Calorie deficit not working

What do you think 10k steps a day will do or what its purpose is?

From what I read on here on countless threads people think pottering around the house counts as step activity anyway. Pointless.

Try. The Carbon app. It's brilliant. Designed by some scientists biologists at Stanford uni.

I’ve been on a calorie deficit since Xmas and am
a few pounds off two stone now.
I worked out my deficit using James smith/tdee calculators and stick that daily.
But - I weight train two to three times a week ( at home or the gym) and walk 18k steps 6 days a week. I’ve also began looking at what sorts of food I eat and keep macro nutrients in check with salt, fat, carbs and sugar and I aim for 130g of protein daily. I’m loosing steadily but no fast and my body composition is changing, it’s actually fascinating to look back at photos of me even a month ago as my body shifts shape.
Its an effort, it’s a daily plan and process but I feel
amazing! I use nutracheck and chat gpt to help

I was just listening to the Zoe podcast today and they were discussing a study where they had people eating cheese sandwiches: one with ultra-processed white bread and processed cheese and the other with multi-grain bread and cheddar. They found that the participants burned far more energy after eating the whole food option, despite the calories for both being the same.

There was a lot more about it but I found that really interesting, because there doesn’t seem to be much out there about how the calories in/calories out equation can actually be potentially disrupted or altered by the type of food eaten, due to thermodynamics. It’s quite a niche area I think but there’s so much we don’t understand about metabolic science and so much new science that is upending all the previous stuff we thought we knew.

I'm 5'2, a couple of stone overweight but I lose weight at 1800 calories a day!

@Jacarandill Jogging is great, Jogging and weights much better. Walking is fine but you need to be moving swiftly.

None of them will make one lose weight, but they'll help tone the body.

Depending on your size and activity levels, 1400 could be way too high to be in a significant calorie deficit. I only burn around 1550 calories on an average day (short, petite, not especially sporty). If I ate 1400 a day then 2 pounds in a month would be a pretty good result! I have to go below 1000 to get big losses which obviously isn't healthy.

Lots of people (and eeven apps) just assume that a woman burns 2000.

OP - this is 100% correct. If you want something that works you need to listen up.

It’s not a popular refrain on the weight loss boards of MN though…

1500 is my maintenance level, I don't lose unless I'm sub 1200 and ideally nearer 1000. We are all different.

1400 for weight loss isn’t that low, it’s pretty normal for a woman. I am only 1700 calories or so for maintenance, so would need to drop to 1200 calories to lose weight at the 500 cals a day deficit rate (which I have done for the past six months to great success).

Calorie deficit is only the start of the story. I’d really recommend doing some reading around why what those calories are really matters. Sure, you can lose weight eating 1200 cals of chocolate a day, but it will be almost impossible to stick to (as well as being very unhealthy) as it’s not what a body requires. Whereas 1200 cals of the right food can be very filling and level out your energy and blood sugar spikes during the day, and if something fills you up, you’re less likely to then binge and snack on stuff.

I have totally changed my diet, and it’s much more of a Mediterranean style diet. I’d have a look at some of Michael Mosley’s stuff, the Zoe podcast, Andrew Jenkinson’s books are good too. They’ve really changed my understanding of what my diet (permanent diet, as in a way of life) needs to be for my health and I’ve never felt better or had more energy. It needs to be a lifestyle shift, and the shift will make it easier to stick to reduced calories because they will be the right kind of calories.

But if she’s feeling hungry then it’s not sustainable anyway, especially if you’re suggesting she should be eating even less…

You need to weigh out your portions, and not guesstimate calories. You will probably find your are eating more than you think.

Friends what you’re eating. You need protein and whole foods. 1500 calls of eating UPF will make you feel like crap however 1500 cals is a lot of food if you have steak, chicken, eggs, green vegetables. Most people actually underestimate how much they do it and forget to add things like mayo or butter. Or portions of food. Use a tracker like my fitness pal?

She’d be better off doing some short sprints or weights, plus the walking. Jogging no good!

You do realise that there is no scientific proof behind 10k steps as the magic number needed to do each day?! It was a marketing ploy from years ago to sell as pedometer but obviously continues to catch people out to this day. Also, OP doing a few jogs a week as she said is a very good start I’d say.

Try Joe Wicks or weights. The low-carb JW recipes are delicious and filling. Combine with the exercises.

The quickest way to lose weight if you’ve to-yo dieted is to change your body composition by gaining more muscle so you increase the amount of calories you burn. I’ve increased my muscle over the last few years and I can eat loads without putting on weight.

Otherwise your calorie ‘allowance’ will be so low you’ll feel permanently hungry and eventually fall off the wagon.

As PP said ALL diets are calorie deficit - they just wrap it up in a different way. There is no other way to lose weight!

A jog twice a week will be burning hardly any calories. Are you doing 10,000 steps a day?

This.

More generally, it may not be the approach for you. I find calorie deficit the easiest - I set a limit for the day, make/buy meals which are bulky and filling but low cal, add a treat, job done. But not everyone follows/finds the same approach easiest.

1400 is very low. Questions I’d usually ask -
Are you tracking the milk going in to your tea?
Oil and butter used in cooking?
The mini things are where people often overlook calories when tracking, and they quickly add up.

But that said, 1400 is very, very low. Can you do a proper TDEE as others have said (google TDEE calculator)