The past ten days I've totaled a 6500 calorie deficit... but I've gained a pound?!
Here are my stats: 5'9" 39 year old female. Current weight is 144.5, Goal weight is 140. I lost about a pound a week for the first four weeks of my "diet."
Okay, here are my daily deficts for the past ten days, starting the day I weighed in at 143.5 (the day I dropped my last pound):
-1050
-1050
-400
-1050
-600
-200
+200
-800
-800
-750
TOTAL: -6500
So I should be down almost two pounds, but I'm actually UP a pound to 144.5! What's going on???
My theories:
1. I overexercised to achieve those high 1000+ deficits. I have been working out for two hours at the gym six days a week. 90 min cardio, 30 min weights.
2. My deficit is too big for a person with normal BMI, so my body is clinging to calories/fat.
Does anybody know why my body would suddenly stall and backtrack like this? It is not my TOTM, and I am eating no more sodium than usual. Drinking tons of water.
What should I do to restart my weight loss??
Thank you!
Original Post by pgeorgian:
the math is never perfect. ever. it's always an estimate. calories in can be estimated reasonably closely; calories out are a best guess.
if you consistently calculate a significant deficit and it doesn't show on the scale, you're probably over-estimating your general activity level or your exertion during one or more of your extra activities.
think of it this way: if the scale and the math don't agree, chances are the scale is correct, and the math needs adjustment.
Hi Pgoergian, thanks for your reply.
I'm pretty confident I'm measuring my food calories accurately. I may be off by 50 calories or so, but that isn't much.
As far as calories out: I set my activity level to sedentary and then add only the exercise I do at the gym. Do you think CC grossly overestimates what I burn on the elliptical and weightlifting?
Original Post by nekochama:
As far as calories out: I set my activity level to sedentary and then add only the exercise I do at the gym. Do you think CC grossly overestimates what I burn on the elliptical and weightlifting?
it's not that i think CC grossly overestimates; it's that it's always an estimate. CC (or any other system) can only account for so many variables: height, weight, age, speed, duration). take two people of identical height, weight, and age, have them perform the same exercise at the same speed for the same length of time, they're still not going to expend the same amount of energy.
even the same person performing exactly the same workout on two different days isn't going to expend the same amount of energy.
there are all kinds of factors that just can't be accounted for: how fit; how rested; what did you eat yesterday, the day before, the week before; are you fighting a bug; etc. all those things affect how much energy you have and how much you expend. you know how some days the workout feels great and other times it feels almost impossible?
and also, we're all genetically programmed to be better at some activities than others; if we're programmed to be runners, we're going to expend less energy running than someone who's programmed to be a lifter, you know? and, of course, we tend to prefer the activities we're better at, so....
i'm not trying to make this extra-specially complicated for you. just...if the math doesn't add up, maybe try something new and fresh :)
i'm not trying to make this extra-specially complicated for you. just...if the math doesn't add up, maybe try something new and fresh :)
I think everything you say is true, especially this last part. I really need to mix it up at the gym, I am a creature of habit... I think I'm born to elliptical! :P
Does anybody know if you should also vary what you eat? Does that actually make a difference? I eat the same breakfast and lunch most days...
I think your deficits look reasonable (650 cals/day deficit is possibly slightly high, but you're getting there through exercise not starving yourself). You could try cutting it down to 500 cals/day deficit but I suspect that's not the problem. My suspicion is that either:
- You're overestimating your calories burned at the gym. If you're in good shape, you probably don't burn as many calories as CC predicts. (It tends to have good estimates for people who are out of shape.) Try setting yourself to "very active" (since it sounds like you are) but not logging the calories burned through exercise. I bet that'll give a more accurate picture of how many calories you burn in a given day.
- You're retaining water. Is TTOM approaching, by any chance? Or are you missing out on some sleep? Or stressed at all? Because I think it's unlikely that you've actually gained any real weight. Even if you've been overestimating the calories burned, that would still tend to leave you at the same weight. Based on your intake, I don't see that you could possibly have eaten 3500 cals more than you've burned.
Hi guys, this is a great thread!! The responses are really well thought out. I was wondering if someone could explain the reasoning behind the no greater than 1000 cal deficit. How does it affect your body if your deficit is greater than 1000 cal?
I eat TONS of food (between 2000-2700 calories per day), and I'm a 5'6 137lb female. I've actually lost 7lbs eating this much in a day. However, I'm sure there are some days when I don't eat as much as I should and my deficit is probably over 1000 calories. Should I be concerned? I doubt this happens very often, perhaps once a week. Any feedback would be great :)
Your body is only physically capable of burning a certain fraction of your fat per day - 31 calories of fat per pound of fat on your body. If you have too big a deficit, your body won't be able to pull all the energy from your fat stores so it'll start cannibalizing other tissue to make up the difference - and you wind up losing muscle mass and could even suffer organ damage if you starved yourself long enough.
That's also why the deficit needs to get smaller as you approach your ideal weight. e.g. A woman weighing 150 pounds, 40 of which is fat, can have an absolute maximum deficit of 1240 calories/day (but it still wouldn't be a good idea to go that high because it would be pushing the limits of her body too closely; plus, she'd still need to eat enough to meet its minimum nutritional needs; she'd be better off cutting that deficit in half). Once the same woman has lost 20 pounds of fat, her maximum deficit would be 680 calories/day (but, again, that'd be pushing it; she'd be better off sticking to 300-400 cals/day; also, she wouldn't need to lose any more weight at that point since she'd have only 15% body fat!).
1000 calories/day is generally a good maximum deficit for people who are still in the 'overweight' or 'obese' category. By the time you get into the healthy weight range, it needs to drop to about 500 calories/day. Of course, these numbers are just 'rules of thumb' and aim to err on the safe side because losing weight a little slower is a MUCH better option than damaging your heart!
Edited to correct number on cals/pound fat.
