Question about deficits and loss

  • Hi all,

    I have a question I was hoping experienced losers could help me with...

    If it really is just calories in vs. calories out for weight loss, and 3500 calories is a pound of fat, how can you have huge deficits and not lose weight? I just don't understand because the concept seems simple, but in reality, sometimes it doesn't seem to work. I know that its hard to determin EXACT calories, but buggers/GWF users are at least close and still many don't get the loss that they should. Is it water weight/fecal matter/urine? Are you really losing the fat, it just depends on other stuff that day? Just really curious...

    Thanks for any help!
  • There is always going to be some discrepency between what we eat and what we actually log. Nobody can be 100% accurate. The same with the BB and GWF-they have a 10% +/- difference.
    Plus, hormones and water contribute to losses, especially for us gals.
    So far, my GWF has been within .2 to .5 of a pound each week with my tracking vs. actual weight loss. For me, I usually have 2 weeks of low losses, then a week of "woosh", where I lose in the 4-5 # range. But thats just me.

    For this month my GWF says I should have lost 8.5 #. My weigh in is tomorrow, but so far this month I have lost 7.8#. That's pretty accurate in my opinion.
    I think at the beginning you are losing water, and every week some of the weight is water. But I know there is no way I have lost 17# of just water.
  • I think over the long term it does work if you remember it's all apporximations. I did not weigh in for first 72 days of my plan but tracked my calorie deficit to theoretically be losing 1 lb. every 3 days and when I stepped on the scale that was how much I'd lost.