Huge calorie deficit, yet no weight loss 🙁

[MTR2022]

This has been going on for months but for the past fortnight I've made an extra special effort to monitor the situation. And have been putting off making a post such as this one but here I am 😕

I use Cronometer to log all food/drink intake. I weigh all food to a tenth of a gram. Wrist placement is fine. Device seems to function perfectly well. I've even recently added 50km spin biking every day, to burn extra calories (burning around 700kCal for each 80-minute session). I walk 8-10,000 steps a day minimum, often much more (13,000-17,000). My bathroom scales are accurate. My personal data is all present and correct in the app. 

After losing no weight whatsoever for around two months, I dropped 400kCal off my stated BMR in Cronometer to try and 'game the system' and give me some headroom. 

So, I'd previously been aiming for a caloric deficit of -873kCal but decided to do -1000 for the last two weeks, which should have meant around 1.8KG weight lost. My daily deficit has been between -1564 and -933 (the only time it was less than 1000). Mostly I've been between -1100 and -1200 every day for two weeks straight. Weight loss during that time: zero. Nothing at all. Not even 0.1KG 😂

It's quite clear that something is 'wrong' with the way the Fitbit is calculating the calories burned for my various activities. And given that there's no way to 'offset' it to bring it back into line, I honestly don't know what to do. Seems to me that it's basically useless to help with weight loss 🙁 

(Past week's intake/output graph below.) 

 

[MTR2022]

 

And here's the previous week:

 

[MTR2022]

Meant to add, Cronometer is in 'Comatose Mode', so all activity data is from the Fitbit app. Nothing is being 'counted twice'.

Fuel going in is accurate; recorded weight is accurate; therefore calories burned must be innacurate. Surely ? 

[alexthecat]

@MTR2022 I've moved this thread to the Manage Weight forum, because it is a better fit here. 

[Glenda]

MTR,  On the 600 pound life TV show everyone is put on a 1200 calorie a day diet.  Exercise isn't suggested.    You might have lots better results with that if you want to experiment for a week.   Best wishes!

[Nursedmm]

I agree - I was in the same situation and the Optivia weight loss program recommends no exercise and so I stopped and only then did the weight come off.

[SBNash806]

It has to be frustrating to monitor your eating so carefully, and follow the recommendations of Fitbit, but still not see results. Something doesn't add up, you are right!  I use the recommendations as a guide, but weigh in daily to catch up and down trends early. I had used another app/program in weight loss mode (Noom) and am now transitioning to the fitbit app (I had used it only for tracking steps/miles before). In the overlap, I did notice that Noom was recommending about 500 calories less a day than Fitbit. Even so, over the last year and a half I did hit some plateaus which seemed to stretch to six weeks or so, with no weight loss. I have found that a switch to intermittent fasting (8/16) for a few days did break me out of the plateau and restart my weight loss. I didn't change my calorie intake, but ate the equivalent in an 8 hour period. Once my weight loss began to drop (just a few days) I transitioned back to my normal eating schedule (3 meals and an evening snack). After a year and a half I've gone from 215 to 165 which is right close to my goal weight of 162. I'm am slowly transitioning to "maintain" mode, and have been close to this weight for about a month now. It is only a number, but I feel good and am walking faster than before, now able to do a 10k in under 90 minutes. At my age (66) I feel healthier than I have in quite a while. Bottom line, the scale, not the app, will let you know if you need to reduce calories further. Stick with it, you will see the results you are looking for!

[charleskn]

Unfortunately, you have to ignore what fitbit calculates for your calories burned. These numbers are off by as much as 40% (not just fitbit trackers).

IMO, weight loss comes from what we eat AND what we do. IMO, weight loss by diet alone is difficult for the average person.

Look at WHAT you're eating. Pre-made meals are not great. I think as a society we tend to eat too many carbs.

Lastly, if you think you're giving an honest effort with no results (after about 6 months), see your doctor. I worked fairly hard for three years with no weight loss only to be diagnosed with low thyroid. I started thyroid medication and lost 35 pounds in the first two months with no real changes to my diet or exercise.

[DrSteveBrule]

Based on my weight loss since I got my Inspire 2 and what I eat (every ingredient precisely measured to the gram), mine is over by about 700 per day (says I burned 4200 when really its about 3500). I just set my daily calorie burn goal up 700 from what is was.

[au4all]

The calories on a container of food aren't designed to match up with available calories for human consumption. Some calorie estimates come from burn tests, others from standard measures of calories assigned to protein, carb, and fat grams.

My fitbit records about 2600 calories a day. I have to eat 3500+ not to lose weight. I think it's because my heart rate is normally pretty low, so it doesn't think I'm burning a lot even though I'm on the go for hours a day. I exercise outdoors moving my body weight around.

If you're sitting down on a bike, and your heart rate goes way up, and you're not fighting wind resistance and hills biking outdoors, that could be more heart rate inflating, than calorie burning.

But more importantly, are you doing the things that are known to make weight loss easier? For example eating a high fiber diet, being less efficient in your activities; making more trips from your car with groceries, parking farther from doors, avoiding labor saving machinery (e.g. using a rake instead of a leaf blower).

[Eastgip]

This means that what you do something is definitely wrong in your weight loss process. You need to slightly change the approach or methods that you are using now. I also had problems while I was trying to get rid of excess weight, but I tried intermittent fasting. I noticed that everything started to change. First of all, I downloaded one of the apps from the fastingapps.com review and feel so lucky that I found it. It helps me get to concentrate on the fasting process and control my water intake. So you should try fasting as well.)