Weight Loss Rant

[CremeDeSudo]

Since early August I’ve been doing my best to stick to between 1650 and 1700 calories each day ie, above my BMR which is apparently 1630. I admit there has been the odd day here and there where I’ve come in at between 1800 and 1900, but these have been rare. My average daily intake has been c1700 cals. I’m sticking to a balanced diet. It’s not 1700 calories of rubbish or anything like that.

My TDEE is 1950 calories each day as I’m in a desk job but walk to work/home most days. I’ve started trying to move more – walking up the stairs rather than taking the lift, parking my car up a hill so I have to walk up it. I also do pilates once a week plus 2x cardio-type classes and a half hour run if I get chance.

I’ve been doing this since beginning of August and have only lost 4lb. 4. Bloody. Pounds. How?!

My PT has asked that this week I try and stick to 1950 cals as an experiment and see what happens. He’s wondering if I might be undereating. Is this even remotely likely? I’ve only lost 4lbs, I don’t want to put 25%+ back on!

For background, I’ve only ever successfully lost weight by taking extreme measures – VLCD’s, eating bugger all etc etc. My most recent stint was 3 yrs ago though and haven’t under-eaten for a long time to I think my metabolism should be ok. I’m convinced I have a sluggish digestive system because I find tablets take ages to kick in. Also, my weight fluctuates depending on the time of the month – I’ve usually avoided weighing myself and stuck to measuring for this reason. I have 2 stone to lose.

I’m not sure what I’m hoping for really but just wanted to rant as I’m so frustrated! I hate calorie counting and using My Fitness Pal but consoled myself with knowing I had a plan and would lose 1lb a week and it's not happening!

[Sarahh2014]

Try dropping to 1200/1400 calories I did this and it worked for me

[Lotsofsausage]

Different things work for different people I guess. I'm similar weight and height to you and am losing inches by eating less refined carbs and loads of protein and even fat (meat, avocado, cheese, nuts, eggs etc all with loads of greens, occasionally I'll have grains or sweet potato if i'm exercising that day) . I'm on about 16-1700 cals per day, I can't have any less as I'm exercising a lot and I would just be starving miserable and eat biscuits!
Ive only lost about 5lbs since August but my body shape has completely changed and I'm toning up massively. So try not to worry too much about the scales. I also find it takes a couple of months to start to see a difference so it might start to drop off soon! You will know if you feel fitter and lighter.

[BIWI]

@CremeDeSudo

I think I'm probably 90% accurate with food logging. I can't be dealing with weighing every portion of broccoli I have. I tend to weigh the carbs, and guesstimate the veg.

You do know that broccoli contains carbs, don't you?!

I think your PT probably has rather old fashioned views about weight loss - which isn't surprising, as a lot of people do!

If you're interested in low carbing, the next Bootcamp starts on Monday 9 October, and you would be very welcome! There's a sign-up thread in chat.

If you can find one of the last Bootcamp threads, you'll see that I post a spreadsheet in the OP of each thread, and on the tabs on that spreadsheet is an explanation of the rules, but also lots of resources to explain the science behind low carbing.

The key thing to note - and maybe tell your PT! - is that exercise is only around 20% of weight loss, and diet is 80%. Or, if you believe people like Dr. Jason Fung, who wrote The Obesity Code (published a year or so ago, so recent), it's 95% diet and only 5% exercise.

[OliviaD68]

@CremeDeSudo : one more thing on fat.

the more saturated the fat the better on keto. Gets broken down more easily. I know it sounds weird. There’s a good scientific explanation for it though. Just think about it this way: your body fat is actually saturated animal fat.

Make sure to cap calories. No need to go OTT. but bear in mind the body will view body fat and dietary fat the same. So if you want to lose weight more quickly you need to allow the body to burn body fat over dietary fat.

[OliviaD68]

@CremeDeSudo

I have gone on this diet and researched it and other macro combinations to death.

My conclusion: Keto is the most effective and healthiest weight loss approach there is. The scientific research is clear to me. In addition there is all the potential benefits in respect of cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s etc.

But it is not without issues.

Do research on vitamins, minerals you need. Sodium and potassium are key. B5, K2, D3 as well.

Need to eat a ton of veg. A ton. It’s a pain to prep and cook.

Tracking carbs and proteins so closely is painful. Until you figure it out.

Constipation as your body adapts to burning so much fat. That disappears.

Keto flu to work thru.

It doesn’t work well for athletes that do high intensity exercise. I got completely gassed a few times during a normal workout. So I do TKD.

And then ... in spite of these issues you feel great once you work thru them. And the weight flies off.

Combine it with 16:8 IF and you start feeling even better. And weight flies off even faster.

Good luck. If I can help let me know.

[CremeDeSudo]

Thanks for the feedback all.

Since my last post I've been obsessively researching the LCHF/keto diet and think I'm going to give it a go. I figure what have I got to lose? Just the 2 stone! I still can't quite get my head round how eating butter and double cream with practically everything is going to work but I can but try I suppose

[fannyanddick]

I'd say half a pound a week loss is pretty good and just stick at it. Maybe try to drop another 100 kcal.

[AprilLady]

Actually OP, by my calculations if you are consuming 1700 calories a day, and burning 1950 a day, then a 4 lb loss is pretty spot on for a little under 2 months of dieting. A 250 calorie deficit a day over 8 weeks totals a deficit over the period of 14,000. You need a deficit of around 3,500 to lose a pound, so 4 pounds is 14,000 calories.

You have a choice - you can consume less and lose more quickly (but it will be harder to stick to, especially with exercise) or continue to do what you are doing and accept it will take a bit longer.

[OliviaD68]

Apologies. Your post below led me to believe there was confusion about why - in counting calories from exercise and diet - the gain in weight was greater than expected.


PostNotinHaste interesting how we are all different isn't it! My TDEE is 1750 per day (sedentary) and for the last 3 weeks I have averaged 2150 per day on food so have overeaten by 400 X 21 = 8,400 calories which would mean a weight gain of 2.4 lbs had I not done any exercise. My garmin says I have done about 6,000 calories of exercise and I haven't worn it every day so could be more but 6,000/21 = 285.

285 + 1750 = 2,035 which means I technically should have only gone over by 85 calories a day for 21 days which equals about half a lb gain.

Yes I am due on but 3 weeks ago I weighed 169.5 lbs and today and 174.5 lbs so a gain of 5lbs apparently - WTF!!!!

[Loubilou09]

OliviaD68 - I also know that.

No where in my post did I say I was trying to lose weight over the last three weeks though did I? I merely stated what I had to eat calorie wise/exercise wise - the point of my post wasn't to garner opinion on what had gone in my mouth, how it was made up etc it was more to dispel the myths around calories burnt in exercise and whether your TDEE is right or wrong and how relying on calories burnt doesn't correlate to a loss on the scales.

Not sure what the good luck is for?

[YourFace]

Lou and Post I was a bit wary about mentioning the Apple Watch as a tool, as I thought there would be some inaccuracy with it but I reckon it is of some value.

Do you have a link to that article?

Before having it I would be reliant on mfp estimations or what the running machine says, which must surely vary as to weight and height of the user.

I try not to eat my exercise calories but exercising does make me starving so it is hard, I just try to make good choices without being too miserable/boring about my diet!

I did a body conditioning class today and burned only 200 cal in 45 minutes. I would burn twice that in spin. Even if it isn't accurate 100% it is a decent guide but in any case the classes aren't only about the calorie burn.

[OliviaD68]

That's only partially true.

I know that counting calories are insufficient and generally leads to low correlation with weight loss.

Carbs, proteins and fats are processed by the body in different ways. So 2k calories being Combination A of macros will bear a different result to 2k calories of Combination B macros.

So if you are not losing weight bc of calories the reason is more often than not due to the macros.

Good luck.

[Loubilou09]

Thanks Post - sure it will all change in a couple of days :)

OliviaD68 unless you are living in my mouth you have absolutely no clue what I have eaten over the last three weeks and what those calories consist of. You have no basis for any comment.

[OliviaD68]

@Loubilou09 not really surprising.

It’s because you are measuring the wrong things. Calories are too rough a guide.

Other things matter much more in driving weight loss. Not saying calories are irrelevant just secondary in the weight loss equation.

[PostNotInHaste]

That's horrible Loubilou getting on and finding that, my sympathies . Hopefully it's period related and will vanish quickly, my DD puts on about the same amount with hers.

[Loubilou09]

PostNotinHaste interesting how we are all different isn't it! My TDEE is 1750 per day (sedentary) and for the last 3 weeks I have averaged 2150 per day on food so have overeaten by 400 X 21 = 8,400 calories which would mean a weight gain of 2.4 lbs had I not done any exercise. My garmin says I have done about 6,000 calories of exercise and I haven't worn it every day so could be more but 6,000/21 = 285.

285 + 1750 = 2,035 which means I technically should have only gone over by 85 calories a day for 21 days which equals about half a lb gain.

Yes I am due on but 3 weeks ago I weighed 169.5 lbs and today and 174.5 lbs so a gain of 5lbs apparently - WTF!!!!

[PostNotInHaste]

interesting about heart rate monitors and individual variation. I have a Fitbit Charge 2 and it was wildly inaccurate at first (overestimating) but has now settled down and appears to be fairly accurate working on the 3500 cals equals 1lb thing.

I've lost 80lbs since middle of last November and am now a similar weight but inch shorter than OP and late 40's. I use something similar to MFP called Nutracheck as it is really quick and easy and useful on portion size. I just make sure the difference between calories I've eaten and burned is what I want it to be over the week and I lose that amount (not linear but works out pretty much spot on over time).

Last week I averaged 2150 cals a day and lost 0.75lb. I do about 12k steps a day which is mostly dog walking but includes 3 x 30 mins jogging. My TDEE is 2572 cals a day (using the heavy exercise figure) so daily deficit of 422 x7 is 2954 cals so weight loss reflected deficit pretty accurately.

[blueskyinmarch]

I wasn't able to lose weight on 1600 calories so I shifted to low carb/ low calorie. I have around 1000 cals a day during the week and have more at the weekend and the weight is dropping off me. I don't feel hungry really. I think we have actually forgotten that it is okay to gel a bit hungry between meals!

[Loubilou09]

Yourface, even the heart rate monitors don't accurately calculate calories so should not be relied upon. I have a new garmin with HRM and if I just take the dog for a walk at say 3.5-4.0 miles per hour it will tell me I have burned 150-200 calories. If I set the watch to a "walk" in the options for exercise it will double those calories....not good!

I also only burn abour 250-280 calories in a Zumba class yet there are pictures all over the internet of people claiming they burn 800-900 calories in one hour of zumba plus in our class the instructor will sometimes ask someone who has a watch how many calories they have burnt and people will claim they have burnt 600 or more - that is absolutely impossible from the classes we are doing - very scary.

I read a fascinating article the other day about all the different watches on the market and there are 3 different ways in which they "estimate" calorie expenditure and none are really 100% reliable - it was an interesting read.

I always say don't eat your exercise calories and then there is no confusion and any exercise you are doing is just a bonus - I find it helps me in so many other ways rather than just weight loss so stick with it rather than use it for an extra ice cream etc.

[RandomMess]

It's rubbish isn't I just start binging on Christmas chicks I got as gifts undid my good work and then it's crept up to my heaviest ever!! I have very slim hips relative to everything else and people always say "your not fat" alas the scales do not lie and I was 3.5 stone lighter when I got pregnant in my mid 20s so for me I'm huge

Looking forward to losing probably 3lbs and wearing my work dresses that are "just" too tight. On a boring 8 dress rota at the moment!

[Yazoop]

Haha! I feel for you - that is a massive pain in the bum!

I literally have the opposite problem - I'm still wearing the same size as when I was nearly two stone heavier (much roomier mind, but still...)! My mind is totally thinking about the new "thin" clothes I want to buy, but realistically I'm probably only going to be about a 1-2 sizes smaller when I reach my goal (after losing nearly 4 stone!). That's how I gained all the weight in the first place, I didn't notice it was creeping on slowly over a number of years until all of a sudden my clothes were finally too tight and I was into the obese BMI category(!). I know now I need to keep an eye on my weight and my food intake or it will keep happening.

[RandomMess]

I will counter that with the trauma of gaining 4-6lbs and nothing in the wardrobe fits anymore! I have probably 3 or 4 lots of wardrobe for less than a 2 stone weight difference!

[Yazoop]

I know it is unfair, my sister is 5'2 and has a much lower calorie goal than me, which is harder to keep up with.

On the other hand, when she loses weight you can see it a lot quicker - even a small-ish loss is really noticeable. I've lost nearly two stone and hardly anyone notices apart from my DP, I don't think it will be noticeable until I get pretty near my goal :(

So swings and roundabouts I suppose - we'll get there in the end!

[RandomMess]

I was thinking about the PT
He has a vested interest in you needing him to help you spend more time exercising to lose weight rather than changing eating habits to achieve it...

[Yazoop]

Oh no, @oldlaundbooth, that sounds awful! Hope you feel better soon.