Weight Loss Help

[Bmarquez1997]

Hi Everyone!

I recently started using a FitBit Surge tracker, set up a food plan with a -1000 calorie deficit, and have been following it pretty well.  My typical calorie deficit is more or less around -1500 to -1800 each day.  My concern is why am I staying the same weight, and keeping the same body fat percentage?  I try to meet my step goal daily, walk at least 5 miles, drink enough water, and workout at least 3 or more times a week.  Am I doing something wrong?  I even eat mostly healthy foods, like fruits, veggies, and lean meats and fish.  Any tips or pointers will be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

[Heybales]

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@Bmarquez1997 wrote:

Hi Everyone!

I recently started using a FitBit Surge tracker, set up a food plan with a -1000 calorie deficit, and have been following it pretty well.  My typical calorie deficit is more or less around -1500 to -1800 each day.  My concern is why am I staying the same weight, and keeping the same body fat percentage?  I try to meet my step goal daily, walk at least 5 miles, drink enough water, and workout at least 3 or more times a week.  Am I doing something wrong?  I even eat mostly healthy foods, like fruits, veggies, and lean meats and fish.  Any tips or pointers will be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

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if you think bigger deficit is better - why don't you just stop eating and get it over with?

Whatever reasons you think of - you are slowly causing them still with that huge deficit.

You got over 75-80 lbs to lose for even the 2 lbs weekly to be a reasonable weight loss goal?

If not, you are just piling on stress on your body.

Stress elevates cortisol.

Cortisol retains water - upwards of 20 lbs.

Eventually if you keep that up, body will adapt too, and you no longer will have a 1500-1800 deficit daily.

So actually, you have NOT been following the plan pretty well - you have been missing your eating goal by a huge %.

Are you willing to get that far from goal weight and say that's close enough too, and stop the diet?

That's my suggestion - set a reasonable weight loss goal - you didn't gain it fast, don't attempt to lose it fast.

Meet your daily eating goal. May have to redefine what "healthy" eating is. Fat is needed by the way, should never be cut out or reduced too small. Have some peanut butter.

I'm scared to ask, are you eating even close to half what your body is burning daily according to Fitbit?

If so, no, the body doesn't like that.

[Bmarquez1997]

My main reasoning for the bigger deficit is that I am already eating between 1600 and 2000 calories a day.  I feel like I am not hungy through out the day eating that amount, and that the 3,000+ that fitbit reccomends would be too much.  So you are saying even though it seems like a lot of food, follow the plan closer and I will see more results?

[Heybales]

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@Bmarquez1997 wrote:

My main reasoning for the bigger deficit is that I am already eating between 1600 and 2000 calories a day.  I feel like I am not hungy through out the day eating that amount, and that the 3,000+ that fitbit reccomends would be too much.  So you are saying even though it seems like a lot of food, follow the plan closer and I will see more results?

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You feeling full and your body being fully fed for it's level of activity are NOT related. You can effect your hunger cues by undereating. Exactly the same way many got hunger cues when eating obviously enough to gain weight.

Same way you'd never notice a vitamin or mineral defficiency until enough time passed for a negative side effect to show up, and then got tested. The speed with which it shows up depends on the amount being under for the amount that is needed based on what you do.

Exactly the same way with calories. May show up faster or slower, but the negatives always do, and until it's really obvious, there are negatives too.

It's not about the total amount of calories you are eating that is the issue.

Because an older 5 ft woman and young 6 ft woman obviously won't have the same nutritional nor calorie requirements, so their bare bones bottom of barrel basic safetly level is different.

It's about the difference between eating and burning.

And there again, a 1000 cal deficit for someone burning 4000 daily is very different from someone burning 2000 daily.

If you are burning that many calories, but can't eat that much, then you need to not burn so much, because that's upwards of a 50% deficit - which is not healthy.

Even the morbidly obese 600 lb plus patients usually don't do 50% for that long, and during even that time the Dr's know their metabolism is going to slow down from under-eating that much.

But a daily burn of 6000 dropping to 4800 because of eating 3000, isn't that huge a deal yet, because they will still be losing weight with 1800 deficit. The huge negative comes later when eating 1500 and still having 100 lbs to lose, in which case how little do you eat now, or how much exercise is required, to still lose with a slower body.

So if you aren't losing 3 lbs weekly, then you have already caused that effect and slowed your body down.

Or worse, you are losing more and it's therefore muscle mass, which will suck big time later.

Either way, it'll make it very interesting to reach goal weight and maintain successfully.

Or, your workouts that cause such high daily burn readings aren't accurate calorie calc's, or are manually entered. And you don't actually burn that much.

That would be the hopeful saving grace, and perhaps bad logging so eating much more than you think.

What is the exercise type and what is estimating calorie burn?

A healthy body responds to workouts better, making better changes. Plus you can do the workout harder, and recover better. Recovery is hampered in a diet anyway, keep messing up recovery, and the workout can't be as hard as otherwise, which means even less need for changes.

A healthy body also burns just fat better.

Many think that low fat stuff is required for a diet, and that's just not true. Now, if high fat is taking away from say needed protein, that's not good either. But when you have enough calories to play with, that's usually not a problem, so fat is fine.

[Hope7]

Hello BMarquez1997

Honestly I don't use the food tracking features on my FitBit, so this will not be the most useful answer for info specific to FitBit.

I feel that the Fitbit calorie burn indicator and body fat measurements are truly just estimates. Helpful, but not totally accurate. To know for sure you could go see a Physical Therapist to determine your metabolic rate. Look at it this way, someone who weighs 175 lbs and is muscular is going to burn more calories than the same weight person who has less muscle and a higher body fat percentage. 

A Registered Dietitian would be the best person to advise you on nutrition. However, as an RN and Certified Personal Trainer, I can tell you that if you set your food intake too low, your body thinks it's starving and it will be harder to lose excess weight. Do make sure you have sufficient protein in your diet. Again, an RD could really advise you best.

Do some strength training 2-3 x/week in addition to your aerobic activities in order to build lean body mass and make yourself a more efficient calorie burning machine. Three times a week aerobic workouts are a good minimum. Being physically active for 30-90 minutes each day would be best. Of course this includes walking, which most of us FitBitters love. Easier said than done, though. You'll want to make any increases in intensity and duration gradual, and work out at a comfortable pace for you. 

I hope this info has been somewhat helpful. Remember that even if you are not (right now) meeting your weight loss goals, being physically active is a great thing for body, mind, and spirit. It sounds like you are really motivated. Good for you.

Best wishes and good luck!

[Bmarquez1997]

That Makes Sense.  I have pretty much been heavy since I was a kid, and was always told that I should have x amount of calories, no matter how much I move or don't move in a day.  With all of this new techology, I figured as long as I eat enough calories, and felt full, I would be fine.  Also, having 80 lb to loose, I thought that by maybe adding an extra 500 calorie deficit I would loose a little more each week than the plan is made for.  And Hope7, My workouts are usually a cardio warmup, about an hour of strength training, and then a cardio cooldown.  Thanks again for all of your help.

-Bmarquez1997

[PamelaHazelton]

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@Bmarquez1997 wrote:

That Makes Sense.  I have pretty much been heavy since I was a kid, and was always told that I should have x amount of calories, no matter how much I move or don't move in a day.  With all of this new techology, I figured as long as I eat enough calories, and felt full, I would be fine.  Also, having 80 lb to loose, I thought that by maybe adding an extra 500 calorie deficit I would loose a little more each week than the plan is made for.  And Hope7, My workouts are usually a cardio warmup, about an hour of strength training, and then a cardio cooldown.  Thanks again for all of your help.

-Bmarquez1997

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Since you just recently started, try setting your goal to a 500 deficit. Start slow, and you'll also leave room for the days you go overboard (and you will have those days).

You shouldn't be doing a one hour strength train daily, if that's the case. Cardio daily should be okay, though, so long as your doc says it is. 

Best of luck!!!

[Bmarquez1997]

Thanks for the advice.  And I only workout 3 times a week, so it isn't every day.  That would end up hurting me more than helping me.

[TandemWalker]

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@Bmarquez1997 wrote:

That Makes Sense.  I have pretty much been heavy since I was a kid, and was always told that I should have x amount of calories, no matter how much I move or don't move in a day.  With all of this new techology, I figured as long as I eat enough calories, and felt full, I would be fine.  Also, having 80 lb to loose, I thought that by maybe adding an extra 500 calorie deficit I would loose a little more each week than the plan is made for.  And Hope7, My workouts are usually a cardio warmup, about an hour of strength training, and then a cardio cooldown.  Thanks again for all of your help.

-Bmarquez1997

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You know  @Bmarquez1997 , exercise and diet is a balancing act. If you significantly increase your exercise regimen, it follows that you will need to provide your body with enough nutrients to meet the added energy demand.

Food is the energy that allows you to function, like fuel in a car.  So just as you would not expect to go for a 200 km drive on one litre of fuel, you want to make sure that your body has plenty of reserves to burn and plenty of immediate fuel to meet the demand. But unlike a car, which can only rely on the immediate supply, burning more than your food intake will cause your system to start burning stored energy - fat!

Well yes, that's good, that's what you want, right? But if you go at it too fast, if you take too big a bite (deficit),  with too large a gap between your energy needs (day-to-day imperatives, occupation, and your exercise regimen) and your food intake, it is not going to work - something will give, your game plan will backfire. Just look at the imposition here: On exercise days, you're going to burn 1,000 calories or more from activities, and at the same cut down the energy supply by 1,000 calories! Not a very good balancing act is it? My best advice is to set reasonable short-term targets and then go from there.

Also, working out three times a week and doing nothing for the other four days is not conducive to achieving a good balancing act IMHO. So while you should not do weights or resistance training that target the same muscle group two days in a row; or do the same cardio two days in a row, remaining active every day is not a bad thing. If I do walk/jog intervals one day, I will do cycling, punching bag workout, rowing to whatever-else cardio the next. If I workout my shoulders, biceps and triceps one day, I will give them a rest the next day and workout my legs and abs instead. Allowing your body to recover from a workout is just as important as the workout itself.

To me, an hour of strength training, if you only do a cooldown for cardio, is not a good balancing act. A 5-min warm-up, followed by a 20-30 min. cardio, followed by 15-min strength training workout, followed by a 5-min cool down and streching would be a better balancing act.

So these are my thoughts, not from an expert standpoint, but just as one fitbitter to another; from one who also had to struggle with weight all life long and whose genetic make-up was inescapable. So no matter what the charts say, the charts don't know me, my bone structure and my frame. All the male relatives on my paternal side were built like wrestlers. So this is just one more factor to keep in mind in trying to reach a healthy balance between food, exercise and weight loss goals.

At the end of the day, it's all about being more active and keeping our diet in check. Doing so should not feel like punishment and starvation. On the contrary, it should be fun. The exercise regimen, unless you enjoy your activities, will eventually fall by the wayside. Your diet, unless enjoyable and tasty, will likely not keep the hunger pains at bay will likely go by the wayside as well. Diet and exercise should be fun, not torture.

Hope this helps. Have a nice day.

TW