated fat, etc.)  It has made a real difference.

[Liz_J]

Lots of advice. Basically energy in vs energy out. Clean eating. Cut out sugar and that includes fruit for a few weeks. Limit white carbs. Walking won't cut it in the long term. High intensity for a minute then walk. Repeat.

[kk6pd]

My trick for drinking water is get a 20 oz tumbler, fill with 14 oz of water & Ice, add 4 or 5 oz of OJ, It's watery, yes, but thats the point 44 cals, almost 14 oz H2O per glass, and tastes great! I down 4 or 5 dailey. The water dilutes the acid in the juice, my stomach has no problems.

Plus I get most of my water.....

There's only so many times a day I want to pee......

[mdhomesale]

Different things work for different people.  I lost 30 pounds about 5 years ago.  I found having calcium first thing in the day was important. to that success  (yogurt, something).  I also bought a food scale because meat portions were impossible to track otherwise.  Keeping my system moving food along was important too.  I did this by having oatmeal every day.  Combined with having applesauce at some point every day.....made things more like clockwork. Also, I measured everything!  I found most of my calories were coming from condiments like salad dressing, mayonnaise, sauces, etc.  It's a pain to read all those labels and measure all those teaspoons and tablespoons, but it made the difference for me.

You seem very determined and that is the most important ingredient 🙂  Best of luck!

[rgbgeorgia]

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@fatjail wrote:

I am 47, I've lost weight in a variety of ways over the last 30 years. Losing weight at my age is not easy, it is flat frustrting. I started walking an extra mile or two a day and watching what I ate in April. I did the math, I technically should have been losing weight - but the scale? Oh no, the scale just went UP, and UP, and UP. I wanted to scream - I mean 6 pounds up.This is the part of the story where I woudl usually say, "I would be better off if I didn't even try." Ok - I said that a few times, but .... then I said "I don't care if I lose weight, I am going to be one fit fat woman."

Then one day - I was down 11 pounds (5 from where I started). Yes, in one day.

I am keeping at it - sometiems the scale bounces up a bit, but I know it isn't because "real weight".

To keep from getting discouraged, I take my waist and hip measurements as an alternative way to keep track of my progress.

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"Then one day - I was down 11 pounds (5 from where I started). Yes, in one day." 

n the weight lifting community they call this the "whoosh effect" and it is the dreaded water retention we all been talking about.  I am 52 year old four year post menopausal woman and water retention is the bane of my life.  I drop to low point then creep up 2-5 pounds and then HOLD and HOLD and then "whoosh" I drop down all I was holding plus 2-3 pounds more below original low amount and it starts all over again.  You just got to keep eliminating sneaky sodium and drink water until you think you will explose.  There are also some herbal "water pills" that can help but you have to drink like a gallon of water a day for them to help.  If your urine is not almost totally clear then probably not getting enough. 

[SunsetRunner]

I've really eenjoyed ready Dr. Sara Gottfried's book. The Restart Diet. That program worked really well in helping me deal with menopausal issues and I lost 25 pounds!

[KaylaMae90]

Have you tried Heart & Hydration by truvision? delicious and healthy.