Wight Loss not happening

[DonW62]

Hi,I have been using Fitbit for about 4 months now. My HR died and so I have upgraded to a surge in the past 2 weeks.

I have been religously calculating my calories and wearing my fitbit every hour of the day apart from charging time:-) I purchased mostly to loose weight. I am a large 53 yo man at 105 kg and would like to get to 98Kg as a first step. I have set an aggresive weight loss target of -1000 calories per day. My weekly reports for the whole 4 months have shown at least 7000 calories less eaten than burned and my weight has changed by almost nothing, when based on theory I should have lost 10kg or more????

I can see only 2 things can go wrong here - either 1. calories burned are not calculating correctly or 2. I have not recorded all I eat.

1. Not sure if someone about my size can confirm, however my typical calories burned is usually in the 3000 - 4000 per day. I always do my 10,000 steps and sometimes get 15 or 20,000 with an everage of about 85,000 steps per week or 12,000 per day. I also swim and go to the gym and it is on these days it shows more like 4000 calories burned. It does seem high, however the heart rate is showing pretty close except it underestimates if anything during exercise.

2. Based on this I can then eat somewhere between 2000 - 3000 calories per day. I try to have regular foods which i have weighed and know the calories pretty well so on most days i should be quite close with my estimates. I have weeker binge days and some meals I cant estimate, however I always try to go high with these.

My experience sems to show no matter how much exercise I do to "earn" calories to eat if i go much above 2200 calories in a day the next day the scales are not kind.

Would apprecitate any comments

DonW62

[fatwilly]

I brought a Surge in August last year (2015), 52 year old male, 112kg. I jumped straight in with an aggressive target as well, goal is 85kg. I go to the gym 5 days a week(an hour on average, 70% weights, 30% cardio), play squash 1-2 times a week and as far as possible do my 10,000 steps though being tied to a desk sort of makes that a bit hard sometimes.

I also log all my calories, with pedantic focus on getting it right. I have anywhere between 1700 and 2800 to play with every day dependant on my activity and consistently come well under the target by quite some margin. As an example over the last week my daily calorie intake has been, 1126,1070,1182,1256,2042,1574,1256. Pretty aggressive but the results have really shown.

I am currently down to 89 kgs and getting closer to my target. I have to go and buy new clothes now, I look like a homeless person in clothes that are hanging off me.... 

[DonW62]

Hi Fatwilly,

Thanks for the reply - your progress is amazing and the results are showing for your controlled eating.

It is interesting that our exercise sounds similar yet I am seeing much higher calories being burnt last 7 days 3865, 4479, 4244, 4815, 4795, 3432, 4312. My strategy is -1000 so then i have been eating 2400 - 2800 or even some days 3500 which is a lot of course but still coming in under the calculated target!!

When you say you have "1700-2800 to play with" is that the actual calories burned or is it that you burned 2700-3800 and that is your "calculated" that can be eaten.

From what you have written I think as I suspected the Fitbit is calculating way to many calories for me and greater eating control will be required.

Thanks again for writing back

DonW62

[fatwilly]

Hi Don,
My calories burnt are roughly high 3000- low 4000 daily, and my intake is as i posted in my first post so i am always in calorie deficit or weight loss mode. A typical days food may be, breakfast = 2 x boiled eggs, 1 x piece of multigrain toast and 1 x teaspoon of butter. Lunch = 4 x Vitaweat crackers with 4 x cherry tomatoes and 1 x teaspoon of butter. Evening meal= 2-300 grams of either steak, chicken or fish (generally grilled) and two cups of house salad and 2 teaspoons of light balsamic dressing. I dont have any potatoes, maximum of two small slices of multigrain bread (only in the morning after my gym session)no dairy other than butter and no sugar other than what might be in salad dressing.
My wife says i am being obsessive but i am getting the desired result.

Cheers Willy

[DonW62]

Hi Willy,

Thanks for the extra info and well done on the program you are managing to keep. I have tried controlling my diet that much in the past and it has lasted for some time then something goes wrong and I fall back to my old ways:-)

From your extra data it seems the Fitbit is giving consisitent calories burned, however you are managing to have a calorie deficit of 2000-2500 calories per day which is really tough for me.

I wanted to do things a bit more manageably. After trying all the settings I am now using the maximum available on web page which is the 1000 deficit per day. I really wanted it to work to have something to count up too. I check my dashboard before meals to see what I can eat for that meal eg if I have got up early and done 5000 steps then I might allow myself a coffee shop coffee.

I am not sure if any "Fitbit" folks monitor the forums, but maybe an option for us bigger fellas to have more than a 1000 calorie deficit per day??? In the meantime I might just have to make up some foods or something and add in the morning equating to another 500 calories and see if that helps me get it working the way i want.

Thanks again for the info and your time to write to me

Don

[jorang]

I recommend start using MFP (My Fitness Pal) and connect your Fitbit account with your MFP account.

Huge food database containg pretty much everything which can be bougnt and made.

This will give you a reliable calorie count for your intake.

You also have a lagre database of exercises for activities not included in the Fitbit database. When registering an activity in MFP it will syncronize to your Fitbit account with more accurate calorie burn.

Fitbit registered activities will also syncronize the other way around (from Fitbit to MFP) so you can compare intake and calorie burn.

Have used MFP since august myselves with good results.

You also should take into consideration that your total body weight may change in composition. Your fat% should decrease doing the activities you describe.

My own bodyweight has increased the last two months. This is from when I started exercising regularly with Kettlebells. Than its good to know this an increase in my lean mass - fat mass remains pretty constant. 

To keep track of your body composition detals you would need a body composition scale - like Whithings Smart Body Analyzer or Fitbit Aria. For thorough analysis you should also sign up for a Trendweight account and link this to your Withings of Fitbit account - depending on the scale you are using. I choose the first weight after reading that Fitbit Aria did not deliver consistent readings if the scale is moved between your daily measurements.

Keep it up!

[Jazzbuff]

Willy,
I'm having a problem with the calorie deficit. I programmed that i want to eat 500 cals less than I burn, but everyday my Fitbit says I'm under my calorie goal and says I have x cals to eat BUT those x cals bring me up to my cals out number. It doesn't seem to be taking off the 500 cal deficit. Unless it's doing that behind the scenes? Any insight?

[Jazzbuff]

Willy,
I'm having a problem with the calorie deficit. I programmed that i want to eat 500 cals less than I burn, but everyday my Fitbit says I'm under my calorie goal and says I have x cals to eat BUT those x cals bring me up to my cals out number. It doesn't seem to be taking off the 500 cal deficit. Unless it's doing that behind the scenes? Any insight?