So Frustrated

[Merlin6971]

I am new to the fitbit app, I have been using the phone app for about 2 months now.  I have cut out soda completely, drinking recommended water per day.  I am walking 6000 steps a day now, initially started at 5000.  I lift weights 3 times a week.  I do not have a fitbit yet but plan to get one.  Within the first month I lost 5 pounds and within the second month gained that all back plus an extra pound. 

I am running at a 1000 calorie deficit on the dashboard.  My calories are always under.  I am so disappointed right now but plan to stay with it.  I have started drinking protein mix with my water and eating a protein bar for my lunches.  Just discouraging at this point.

[Mukluk4]

Personally, I wouldn't worry about the weight factor until you can get your activity up to a baseline of 10K steps a day.  

Assuming your a big guy like me, my goal is 3800 calories (not steps)

[Merlin6971]

Yes I am a big man, 266 pounds now.  I am trying to work up to the 10000 a day but I have knee problems and some days it is difficult to hit the 6000.  Thank you for answering that gave me some hope that I can get there.

[Esya]

You didn't get to 266 pounds in a day and so it is going to take time. There are many reasons why you might not be losing yet. But the good news is you started to create a healthier lifestyle. If you do that you will create something you can maintain for the rest of your life. Despite the fact that you have not lost yet, you might already feel healthier from cutting out the soda and increasing your activity.

I would like to suggest to not worry about protein mix and protein bars for lunch. Atleast check out what kind of protein bar you choose, as they can be high in calories and they can have lots of sugar in them.

The reason why you might not be losing is that you might not be on a 1000 calories deficit. It might be on paper, but not in real life. We are all different, so calories burned are an estimation. Also the calories in will be an estimation. Someone measured how many calories there are in some potatoes, but that does not mean that the potato you had that day is exactly that amount of calories (just an example). You will have to test this for yourself what deficit you need on paper in order to start losing weight. 1000 calories deficit sounds very large when your activity level is low. It might have you end up eating below your BMR (calories burned during rest), which is not recommended.

Seeing you are rather sedentary at the moment I would like to echo the suggestion of @Mukluk4 to increase your activity level first. That will increase your health very quickly despite the weight possibly not flying off  immediately (but there is more to health than just weight) and will give you room to work with a larger calories deficit (so the deficit does not make you eat below your BMR).

[Merlin6971]

Thank you for the suggestion about the protein bars and mix.  I was going off a friends suggestion to up the protein but never even thought to check those stats on them.  I do feel better with the increased activity.  I will have to check the bars that I got to make sure they are lower in calories.  It is this kind of support I need to get to my goal so thank you all so very much.  This community is great.

[Esya]

Protein is mostly needed for muscles. It is good you do weight training so you lose less muscle during your weight loss, but I think your focus for now is weight loss. So I would personally not worry about it (yet).

[Dominique]

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@Merlin6971 wrote:

I do not have a fitbit yet but plan to get one.  [...] I am running at a 1000 calorie deficit on the dashboard.

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Just curious: how do you know your deficit is 1000 calories if you don’t have a Fitbit? I understand you can use the app and log your intake with it, but AFAIK it’s only by wearing a Fitbit tracker 24/7 you’d have an estimate of your energy expenditure (calories burned) on a day-to-day basis.

[alcarcalimo2364]

Merlin, how well are you tracking the food you eat? Weight loss is 80% your diet. Cutting out soda is great, but I'm just wondering what other steps you've taken.

If you'd like any help, I started off at 235 lbs and I'm down to 199 just today (woohoo! finally under 200).I had actually been trying to lose weight before that, but hadn't really monitored my diet that well until February. It wasn't until I really started tracking my calories that I began to lose the weight.

[Mukluk4]

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@Merlin6971 wrote:

Yes I am a big man, 266 pounds now.  I am trying to work up to the 10000 a day but I have knee problems and some days it is difficult to hit the 6000.  Thank you for answering that gave me some hope that I can get there.

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Not to throw you under the bus, my brother.  But I think this is a very important message for anyone seeking advice from the boards.

You and I are very close in weight (I'm 265 on a good day, probably 269 on average and losing), but you and I are on very different activity levels.  

My BMI says I'm a ham sandwich away from a heart attack, but for me to get to "ideal body weight" would require me to be 0% body fat and still lose about 10 lbs of lean mass (NEVER gonna happen).

I'm 40, 6'1 with 35% BF, not great, but I also am in excess of 100 active minutes a day, averaging about 120kish steps a week.  I was running full court basketball twice a week with men in their 20's at 320 lbs.  Granted I had to compress and ice for 60 minutes and I ended up pulling muscle from my pelvis (but I still did it!).  Now I play 4-5 times a week without needing either afterwards.

Lesson #1:  Your weight is not the whole story.  There are some very key informational pieces that are need to provide any type of sensible advice to make lasting changes.

Lesson #2:  While the intentions are good, you have to take anything here with a grain of salt.  You really need to speak to your doctor and seek out a personal trainer/nutritionist to help you get to where you need to go.

[JenniferinFL]

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@Merlin6971 wrote:

I am new to the fitbit app, I have been using the phone app for about 2 months now.  I have cut out soda completely, drinking recommended water per day.  I am walking 6000 steps a day now, initially started at 5000.  I lift weights 3 times a week.  I do not have a fitbit yet but plan to get one.  Within the first month I lost 5 pounds and within the second month gained that all back plus an extra pound. 

I am running at a 1000 calorie deficit on the dashboard.  My calories are always under.  I am so disappointed right now but plan to stay with it.  I have started drinking protein mix with my water and eating a protein bar for my lunches.  Just discouraging at this point.

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I didn't see anyone recommend trendweight yet. So, I will say sign up for trendweight. It's free. If you weigh and log your weight here regularly, it should import into trendweight and tell you what your actual deficit has been. My deficit on here is 1000 calories, with careful logging and fitbit data from a Blaze. However, my actual deficit is lower than that. Last week my actual was around 638 calories per day, this week it's more like 759 calories per day deficit. But, part of that is I figured out what food I was eating had an inaccurate nutritional label.