Calorie Confusion and Problems Losing Weight

[ericdonut]

Since the start of 2017 I've been killing it. I've been averaging over 8,000 steps a day, and I've drastically changed my diet. I no longer drink alcohol or eat fast food. The problem I'm having is that during this week I've consistently been under my calorie goal by at least 700 calories a day (according to fitbit) but my weight has gone up a few pounds. My goal is to lose another 15lbs, lost 10 already, but for some reason I'm stuck.

Example daily diet:

Breakfast: Turkey Sausage bowl, coffee, creamer, strawberries (423 calories)

Lunch: rice, chicken, mushrooms, broccoli, and an egg in a stir fry I make (671 calories)

Dinner: subway sandwich (around 800 calories)

Any help as to why I'm not losing anymore would be much appreciated! Thanks!

[JAMIE9999]

maybe you've hit a plateau? 

[Dominique]

How fast did you lose the first 10 pounds (= when did you start your weight loss), and from what initial weight? You were probably very sedentary before, and 8000+ steps is a big change from that, but it’s still a relatively moderate level of activity (especially for a young person, as you appear to be). With that activity level, there’s only so much food you can eat in order to lose (or even not to gain) weight. Also note that estimating energy expenditure with an activity tracker is not exact science: just because your Fitbit told you you burned 2500 calories doesn’t mean it’s exactly that, it could very well be off by 300-400 calories. You’ll have to "calibrate" your Fitbit against your actual weight loss: in theory, a deficit of 3500 calories should result in a weight loss of 1 pound, but some people have noticed it takes them 4000 calories (using the expenditure reported by their Fitbit) in order to achieve that. Also, weight loss is not linear, and the first pounds (when you have a lot to lose) are easier to lose than the last pounds (when you are closer to your weight goal). Patience is important: you said you’ve been killing it in 2017, but we’re only 3 weeks into 2017; weight loss is more like a long distance run than a sprint. 

[CorgiOnslaught]

I would say you could be miscounting your calories from food. You could be several hundred calories higher than you think you are if you have a few extra ounces of meat in your lunch.

Also it takes less energy to move your now lighter body around so you're probably burning fewer calories.

[emili]

I think what you lost initially is all the water weight and "easy" pounds. I refer to it as the honeymoon phase of dieting. Its easy and still fun and doesn't require a whole lot of effort. Now its over and the day to day of dieting sets in. Although your meals are about 1900 calories total, you probably need to shake things up a bit and introduce more fresh ingredients, specifically veggies into your diet. They help keep things moving, are super nutritious and help to fill you up. Not to mention will give you the power you need to increase your activity level. Weight loss starts in the kitchen, but it needs to be supplemented with activity. If you attain those 8000 steps by walking around work, home, store, etc- you are not really increasing your heart rate to achieve a higher calorie burn. I would encourage you to think about changing your routine with food and increasing your level of activity.

[Malme84]

One thing to keep in mind is that any gains in muscle will offset losses in fat and can result in no net change in weight (or smaller losses and even possibly gains). Make sure to track your BMI (with a calculator that utilizes body measurements) to get a better Idea of what's going on. If your weight is staying the same but your BMI is decreasing, then just keep doing what you are doing and your net weight will start to decline again. If your BMI isn't changing, then you may need to do some double checking to see if you are accurately counting your caloric intake and output.

[Dominique]

@Malme84: BMI = (weight in kilograms) / (height in meters)^2. You can see from the equation that if weight goes down, BMI will automatically go down. If weight stays the same, BMI will also stay the same. This is because your height usually doesn’t change (well, people often become slightly shorter as they age, but that has no impact here). If you have a Fitbit account and enter your weight there (or have an Aria scale linked to your account), you don’t need a calculator to determine your BMI: it’s displayed under your Dashboard (you can also see it in the mobile app).

Sometimes people mix up BMI with body fat (BF). BF is an indicator of body composition (ratio of lean mass to fat mass): your weight may stay the same (or even increase), but your BF is decreasing (improved body composition). It can be tricky to determine/estimate your BF% in a home environment.

[Dominique]

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@Malme84 wrote:

any gains in muscle will offset losses in fat and can result in no net change in weight

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True, but: 1) gaining muscle is a very slow process (even in optimal conditions), 2) gaining muscle is very difficult when eating at a deficit (the optimal conditions for gaining muscle are to eat at a surplus). It’s usually very unlikely that muscle gains would offset fat loss, even if muscle is heavier (higher density) than loss for the same volume. Big fluctuations in weight from day to day are usually caused by water retention/flushing.

[Malme84]

@Dominique Thanks for the correction; I did mean BF% and not BMI (The military got me in the bad habit of calling both BMI lol).

[Malme84]

@Dominique

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It’s usually very unlikely that muscle gains would offset fat loss, even if muscle is heavier (higher density) than loss for the same volume. Big fluctuations in weight from day to day are usually caused by water retention/flushing.

True, but it can and does happen. I mentioned it only as a possibility, and to add to the list of things others have already mentioned, such as water retention like you mentioned, to avoid redundancy.

[julia23]

Hi Eric, I know how you feels..

You should never ever touch alcohol or any junk foods. Just now I FOUND an article about metabolic confusion. I think the explanation is pretty good to me actually. the article explained everything about meals plan and HIIT exercise which is crucial to your body and plus with inteermittent fasting.

Here is the article..

Good luck Eric!!

[Dominique]

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@julia23 wrote:

Just now I FOUND an article about metabolic confusion.

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The link in your post does not work. I did google "metabolic confusion", but did not find the explanations convincing, nor did it appear to be backed by any serious science.