Stuck on a weight & calories in vs. out are confusing me.

[saraj91]

Hi All, 

I'm just over halfway through my weight loss journey & I'm stuck.. I've been on my current weight for almost 2 weeks & I'm starting to get frustrated.

Here's my stats:

24

5ft 4

23/3: 13st 4lbs (186lbs)

10/9: 10st 13lbs (153lbs)

Exercise: 2 5k runs a week, 1hr badminton & recently started a bootcamp dvd 30 mins, once a week.

Average day I burn about 2100 cals (more on exercise days).

So I've lost 2 & a bit stone (33lbs), but recently I'm finding it more & more difficult to loose weight. 

I have a food goal set up to have a -750 cal deficit each day on the FB Dashboard (loose 1 1/2 lbs a week). I use MyFitnessPal to track what I eat & have the same goal set up, the app said I should aim to eat 1200 calories a day then it takes exercise into account vs. what I've eaten. So if I ate 1500 calories & burned 300 extra through exercise then I was good, but constantly I noticed I was 'Under' on the FitBit dash. I tend to stay very close to the 1200 cals in, occasionally over at the weekend but I exercise more then so that counter balances it. 

So, in a nutshell, I'm confused. Between the 2 apps I don't know what is correct. I've read other threads where people have said if you don't eat enough then it can slow the progress of weight loss because of the way the body reacts. So is my current 1200 cal in too low vs. what I burn? Could this be slowing my weight loss in someway? 

I hope what I've written makes sense as I could really do with some advice from this fab community of fitbitters..

Sara

[Needler]

Plateaus are definitely frustrating.   When I get here, I just remember that the body takes time to adjust to a weight and needs to "catch up".   Try to just focus on doing your program and take your eyes off the scales.   My last plateau lasted 7 weeks!  I was SO frustrated; wanted to give up.   But, then one day I got on the scale and I had lost 3 pounds, just like that.   Your body right now is trying to catch its breath, just like you would be if you'd been sprinting.   Hang in there!

[saraj91]

Thanks @Needler that is a good & more positive way of looking at it! 

[jogginjulie]

The cals in/cals out meter can be misleading as it is taking into account in v out at that particular point in time.

I log all my food that I have planned to eat for the day in MFP first thing in the morning.  As a result the fitbit dash says that I am "over" for most of the day.  By the time the evening comes and I have lived, breathed and exercised it will finally level out in the green.

That said, if your burn 2100 cals and consume 1200 then you are -900.  If you have fitbit set for -750 the dashboard would show you as being "under"

[Farica]

Thanks for the info, Needler. I find the plateaus frustrating and discouraging, I know I've given up on diets many times in the past because I thought they just weren't working and it was pointless to continue. I see a lot of people experience them but the implication seems to be that they only last for a short period of time. Losing weight definitely doesn't work the way dieticians have been telling us - "all you have to do is have a deficit of 1000 calories per day and as long as you don't cheat, you will lose two pounds a week, it's all a matter of maths - so it's guaranteed!"

I just got over one I thought was going to last forever but the numbers are starting to drop again, thank heavens.

[Needler]

My observation about weight loss as I've done a lot of it in my life (followed by a lot of weight gain, which is the problem) is that weight-loss starts off being consistent 2 to 3 pounds per week. Once you reach a certain point, it's like your body has to stop to breathe and rest and wait a while and then weight tumbles quickly for a brief period of time followed by another rest or plateau.

Sent from my iPhone

[elliewc]

My daughter - who is an eating psychologist - would say that you are not eating enough. If you regularly eat only 1200 cals but burn through 2000 plus you need to eat more. Sounds counter-intuitive but your body goes into starvation mode and starts burning muscle rather than fat if you don't take in enough.  Try eating more for a few weeks and see what happens. Keep to around 250 under the allowance rather than 750 - that is too extreme. 

Let me know how you get on. sometimes a change kick starts the fat burn again.

[saraj91]

Thanks @elliewc for the advice, I'll try eating a bit more over the next few weeks, healthy stuff, but enough to up the calories by a bit so the deficit's isn't quite so much. 

I have read about how the body reacts to low calorie intake vs. burn in a few different threads & that's what got me thinking & confused over my current calories in vs. out. 

I've been looking at healthy snacks to have at work & at home as I don't tend to snack so much anymore, like eating a good trail mix & some dried fruit etc. & maybe more protein with dinner & lunch. Small changes like that perhaps.

[juicysgot]

Agreed!  Eat more to lose weight!  Just eat good foods.  Easy peasy!!  🙂

[divedragon]

Plateus are frustrating and I just came off of one myself.  With today being weigh in day, the previous two weigh ins had me stuck at 214.  The week leading up to last weeks weigh in I increased steps by 50% and introduced some resisteance exercise to shake up the body, but it didn't result in any weight loss.  Last week I began a protocol known as Intermittent Fasting (there is a tread on this topic.).   In essence, you define a 4-8 hours window known as your feeding time and you consume all the calories alloted for the day.  At the end of the window you stop eating until the same time the next days.  This will have you fasting 16-20 hrs each day.  There are other variations such as alternate day fasting as well.  If you google it, you'll find a ton of resources on the subject.

My result today?  I'm down 3 lbs to 211.7

[saraj91]

Congrats @divedragon on the -3lbs!

Intermittent Fasting is not something I am familiar with, I might struggle with it as my work day is 8 & a half hours & I don't do very well without some type of breakfast (get a bit shakey & lightheaded). But perhaps with the right time window it could work, maybe a later breakfast at work or something along those lines. I will look into it, thank you for the advice! 

[elliewc]

hi Saraj

Dried fruit is also high in sugar so maybe that's not the best solution. Can you not take 'real' fruit? Like bananas? Or fruit snack pots from the supermarket? More protein would be good but veg and carbs also - I know there is a plate out there you can buy which says 50% veg and then 25% protein and 25% carbs. Never an issue for me being a vegetarian! I eat loads of veg. But I agree what to snack on is a problem. Have you tried cereal bars? Or a few almonds? snacking is a problem for me as I like to eat small meals and 5 a day so I eat lunch in 2 bits....which is the equivalent of snacking! But I am trying hard to reduce sugar as I love it! And raisins are full of sugar ...

[divedragon]

Skipping breakfast is the most common schedule, but its not mandatory.  What you need is an 8 hour window in which you eat.  If you enjoy breakfast, eat it and then lunch. So lets say you eat breakfast at 7am.  You can continue to eat until 3pm, but from 3pm until 7 am do not eat.  Figure what works best for you, the only rule is 16 continuous hours without eating.  you can drink water, black coffee, tea, etc, but nothing with calories.

Most people do the breakfast skipping as lunch and dinner are more sociable times, but its what works for you.

[saraj91]

Thanks for the suggestions @elliewc, yes I much prefer 'real' fruit. Nothing beats a good crunchy apple 

I added a bunch more fresh fruit & veg to the shopping list this week, figured I'd cut them up & create a snackpot type thing to take to work each day.

Also an organic/wholefoods type shop just opened in my town so I might check that out this weekend, see if they have any healthy snack or lunch options.

I've altered my food goal on the dashboard to have a deficit of 500 calories (instead of 750) & also did the same on MFP app but it only increased my recommended calorie intake from 1200 to 1290. Doesn't seem like much of a change. I might manually set up a goal, & perhaps set it to have 1500 in & if i typically burn 2000-2200 ish a day then that would allow for my 500 deficit? Will see how it goes.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far everyone