Calories in vs calories out is just not working !

[noseriouslyguys]

Yes I know the principle is correct- I get it. But explain this to me then…

I’ve been weighing every bite I eat or drink for two months - PLUS exercising 5 times a week and I am not losing on the scale.

I have lost weight since the start of the year, without exercising at first, but now the scale is just standing still.

I create a deficit of 1000 calories a day and nada.

the scale teases me, it will say a certain low weight- then I get back on it and it says 2kg more the next day and it will show me that 2 kg more for another two weeks.

I have lost weight already by the way, without exercising since the start of the year- slowly. Maybe a kg a month- some months 2. I thought I would really tighten up my eating and track absolutely everything plus add in exercise. At first I thought it’s normal, water retention- but not after 2 months surely ?

I have gone to the gym a couple of times but mainly playing tennis. For 1-2 hours a day, 5 days a week. Sometimes 4. So it can’t be muscle gain from tennis.

anyway, I am not giving up- but it just makes no sense ?

I do agree with calories in vs calories out, but I have to drop down so extremely low- I mean 800 or so, to lose weight.

I currently eat between 1.200 and 1.500 a day ( max ).

No, anyone can starve if they literally take in no sustenance. But are you suggesting that all.women struggling to lose weight should just starve as though they are living through a famine?

There's plenty of science our there about why weight loss is more than just calories in v calories out, just go and read it, it's not hard

You could do a couple of experiments OP, first month you do 1200 a day, averaged over the week obviously, focusing on low fat, second month the same calories but focusing on higher protein and fat. See if one is more effective than the other. Personally I need to eat quite a lot of fat and cut wheaty type foods and non veg carbs and that really drops me down but only if I stick to the right calories, if I don't eat enough fat I get too picky, hungry and bloated

You could do a couple of experiments OP, first month you do 1200 a day, averaged over the week obviously, focusing on low fat, second month the same calories but focusing on higher protein and fat. See if one is more effective than the other. Personally I need to eat quite a lot of fat and cut wheaty type foods and non veg carbs and that really drops me down but only if I stick to the right calories, if I don't eat enough fat I get too picky, hungry and bloated

This is the biggest myth going, starvation mode doesn't exist. You can't defy the laws of thermodynamics. As you lose weight your TDEE decreases, if that's what you mean by metabolism changing?

I'm saying that if you are burning more calories than you take in, you are going to lose weight. Your BMR will vary slightly depending on your hormones etc., but if it could just magically adjust to keep up with any diet, humans wouldn't be starving.

Most people in famine situations aren't eating no sustenance, they are not taking in enough calories to maintain their weight.

I’ve varied this up a lot in last 6 months as originally did 6 weeks with mounjaro and then stopped - to consistently lose weight even at around a lb a week max I have to stick around 1150 to 1300 cals , keep salt down, drink loads of water and eat very little carb and no more than a couple of glasses of wine a week max . I’m 63, 5ft 4 and around 83kg - down from 96kg - it’s a hard slog - I walk around 10,000 steps a day plus an hour dance excercise class once a week. I find every few weeks if I up to 1600 cals for 2 or 3 days and then drop down again, that seems to help too if weight is stagnant .

Didums, how appropriate.

I’ve tried several websites and talked to ChatGPT about it. That’s the estimate on my TDEE. I am very active on top of that and I’ve been tracking my food intake religiously.

What you've said you eat here sounds like it would come to less than 1200-1500 cals. Are you eating this way every single day?

But the other side of this, the practical side, is women like op struggling to lose weight can't just keep relentlessly slashing calories to lower and lower amounts. It can cause all sorts of health issues and is miserable. So when 1200, 1000, 800 isn't working, something else may be going on with their bodies. Regardless of whether op thinks "she's breaking the laws of thermodynamics", it's not working so what else do you suggest?

If i were you I'd start again and get new scales.
Unless you're a gym addict I wouldn't use the calories burnt during exercise to alter the deficit amount, Id just have them as bonus loss.
It would be easier to get your deficit without guesstimating how much your burning from a watch.
Anyone who's actually in a deficit will lose weight, that's a fact. You're not in a defecit if you aren't.

Because your TDEE is wrong. The calculators always vastly overestimate it. Without your height and age this thread is pointless.

If you are 5’1” and 46 years old, for example, then needing to eat less than 1000 calories in order to lose weight is probably bang on.

Apple Watch is saying this week my most day it’s 2.900 calories and least active where I didn’t exercise it’s 2.300.

I estimate it should be at least 2000 a day with the amount I’m exercising and moving.

The OP is eating too few calories then falling off the rails due to intense cravings and not tracking it, it's all to common, I see it with my clients all the time.

@realhousewifeofocyeah. Often.

Ok well that's wildly incorrect unless you're 7 foot tall and built like a rugby player.

This is why some people are on mounjaro!

i don’t have intense cravings.

I have pcos and am like this. But by month 4-5 it starts melting off. Make sure u eat smaller portions throughout the day as opposed to larger portions as well.

I am !

Why ?? What’s that got to do with anything ?

That is hugely inflated.

I am 30, 5’6”, and hugely active with my horses. I can easily burn 1000+ calories if I train all five of them in a day. My TDEE is still 1500.

Edit: I should add that my Apple Watch also tells me that I’ve burned 6-7000 calories some days. 😂

So basically what has happened is you have plateaued.

Your body has figured out you got X calories coming in, and X calories expended.

The body is clever. It does not want you to lose weight. In fact if you have been dieting for a while you will have lost fat including visceral fat around your organs. The body likes you to have fat. It is useful in times of drought (or stress). (So definitely increase your water intake BTW).

What the body does is cuts back on non essential energy expenditure. This means things like growing strong hair and strong nails, and hormone synthesis.

As a resort, your body might decide to burn muscle mass if there is no fat to burn. It needs to burn something for energy - incoming calories mainly from fat or carbs are a preferred source. If you are exercising and going to the gym or whatever then you are using your muscles. So the body knows it can't burn muscles tissue for energy, they are being used. So it's going to tighten itself up, get more efficient, cut essential processes. You would lose weight but extremely slowly, and very unenjoyably, and eventually feeling exhausted as you're going to raid your muscle mass, your ferritin stores etc.

All of that is to say - you need to eat more calories and then you will rev up losing the weight again. As you will have the metabolic energy to burn the calories.

This is the reason that personal trainers don't put people on diets for longer than 8-12 weeks. It plateaus for these reasons. So have a break.

Another option would be to introduce some non diet days.

Exercise is really not a significant source of calorie burning. The most calories burned / fat loss, actually comes from daily steps. Just small constant regular movement. Aim for 10k - 12k a day. Cardio - as much or little as you like/enjoy.

That's what worked for me when I did it with a PT. I'm 5.6 and was losing body fat on 1800 calories at that time (lifting heavy 3 times a week, 10k steps and a tiny bit of cardio). That was honestly the best time of my life as I felt I could eat properly and not gain weight!

Strength training is good but more for the fact it builds muscle mass, and muscle burns more calories at rest. That's how people get ripped - they lift heavy, then drop calories, and effectively shed fat only not muscle. But you aren't going to build any muscle mass on a calorie deficit.

Agree your calorie burn on Apple Watch is massively off. I am 5ft 3, 62kg, do CrossFit or run at least 5k 6 days a week and my burn is up to 2300 on training days and 1700 if I do nothing, and when I say nothing I still walk the dogs for an hour on those days. If I was completely sedentary it would be more like 1500. I think I would have to run a 1/2 marathon at least to get near to 3000 cals.