Can these figures be right?

[Chunkymonkey78]

Hi all, first post so please be gentle!

I've been puzzled for a while as to why I weigh so much, I consider myself to be fairly active but I weigh 128kg.....fairly big build but not enough to justify that figure.

I've owned my fitbit approx a week, linked to mfp and a eufy smart scale, the latter of which the numbers are horrific. 41pc BMI, 38.5pc body fat etc.

Early on it seems that the fitbit is confirming what is suspected, I'm doing between 13 to 16000 steps a day, around 3800 calories burnt, over at least 45 mins moderate activity, over 250 steps each hour. Most of my target are hit before I've left work.

I've also been slightly under budget with my calorie intake on every day but the first.

My question is, I'm set at a 500cal deficit a day. So 1lb a week loss. I want to get to 90kg. Since I've had my fitbit, I find myself eating more than I did before? Is this correct, am I or is it possible that you can be obese by simply not putting enough gas in the tank?

Something has definitely happened as to be honest I feel awful, I wondered though if this is normal, whether someone further down the line from me could confirm this is ok or am I just in a dream world and need to cut the cals further?

I've tried researching online but just read conflicting, confusing views so thought I'd ask the the people that have been there and done it?

[Bill_k]

Just my opinion. A 500 calorie deficiency isn't enough for you as fitbit numbers and food numbers can be inaccurate and you might just be evening out and spinning your wheels. Depending on how you feel increase it more to 1000 deficit and if that  works go to 1500.

You would still be taking in 2300 calories which is still above what's considered average.

Make sure you are eating the right stuff though so you don't feel poorly. Protein,fat,some but not too many carbs,little added sugar.

You will likely go thru a transition period where your body adjusts .

Hope this helps. Make sure your fitbit is properly set up with your actual weight as well as that changes the calories/hr it registers.

[JimC_99]

I started my weight loss in Apr of this year - 61 years old, 369 pounds,  6ft, 3in male.  I have been logging all food from that date and have fitbit data starting in May.  The calories burned from the Fitbit are not really accurate,  I have been following a 1800 to 2000 cal diet higher in protein lower in carbs and have lost a bit over 55 pounds to date.  best advice is to take the calories burned from Fitbit and adjust down (in my case) 10 -15%.

Trendweight

[lavabelle]

I would also suggest you cut calories a bit more. I have mine set to 1000 cal deficit, and I usually end up with a 1300-1500 calorie deficit according to Fitbit, but only a 1.5lbs -2 lbs loss a week...so from experience for some reason Fitbit is off by about 500 cal a day...if you are only cutting 500, this might be off setting this. Also eat lots of fruits and veggies, and add some healthy fats to your diet. I eat meat so I have no trouble getting enough protein, but if you don't it might be harder to feel satisfied on mostly fruits and veggies.

Don't give up, it sounds like you are sufficiently active, so focus on creating a larger deficit from what you currently eat.

I'm not sure if you are into books, but this one really helped me get into the frame of mind to lose weight... https://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/

Wishing you much success!!

[Mukluk4]

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@Chunkymonkey78 wrote:

Hi all, first post so please be gentle!

I've been puzzled for a while as to why I weigh so much, I consider myself to be fairly active but I weigh 128kg.....fairly big build but not enough to justify that figure.

I've owned my fitbit approx a week, linked to mfp and a eufy smart scale, the latter of which the numbers are horrific. 41pc BMI, 38.5pc body fat etc.

Early on it seems that the fitbit is confirming what is suspected, I'm doing between 13 to 16000 steps a day, around 3800 calories burnt, over at least 45 mins moderate activity, over 250 steps each hour. Most of my target are hit before I've left work.

I've also been slightly under budget with my calorie intake on every day but the first.

My question is, I'm set at a 500cal deficit a day. So 1lb a week loss. I want to get to 90kg. Since I've had my fitbit, I find myself eating more than I did before? Is this correct, am I or is it possible that you can be obese by simply not putting enough gas in the tank?

Something has definitely happened as to be honest I feel awful, I wondered though if this is normal, whether someone further down the line from me could confirm this is ok or am I just in a dream world and need to cut the cals further?

I've tried researching online but just read conflicting, confusing views so thought I'd ask the the people that have been there and done it?

---

1.  What fitbit are you using to track your calories burned?  3800 calories burnt isn't a big number based on your weight and body fat to get to.

2.  What exercises are you doing to get to your step count?  Is that just walking?  

3.  Are you fit fat or fat fat?  Can you run a mile or more?  Do you play sports, spend time in the weight room, etc?

4.  How long have you been your current weight or bigger?  Some people have a specific weight that is easy to maintain and to get below that requires serious work and very diligent tracking.

[Chunkymonkey78]

Thankyou all for your replies and encouragement so far! I've taken your advice and upped the calorie deficit to 1000.

1.I'm using a Flex 2, specifically went for that so there's no display to get damaged.

2.I work as a mechanic, some workshop, some breakdown so obviously a lot of lifting and walking. I've generally hit my step target for the day by the time I'm 5 or 6 hours into my shift. My moderate activity is usually between 80 and 90 mins per day. Due to the hot weather here I'm not going to the gym at the moment as by the time my shift is done I'm spent.... 🙂

3 & 4. I would say I used to be fat fit, played 6-a-side soccer for 13 years, at least twice a week, to the gym on and off for the last 15/16 years. I had to start taking anti-depressants which, about 7 or 8 years ago made me pile on the weight and other than a brief period of literally starving myself and losing 2 stones, I've found it hard to get rid of that weight, coupled with shift work it's got out of hand as it's steadily piling on since I quit smoking.

So now I would say fat fat fitness wise. Build wise I would say I'm a classic Endomorph so maybe I carry the weight better than some but it's still excessive and needs to go.

Also just to kind of re-iterate what I asked earlier, is it possible you can set the deficit too low so that your body hangs on to anything it can? At the moment myfitnesspal is setting my calorific needs at 2200 a day, if I'm burning in the region of 3500-4000 is that still an ok deficit?

[Mukluk4]

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@Chunkymonkey78 wrote:

Also just to kind of re-iterate what I asked earlier, is it possible you can set the deficit too low so that your body hangs on to anything it can? At the moment myfitnesspal is setting my calorific needs at 2200 a day, if I'm burning in the region of 3500-4000 is that still an ok deficit?

---

That is going to totally depend on what your goals are and what you want to look like. 

If you are strictly looking at a scale number then that's totally the way to go.  The problem with that is you'll become what I like to call skinny fat (you may look or even be an ideal weight at the cost of being less in exercise shape).  

Now if you have a body type or activity related goal (as I see being a mechanic is a ton of lifting and muscle work).  I would suggest putting in a weight rack at home (no excuse about being too tired to go to the gym and can be done for the same amount as an annual gym membership), add in a bit of cardio work (more than just walking or get back into soccer/sport of choice), and eat within 10% of your total burn.  You may not lose the scale number but it will be reflected within your BF%, work becoming easier, and the way your clothes fit.

[lavabelle]

If you're cutting calories and losing more than 2 lbs a week or 1% of your current weight, I would definitely add more calories. But I would not be worried about cutting drastically in the beginning to get things moving, if you find that you are too hungry, then add more calories. A little bit hungry is good indication that you're creating a deficit, ravenous is dangerous because you'll be more tempted to overeat. You'll need to play around with deficits and see what works for your body, not everyone loses at the same rate under the same deficit.

It took me a about a month of deficits to find what works for me. I would suggest you take some time to find what works for you. I started with large deficits (1500-2000) and now I am comfortable at about 1300-1500 deficit and losing 1.5-2 lbs a week. You find a deficit that feels right for your body and activity level and stick with it until you hit a plateau, then re-adjust up or down, and keep going until you've reached your desired goal.

[NicholasVara]

I've been meaning to write a post about this. I do not think the fitbit numbers are accurate for athletes or possibly anyone. I am 5'10 210 lbs, about 20% bodyfat up from 8% a few years ago. I've been focused on power lifting these last few years. I decided to start cutting by being on a 2000 calorie diet a month ago. According to FitBit I am averaging about a 1500 calorie caloric deficit every day but I haven't lost even 1 lbs in the last 30 days. Clearly, even with my 2 a day workout schedule 2000 calories are maintenance for me.  My resting heart rate being in the 40s most of the day might have something to do with that. My point is that if you are in a caloric deficit for a month and the scale hasn't moved then fitbit is over estimating your caloric expenditure.  Time to remove another 500 calories for 30 days etc, keep moving south until you find your actual maintenance calories. My Fit Bit estimates that I am burning something like 500 calories during my hour long weight training workouts. Maybe if I was couch potato but my body is running very energy efficient after years of exercise. I doubt I am burning more than a 100 calories an hour at the gym lifting weights. 

[Baltoscott]

Hi @Chunkymonkey78

You will likely see a lot of daily variation when you weigh in, so I would suggest weighing yourself daily and looking at weekly averages for measuring progress.  I would give a few weeks at fitbit's calculated 1000 calorie deficit and then adjust if weekly average losses are not between 1/2 - 1% of your body weight until you get to your goal.  If you increase your exercise, you'll be able to eat more, but I wouldn't mess with that until you have a better idea of how accurate fitbit's burn is, and how accurate your calorie counting is.

For a check on Fitbit's calculations, I like the calculator the NIH came up with.  You can check that out here.  For me it seems to provide a better estimate of how much I should be eating to cut, gain, or maintain, given my average exercise and activity levels.  (Fitbit seems to overestimate my burn by about 500 calories/day).  Your mileage may vary ...

[bikerhiker]

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@Chunkymonkey78 wrote:

Hi all, first post so please be gentle!

I've been puzzled for a while as to why I weigh so much, I consider myself to be fairly active but I weigh 128kg.....fairly big build but not enough to justify that figure.

I've owned my fitbit approx a week, linked to mfp and a eufy smart scale, the latter of which the numbers are horrific. 41pc BMI, 38.5pc body fat etc.

Early on it seems that the fitbit is confirming what is suspected, I'm doing between 13 to 16000 steps a day, around 3800 calories burnt, over at least 45 mins moderate activity, over 250 steps each hour. Most of my target are hit before I've left work.

I've also been slightly under budget with my calorie intake on every day but the first.

My question is, I'm set at a 500cal deficit a day. So 1lb a week loss. I want to get to 90kg. Since I've had my fitbit, I find myself eating more than I did before? Is this correct, am I or is it possible that you can be obese by simply not putting enough gas in the tank?

Something has definitely happened as to be honest I feel awful, I wondered though if this is normal, whether someone further down the line from me could confirm this is ok or am I just in a dream world and need to cut the cals further?

I've tried researching online but just read conflicting, confusing views so thought I'd ask the the people that have been there and done it?

---

Loosing weight is not as simple as Calories In vs Calories Out.  This is the predominant view of the diet industry, because it sells products and it is simple to digest and understand.  Of course, Calories In and Calories Out has one flaw, and that is, it can not explain as to why certain individuals hit weight plateaus, because if weight loss is really to induce a calorie deficit, then by easy math, you will loose weight.  But this is again simply is not true.

Second of all is that, I had found that Fitbit math and tracking to be good.  I've used the Fitbit app for 3 months and it had accurately predicted and calculated my weight loss as being 1 lb/week (or 0.9 lb/week) loss with a 500 calories deficit of eating a healthy diet and exercising 4 times a week.  So in my case, Fitbit is doing a good job of tracking my weight loss.  I use a Flex 2 as well.

Now having said that.  There are certain challenges people will face when they are trying to loose weight.  Life challenges and people's behaviour will pose more hurdles for people who are attempting to loose weight.  What do I mean by that?  Well, if someone is suffering from constant daily stress, anxiety to perform or to finish certain things, depressed and unhappy with life in general, this will trigger mechanisms in your body to release certain hormones which responds to the "Fight or Flight" response.  And part of that coping mechanism, for some people at least, is by consuming food that are rich in refined sugar, saturated fat and packed with sodium (salt).  It's just so happen that these are legalized drugs you can buy on the streets that you can buy so you can cope with life challenges on the street you face today, because these 3 things make you numb your stress, your anxiety and depression temporarily until you seek the next high. 

So to have a successful weight loss, you first need to assess your life and what kind of stressors that make your life unhappy and what you can do about in dealing with them through healthy interventions like breathing meditation, Yoga or mindful meditation all in the attempt to reduce or control those stress levels, so you don't always have to invoke the Fight or Flight response too often, which does no good for weight loss.  Now you understand why Fitbit and a host of other watch makers "include" meditation program in your watch.  It's not a gimmick.  It's part of a holistic program in weight reduction..

Once you have the ability to control your stress level, then slowly cut down on food that are made with refined sugar, saturated fat and packed with sodium.  Our body only needs 15 gram of sugar and 1500mg of salt / day.  Exceed those, then you have a high potential of gaining weight around the waist line and elsewhere and face a high level risks of getting cardiovascular diseases.  So even if you cut your calories per serving wise and if you are still eating pre-packaged or processed foods, you still can exceed the daily requirement by a margin and still gain weight.  Again, stress level and eating unhealthy food correlates each other as these food give you the coping mechanism to lower stress, but even extreme dieting also introduce stress to your body and thus you need the food to cope with that stress.  So in the end, you loose no weight!

So to begin a successful weight loss, you have to start evaluating your life.  What do you want in your life?

My weight loss story began with what I thought I want in life.  Money, fame and respect, in exchange for a lot of stress.  I was working in corporate, very busy and extremely stressful but I made a 6 figure salary (compensation for the stress I take) and have all the luxury in what money can buy as well as the women I want.  But in all of that, I kept gaining weight and tried very hard in loosing them including running marathons, ultras and doing extreme sports.  But it took so much effort to loose so little weight, but my life wasn't much happier inside, though my financial situation was fantastic.  This is where money can not buy happiness.  Just a few years ago though, I decided to leave my 6 figure job behind for good and pursued my dream to work in health care.  It was a monumental shift, because it is a complete 360 degree shift from my former hi-tech job to this.  But right now, my stress level is way down eventhough I now make a lowly 5 figure salary.  I never felt so much peace and harmony in a long while.  And I realized what living a life is about now.  Freedom!  After that chaos, I decided to buy a Fitbit Flex 2 and attempt my second weight loss adventure, but I feared about my first because of the weight plateaus and how extreme I had to go through to loose just a few pounds.  Hmm, but to my surprise, the second attempt was much easier and Fitbit app was quite accurate in determining my calories deficit.  I remembered to get to 145lbs, I had to run ultra-marathons to loose a lot of deficit to achieve that.  Now, I just walk 5 miles/day (10,000 steps) plus 4 30min swims.  Much less exercise, but achieving more bang for the buck.  The difference is that, I'm much happier and more stress free in my new job.  I am not having to experience the "Fight or Flight" response on a daily basis and feeling helpless in my former corporate job. 

My food palate had changed too.  I'm now seeking more natural foods like high fibre cereals, multi-grain wild rice, lean cuts of meats and steamed fish.  I used to hate fish and love a juicy steak.  I think that when I adopted a different life, so did my needs to eat the rich food subsided.

So to me, I believe that to begin a successful weight loss, it has to start with the mind first.

Even Jack Lalanne, the famous body builder, said that 90% of the diseases are created with the mind.  Obesity is created with the mind and only the mind can uncreate obesity and then the Calories In and Calories Out routine will work and the Fitbit app will and can help anyone.  At least, it is helping me track and loose weight.  

[oh_suzanney]

If you are "doing everything right" and still not losing weight, you either....

1. are not being accurate with logging calories in.
2. are not getting an accurate count of calories out.
3. have an underlying health issue that needs to be addressed by your doctor.

You lose fat by creating a deficit between calories in vs. calories out. Simple as that. So I'd start at #1 first.

The biggest change I noticed with my own fat loss started when I got myself a kitchen scale and got serious about weighing and measuring out my food. What I thought was 4oz of chicken breast was almost double that. What I thought was a serving size of rice? Hahahaha, not even close. Once I stopped, for lack of a better phrase, "lying" to myself about how much I was eating, it made a world of difference. I don't eyeball food anymore. If it's not a single-serve portion of something or otherwise easily quantifiable, it gets weighed or I use a measuring cup/spoon. 

It is true that you do have to fuel your body by taking in more calories if you are working out. But the formula for fat loss is simple. If you have a deficit, you will lose fat. If you don't, you won't.

Good luck!! 🙂

[lavabelle]

@bikerhiker I totally agree that in losing weight or maintaining weight loss you have to also deal with stress differently, especially if you are the type of person who eats stress away. I find exercise really helps with lowering the effect of stress on my body and virtually eliminates stress eating for me. Meditation or prayer for some and me also is a huge help in lowering stress. Letting go of control and being grateful for what you have instead of continually being dissatisfied and striving is also a factor is how much I weight. If you eat through this stress, it's going to be hard to lose weight or maintain weight loss, but meditation, prayer, practicing thankfulness and just being "here now" really helps with this kind of stress, and allows your body to release it's stress and fat. Our bodies are such a marvelous machine filled with chemical reactions and hormonal checks and balances that even though calories in need to be less than calories out in order to lose weight, there's more than that going on in a body.

For some people it is really is a simple calories in < calories out = weight loss, they have great coping skills when it comes to stress, but for others, managing stress has to be part of the equation in order to get to lowering calories effectively enough to lose weight.

If you know you are a stress eater, take heed and find some way to lower or manage stress effectively and you will have an easier time with losing weight. If you are not, then creating a deficit should be an easy thing and getting to your goal weight will be as easy as calories in < calories out. Unless you're female, then hormones will throw a whole other set of challenges into the mix, but that's another story 🙂

[Chunkymonkey78]

Again, thank you all for taking the time to reply. I've taken bits and pieces from everyone who has written here to try and fine tune things and not make some schoolboy errors.

I've decided to weigh myself same time every other day and hey presto! The first 1lb is gone....go me huh? 😉

As far as the mind goes, obviously I've mentioned the anti depressants before, I totally agree with what people have said and i guess the first step is recognising there's a problem and taking steps to do so?

There's definitely a lot of cortisol that's been around for the past few years at least, where is the meditation app? Is this available for the flex 2?

One thing I did notice today though.....

My flex picks up arm movements when I'm not moving. It's on my non dominant wrist but I have a feeling my job as a mechanic may affect my readings?

[lavabelle]

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I've decided to weigh myself same time every other day and hey presto! The first 1lb is gone....go me huh? 😉

 Yay! Congrats on first pound gone! Here's to many more!!! 

[bikerhiker]

@Chunkymonkey78

Congrats on your first weight loss!  Hurray!

The best way to ensure you are getting your daily exercise would be to try walking part of the way to work and then part of the way back.  This should total 30mins or about 6000 steps.  Then you don’t have to worry about arm movements that can register as false steps.  Secondly, reducing stress is about reflecting upon your life experiences and what makes you feel the need to react,  if you look at this objectively, you can spot some issues and seek counseling.  I had to seek counseling and had EFT , the same treatment that war veterans went through.  After counseling and EFT, I felt a huge weight off my shoulder.

Flex 2 does not have meditation built in, but you can set a silent alarm for meditation purpose.  The counseling and EFT sessions came with some meditation techniques which I still use today.  I use the sleep monitoring, and after meditation, I had better deeper sleep and felt refreshed the next morning.  I also set silent alarms for prayers, mainly praying for forgiveness and acceptance from the lord.  It helps.

[oh_suzanney]

OH! For meditation, I use an app called Simple Habit. You can find it in the App Store. It was free. I love it!

[Bogdel]

Hello to You, All!

I've been reading every post that was written on this thread so far and I can't tell you how much I appreciate both @Chunkymonkey78 for posting his question and concerns and every person that took time to write and reply. I know that this is gong to help, not only @Chunkymonkey78, but everyone who reads these posts. The bible says that there is wisdom in the multitude of advisers (Proverbs 15:22). 

I joined the Fit-Bit community at the beginning of 2016, and while I didn't weigh as much as some other people, to me it was much, and it started to affect my health. The first thing I did was to replace all starchy foods - that is, anything that was made with white flower, white rice, and white potatoes - with raw and cooked vegetables. I made salad my main meal, I reduced meat and dairy products, and I added legumes, mushrooms, berries and other fruit, nuts and seeds. I also removed any form of processed sugar and oil, and gradually, I started to reduce salt. In the first five months I lost almost 30 lbs (I need to loose approximately 10 more pounds in order to reach my ideal weight). 

While I was eating healthy, I noticed two things:

1) when my healthy diet was not accompanied by physical activity (in my case, walking), the scale was stagnant. As soon as I started walking, the scale went down.

2) Whenever I did not log my food, I was not loosing weight. Monitoring the deficit between the calorie in-take and the calories I burned is crucial to the weight loss success. 

Exercising didn't come easy for me, and at the beginning I started with 10 minutes / day. Later, as I lost some of the weight (and I was encouraged by it!), I increased my walking time to 20, the 30, and later, to 45 minutes. As I reached a more comfortable weight and my health has improved with it, I started going to the gym, off and on. I am not as consistent with my physical activity as i would like to be, and I am still working on it, because I know how crucial physical exercise is to both mind and body. 

Apart from participating in some of the challenges of the fit-bit communities, I have done a lot of reading and viewing on the subject of health and nutrition. One of the most influential authors in the area of health and nutrition is Dr. Joel Fuhrman, the author of "Eat to Live", and "Eat for Health", "End Of Diabetes", "End of Heart Disease", etc. I cannot recommend these books highly enough to anyone who is interested in healthy weight loss. 

Thanks, everyone for your contribution to this thread. Thank you, @Chunkymonkey78 for making yourself vulnerable and asking these questions. Congrats on your weight loss adventure. I hope you will continue to stay motivated and to find the strength to make the every day changes necessary for a healthy life.