Please can you help..... very FRUSTRATED

[JCB578]

Good afternoon, 

Since 2012-2014 I have lost over 13 stone with fitnes pal and going to the gym EVERY DAY and partaking in high intense exercises. Anyway last year I had to stop going to the gym and gained 1.5 stone I was 26 stone. Now 12 stone 7lbs. I want to be 11 stone 

I brought a fitbit and started using it January this year and I have always continued with fitness pal throughout. 

Anyway, I walk ALOT and I jog 3 times a week, so my average daily steps are 30,000 highest being 49.49 miles in a week. I have calculated and altered my stride length so I know it is accurate. I am also using another step device and that is also stating the same. Heart rate is a steady 115bpm when walking and 146 bpm while jogging 

My resting heart rate is only 52bpm - I wonder if this effects my metabolism? 

My average calorie a day burn is 3000. (I know this might not be accurate)   all my stats are correct ive checked over and over.  

My daily calorie intake is between 1400 and 1600. I do not  eat meat, I do not drink alcohol. I calculate everything, including milk in my coffee. My diet is monitored through fitness pal. 

Anyway I have only lost a total of 5lbs in almost 5 months. I have since upped my daily steps over the last two months but nothing. 

I do have IBS and this causes bloating plus other side effects some days I can gain 5lbs over night. I do take medication but still nothing. 

Can anyone offer any suggestions/advice. I have been to see the GP and they can not find anything medically wrong with me. 

[JenniferinFL]

Is there a food that you eat all the time that might not have an accurate calorie count?

I really liked this one brand of frozen chicken, but, didn't have the deficit I should have had on the scale when I ate this chicken. When I swapped it for a different brand I started losing again. Basically, this breaded frozen chicken was supposedly only 150 calories for 4 ounces. Other similar breaded chicken is more like 220 calories for 4 ounces. Because of how often I ate it, it made a difference for me.

I'm sure someone will come along with a better response. But, I thought I would share my experience as I had a perplexing couple weeks when I should have lost 4 lbs and only lost 1.2 lbs.   

[JCB578]

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my message. 

I weigh and scan bar codes to insure everything id correct. 

[JenniferinFL]

Sorry for the misunderstanding. 

I mean that sometimes the food processor/manufacturer actually has incorrect information on the label. 

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/label-lies

Sorry, I couldn't find a newspaper article from that time, just that website. 

Here is the scientific journal:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20102837

Basically, companies misstate how many calories are in their foods to get the dieters to buy them. Or, something along those lines. 

[JCB578]

Thank you, my GP did mention something about this. It wrong that companies can do this....its shocking actually 

I have read a few articles since. I mainly eat veg, peppers, onions, pasta, rice, potatoes, quorn food, home made curry,  chick peas, beans, pulses, bread only once a day and crumpets two a day, with 20g of butter. I do eat an ice lolly at night or a small bag of sweets/popcorn at the weekend. 

I also have three rich tea biscuits with a cup of coffee with my children went we get home from school/work. 

Again, i am always well within my daily limit and I burn ALOT of calories walking/jogging. 

[Bill_k]

The numbers don't make a lot of sense on the surface because you should have a big deficit but you ARE eating a lot of carbs and when you exercise they get burned first .

In lower carb diets with more protein and fat content you should burn more fat.

You might try that.

 Also did they check you for type 2 diabetes? That affects how you process carbs and sugar in your diet.

[JCB578]

I've had blood tests and glucose tests. Everything appeared ok.

 I'm eating the same foods as I did when I lost 13 stones.

[DavidSchneier]

Your calories burned number is wrong, it's the only logical explanation. I  subtract 600 from what FitBit estimates by burn rate to be and that aligns with my overall weight loss/management results. I should also point out that I have hypothyroidism so that number may not work for you, but you need to figure out what the adjustment should be.

[JCB578]

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my message. 

I do also wear a heart rate monitor and I use another app on my phone to track steps, heart rate and calories burnt. They all match up within 200 calories. 

Yesterday I went walking for 6 miles and completeed a 7 mile jog, my calorie burn was 850, both on my heart rate monitor and fitbit. 

[JCB578]

I can totally see your point, and I have questioned this a lot. 
I decided to then wear a HR monitor and that's lower by about 200 calories.

I went for a 7 mile walk and 6 mile jog yesterday, my calories on both was 850.

Plus, I don't eat a massive amount 1400-1600  cals a day.
I weighted myself on Friday and again just now, I'm 3lb heavier!!  

[Dominique]

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@Bill_k wrote:

you ARE eating a lot of carbs and when you exercise they get burned first .

In lower carb diets with more protein and fat content you should burn more fat. 

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Fat loss/gain is affected primarily by energy balance: if you eat a low-carb diet, but are in a caloric surplus, you will gain fat. If you eat a high-carb diet, but are in a caloric deficit, you will lose fat.

As to what is used for fuel during exercise, it’s a mix of all macronutrients. The relative share of each macronutrient varies according to HR: for anaerobic exercise, your body will use more fat and less carbs (hence the name "fat burning zone"), for aerobic exercise, it will use more carbs and less fat. For extremely intense exercise (peak HR zone), it will be mostly carbs. In low-carb/ketogenic diets, you’re training your body to use fat as its main fuel (since there may not be enough carbs to sustain your activity and other needs), but whether or not you’re actually losing fat still depends on energy balance. 

[Dominique]

Stones don’t tell me anything, so I’ll convert them to metric, and see if I got your weight history right. You were 165 kg (26 st) in 2012. You went down to 83 kg (13 st) in 2014. Halving your weight in two years is a huge achievement, btw. You gained 9 kg (1.5 st) in 2016, which put you at 92 kg. You’re currently (2017) 79 kg (12 st 7 lbs) and would like to be 70 kg (11 st).

My first comment would be that what you consider to be too slow progress ("only" 5 lbs loss in 5 months) should be viewed as successful maintenance of a historically low weight. Any additional time spent maintaining (or even slowly decreasing) your weight is a victory and will increase the chance your weight won’t rebound.

Regarding your energy expenditure as estimated by your Fitbit, the stress is on estimated: it’s not exact science and your calories burned could be off for a number of reasons. If you carefully track your intake and your weight, you should be able to determine by how much Fitbit overestimates calories burned.

How old and tall are you? You could use an online calculator such as this one to double-check the numbers. My impression is that an intake of 1400-1600 calories is rather low for someone your weight and with your activity level. 

[JCB578]

Thank you for your message. It was a very interesting read!! 

My height is 5foot 9inches. 

I have set my fitness pal to little exercise hence why I'm eating between 1,400 and 1,600. 
I know that I'm very active, however if I ate 1,800 a day I would be obese in no time.

I brought a new heart rate monitor and so far today my fitbit claims that I've burnt 2421 cals but my new heart rate monitor says 1549. MASSIVE difference.  

[Bill_k]

That's awesome. I can go back to eating mostly spaghetti and bread with no worries then . Sweet.

[Esya]

@Bill_k

Whole grain pasta and bread (and rice for that matter) are actually healthy foods.

[JCB578]

I feel like I hardly eat anything, let alone bread!! Ha ha. 

I can not believe fitbit are over estimateing my calories by 1000+ per day.

I wonder why I only burn very little calories without exercise.....    

[Bill_k]

Well whole grain pasta tastes like grainy crap so i don't do that . White only.

[Mukluk4]

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@JCB578 wrote:

I feel like I hardly eat anything, let alone bread!! Ha ha. 

I can not believe fitbit are over estimateing my calories by 1000+ per day.

I wonder why I only burn very little calories without exercise.....    

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What fitbit are you using?  If it's step based, I would double check your stride length as that will have a HUGE impact on your calorie burn.

[JCB578]

Thanks for your message. 

I've changed my stride lengh because before I was burning 5000 calories 

I'm using fitbit blaze

[JCB578]

I've just changed my weight from my actual weight of 12 stone 8lb to 

3 stone and its reajusted my calories from 3,345 to 2,305 .