Questions about weight loss?

[dswatik590]

started using Fitbit a few weeks ago. I am always over budget and keep gaining weight every week. for example says imtook in 1414 cal in and 2997 out. I thought you loose weight if your intake of calories is lower than your outtake of calories, no? this example says I am under budget, I worked out for 15 minutes doing a  cardio workout on the VR and rode my exercise bike for half a hour. My Fitbit says my total calories is 1997 a day. Could I be eating to many carbs? I drink one gallon of water each day as it tells me. Either I am always under or over budget. How do I get in the zone so as not to be over or under budget? Help 

Moderator edit: subject for clarity/format  

[Heybales]

You lose fat weight if you eat less than you burn.

Too big a deficit include some muscle mass too, that's a real bummer.

But weight change is much more than fat - water weight changes constantly.

It's not carbs, that doesn't prevent fat loss. If they cause you bloating personally then there is extra water probably!

To be in budget - frankly avoid that gauge, I rarely find people finding it useful as the day progresses. It's a point in time math figure - but rarely does anyone actually eat in that manner to match their eating to their burn as the day actually progresses.

Some people want a bigger dinner, as they may eat that with family, or they don't need breakfast.

Just look at your daily Food Plan, what's left. Now, that is also an estimate of what you'll burn daily, based on burn so far, and estimated to end of day. Obviously rest of the day could be good or bad estimate - you'll start getting an idea of what your daily total is around for better planning, besides the fact near end of day is best estimate - have snacks to finish the day off correctly. Being 100 above is better than constantly being 100 below goal.

As to potential weight changes - fat is not fast, lost or gained, but water is. How much are you gaining each week?

Cardio asks your body to store more glycogen in the muscles to sustain the aerobic load you are asking your body to do - that stores with water.

Stress from undereating more than body wants increases cortisol, which increases retained water throughout body - upwards of 20 lbs slowly. How many weeks of fat loss could that hide?

Hence the reason to log some measurements too - scale is not the whole story and not always honest for fat loss.

Of course body under that kind of stress to do that is not good short or long term.

If you really are eating at 50% deficit - ya, that's extreme and stressful. Extreme diets are part of the 80% failure rate to reach or maintain goal weight.

Shoot - depending on how much to lose, 20% deficit could be too much.

How much weight do you have to lose to healthy weight?

Now, to that - your workouts may be getting inflated calorie burn - so not really burning as much as Fitbit estimates.

What are your workouts?

Your food logging may not be that accurate either - you may be eating more than it shows.

Are you logging all foods eaten weight, grams - not by measurements cups, spoons, or "about 3 servings per package"?

So you may not be at an extreme 50% deficit, but still could be stressful enough for body to start adapting - that's not good if you have a bit to lose to healthy weight.

[dswatik590]

I have to loose close to 200 pounds. I don't 7nderstand the calorie in vs
calorie out. Also the over and under budget I am constantly getting. I
drink a gallon of water a day, ride a exercise bike for 3o minutes every
night also . Fitbit says I need 1750 calories daily to loose 2 pounds a
week. I gain about 2 to 4 pounds per week for past month. I was on Jenny
Craig and lost 12 pounds in 2 weeks but stopped cause we couldn't afford
it any longer. I am doing ww now and using fitbit versa. Maybe need to up
protein intake? My calrie intake is always less than calories out when I go
bed. I am so depressed.

[Heybales]

Well, it's not about what your current weight is. You don't provide enough stat's to figure anything from that.

It's about how much do you have to lose to get to healthy weight?

Or what is your healthy weight goal?

More protein can help with not losing muscle mass normally lost on a diet. If your deficit isn't too extreme.

It can also help you not feel as hungry - do you feel hungry all the time?

About how many grams of protein do you average daily?

Calories In VS Calories Out. (CICO)

If you have $10,000 in your bank account, and spend $2500 weekly on food, fun, and entertainment, and through work and wages you put into the account $2000 weekly - what's going to happen?

The $10,000 is your fat reserves. That's CICO.

Sadly in the case of your body, how much you put IN can also effect what your body is willing to put OUT.

Hence my question about how much weight you have to lose.

Please reread my post for some good info as it likely will apply.

I tried to Bold some questions to answer. Need those answers.

[dswatik590]

Debra Swatik
5:50 PM (2 minutes ago)
to Fitbit
currently weight 336 need to be down to 170 over well over 150 to loose. I
can never seem to be in zone no matter what I do.as for protein we consume
about 172 grams of protein, 76 of fat and 218 grams of carbs that was
yesterday.
now so far today I have 133 g of carbs, 51g of fat and 72 g of protein and
it saying 1185 calories in and 2236 calories out and 309 left in budget
hence I am under budget right now.

could you put this in laymen terms I am confused big time here. what am I
doing wrong

[Heybales]

So a 1000 calorie deficit (meaning you burn 1000 more in the day then you eat) is reasonable for amount left to lose.

When you get to 50 lbs left to lose - change your Diet plan option to 750 cal deficit.

When you get to 30 lbs left - change to 500 cal.

When you get to 15 lbs left - change to 250 cal deficit.

And I would strongly recommend that when you get to 100 left - take a week break from the diet and eat at maintenance - meaning you eat what you burned that day. This will allow reseting the hormones. Do that week at maintenance each time you lose 10 lbs from then on.

90 left - diet, break. 80 left - you get the idea.

Please disable that Zone tile - it's not useful for you. It's frankly not useful for very many people.

So using your figures as of 5:50 pm, meaning 6:10 hrs left to the day, or 370 minutes until midnight.

Fitbit estimates you have burned so far 2236 in whatever your activities were, everything included.

For a 1000 cal deficit, that would mean an eating goal right then of 2236-1000 = 1236

You have eaten so far 1185, so 1236-1185 = 51 more calories just to reach that goal right then, hence under budget.

But the day isn't over - for rest the day, you can eat 309 more calories total. 51 + 258 more calories Fitbit expects you to burn until midnight.

If you just had dinner, you can have a snack later.

But again as I mentioned earlier - don't use that tile.

Just look at your daily Food Plan, what's left?

Use today's figures from that.

As to that daily burn - what are your activities and workouts?