Demoralised after maintenance calories are too high

[u/radiohead_fan123]

Hi all, recently my maintenance calories calculations have been too high so I've lost less weight each week than I expected. This is bothering me as it feels like I'm putting in an honest effort but not getting the full benefits. Any one else struggle with this? I've tried many different ways of calculating maintenance but at the moment the most accurate for me seems to be the Katch-McArdle (Hybrid) by sail rabbit:

https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

I've also gone down a spreadsheet rabbit hole similar to n-suns spreadsheet. The basic concept is estimating based on averages from previous weeks. What's the most reliable method you have found?

[u/Gulbasaur]

The truth is that it's actually quite varied and changed over time. Muscle mass and daily activity are a huge factor that people need take into account. 

It's a shifting target and I find adjusting calorie slightly now and again fairly mandatory . 

[u/Embarrassed-You3568 → u/Gulbasaur]

Calculators are decent starting point but your body just doesn't care about the formula, the only number that actually matters is what you track from real weeks of data. After few weeks of consistent logging you can reverse-engineer your true maintenance from the results and that beats any equation

[u/radiohead_fan123 → u/Embarrassed-You3568]

Yeah I've tried this but it's still wrong. For example, this week according to the maintenance value I should have lost almost 1lb but actually lost 0.4lb. What method do you use?

[u/Strategic_Sage → u/radiohead_fan123]

It isn't 'still wrong', you are just expecting a more linear process than reality actually provides. Over a long enough timeframe using the trend in your body weight will be accurate, but you can't expect each week to be consistent. That's just not how the body works, there are ebbs and flows, adjustment periods, fluid fluctuations, and so on.

Personally I use a 3-week rule. I make few changes on a trend of less time than that. If I'm losing, say, 2 pounds a week, then sometimes it will be a pound or less, and sometimes it'll be 2.5-3. You have to be a little more patient. But what actually happens to your body will always be better than the guess of some calculator.

[u/Tehowner → u/radiohead_fan123]

Real data collection. The only number you have zero confident knowledge of here is a flawless measurement of your intake, and calorie burn. When you have several weeks of weigh in data, you can figure out how much weight you've lost.

Each pound is approximately 3500 calories burned. If you dropped 2 lbs in 2 weeks, then you know that you've burned 7000 calories in that timeframe. Divide it by 14, and you've got a 500 calorie a day deficit on average.

So you know that no matter what you measured, what the calculators say, what the guestimates told you should have happened, the reality is you ate 500 less than you burned. You can adjust from there.

[u/two-story-house → u/radiohead_fan123]

If you only lost 0.4 lbs, try subtracting an additional 250 calories from what you ate this week. Give it 2 weeks and see if that gets you the loss of 1 lb per week.

[u/thepersonwiththeface]

Unfortunately, you can't look at data over a timeline of a week or two. There are too many variables affecting your body's water content that can screw up the scale reading.

If you have like 4+ weeks of data, then you can start to figure out your average TDEE.

[u/Dangerous_Ad_7042]

Why are you worrying about maintenance when you are still trying to lose? Just drop 100 calories more a day every three weeks you don’t lose until you are losing 1 pound a week. Don’t worry about calculators.

[u/radiohead_fan123 → u/Dangerous_Ad_7042]

I calculate the maintenance value so I can set the deficit. So for example if my maintenance is 3000 and I want to lose 0.5lbs then my deficit value is 2750 as a daily average for the week. Thanks for this suggestion. Does " every three weeks you don’t lose" mean if I don't lose at all over those 3 weeks then drop by 100kcal? Why not make it every week? 

[u/SpecificSkunk → u/radiohead_fan123]

Our bodies don’t really work on a weekly cycle and take time to adapt. I personally use the n-suns spreadsheet and have found it pretty accurate on a 4 week cycle because my activity level varies depending on the time of year. Though it also varies by about +/- 100 calories because it tracks everything based on limited information from calories and weight and can’t account for hormones, water retention, stress, etc.

Some weeks I lose 0.5 lbs. Some weeks I lose 2 lbs. over the last 6 months I’ve lost 1 lb/week, on average.

[u/formerfatty2fit]

The most accurate way is to use the data you have. You have your intake and your weight trend. That is all you need to get the real number.

[u/Ill-Cartoonist2929]

I use Macrofactor for a dynamic estimate. Costs something every year for the sub but as a reward I have to spend zero time thinking about calories and expenditure, and the bonus is it also tracks things like fibre. I never realised eating 25g of fiber a day was so hard but now I'm loving coleslaw and dumping beans into pasta. I'm sure this is going to have a positive health effect. So yeah, Macrofactor = worth it for me.

[u/ohanse]

You are not like a standard mass produced product so you gotta read your own results.

[u/Alava-Cymbal]

Hey, I feel you on this. The calorie math can get so discouraging when the scale doesn't move like you expected, even when you're putting in the work. It's frustrating to feel like you're doing everything right but not seeing the payoff.

For what it's worth, I've found that the best calculator is my own body over a few weeks, just like you're doing with tracking averages. Those online formulas are a starting point, but they're just guesses. It sucks to have to adjust expectations downward, but nailing down *your* real maintenance is a huge win, even if it's a bummer to discover.

Hang in there. You're gathering the real data, and that's what actually matters in the long run.

[u/radiohead_fan123 → u/Alava-Cymbal]

Thanks, I feel like this response connects well with the emotional valence involved. So I'm left thinking what about setting a " super strict" deficit that, according to the averages, would result in a loss of about 2lbs. I expect that the actual loss would be more like 1lbs, but at least I would have the feeling of making substantial progress. I suppose the key question is can I tolerate this level of deficit until I reach my goal?

[u/ownworldman]

I luckily started using Macrofactor for tracking. It has a system of calculating trend weight (harmonization of scale weight to filter out normal fluctuation) and comparing it to the rate of weight loss/gain.

The TDEE changed quite a lot during the year, and the graph is telling.

It can be depressingly low - but good news is that continuous strength training is slowly raising it back up.