Looking for encouragement..

[olives]

Hi there!

I'm currently a 35 y/o male weighing in at 299lbs working a sedentary job, but getting back into general fitness and strength training over the last month.

I've been eating (tracked through MFP) 2,200 calories per day the last month which is below my BMR and around 500-1000 calories below my TDEE (workouts not included).

I've gained 2.5lbs in one month's time despite this. I've been doing GZCL 4x a week along with walking about 3 miles 3x per week.

My scale says my body fat % has gone down by 0.6% and my muscle mass has increased by 3.3lbs... I don't know if any of that is remotely possible, but still CICO right? Why haven't I lost weight?

I should have lost somewhere in the realm of 5-9lbs so far and instead have gained 2.5lbs. That's a 7.5-11.5lbs swing.

I've read that creatine can make you retain up to 5lbs of additional water weight so... that makes up for 5lbs. But where's the additional weight loss?

Is it possible that one month ago I weighed myself when I'd somehow lost a ton of water in one day... and since then I've mostly just retained water and actually lost the weight?

I was really hopeful to see some results on the scale after putting in a lot of effort with diet and exercise over 4+ weeks... it's a bit disheartening when I see my weight's friggen increased in that time.

 

[dmdadabear]

@olives TDEE is a guesstimate, not a measurement. It's very possible you've been aiming precisely for the wrong target.

This isn't failure: this is more information. Based on your body and your life over the last month, the calorie target you were aiming for put you into surplus (probably*). Take that data, and adjust your intake accordingly.

When I realised all the calculating and thinking about food I'd have to do, I shelled out for a program that would do it for me - MacroFactor is what I've been trying, and I've been happy with it thus far.

*Remember that scale weight is a snapshot - the trend is what's important. I don't know how often you're weighing, etc.

 

[olives]

@dmdadabear I’ve got no trending data unfortunately. Considering weighing myself every day of the next month to see if it was just a creatine bubble or if 2,200 is really a surplus at my body weight and exercise levels

 

[dmdadabear]

@olives Yep - weighing every day and trying not to be invested in the result… is easy to type and hard to do.

But we’re all just one fat turd and a salty meal from a spike. Even before adding creatine to the mix.

Keep going. These are the warm ups.

 

[olives]

@dmdadabear Hell yeah. Thanks man

 

[soccerbeth]

@olives Consider getting a smart scale (like withings) if you go to daily measurements. It auto-uploads to the cloud, making it a pretty painless 5 second routine. Also do it under the same circumstances. e.g. first thing in the morning after peeing.

 

[olives]

@soccerbeth I have a smart scale. Is "withings" some special type of one?

 

[soccerbeth]

@olives No, it’s just the brand I use. I don’t have the time or discipline to write down weight measurements, so a scale that records and uploads it to a nice dashboard is key for me. Otherwise I wouldn’t follow through measuring every day.

 

[olives]

@soccerbeth Mine does the same thing you're seemingly talking about. So we're all good on that front!

 

[soccerbeth]

@olives Great. Sounds like you are doing a lot correctly with your measurements and calorie counting. Maybe you’ll have to make an adjustment, but you seem generally well set up for success. Awesome!

 

[disciple777]

@olives Constipated?

 

[olives]

@disciple777 Not in the least bit lol

 

[dawn16]

@olives It’s simple

You aren’t actually in a deficit

You’re probably counting wrong you need to weigh your food labels are always off

You’re not burning as many calories in exercise as you think or your watch is telling you. Don’t even count this in your daily deficit just look at them like bonus negative calories

I’m cutting for the first time in 8 years after bulking for mass and strongman competition.

I’m cutting losing around 1lb a week on 3.2k daily calories but that’s because I have 20+ years of strength and conditioning training. I’ve cut from 295 to 265 in about 5 months. Mine is a very mild 300 calorie slow cut to maintain mass abs strength while slowing cutting off fat barely below maintenance

2k a day is more than low enough if you were actually eating at a deficit you’d see the drop but 4 weeks isn’t a huge amount of time. 5-10lbs in 4
Weeks at 300lbs wouldn’t be that noticeable

 

[olives]

@dawn16 I hear you, and like I’ve said to others by now I’m 99% sure the diet is dialed in, and I’m 50% sure that this is creatine water retention.

I’m going to go another month without changing anything still hitting the same workouts and the same food and the same daily macros and I’ll check back in. I’m quite sure this time around there’ll be a loss.

 

[predrag]

@olives It's reductive and annoying advice, but you need to eat less. Calorie tracking should work on paper, but well. You're eating too much for a deficit.

Are you ever hungry?

 

[olives]

@predrag Is it genuinely, actually, factually possible that I'm eating 2,200 calories at ~300lbs and working out 4x a week and I'm in a caloric surplus?

I'm hungry right now lol but some water will quell that.

 

[predrag]

@olives Unless it has become sentient, scale doesn't lie.

You know your food quality. Whole foods (oatmeal, meat, veggies) are more satiating, yadda yadda. You know if there's anything you're allocating because you have the "calories to afford", when you could go without.

 

[olives]

@ecce Weighing anything that needs to be weighed. Using percentages of foods that are larger and being eaten over a few days so I make sure that all the calories present are accounted for (for instance, 1lb of pasta eaten over 3 days I make sure that the three days of calories add up to the 1lb calorie total)

 

[mrsmac0324]

@olives If you were eating 2200 calories, you would likely be in a deficit. We just think youre eating more than you realize if you have been gaining weight.

FWIW: I started taking creatine the day I started my last successful cut - a 500 calorie/day deficit over 16 weeks (with a few maintenance breaks) that allowed me to drop 20 lbs (178 to 158). I didn’t have any weight gain at the start from creatine / water

 

[thingi]

@olives Do you have mfp set to the correct activity level?

How often are you weighing in?

Are you tracking the calories you burn in mfp towards your total calories intake?

Are you tracking foods raw or cooked? There can be a big difference here

When I started I had similar stats at 6’2 285 and got to 255 in about 3.5 months eating 2k-2200. My maintenance at 255 is ~ 3k although I don’t have a sedentary job I track it 1 level above that.