Confused :-\

Hey everyone,

So here's a funny situation for you. I went from working out about an hour and a half 6x/week (1 day off) at a relatively high intensity and being active for a large percentage of the day (I classified myself as moderately active) to being completely sedentary for about a week.

My moderately active burn was ~3000 calories, so I would eat approximately 2400/day. My sedentary burn is ~2300 calories. This past week, I haven't changed my eating patterns in the slightest from when I'm moderately active, however my weight hasn't budged. That makes sense, that I have maintained, eating maintenance amount of calories (LOL).. my question is.. how is it that the extra deficit I would give myself on workout days DIDN'T produce ANY weight loss?

Like I said, my deficit was only 500-600/day, which, as I understand, is supposed to be perfectly healthy.

Just FYI:

21/F

Starting weight (Dec 2007) - 263lbs

Current weight (6/11/08) - 250lbs

I change my routine every 2 weeks or so and am constantly pushing myself. I do a good mix of cardio and strength training, and my diet is excellent 99% of the time.

I don't understand :-\

Hi Weezer,

I too have gone through much of the same situation. I was eating 1350, marked at sedentary, and not losing. But then I went on vacation and probably ate in excess of 2500 calories per day and maintained at very little exercise if any.

After struggling with my numbers the best way I have found to accurately track everything is to place my burn meter at sedentary and mark the exercise that I do during the day. If, perhaps, your job has you moving extensively throughout the day bump up the burn meter to light activity, but only if you are moving pretty much the whole day. WHy....??? I know it sounds weird, but it is easier to track your deficit that way. 

After changing my burn meter and shooting for a 1000 calorie deficit a day, I left room for some sweets and treats, I have lost 4 pounds in the last 2 weeks. About 2 pounds per week and that is with moderate planned exercise, i.e. elliptical, recumbent exercise bike, and some light weight training for about 1 hour 3-4 times per week. Even on the days I am not working out I shoot for a deficit, but I am able to track it better because my burn meter is set to sedentary.

When I had my burn meter set higher, I was logging 3000-4000 calories burned per day, but my activity is so up and down that those numbers may not have been accurate. Therefore, with the changes I suggest, mostly eating a little more and not logging as much exercise, or only the "planned" exercises you should see a little change.

And to make the connection even more realistic  I am 23, female, and at 214.

Hey,

Thanks for the tip. I'll  try bumping it down and logging things separately. I guess I should have probably said that I don't log separate activities because I've read a bunch of places that the activity is taken into account in the burn meter, whether it's logged at sedentary or very active, that I just leave it at the moderate setting and leave it at that.

I'm up on my feet chasing after kids all day (I'm a camp counselor, kids aged 4-12, for 8 hours.. outside on a huge playground/field) then come home to chase my sister's 2 1/2 year old twin girls for another 4 hours or so.. then a decent gym workout. I figured moderately active was a pretty decent setting.

It's just really annoying that I can eat exactly the same amount when I'm NOT exercising as when I'm actively exercising and still lose nothing, but I'm glad that someone else is in the same boat :)

I am active basically my entire day.  I'm a vet tech, so I have to be.  I have classed myself as lightly active, however, and I've been losing about what I should be based on *those* numbers.  If I were to set myself as sedentary and log all my activities, my burn would actually be higher.

There are a number of things going on here.  First, you have to make sure you're eating enough.  If you eat below your BMR (base metabolic rate) your body artificially lowers your metabolism to compensate for that, and can slow down your rate of weight loss.  Second, logging activity can be very tricky - I would deliberately underestimate it, if I were you.  Think of it this way: I am standing, walking, and lifting moderately heavy objects (up to 60 lbs animals) for 8 hours a day - and I am only lightly active.  You'd have to be doing a *lot* of physical work during the day to count as moderately active - like working at construction or moving companies.  Thirdly, 500-600 calorie deficits should result in an average of 1lb loss per week.  You're under that, certainly, but if you overeat by only a little each day - and it's very easy to underestimate your calories if your portion sizes are even a little off - that could help account for the slow loss.

I imagine you are also getting very healthy with all that exercise.  Do you have any way to keep track of your fat percentage?  I bet it's gone down more quickly than your weight loss would suggest.  Keep in mind that some of the fat you lose is being replaced by muscle mass.