last 5 kgs to loose but...it seems difficult!

[katanel]

Hi guys,

I've 42 years, 174 cm tall and weight arounds 80kgs. I'm wearing a Fitbit device for almost 1,5 years - bought my first Charge in 2015.

I'm trying to achieve my target of having 75kgs (BMI  < 25) but the last 5 kgs to loose seems to be more or less a complicate story.

I'm logging my daily food on MFP application which integrates with my Fitbit Charge 2 tracker. I'm walking around 10-12k steps per day (my monthly average is 12300 steps). I've a sedentary job (staying 8-9 hrs in front of a computer) but I'm going to gym 2-3 days per week (cardio and workouts). Also every 1hr I’m trying to make 250 steps or more.

I've set in MFP to loose only 0.2kg per week which means around 1828 calories daily (~500 calories less from my TEE which is 2285 calories) but in the last 3 months I only lose 0.9-1kg.

So, what I'm doing wrong? Should I go on a more aggressive calories diet on MFP like 0.5kg/week which means to eat around 1550 calories?

PS: I'm not eating back my calories (exercise added by Fitbit)

[katanel]

Hi @Dominique

Yes, I'm taking Omega 3 for almost 2 years regulary (3 months take, 1 month break) having salmon as source - this is because of my cholesterol level 😞

About Vitamin D - I heard that is good to be taken in the winter months.

It's interesting how you used trendweight.com and not calculate your calories in/out using MFP or another tool. I'm assume that you eat regulary same thing daily then...or not?

As conclusions from my part:

- try to eat not below my BMR daily (1700-1800 calories put as target in MFP)

- go to Gym for muscle growth because if I'm loosing weight it might be possible to loose also some muscle too and...I have to fight with my belly fat 🙂

- go on the easy way like loose 0.8-1 kg per month if possible

- try to stay on loose weight diet for 8 weeks and then go for maintenance like 2 weeks

Thank you all, I'll keep posted everyone about how the things will go...

Regards.

[elle22]

Re: ³I agree with everything else you suggested, except the above: if you
are going to eat 1800 calories during the day, it doesn¹t matter when you
eat them (and how you split them). If the described way makes it easier to
adhere to the diet, then fine. Otherwise any other way to spread your
calories across the day will work equally well.²

I would agree with you in theory but in fact trying to eat earlier, with the
lightest meal at dinner time, seems to work for me! Anecdotal evidence I
know but it does work! Not sure why. Maybe you burn off the calories at
night before they have a chance to ³settle². ???? Has anyone else had any
experience with this?

Mod edit: personal info removed

[katanel]

Hi @elle22,

To be honest it's my case too. If I eat let's say more than 40% calories on the evening my tendency is to add weight not to loose.

Regards.

[A_Lurker]

It's going to be different for everyone, but in my case I know I'm going to eat late at night, so I plan for it and leave calories for it.

[elle22]

Yes, don¹t we all want to do that? I try to curb that with herb tea or a
glass of wine, sometimes it doesn¹t work but more often that that it does.

Mod edit: personal info removed

[elle22]

Well it makes sense, better to eat earlier and burn it off with exercise.
(easier said than done!)
--

[Dominique]

---

@katanel wrote:

It's interesting how you used trendweight.com and not calculate your calories in/out using MFP or another tool. I'm assume that you eat regulary same thing daily then...or not?

---

Yes, you are correct: I don’t count calories in, but I do count my protein intake (except when I eat out). I do monitor my calories out with my Fitbit. The scale (with TrendWeight) is my main weight management tool, but for that, I need daily values.

I started tracking my protein intake in early 2016 and I’ve found out that 1) I previously ate far less protein than I thought, and 2) by the time I reach my daily protein goal, I’m no longer hungry, so it’s a pretty good way to avoid overeating.

I do eat pretty much the same things everyday (when I’m at home, which is most of the time), which makes "intuitive eating" a lot easier. I usually overeat when I’m travelling and there’s plenty of food on the table, especially when the destination is the US . Fortunately, I only have 2-3 such trips each year, and only one to the US.

[katanel]

Hi everybody,

I'm on the good way I must say:

In the week ending on January 8th I've gone from 80.4 kg down to 79.7 kg so 0.7 kg weight loss. Now, this week I'm a little bit stuck at 79.9 kg due to staying at home (I got cold) and not going to Gym for the moment.

Always at 1800 calories per day to eat (so 500 calories deficit).

Regards

[Dominique]

@katanel: don’t stress about weight fluctuations of a few hundred grams during the course of a few days. If you are doing the right things, you will see positive changes over a longer-term period.

[katanel]

Hi @Dominique,

Thanks, I know.

I plan to eat at maintenance level on the first week of February (after first 4 weeks with deficit) - let's see how it will be then. If I'll put weight back or not...

Regards.

[katanel]

Hi,

Well...I'm on the good way I could say.

After 4 weeks of 500 cals daily deficit (and not eating back my calories) and going to gym and swim almost daily I've down from 80.2 kg to 78.2 kgs (- 2kg)

Next week I will do a sort of break in, eating at maintenance level (I'm travel to Germany) so let's see how much I'll put back.

4 weeks trendweight.com graph

[Dominique]

Nice job, @katanel! Trips abroad can be challenging, especially if they include a lot of eating out, social events etc. Try to limit Schnitzel, Bratwurst and other German specialities .

[katanel]

Haha...

Yes @Dominique these are the most I fear... wurst, beer and schnitzel 

I will try to avoid salty food also...

[katanel]

Hi guys,

Well...probably I need to change this thread's title as after 2 months the evolution is quite good:

Weight: 76.3 ( -5.1 kg from 81.4 kg )

Body fat mass: 19.5 kg ( -2.8 kg from 22.3 kg)

Body fat %: 25.5% ( - 2.1% from initial 27.6%)

Lean mass: 56.6  kg ( -2.4 kg from initial 59 kg)

Calories deficit is around 300-400 each day and I'm not eating them back - just on social events, dinners.

Trendweight says that I'll achieve my goal around April 1st:

In the next period I'll focus on build more muscles (gym, swimming pool) and get rid of the belly fat completely 😛

[Dominique]

You’ve been doing great, @katanel! Your weight trend is almost like a straight line!

Fully getting rid of belly fat is tough, however! That would be when you’re seeing veins in your lower abdomen:

This requires a very low body fat %, one that is probably impossible to maintain year-round for most people.

[katanel]

@Dominique

thanks and thank you all for good advice!

Well...I'll try to get rid of the belly fat step by step paying attention to by back problems - to not force the spine.

So if anyone has a list of exercises which will not affect/bend too much the vertebral spine...I'm open to tips!

[Dominique]

You cannot "spot-reduce" fat: so no matter how many crunches you’re doing, they won’t cause fat to melt from your belly area. Ab exercises (if this is what you have in mind) may be useful to build stronger ab muscles and a stronger core, but they won’t affect fat in your mid-section. You need to reduce overall fat and hope it comes from the "right" places. It’s not uncommon for men to store their "stubborn fat" (fat that goes away last) precisely in their mid-section.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of isolation exercises for resistance training: I prefer to do fewer compound exercises that work multiple muscle groups at the same time. There are several such exercises that also work your core muscles as a side effect.

[katanel]

Hi guys,

I think I've reach a sort of 'plateau' in the last 2 weeks:

- on March 4th I've reached 75.7 Kg then i had some 'highs' around 76.5 kg then comeback to 76kg and so one - see the trendweight graph

I'm still eating on deficit (-500 calories)...

Any advice here? I need to comeback under 76 kg to reach 75 kg target 🙂

Thanks

[Dominique]

@katanel: you’re showing us a very short period (2 weeks). If you showed us the 6 months or 12 months curves, we would see you’re still at a historically very low level and the current "plateau" would be unnoticeable. So no reason to stress too much about it yet!

I’m a bit in a similar situation myself. The first six weeks of this year went like in a dream, almost a straight line down:

For the past four weeks, I’ve been stuck at more or less the same level. I don’t take too much pressure because of this, since it’s also a historically low level for me. I’d like to bring the trend down to 62 kg, but I’m OK with it if it takes a bit longer than expected.

One thing I’ve noticed (I think I’ve mentioned this before) is we have very différent activity patterns. This is yours:

and this is mine:

Most of your activity is in the "light" category, which means you have an untapped potential for burning more calories: just try to do things that are a little bit intense, like power walking instead of normal walking, jogging instead of walking etc. In other words, try to bring your yellow and red curves up. You’re 14 years younger than me, you should be able to do it .

[Jeff_M]

I am close to your age, height, weight, am using the MFP app, and also have a sedentary job. So, very similar situation. 

When I'm on track I'm dropping pounds and inches on the waist. My calorie intakes for the day is around 1800. But on my cardio days I'm burning over 3000 calories. Non cardio days it's around 2300-2500 depending on how active I am.

I would say check how many calories you are burning on your cardio days. If it's not much more than 2300 or so, then you are probably not burning enough from activities. You may also want to check your settings to be sure the numbers are correct. All I use the MFP app for is to track calories and set my waist measurements. I input all my weight in the Fitbit app.

****update*** Ok, I just read some of the posts in the thread so it seems you are burning enough calories. 

Also, I would much rather increase calories burned in a day than eat less. It's much easier to just increase activity while keeping the calories around 1800. Your going to be more hungry if you cut too much more and could loose muscle if you don't give yourself enough calories. Your body may also go into starvation mode if you cut too much, which means it will hold on to the fat and burn muscle, eg. skinny fat.

My my cardio is basically running on a treadmill for 30 mins, and walking for about 20. I split the running into 2 slots of 15 mins with walking in between. That usually puts me over 3000 calories burned for the day.