Fit bit calorie deficit not losing weight

[nancybotwinbloom]

From 1st January I have decided to follow a vegetarian diet.

I'm eating lots of fresh veg, small amount of fruit and I'm not eating meat replacements a lot. Maybe once every three days. I'm not even eating bread. I've had three slices of dry toast in 12 days.

I'm not eating dairy except cheese and even that is reduced fat halloumi or feta.

I've been in a 1000 calorie deficit everyday by walking in the fat burn zone for an hour and a half every day. I'm racking up 20k steps as a minimum. The walks are 70 -90 percent in the fat burning zone.

I've had one day where I was over a 1000 calorie deficit (I was in a 500 deficit not 1000).

I'm drinking between 2 and 3 litres of water a day.

I've lost half a kilogram.

I am gutted.

I'm 41.

Is it my age?
What am I doing wrong?

2.5 miles of walking is only 250 ish calories.The calories burnt are probably wrong and you shouldn't eat them back.

Is your body used to this amount of exercise? Do your muscles ache due to a sudden hike in exercise? If so, your muscles will be holding on to water in order to protect themselves whilst they heal and you will have a swoosh effect at some point when your muscles stop holding the water. This is perfectly normal. 1 mile walking or running burns around 100 calories, you become fitter and cover the distance quicker running but the burn is pretty similar.

You have to remember that the calories burnt includes the calories you would have used just by breathing its not in addition. An hours exercise might say you've burnt 200 calories but you would have burnt 150 calories just doing nothing, the exercise only burns an additional 50 calories.

@IDontMindMarmite

Don't eat your exercise calories - they are massively overestimated.

Go to the TDEEcalculator.org, figure out your TDEE (how many calories a day you burn) and eat under that by 500 a day. Repeat don't count your exercise calories unless you're running marathons..

Alllllll of this.

I'm 5'4" and currently 10st7. I need to eat around 1300 cals a day to lose any weight. Anything over 1400 is way too many.

@IDontMindMarmite

For your thermodynamics argument (it's dealt with right at the start, although the whole lecture is worth a watch):

@nancybotwinbloom

My tdee said 2600 cals to maintain. Surely. That can't be right .

You should put in sedentary.

I sympathise. I'm a very active person (exercise, busy in the home or at work so on my feet for most of the day) and my Fitbit says that on most days I burn about 3000kcals. If I eat what is classes as a "normal" amount of food (I.e breakfast, lunch, dinner) I don't lose any weight despite the high activity level. It is only when I also eat really healthily (especially at dinner e.g salmon and veg for dinner) that I lose any weight. I have managed to lose 3 stone since June, but it's hasn't been as easy as calories in calories out. I feel like I've worked for every last lb.

OP, I wanted to raise my hand because you sound similar to me.

I am 41 (soon), weigh 220lbs and walk about 12,000-15,000 steps per day with the dog - so outdoors, hiking kind of walking, but still walking. My TDEE calculates at around 2600kcals per day.

I have been eating an average of 1950kcals per day for 8 months and lost almost 60lbs in that time. Those 1950kcals have been made up of around 75% 'healthier' food and 25% more treat type foods - with carbs.

I don't know specifically what's going on with you, but wanted to give a clear example of someone similar who did not have to cut down to 1200 () to lose weight, or cut out too many treat-type foods. And who has the results to show that the TDEE of 2600 kcals is about right. Just because when I started, I saw everyone else aiming for very low cals per day and thought I must be deluusional or mad to aim for 1950. But it's worked and never really felt like hard work.

What I will say is that it is VERY easy to under guess calories eaten. Every now and again I take what I think is a tsp of butter (for example) and weigh it - mostly I find I am over portioning by about 50% and have to dial my guesses back down again. Ocver time they sneak back up so I must check periadcially to reset the metre, so to speak.

25g of risotto rice, for example, is a truly small portion - especially for people like me who clearly eat a lot to get to a higher weight, despite a high TDEE. Might you be guessing too often?

I will also say, it has been known for me to not lose weight for 2 weeks, and then suddenly drop a few pounds to make up for it. I would not give up hope, just yet. But I would check I was being totally honest with myself about portions.

@WobbleWhenIRun

Thank you for your post. I think I just need to give it time.

My body is probably still in shock at my diet now!

I'm am weighing everything.

I think next Sunday when I am 20 days in might give me a better chance at the weight loss.

Either way what I was eating and drinking was not good vs what I am now eating.

I'm in a better place now than where I was. Just going to keep that mantra in my head and give it time like people
Have said.

Sounds very sensible

Keep going OP, you’ll get there.

I’ve been using Fitbit for years and it’s always been accurate, if I’m tracking I aim to burn 2500 a day and eat up to 2000 and it’s always a loss. Sometimes a little loss, sometimes a big loss, but I am miserable and angry when restricted so I don’t mind too much. Good luck

I’d just like to put it out there that life is too short to eat dry toast! Lots of other nicer options out there.

Try to look at your weight loss over a month rather weekly. An unexpected weight gain one week, that may be purely hormonal, can be soul destroying and cause you to eat badly for a day or two or even quit all together. Weighing monthly will give you a true indication of how well you are doing.

Don't ask for diet advice on MN, everyone recommends eating 800 calories per day and no carbs which isn't sustainable long term. You will get there OP, don't be pulled into crash dieting as tempting as it is.

Perhaps also measure yourself instead of weighing which is more reliable

@TeachesOfPeaches

Don't ask for diet advice on MN, everyone recommends eating 800 calories per day and no carbs which isn't sustainable long term. You will get there OP, don't be pulled into crash dieting as tempting as it is.

Nobody has suggested either of those things on this thread.

That TDEE is totally possible if you are genuinely active (which your Fitbit stats show you are at the moment) but you may just be retaining water or about to have your period or something.
I would carry on aiming for between 1700-2000 and you'll lose slowly as long as you keep up that level of exercise.
Personally I am not as heavy as you but I am still heavy and the same age and I lose weight eating 1900 a day as I burn 2400+ per day.
People saying '1700 is too much to lose weight' etc are unhelpful as the amount you need to cut to lose varies vastly based on initial weight.

For fucks sake carbs ARE NOT the enemy. They give you much needed energy and mean you're much less likely to binge when you're starving due to eating veg all bloody week. Weigh yourself every day and work out a weekly average. You need to start seeing patterns with your weight such as a day with high salt intake causing a fluctuation and even your hormones through the month. See it as a lifestyle change rather than a diet.

Ps. I eat 2100 calories a day (high fibre and protein) and lose 2lbs a week consistently

@YerAWizardHarry

For fucks sake carbs ARE NOT the enemy

You sound angry. Who are you arguing against?

@YerAWizardHarry

For fucks sake carbs ARE NOT the enemy. They give you much needed energy and mean you're much less likely to binge when you're starving due to eating veg all bloody week. Weigh yourself every day and work out a weekly average. You need to start seeing patterns with your weight such as a day with high salt intake causing a fluctuation and even your hormones through the month. See it as a lifestyle change rather than a diet.

I'm sorry but you are incorrect about carbs

You don't need them for energy, you can run a marathon without carbs (so long as you are fat adapted) - I have done it. You certainly don't need carbs to walk for 90 minutes or have a general sedentary life.

You are more likely to binge if you eat a lot of carbs. You enter a binge cycle of high insulin to lower insulin every 3-5 hours and at each of the points of low insulin you will crave more carbs to provide the 'energy' because you are not fat adapted. When you cut the carbs your hunger goes, cravings go as your body always has access to fat fuel.

Also, salt retention is a side effect of a high carb diet. For every 1g of carbohydrate stored, there is 2-3g of water retained. The water also retains salt. This was known back in 1933 but we seem to have forgotten the link between carbohydrate and salt /water retention. One of the first things that happens when you cut the carbs is you lose your 'water weight' aka as bloat.

Also, re carbs, They give you much needed energy... what do you think is the purpose of stored body fat?

Too many calories, OP. As others have said, your Fitbit is luring you into a false sense of security. If your BMR is 1700, I'd be surprised if you were burning more than 2000 a day with the exercise you've described.

If I were in your shoes, I'd try 2 weeks averaging 1500 calories a day (by that I mean if you go overboard and eat 2000 calories one day, eat 1000 the next to balance it out). You should shift a pound or two in those two weeks. Also, as others have said, make sure you're getting enough protein.

@wowfudge

I'm late 40s, 5'4" tall and lost 2st without cutting out carbs. I do weight training and walking. You don't need to go to extremes. There's a lot of bollocks on these threads. I used to believe a lot of it.

I'm same age as you and lost 11 kilos weight trainin, swimming and walking. It's the muscle that we've built through weight training that is burning calories and enabled us to lose body fat.

OP is not weight training, so her diet is more important for her. She needs to keep her insulin levels stable, and the only way to do that is to reduce the number of carbs she eats. However, leafy green veg is great and still carbs, so all good.