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Not Losing Weight

Good afternoon!

 

I've been going at this by myself, but I finally decided to stop in and see what others may say.

 

In the past (while I was in college), I was very active, but a couple of years ago I got a full-time job, marriage and all the fun responsibilities, so I stopped working out like I used to (7 days a week, with breaks only if I had a cold).

 

I've been bringing myself back into it, but the weight doesn't seem to be coming off. It's frustrating! I only weight myself once a week on a Monday, to log it before I start the week off. For the past 3 of those, I barely saw any change, apart from 2 pounds initially.

 

Hence, a question of how accurate is FitBit tracking. I tend to presume it's not AWFULLY accurate, in terms of calorie burn during exercise, but what about other aspects?

 

I work out 6 days a week for 1.5 hours (intensive circuit for 30 minutes & elliptical for 30 minutes before and after that), my average calorie intake for a day is around 1500, which is a comfortable range for me, and allows me the benefit of eating a bit more on the weekends, when I want to have a meal out with family, for example.

 

Still, the fact that the weight isn't coming off is frustrating. What could be an issue? Just looking for feedback from people who've been through the process.

 

My averages / day:

Steps - 12000

Floors - 7

Miles - 5.2

Calorie Burn - 4000

Active Minutes - 125

 

Stats:

Height - 6ft

Weight, atm: 262lbs

 

To note after all that: I do have a lot of muscle. I did close combat martial arts for a while, so I have absolutely zero issue with exercise in terms of intensity (it's hard as hell, but my body can manage it still). Obviously, it's not perfect and I want to die after each workout, but I don't feel like I'm working at max capacity, yet.

 

I don't feel restricted with food, either, but I am wondering if FitBit tracks calories well. I eat almost the same thing every day though, and it's fine accourding to MyFitnessPal, as well.

 

Any ideas?

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270 REPLIES 270

 I have a few ideas.

Your exercise may be excessive for your calorie intake.

Sounds like your logging food, which is helpful. What is your daily energy deficit?

Runner Trainer Fitbit Junkie
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Thanks for your advice...Smiley Happy

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Get a good personal trainer and/or a nutritionist. 

 

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There have been a lot of great suggestions on this thread.  Namely, weighing at the same time daily, but following trends over time rather than being too concerned with a particular day's weight is best.  It takes approximately 3,500 extra calories (beyond what you expend from exercise and basal metabolic rate) to gain 1 pound.  So, one day of eating badly is not likely to be of consequence.  However, the difference between gaining weight and losing weight over time is often only a matter of 100-200 calories per day.  I read an excellent addressing this called Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink.  What I learned in this book allowed me to lose 27 lbs and keep it off so far.  

As far as the rate of weight loss, 1/2 pound per week is ideal as that rate of weight loss is slow enough so as not to trigger your metabolism to slow significantly. 

Hope this helps. 

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@Dwaterman -- Congratulations on your weight loss, and I think you are definitely on track in focusing on slow weight loss and avoiding mindless eating.  Unfortunately, I recently learned, Brian Wansink's research methods may not back up his theories.  Just read this today.

Scott | Baltimore MD

Charge 6; Inspire 3; Luxe; iPhone 13 Pro

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It appears he was fudging results pertaining to a study of the effects of music on eating.  However, it is estimated (through research) that 90% of all medical research study results cannot be replicated.  We still base all medical decisions on it. You have to start somewhere.  And self-efficacy/placebo does count for something.   Not all of his findings are likely trash.  For example, eating off smaller plates, plating all of your food, rather than eating out of a bag, putting portions of your food at a restaurant in a to-go box before starting your meal or eating more slowly so that the satiety center in you hypothalamus has time to detect you have eaten enough.  Like I said, I've kept 27 pounds off over a year.  Try it if you like. 

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What a piece of rubbish! First: "Medical Decisions" such as our medications are based on clinical trials with 10 to 100 Thousand of people, are randomized, double blinded and controlled for risk factors, life styles, medications etc. The results are expressed by significance and usually are repeated before FDA approval except maybe for fast track cancer medications. Second: All the clinical studies are based on year long research from inception of a drug target to preclinical trials in multiple animal species. Also here significance in multiple studies is critical to advance a drug into clinical trials that easily can reach 1 billion Dollar these days. People that look down on research like @Dwaterman are usually those that cry the loudest when they need a drug in disease.

I like to emphasize that I am not talking about the publication of some outlandish study in a small journal. Of course you will find that too but this will never precipitate in a new drug. Just my 2 cents as scientist ...

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@Dwaterman wrote:

It is estimated (through research) that 90% of all research studies cannot be replicated.  ...


I love that line  😆. You results speak volumes @Dwaterman.  Especially how you have internalized the changes you’ve made to maintain a 27 lb weight loss.  That’s a big deal.  Thanks for adding to the conversation.

Scott | Baltimore MD

Charge 6; Inspire 3; Luxe; iPhone 13 Pro

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Gorillarunner, likely you are a pharmaceutical researcher.  I agree that pharmaceuticals may have more rigorous trials.  But, you would agree that a substantial number of medical decisions do not involve pharmaceuticals.  By the way, you may notice my initial response had nothing to do with pharmaceuticals but rather eating practices.  It is true that an large number of medical decisions are based on nothing more than collections of case studies...far from randomized double blind studies.  Here's a scary example, check out the guidelines adopted by the American Board of Neurological Surgery pertaining to the management of head injuries.  They have recommendations, most of which are based on what are called "class 2' or "class 3" evidence.  Almost none are based on class 1 evidence  which would be your randomized double blind studies with significant power.  .  

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Well, I am not familiar with your cited example. But again if it comes to a particular publication. The quality of the paper and the quality of the journal speaks usually for itself. Garbage is not cited very often in the literature. Good science on the other hand can provide milestones in research. Meta-analysis using several publications can deliver a good way looking on what is out there if you like to answer a specific question like "Does eating bananas make you run faster?" (or maybe something of more serious nature Smiley Happy ). But here the same rule applies, if the meta-analysis is using 10 crap articles then of course your answer in this analysis will not be of high quality either.

Now if it's up to a decision that a physician is taking treating me, I will be the first one to question everything and challenge everything. Physicians are humans and they do mistakes, so its always good to read the literature yourself. For your particular example, I have no explanation but maybe there is no "class 1" evidence. If you are interested in that recommendation and it is affecting you personally, challenge your Neurologist or write to the Board for their reasoning.

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i think you will all find that 10 studies can have 10 different answers. it could be that 1 thing will work for some people and not others. in the situation that these posts are, its not about having a definitive case study result that wont help everybody, its about giving people different ideas so they might find a method that will work for them, give ideas on what they are doing wrong or give ideas on what they can change. 

its not about being right, its about giving hope that things arent futile. 

instead of arguing about study methods, its more helpful to share the studies and what the study tried. 

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I had a MS Band and the weight wasn't coming off.

I switched to a Fitbit Blaze and after a few months, the weight dropped off. What was the difference?

It was the Fitbit app, not the hardware. I started logging what I ate every day vs. what I burned off. Calories In / Calories Out. Want that Pizza, well you'll be in the red. 10,000 steps and a 2 hour bike ride to get under. Don't feel like doing that, don't eat the Pizza! lol! You get the idea........

 

I would log your food as accurately as you can every day. You start looking at it as a "budget". There will be cold and rainy days where you don't feel like doing much excersise. So you'll have a lean frozen meal thats 342 calories, instead of a huge steak with fries. It works.

 

Actually, it's the only thing that worked for me. Lost about 12 kilos in less than a year and still eat something nice and big once a week. Just lots of moderation elsewhere.

 

Give it a go!

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

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I did similar and agree completely the app (food logging required) did and still makes the difference.  I suggest setting a daily calorie max as I didn't find the Fitbit calculation to be that accurate.  I used the app to track food, sleep, steps, active minutes (Peak, Cardio, Fat burn), stairs, and analyzing my sports (bike w/ GPS, Tennis, walk w/GPS

 

The Food tracking is very easy to use.  Unfortunately, I stopped logging when I achieved my goal and gained a bunch of the weight back.

 

Thanks for your post.  I'm back to logging based on it.

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@bourby Well then I have to apologize 2 times. One time for not being clear and one time for not being helpful. In regards to the 10 studies leading to a bad meta-analysis, I was talking about 10 bad articles contributing to an overall bad End result. A single good study would consist of a large number of people, done right and is published in a good journal.

Now you are right in regards to individual case studies, as long as nobody tries to make conclusion to the main population. When we are talking about diets, I believe and may say "Every diet works and no diet works". Let me explain. All diet usually are in a certain way restrictive and as long as you maintain that restriction, you are probably ok. On the other hand, how many people are subsequently maintaining a lower weight. Probably few since a life style change is required. My personal opinion is start a diet in your head first and not before that. Once you are ready for it, pick the diet you like, lose the weight and make then or at the same time as the diet life style changes (exercise, food choices etc.).

BTW, I lost 50 lbs on a Keto/Atkins diet 4 years ago (in about 2 months) and sticking so far ....

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G'day @SunsetRunner,

 

Everybody is different so different things will and won't work but I'll suggest a possibility.

 

By looking at the information I am assuming that:

1. There is not adequate rest

2. A very high calorie deficit

3. Macros

4. Type of training

 

So lets look at the science. ADEQUATE REST IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL!!! 6 days of working out is great and all that but the body needs more than one day to rest. For example, intensive circuit training is quite taxing on the body and therefore requires time to recover as your body will experience periodisation which is when micro tears appear in the muscle and must then be repaired through rest and it appears that you are not allowing your body to rest. This leads into the next point of not enough calories.

 

You mentioned that 4000 calories seems a little high but lets assume that it's completely accurate. You are eating 1500 calories while burning a whopping 4000 calories. That leaves you with a deficit of 2500 calories. The problem with this is that your body starts to go into adaptive thermogenesis, which is when you eat too few calories and your body reduces the amount of calories burned to attempt to keep an energy balance to stop from losing more weight. To avoid this, Yous should only be at a deficit of 500 calories. This will allow your body to get majority of the calories it needs for periodisation and recovery while burning a steady amount of fat.

 

The next point are those macros. I have no idea what you're eating but the basic breakdown of carbohydrates, protein and fats go as follows:

To build muscle: 40-60% carbs, 25-35% protein, 15-25% fat

To maintain: 30-50% carbs, 25-35% protein, 25-35% fat

To lose fat: 10-30% carbs, 40-50% protein, 30-40% fat

Why are the macros broken down like this? Well, carbohydrates are essential for muscle gain as they supply the body with energy for workouts but more importantly, they supply the muscle with glycogen which aids in the recovery process. Protein is essential for muscle as protein supplies the body with amino acids, which are essentially the building blocks of muscle. Lastly, fat helps the absorption of vitamins and all that good stuff. So in your case, it seems like you want to lose fat. So by eating more fat, you are replacing carbs. By doing this, you limit the amount of insulin released by your body. When the body has lower insulin, your body can access fat stores easier allowing you to lose fat FASTER!!! Smiley Very Happy Keep in mind that when I say fat, I mean dietary fat.

 

Last but not least is the training. I may get shot down for this but whatever…Low intensity cardio like walking, jogging, elliptical training etc. is NOT as effective as high intensity interval training (HIIT) for fat loss. The reason for HIIT being so effective is that you burn more calories in a shorter amount of time but it also does magical things to your metabolism such as improving insulin sensitivity. This is important because the more insulin sensitive you are, the better you are at burning fat. Furthermore, HIIT increases post-exercise energy expenditure which means that your oxygen and calorie expenditure stay elevated way after the workout has been completed since the cells in the used muscle need to restore metabolic and physiological factors.

Some basic ideas of HIIT is sprinting. For example, a great sprinting HIIT workout is 40 seconds on and 10 seconds off. During the on period, you sprint 100%. This can be repeated as many times as you want but the more sets you do the harder/better the workout will become.

 

In conclusion, Allow your body to rest and recover, eat more until you are at a 500kcal deficit, change the macros so you eat fewer carbs to lower insulin response, and shake up workouts and maybe throw some sprinting HIIT workouts in.Smiley Very Happy

 

I hope all this helped and just remember that everybody is different so some things will and won't work for everyone.

 

 

 

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That is exactly what was happening to me. About 10 months ago, I ended up with a severe case of the flu and I was extremely exhausted all the time for quite some time after that (4 months) getting back to my energy level became a challenge and is still at times. Right after I had the flu instead of losing weight I notice I started to gain more and more. In a matter of three months after that I gained 20 pounds. I realized that my thyroid level, although borderline low was still considered "normal" well.... not for me in comparing it to my thyroid level last year, I notice a drop by 50%, when my blood levels where measured during the time I fell sick 10 months ago. I would suggest you following up with a Doctor and making sure your thyroid levels are within "Your" normal limits, hopefully you'll have past thyroid levels to compare the most recent one to.  Good luck with this Health System.

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Excellent post.  Thank you.  I've just recommenced calorie counting to control my weight.  2,000 a day is my target.  It worked for me in 2017 to lose 39 pounds.  Unfortunately I put over 20 of it back on.  Past experience which included 40 to 60 minutes a day of peak cardio tells me that will yield a weekly weight loss of 1.5 pounds...fifty percent greater than your recommendation.  

 

My cardio consists of either 60 minutes on an outdoor bike at 138-140 average bpm heart rate or two hours of tennis at a lower heart rate.  

 

I have maintained the activity levels but allowed too many sweets and french fries into my diet.

 

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

 

 

 

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@pjf53 — your cardio sounds fine.  The basic idea is to incorporate movement into your life in ways that make it easy to maintain the rest of your life.  For example, I get a lot of bike miles because my bike is part of my commute.  If you can work in some weights that would be good too.

 

But the weight problem is mostly about what and how much you are eating.  I’m all for logging, but think of some food swaps that make it easier to get to your 2K calorie target. Here are some suggestions: If you eat a lot of fries you are probably eating out a lot.  Try making more meals at home.  You’ll have a lot more control over what it going into your body.  When you do eat out, start substituting veggies for the fries.  If you always eat sandwiches throw away half the bread; and start experimenting with salads (not just greens, make it satisfying, add different veggies, beans, avocados, nuts, protein; clear dressings like olive oil and balsamic vinegar instead of creamy like blue cheese).  

 

For sweets, think about what you are doing when you eat them.  If you eat them throughout the day, maybe you need to eat more real food at meals. 

Scott | Baltimore MD

Charge 6; Inspire 3; Luxe; iPhone 13 Pro

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G'day @pjf53,

 

@Baltoscott said my thoughts exactly. 

 

Sounds like everything is great and results should be coming along nicely Smiley Very Happy. If you like your sweets and chips don't neglect them completely since balance is key. I would suggest that sweets should only be eaten straight after workouts or intense activity as the high sugars will be utilised in the recovery process and not in fat storage. Keep in mind that only little portions should be eaten and preferably not every day. As for the chips, you can try a method of 2 cheat meals a week. This means that you eat clean most of the week but for example, maybe one cheat lunch on Tuesday and a tasty cheat dinner on Saturday. This is great so you can still enjoy all the tasty food in life. Just keep in mind that these cheat meals should be nice small portions as the calories will probably add up quite quickly. 

 

Just as a possibility, the time of meals can also be considered. Some people like to eat 5 meals a day to shorten the time without food. By doing this, you will be eating every 3ish hours which keeps your metabolism elevated causing your body to constantly burn a few more calories throughout the day. The downfall is that it is quite a bit of work.  Also, this method allows you to eat smaller portions so you don't overload your body with massive calories in one sitting. 

 

Hope this helps you out. Smiley Very Happy

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Thanks.  It is helpful.

 

I am convinced I am addicted to sugar and alcohol.  I've quit alcohol many times...hopefully the last time is for good.  Sugar is posing similar problems for me.  It seems I struggle with moderation and have come to the conclusion eliminating sugar(other than naturally occurring such as fruit) is key to my controlling it.  One major benefit of this approach is my hunger is less pronounced.  Equally as important, I am diabetic (type 2) requiring I manage sugar.  

 

As for french fries they are just plain bad for you.

 

There is no question I miss my drinks, sweets and fries but I feel better without them.

 

 

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