Weight loss is so slow

[WinterBreeze]

I know a loss is better than no loss - but I can't help but notice that my weight loss is rather slow. I started this time last year and over the course of the year I've lost about 44lb. It sounds a lot, but I was very overweight and that is less than a 1lb a week. I understand that it’s not a race, but 2lb a week would be a healthy loss as well! Certainly within the limits of what is recommended by professionals. In particular, in the last few months its been slower than ever. I think I’ve lost about 16 lb since last Christmas. I wouldn’t mind, but I am in a big enough deficit to lose that amount. According to several online calculators I need about 2,800 calories to maintain my weight with exercise.

I eat 1500-1600 so that is above the 1000 deficit needed. Yet I never lose more than a 1lb and often a lot less. Recently the loss has been excruciatingly slow - I’ve only lost 2.7lb in four weeks! Any ideas why my loss is so slow? I am young, so my metabolism should be decent. I drink lots of water. I currently exercise hard for 60 minutes a day and do resistance training twice a week.

I have been on 1600 calories for a year now. Do you think it’s possibly time to lower it now that I weigh less? My BMR is 1700. I don’t really want to lower it further, but it is recommended that you lower your intake as you lose more and more weight. I still have between 38 and 50lbs to lose.

 

[Kayshiz]

I think I’ve lost about 16 lb since last Christmas. I wouldn’t mind, but I am in a big enough deficit to lose that amount.

It may sound super blunt, but if you were eating a 2 pound deficit, you would be losing that much a week. You are obviously not at a 2 pound deficit.

According to several online calculators I need about 2,800 calories to maintain my weight with exercise.

How much exercise is that? Are you doing that everyday? Are you doing cardio every day? Are you using machines that burn the most calories or are you jumping on a recumbent bike for half an hour?

I eat 1500-1600 so that is above the 1000 deficit needed. ...Do you think it’s possibly time to lower it now that I weigh less?

Since how many calories you eat is based off your weight you probably should have been doing that the whole time.


Your obviously doing stuff right, your progress shows that (good job), but if you are wanting to lose more weight then what you are currently doing, you need to eat less, exercise more, or find flaws in the math (or all three).

I'm sure someone will be around shortly to help you with the math part, and how many calories you should be eating, but you need to believe it's something you are doing that is causing the rate of your progress (keeping that word progress in mind, because you've done really well).

It's not magic, it's science, which is good, because there is an answer somewhere.

 

[Justpive01]

Try to consult your your dietician again, don't just rely on what you saw or have read. I think you need a special diet or could be possible surgical intervention. That if recommended, good luck!

 

[Kayshiz]

Try to consult your your dietician again, don't just rely on what you saw or have read. I think you need a special diet or could be possible surgical intervention. That if recommended, good luck!

What could she have possibly said that would lead to you suggesting surgery?

 

[Greginnd]

Ok, look in the mirror and ask yourself, are you counting every calorie that goes in your mouth? Are you weighing your food properly? It is so easy to just add a little bit here, take a bite there and have it add up to a significant source of uncounted calories. I know I do this. Even measuring a cup or a tbsp - if the food is heaping, you can be getting up to 30% more calories than you think you are eating.

I would suggest you take a few weeks and be absolutely careful in your eating and see how it shakes out.

If you really find that a 1000 calorie deficit does not lead to the expected weight loss, I would encourage you to talk to your doctor. Perhaps you have a thyroid problem affecting your metabolism. But get professional advice, not advice from us hacks on a forum!

 

[WinterBreeze]

Thanks for the advice! Very much appreciated.

Kayshiz - regarding my exercise routine, yes, I do exercise every day - usually for up to an hour. I am not a member of a gym, so I exercise outside, but I try and do things that burn lots of calories. Here is the routine I recently started - before I was doing something simialr, but I've decided to switch it up slightly for variety.

20 minutes of interval training (including a 5 minute warm-up.) I try and get my heart rate up to 90% + during theses sessions.
Speed walking and trampolining (20 minutes) - light exercise, since it's not recommend that you exercise heavily after interval training. I do two of these days a week.

1 hour of moderate-intense exercise. This is usually running. I run three times a week for one hour and keep my heart rate 75-85%. My level of perceived exertion averages at about 7.5/10.

Moderate days - I have two moderate days a week to recover from the more intense exercise. These sessions are still an hour long, but more moderate activites. Lighter running, jump roping, stairs etc. I keep my heart around 70-80% of its maximum on these days. A perceived exertion of around 6.5 (regardless of my heart-rate.)

So all in all, I exercise for 1 hour five days a week and 40 minutes two days a week.

Ok, look in the mirror and ask yourself, are you counting every calorie that goes in your mouth? Are you weighing your food properly? It is so easy to just add a little bit here, take a bite there and have it add up to a significant source of uncounted calories. I know I do this. Even measuring a cup or a tbsp - if the food is heaping, you can be getting up to 30% more calories than you think you are eating.

I would suggest you take a few weeks and be absolutely careful in your eating and see how it shakes out.

If you really find that a 1000 calorie deficit does not lead to the expected weight loss, I would encourage you to talk to your doctor. Perhaps you have a thyroid problem affecting your metabolism. But get professional advice, not advice from us hacks on a forum!

I do try and record everything that I eat - including butter, milk etc. But I track it mentally throughout the day. I will try writing it down. I have had some thyroid tests done before and I was at the "lower end" of normal. That means, of course, that I could not have/didn't need treatment for it. However, I wonder whether that is an indicator that I should be eating fewer calories than a person whose thyroid is completely in the "normal" zone.

 

[KaraCooks]

Honestly I think you just have expectations that are too high.

Our bodies aren't machines that operate with mathematical precision. There are all kinds of things that can slow weight loss or cause it to stall and start again.

Keeping in mind that you've already lost a significant amount of weight, and at a lower weight, your body needs fewer calories. So is your calculation of 2800 calories still accurate for the weight you are now?

And given that you say you're not being strictly accurate about your calories, I'm suspecting that you probably eating more calories than you think you are, which is slowing your loss.

 

[WinterBreeze]

Honestly I think you just have expectations that are too high.

Our bodies aren't machines that operate with mathematical precision. There are all kinds of things that can slow weight loss or cause it to stall and start again.

Keeping in mind that you've already lost a significant amount of weight, and at a lower weight, your body needs fewer calories. So is your calculation of 2800 calories still accurate for the weight you are now?

And given that you say you're not being strictly accurate about your calories, I'm suspecting that you probably eating more calories than you think you are, which is slowing your loss.

No, no - I don't eat that amount. That's the amount I COULD eat and maintain my weight with the exercise I do. I actually eat 1500-1600 a day. And I'm female. About 198lbs. 5ft 8. I have to lose about 35lbs to get to a healthy weight, but ultimately I'd like to lose another 50lb to get to my real goal.

 

[KaraCooks]

No, no - I don't eat that amount. That's the amount I COULD eat and maintain my weight with the exercise I do.

Right I got that.

Ok, so knowing your height/weight currently helps to give better advice. I couldn't tell if you'd calculated 2800 as your maintenance 44 lbs ago or if it's your maintenance now.

I'll go back and say that I think this: But I track it mentally throughout the day. is probably your biggest problem.

I've been counting calories for 3+ years and probably will the rest of my life to one extent or the other. Whenever I get away from logging and start "mentally counting" - I gain weight. I am incapable of (a) remembering everything I eat and (b) eyeballing measurements.

I would suggest that not only do you get into the habit of logging your food somehwere - either using pen and paper or online - but you get into the habit of WEIGHING your food (not even measuring, but weighing). I think you'll find out that you're eating a heck of a lot more than you think you are.

 

[WinterBreeze]

Right I got that.

Ok, so knowing your height/weight currently helps to give better advice. I couldn't tell if you'd calculated 2800 as your maintenance 44 lbs ago or if it's your maintenance now.

I'll go back and say that I think this: But I track it mentally throughout the day. is probably your biggest problem.

I've been counting calories for 3+ years and probably will the rest of my life to one extent or the other. Whenever I get away from logging and start "mentally counting" - I gain weight. I am incapable of (a) remembering everything I eat and (b) eyeballing measurements.

I would suggest that not only do you get into the habit of logging your food somehwere - either using pen and paper or online - but you get into the habit of WEIGHING your food (not even measuring, but weighing). I think you'll find out that you're eating a heck of a lot more than you think you are.

Thanks for the advice. This week I have begun logging everything and weighing everything in oz/grams. I have counted milk, fruit - everything I eat. I am using my sedentary maintenence calories (2143.32) and working out my deficit from there. I am currently eating 1600-1650, so that puts me at a 500 calorie deficit (1lb) and I am trying to exercise off 500 + a day. I have included a great deal more NEPA this week, because, despite the fact that I exercise for one hour a day, I don't get much additional physical activity into my day.