Still Not Losing Weight! What now?

[ebrady135]

I'm a 20 year old female at 5'7" and 180 lbs. I do not eat any chips or soda, never eat fast food except chick-fil-a and even then I get grilled chicken with fruit. I only drink water, coffee, and occasionally a green juice. I am lactose intolerant so I drink almond milk, and only then in my coffee (one cup a day). I don't eat sliced bread except one or two slices of the gluten free kind. Only lean meats (turkey, chicken) and very few of those! I don't eat anything with added salt, in fact my bloodwork usually shows a sodium deficiency. I cook my foods with coconut oil and anything that produces grease I blot vigorously. I don't eat sweets ever, and when I do it's plain dark chocolate. I also take multivitamins, B12, B6, and exercise regularly (one hour of martial arts 3x a week, with lighter exercise on off days). Despite all this, I'm gaining weight! I feel like if I cut anything else out of my diet I will be eating celery and iceberg lettuce for the rest of my life. I am on the 1,000 calorie deficit plan and usually stay within it by 100 calories, give or take while also burning around 2,000 calories a day. I have hit a dead end and really need some advice.

[Dominique]

Welcome to the community, @ebrady135! Weight loss should be "easier" for you than for most people, as you are young and tall (for a woman). I entered your personal info into this online calculator, which puts your BMR at 1619. Your total expenditure (TDEE) would be 2226 (ligh activity) or 2510 (moderate activity). Which Fitbit tracker do you have and how many calories does it say you burn per day in average? I’d say that unless your step count is 15k or higher, if your Fitbit puts your expenditure much above 2500, it’s probably overestimating it. If your actual expenditure is around 2200-2500, it means you can only eat 1200-1500 calories in order to have a 1000 deficit. It’s not much for someone fairly active. For how long have you been tracking your intake and your expenditure? I’m asking since I see your Fitbit profile was created three days ago. How did you estimate your expenditure prior to that? You need some time (at least 3-4 weeks) before you can assess whether the numbers are correct or not.

[ebrady135]

I always burn 2,000 calories a day (I walk around a lot at a very brisk pace). I have the flex 2 and it has been accurate so far. I have been using it and tracking my calories since February or March. I usually eat 1,200 a day, making sure to use those calories wisely. This is not my first time trying to lose weight, and I have successfully done so before with this method, but for some reason I cannot seem to drop any weight this go around. 

[Dominique]

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@ebrady135 wrote:

while also burning around 2,000 calories a day.

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Oh, you did mention your expenditure (sorry for failing to see it, or maybe you added it when editing your post). 2000 sounds quite low for someone young and healthy. And a 1000 deficit is too high at that (fairly low) activity level. My advice would be to increase your overall activity level, especially low-intensity (e.g. walking) and informal (NEAT). High intensity activity (your martial art classes) is fine, but if it’s only 3 x 1 hour per week, it will have a limited impact on your total expenditure. You need to move more on top of that. What does this activity graph look like for you:

 

If the highest curve is the yellow one and the red one is almost flat, try to invert them.

[Dominique]

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@ebrady135 wrote:

I usually eat 1,200 a day, making sure to use those calories wisely. 

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I think it’s not a good idea to eat below your BMR for extended periods of time. Your calculated BMR is 1619, so 1200 is too low. 

[ebrady135]

I realize what exercises I do perform aren't extremely high, but while I was busy with school up until April I wasn't getting in any physical activity other than walking to class and my diet wasn't great. But since being done with classes I have started improving what I eat and getting more exercise but since doing this I have gained the weight. This is why I'm confused. So how many calories should I be eating? I feel like I'm eating too much even at 1200 when compared to calories burned 

[Esya]

If your BMR is about 1600 I would like to suggest you eat that and burn the rest by being active. If you eat below your BMR for an extended period of time, it might actually work against you. Being active does not mean doing more martial arts classes per week, but anything that stops you from sitting down. Try to limit your time sitting down as much as possible.

Weight loss can be slow (you did not gain the weight in 1 day either) and frustrating, specially during this phase while trying to find out what works for you. Keep trying things and it might take time, but you will find out what works for you.

[Dave001]

I don't think any one has yet asked the most important questions. 

Why do you want to lose weight?

Do you really want to (or need to) lose weight? Or do you feel you ought to lose weight due to external pressures?

If it's because of your BMI (28.2) have you considered the limitations of that measure and factored in things like your waist circumference?

Those questions (perhaps rhetorical!) out of the way...

It sounds as though you could exercise a little more. At twenty (oh to be 20 again!) myself and most of my peer group were exercising vigorously 3+ hours/day. Often very much more on non-working days. 

Are you eating enough fruit and veggies? I don't mean for weight management, simply for health. 

Unless medically indicated, I'm not sure why you'd take vitamin supplements. Essentially, they're a great way to make your urine very expensive!

[FatPug]

Are you actually weighing/measuring your food and logging every single thing you eat? Do you use a kitchen scale?

[waffle1]

I would encourage you to use a calorie counter app if you aren't already, and just log everything you're eating for a few days. See if this is matching up with your estimate of eating only 1200 calories.

The most likely explanation is that you're actually eating much more than 1200 cal/d. A 1000-calorie deficit is very large, and you would expect to see noticeable weight loss almost immediately, so the fact you're observing weight gain suggests otherwise.