I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong

[Ashym]

 Hi. So I have a lot of weight to lose before January (I'm getting married in Feb) and I'm struggling. I've always struggled to lose weight and all my blood tests say the hormones are normal. 

Now I see a dietician and currently eat between 1500 and 2000 calories a day. 2500 if it's a cheat day. I set my fitbit to a 750 cal defecit and it always tells me I'm under budget. 

I also spin for 35min a day keeping my HR between 145 and 165 bpm. I walk the full 10 000 steps a day at the minimum and I do a minimum of 10 flights of stairs a day. I do this 6 days a week.  All in all I burn between 3000 and 3800 calories a day and yet I am not losing weight or centimetres.  Am I doing something wrong?

[Dominique]

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@Ashym wrote:
I'm currently 260 lbs. I'm female. 27 years old.

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At that weight, you would need to be 5’ 7 in order to burn 3000 calories at the moderate activity level (which I think would match a step count of 10k or so). If you are shorter than that, the 3000-3800 calories reported by your Fitbit are probably too high.

[Ashym]

I am 5' 6

[EmjayH]

I'm 5'5" and Fitbit had my calorie expenditure at 3200 +. In reality when I started using trend weight I realised I was only burning bout 2700 - 3000. I find I burn about 15% less then Fitbit calculates

[Ashym]

How do I use trend weight to work that out? I registered and all I can see it does is keep a track of my daily weight.

[EmjayH]

It tells you approximately how many calories ur burning daily. Here it says I'm burning 1022  calories a day more then I am eating

[EmjayH]

I've increased the calories I eat from 1700 to 1900 to lower that deficient. If in a couple of weeks it shows as still too high I'll increase my calorie intake agin by 200. Trial and error is the only way for it 🙈

[Dominique]

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@Ashym wrote:
How do I use trend weight to work that out? I registered and all I can see it does is keep a track of my daily weight.

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You need to be using it for a while (preferably supplying it with daily weigh-ins, so it has as much data as possible) before you get meaningful info. TrendWeight has no idea what your energy expenditure and/or your intake is: it merely deduces the caloric deficit/surplus from the change of your weight over time.

[WilliamAnderson]

If you burn more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. In 30 years, I have never had a client not lose weight undereating. Many of the women referred to me will gain weight if they eat more than 1400 calories per day, yet they are often told to eat much more than that and are afraid to eat less than 1500 or 2000 calories a day because of the advice they have been given. They usually end up gaining weight and getting very frustrated. The doctors who refer patients to me use the Mifflin - St. Jeor equation to estimate metabolic rate and what the weekly expenditure is, using the patient's normal lifestyle living habits, and then advise then to eat half those calories per week, a bit austere some days, more liberal others, averaging out to a daily intake of half their living metabolic rate. This has always produced satisfactory results. The clients who try to play a budget balancing every day, trying to match their exercise to their eating sometimes develop problems worse than being overweight. 

[DavidSchneier]

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@WilliamAnderson wrote:

If you burn more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. In 30 years, I have never had a client not lose weight undereating. Many of the women referred to me will gain weight if they eat more than 1400 calories per day, yet they are often told to eat much more than that and are afraid to eat less than 1500 or 2000 calories a day because of the advice they have been given. They usually end up gaining weight and getting very frustrated. The doctors who refer patients to me use the Mifflin - St. Jeor equation to estimate metabolic rate and what the weekly expenditure is, using the patient's normal lifestyle living habits, and then advise then to eat half those calories per week, a bit austere some days, more liberal others, averaging out to a daily intake of half their living metabolic rate. This has always produced satisfactory results. The clients who try to play a budget balancing every day, trying to match their exercise to their eating sometimes develop problems worse than being overweight. 

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They'll hate you for simplifying things to this degree. I shudder when people start spouting about complex formula's, the impact of carbs on fat-burning and anything that fundamentally relies on tricking the body into a temporary state resulting in a lower weight. 

Like you, I'm a former fat person who has spent his entire adult life battling to not be fat again. The only strategy that has proven to be manageable and reliable is straight out calorie counting. It drives you into learning about food choices, identifying good sources from bad and understanding its impact on your body. But you have to start by understanding the numbers. Once you do, and once you figure out your personalized numbers, you can set a calorie budget that drives results.

[WilliamAnderson]

@DavidSchneier - You have discovered truth! Congrats on your success. Let's pray for less hate and more wisdom. 

[Ashym]

I don't know how to do that. I feel like all I'm eating is steamed or boiled veg and grilled flavorless protein. It's frustrating because my Fiance is also big, but without doing all of the exercising and only slightly modifying her diet the pounds are melting off her. I am far stricter with what I eat and i work out intensely 6 days a week and I have been the same weight since January.

[WilliamAnderson]

@Ashym -When you say "I don't know how to do that", what are you referring to?

[Ashym]

Proper calorie counting, I rely on the fitbit calculations and other online calculators like myfitnesspal.com to calculate the average calorie count of what I'm eating. I manually enter what I eat based on the average between the 2 apps .

[EmjayH]

Have you linked ur Fitbit to myfitnesspal? I find that by doing that myfitnesspal gives a truer estimate of ur calorie expenditure 

[WilliamAnderson]

@Ashym - What I teach my clients is simple. Be precise. Be as precise as a student in a chemistry or physics class. Weigh and measure. Use a digital food scale, measuring cups and spoons. Keep track of every calorie you put in your mouth. Most of my clients use a little notebook to keep track. They get a total everyday and put it on a refrigerator-type calendar. Some use myfitnesspal. I recommend a reliable source as Karen Nolan's, a highly respected food scientist,  "Calorie Counter", but there are many. This is a known science. If you work hard, you can get a reliable accurate accounting of every calorie you put in your body. If you let yourself off the hook, you won't.

After enough time, you'll know all the calories in what you habitually eat to attain the right caloric volume. Those habits can become automatic and easy.

[ThatGreen]

@EmjayH@Dominique@Ashym  Even if trendweight is a great tool, I think it's important to mention that it can be a bit stubborn and lag behind, especially if the weight loss is very irregular.

Just as it was catching up to my real deficit and weight last month, I hit a long, hard plateau and while my body seems to have mostly snapped out of it over the last week, trendweight still shows the following:

According to Fitbit burns and strict logging with MFP, I've had a minimum 1000 calorie deficit per day for the last month. My mid-way goal weight is under 3 kg from my actual weight today and by math alone (assuming calories in/out are correct) I should be roughly 1 to 1.5 kg away from my goal today.

In any case, I expect to hit my goal (at which point I set a new mid-way goal) in 4 weeks, not 4 months.

[Ashym]

Yes I have

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[Mukluk4]

Increase your burn on your walks by slowly incorporating jogging.  Start resistance training.  Find a sport or outdoor activity that you enjoy and start that.

Without touching my diet and just busting **ahem** until I was dripping in sweat really kickstarted my journey.  I love basketball and could play at 320 lbs.  By focusing on other activities that improved my game/performance, I was able to get to 285ish in a bit over 3 years.  I've since started crossfit and changed my diet a bit and have dropped 20 in just under 2 months.  

I still eat fast food once or twice a week, have cake at the office when it's there, and will not turn down a burger at a cook out.  I just end up paying what's due in exercise.

What I don't do is drink alcohol, eat like crap more than 20% of the week, and watch more than 4 hours of TV in a week.

[Ashym]

It's just difficult fitting exercise in between work and maintaining a home. 

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[justMonica]

Believe me, I am an Office/HR Manager by day and a mom of 3, cook, maid and wife at night. I know how busy life can get but if there's a will there's a way. My "way" was giving up my lunch breaks just so that I can fit in 30 minutes at the gym. I just eat lunch at my desk since most of my food is prepared in advance anyway. 

What I was going to suggest is that if you think you've hit a plateau (and by this I mean no weight loss for several weeks), is to change something. Instead of doing spin class, maybe you can try a HIIT workout, running on the treadmill or something fun like a sport or Zumba class. Instead of eating 2000 calories, try eating 1500 calories instead or maybe a week of intermittent fasting. When I hit my body's "set point", I made small adjustments like these for a week or two while still staying within my calorie deficit and the scale finally began to move. Just be patient. Don't compare yourself to your fiance. You have two different bodies, metabolisms and ways of losing weight. It's all trial and error. Be a scientist. Pretend like your body is your lab and you'll eventually find out what works for you.