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?

[RonEllington]

I have experianced the same and starting to wonder just how accurate the FB algo really is. I have been dutifully recording every detail of my food and in addition to my 10K steps per day have gotten 30 minutes of cardio in 5 days a week. Per my FB app, I had a total calorie deficiet of 8500 calories last week and almost 9000 calories this week but I am only down .8 of a pound in that two week period! How is this even possible? I am using the Aria scale along with my FB so I also can see that I have lost 2% in body fat percentange which is good but but this is beyond frustrating!

[Bindie]

Melissa68, can you speak about the clean eathing program.  I am interested to know that is especially since it seems to have helped you to drop both pounds and inches in a short period of time.

Thanks.

[Dominique]

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@RonEllington wrote:

I have experianced the same and starting to wonder just how accurate the FB algo really is.

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There is a margin of error in both calories out (calories burned estimated by Fitbit) and calories in (calories eaten estimated by you). Besides, weight loss isn’t always linear. Two weeks is a very short period. If you know you are doing the right things in terms of exercising and nutrition, just keep doing it. You will see results at some point.

Also get Fitbit friends and take part in challenges. It’s great for motivation.

[Dominique]

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@Bindie wrote:

Melissa68, can you speak about the clean eathing program.  I am interested to know that is especially since it seems to have helped you to drop both pounds and inches in a short period of time.

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@Bindie: you are responding to a two-year-old post by @Melissa68:

@It’s a good idea to "page" people when you want to attract their attention, by including their community name with the @ sign, as I just did with you and her.

17 pounds in two weeks may sound very tempting, but it’s not what you should try to do. Whatever weight you want to lose wasn’t gained in two weeks, so you shouldn’t expect to lose it that fast.

[Adam_Temple]

I have never heard of drinking that much water, could you cite where you saw that info.  I would have to drink 120 oz of water because I am 240lbs (almost a gallon).

[Dominique]

@Adam_Temple: whom are you asking your question? Kind of difficult to tell, since this topic was started ages ago and has had many contributors.

While it’s a good idea to drink a sufficient amount of water, there is no need to go extreme with it. Besides, Fitbit sets a water goal for you. I would imagine it is backed by science, takes into account your size and provides a good starting point.

[Adam_Temple]

There was a post that said you need to divide your body weight (in Lbs) by 2 and and that number was the number of water required to consume. For me, I weigh 240lbs and I would need to drink 120oz of water a day. I have never heard that high of a number before

[shipo]

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@Adam_Temple wrote:

There was a post that said you need to divide your body weight (in Lbs) by 2 and and that number was the number of water required to consume. For me, I weigh 240lbs and I would need to drink 120oz of water a day. I have never heard that high of a number before

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While I've never seen that particular recommendation, I would say as a general rule, "once size fits all" rules don't even come close to fitting all.

From my perspective as a 200 pound distance runner, in the winter I need to consume an easy 150 to 200 ounces per run day, and at least 120 ounces on a non-run day.  In the summer the number is way higher; yesterday I had consumed about 250 ounces when I went to bed and still had to get up twice to drink a large 20 ounce tumbler of water each time.

[Dominique]

OK, it was this post by @MelissaBoyd2909 from May 2014 (more than two years ago). 

I have to convert this to metric to make any sense out of it: I’m 64 kg (141 lbs) and I would therefore need to drink 70.5 ounces of water (2.08 liters). It’s not that far away from the goal Fitbit set for me (1.893 liters). OK, that goal was set when I was about 10 kg heavier, but I actually drink between 2.0 and 2.5 liters of water/tea/coffee.

I don’t know whether one can extrapolate it in a linear fashion with higher weights. Obviously, someone twice as heavy as me would need to drink more than me, but is it twice as much?

[Adam_Temple]

Wow I will keep that in mind

Sent from my iPad

[Tnorma1]

So i had heard the same numbers as posted above. I was 250# which meant i would need to drink 124 oz per day. that doesnt happen but i do try to stay over 100. Here is a link that i did find:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256...

"So how much fluid does the average, healthy adult living in a temperate climate need? The Institute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for men is roughly about 13 cups (3 liters) of total beverages a day. The AI for women is about 9 cups (2.2 liters) of total beverages a day."

3 liters is roughly 100 ounces of water, which is almost half my weight as it stands now.

[Kayafit]

Water is so important, soon as I started drinking lots of water it was easier to lose weight !! Also I always had problem with dark scircles under my eyes, now that I'm forcing myself to drink water they are gone !! 

[Kayafit]

That's a lot in two weeks I just want to lose 12 😋

[Kayafit]

Yes very true !! You can eat a lot just what's whatch when you eat your carbs fat etc!! Carbs I don't eat too late that's my killer and everything in moderation 👌🏻You should eat 4 meals  a day . 

[Dominique]

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@Kayafit wrote:

You should eat 4 meals  a day . 

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It doesn’t matter how you split your calories across the day: if you are going to eat 1500 calories and 4 meals best suits your schedule or personal preferences, then fine. But you could just as well split them between 2 larger or 6 smaller meals and it would have exactly the same inmpact.

Same with time of the day when you eat your carbs (or any other macronutrient): 50 grams of carbs eaten at 9pm have exactly the same impact as 50 grams of carbs eaten at 6pm, if everything else is the same. In both cases it’s 200 calories.

[Moazzam]

She is lying!!

To lose a pound of fat you need to create a deficit of 3500 Cals. If she lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks it means she created a deficit of 35,000 or 2500 per day for which I doubt. 

[Dominique]

@Moazzam: this (very) old topic has five pages of discussions. It would help if you could quote the post you’re referring to. Did someone claim she lost 10 pounds of fat in 2 weeks? There’s a difference between fat loss and weight loss. For real fat loss to occur, you indeed need a caloric deficit (the 3500 calories per pound rule is an approximation and has its limitations, but the order of magnitude is likely right, at least at the beginning). Weight loss can happen without a caloric deficit: completely cut carbs from your diet and you will usually see a large drop in weight during the next few days. Most of it will be water, not fat.

[Moazzam]

How do you know you're losing fat apart from getting a reading on fat % scale.

Yes I realized I replied to a 2 years old thread.

Thanks for your response though

Sent from my iPhone

[Dominique]

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@Moazzam wrote:
How do you know you're losing fat apart from getting a reading on fat % scale.

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That’s a good question. What works for me is: 1) the tape meter, specifically for my waistline: if it’s not shrinking, I’m not losing fat, 2) the mirror, specifically for love handles and veins on my arms (*).

(*) this one is a new indicator for me, because I’ve reached the point where I’m starting to get some visible vascularity on my arms:

 I previously hardly saw any. I’ve tried skin calipers, but found them too tricky to use.

[HeatherIzzard]

That gives me some hope because today I'm really frustrated. 

I'm logging everything on myfitnesspal have almost 1k deficit pr day, drink 1500g water per day, walk avg 13k steps deliberately up+down the hills where I live AND work as hard as I did aged 30 at an Aqua jog class twice pr wk. I have Rheumatoid and Osteoarthritis and a balanced by drugs Thyroid and I'm 59 yrs of age but I've dropped from 11st 13 to 11st 7 and stopped dead week 7! In fact 4days ago I weighed 2lbs less. 

Because of my disability I can't do other types of exercise but I also stroll my dog + garden + look after the house. I feel like I ought to be 11st 2 by now + I'm aiming for another 12 lbs off. Very disheartening 😕

But who knows. This is a very old thread! Clearly others felt like me