Caloric deficit Advice

[drema]

I am obese at a bmi of 33, and I'm trying to get down to a lower bmi. 

I have atleast a deficit of -1000 calories a day, and log 50-100 activity hours a day. My HR is usually in the "fatburn zone" during these jogs. 

I'm eating cottage cheese, labrada lean body for her meal replacement, chicken, fruits, etc. No junk food, and no sodas.

Fitbit says i should be losing 2-3 lbs per week,  but i feel like my weight is all over the place.  just in the last  week its bounced from 179 to  174 back to 178. My Lean vs Fat is similarly bouncy.

I have been not eating the recommmended calories in my diet, becuase the minute I go beyond  1200-1400 calories  I put on weight fast.

I might be missing something obvious, but any help would be greatly appreciated! 

( I weight using the Aria scale)

[Ch4rl3y]

Hi Drema, your story sounds very much like mine. Although, I seem to be able to lose the first week, then nothing or fluctuate to nothing, thereafter.

For me, knowing I eat well, and tracking what I eat daily helps. Exercise, irrelevant of having an "off" day when it comes to my calorie count - just because it makes me feel better. Each day is a new day. If I keep these things in mind I tend to keep positive. Despite the fluctuations. I also stay away from the scales for a while. Weighing every week or other week. As I tend to fluctuate alot day to day. This helps keep me with focus, and more importantly motivated.

Good luck on your plan!

[Dominique · Accepted solution]

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@drema wrote:

I feel like my weight is all over the place.  just in the last  week its bounced from 179 to  174 back to 178.

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Since you’re using the Aria and you’re weighing yourself daily, you may want to link your Fitbit profile to Trendweight. In my own experience, it helps make better sense of your weight data.  

[drema]

That really makes sense of all the variation. Thank you!

[JohnRi]

@Dominique Trendweight.com site is really a nice site.  Really levels out the daily flucations, and let's you see the trends.

I noticed on your profile, that you had a larger weight loss on the 6th, but you were very active the day before for almost two hours.  My guess is you had a lot of water weight loss due to sweating that day.  Which is why it bounced back the next day.

I was 218.5 two days ago.  217.1 yesterday.  And 218 today.  Two days ago I had a very hard six mile walk, and I sweat a ton.  I was actually 216.4 after the walk.  But clearly I was still dehydrated the next morning when I got on the scale.

You Ariia will also show different readings based on hydration.  So even without Trendweight, I always looked at trends for fat %, fat mass, and lean mass.  Trendweight is good about leveling these out. 

As for calories, and diet.  You are 5'1" so I'm going to guess you are female.  So most would say the minimum you need to eat is between 1200-1300.  So if you can keep your calories burned into the 2200-2500 range you should lose around 2. 

But to be honest your fitbit is only estimating how much you burn.  I've been eating around 1800 every day since February.  Overall I've lost 64 lbs since Septemeber 2015.

During the last month I've had some impossible numbers.  I've lost around 9 lbs of fat in the last 4 weeks, but somehow I've gained around 5 lbs of lean mass.  Which I know is impossible.  But I walking faster, farther and harder than before I hurt my leg 7 weeks ago.  So maybe I did gain 5 lbs of muscle. 

Either way, I've been burning around 3600-4000 calories a day for the last month.  Yet I've only lost around 1 lbs or less per week.

Back in February I was losing around 2-3 lbs a week.

The closer I get to my goal, the harder it has been for me.

So just because you eat 1000 fewer calories that you burn, doesn't mean you will lost 2 lbs. 

Everyone is different.  And losing weight is not linear, nor is there a magic forumla for weight loss.  It takes time, diet control, exercise, disapline, and patience.  And weight loss is journey.  And it doesn't happen overnight.  My doctor told me, "It took you years to gain the weight, it's going to take you months to years to lose it."  He's right 8 months later, I'm 34 lbs from 183.  My goal to get just into the normal weight range.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do then.  But I'll probably get my weight to around 175 and stay there...

I think your are doing good.  You profile shows around a 6-8 lbs lost in the last month.  My best month was around 8-9 lbs.  And I work out 90-120 minutes every day. 

So keep active and keep it up.  You'll get there!!!