Advice to loose weight

[Maggsy]

I got my Fitbit for Christmas, I do 8,000 to 16,000 steps every day, restless sleep, I log every food I eat, and never go above what's on my log (although it never goes green) and my weight stays the same what am I doing wrong 

[Julia_G]

Hi, @Maggsy, it is really hard to know without more personal information, but Christmas to now is really a very short time, and if you are gradually getting more active, depending on your current weight, that may be more important for your health, and fhe weight loss will come in time.

There are a couple of really super groups that are very supportive for weight loss.  There's a current challenge, Valentine's Day to April 18 you could join, or there is a weekly weigh in that many people have found helpful.

If you don't want to join those, and prefer to add more details here, there are lots of people who could chime in.

Meanwhile 8000 to 16000 steps is a great start!  You are already building fitness and muscles (and muscles burn calories).

[JAMIE9999]

sometimes the body takes a bit to realize whats going on

[Dominique]

Energy expenditure reported by your Fitbit is an estimate, which could be on the high side (often the case with HR-enabled Fitbits). Your intake is also an estimate, no matter how carefully you log it. If the calculated deficit (difference between estimated expenditure and estimated intake) doesn’t result in any weight loss, you need to increase it slighly until you start getting results on the scale. You may also want to use body measurements (e.g. of your waistline).

[melaangus]

Your step ranges from 8-16k. Do you have a minimum goal?

What I did was start out with 9k, which at the time wasn't as easy to do regularly (especially cuz classes hadn't started yet so I didn't have the added steps of walking on campus). Once I started doing that daily with very very few exceptions, I pulled it up to 9.5k, to add the challenge. I had started achieving it (even though the change was difficult certain days), but I went on a trip and got sick so I spent a whole week and a half without being able to achieve it and have not raised it to 10k just yet.

This is what I suggest you do: put a minimum, if you can reach to 16k often enough then maybe your minimum step goal shouldn't be so low as 8k, maybe minimum 10k. Pick a minimum that isn't too easy to reach every day, such as your lazy days. It is the effort that would help cause the deficit needed to lose weight.

Also, you mention that you are logging every food. The act of logging alone doesn't help, it's looking at what you've logged and deciding if you're eating healthy enough and creating a deficit to lose weight. I always suggest to begin by making small changes in your life, particularly positive changes (adding something healthy to your diet). If you add one-two new healthy things every so often to your diet, you'll start creating healthier eating habits that will help you keep off the weight once you reach your weight goal (as opposed to eating as you did when you gained all the weight in the first place).

[Tybokitty]

@Maggsy  Funny you asked that question.  I just asked my health coach that question today. She said if the body is not getting enough calories to sustain itself then it will start storing fat and hanging onto it so it is not in a starving mode. Thus the reason you don't lose weight.  I've been dealing with that for a a couple of weeks to.  When the calorie count is in the green then we are eating enough to feed our body and to keep it from storing that fat. I realized when I had my calorie count in the green I was loosing weight.  When I saw it in the "under target"  I was not losing anything.  You can also look in the help section and read up on how the calorie counter works also.   Hope this helps.

[Maggsy]

Thank you, I will try harder

[Maggsy]

Thank you

Sent from my iPad

[Coldfists]

I had the same exact issue as Tybokitty.  I started off with a 1000 calorie deficit and was losing weight, fast.  I started having issues with not wanting to eat enough ... so my deficit grew to 1500 ... 2000 on active days and I thought that eating less would make me lose weight faster ... I was wrong.  As soon as my deficit was > 1000 my weight loss slowed dramatically.  When I realized this and started eating more the weight began to come off again.  I've kept my goal at a 1000 calorie deficit but I intentionally try to go about 100 calories over goal now to keep from stalling again.

[Jeff_M]

Sometimes it does take time to loose weight as it doesn't come off all at once. However, in two or so months you should have seen some results. I use the myfitnesspal app for all food logging. It's the best app I've seen for logging food as you can scan food labels and it auto generates calories and nutrients. You can link it to the fitbit app as well so everything transfers over. So, i use both apps together. 

I would look a little closer at the calories burned vs consumed to be sure the numbers are accurate. You should feel enough hunger to know you are cutting calories too. If you're never hungry that could be a sign your not in a good enough deficit. Unless you are low carbing hard. 

[MarciM]

I completely agree about being hungry. I think as a society we have become afraid of being hungry and eat when we aren't hungry, which causes us to not understand what hunger feels like. I was told once to honor my hunger. I wasn't sure what that meant and had it explained to me with this metaphor.

Think of your stomach as a gas tank. Would you stop to fill up on gas if your tank was down 1/4? Would you stop if is was 1/2 full/empty (depending on your outlook)? Would you wait to get gas until your tank was close to empty? Likely you are close to empty before you stop to fill up. We should be treating our stomachs the same way. Then fuel up on heathy foods.

[ShaneGraves]

@Maggsy you aren't doing anything wrong. First, you have to understand, by taking concern with your own health and wellness, you are miles ahead of the majority of the American population.

Diet is 80% of successful weight loss. In my opinion, one of the most accurate and important things Fitbit is capable of is tracking your macronutrients. Knowing your macros means truly knowing your food and that can be a huge motivation to eat better. Start by tracking protein, carbs, and fats.

I'm sure you've heard, you should eat 5 to 6 small meals every day and prepare your meals in advance. I like to prepare my meals on Sunday, ready to go for the coming work week.

Don't get me wrong, exercise is very important too. Cardio kills Calories. Walking, jogging and running use the largest muscle groups in the body. Why is that important? The bigger the muscle, the bigger the Calorie burn. But, more than 40 minutes of cardio at your target heart rate a day is basically pointless. Add strength training to your routine to get a better result.

Reward your diligence, have a cheat day! I add 1000 calories to my diet on Saturdays. This isn't a simple reward, this serves to fire your metabolism up.