To all of the "I AM ON 2000 CALORIES A DAY AND I CAN'T LOSE WEIGHT" posters on here.

[JOHN GARGANI]

the regulars know just how many of these we have seen over the years....

now: I just started the arduous process again, having gained weight over the whole moving experience ( my profile is NOT updated )......and as a rule, I do approximately 2000-2300 a day when looking to shed.


The very first week, as expected, I dropped 3 pounds.....was some of it water weight? who cares...the scale immediately went down, and why not??

how could a grown man, who lives an active lifestyle and works out 4-5 times a week NOT lose weight on only 2000 calories a day?

if one doesn't, they would HAVE to have a thyroid problem....

Yet, we have seen so many threads about this, so, as before, my conclusion is that there are only two possiblities:

1. that they don't even work out at all...don't laugh, this is the 'net...we really never know for sure about anyone.....

but I will give them the benefit of the doubt on this one, so that brings me to:

2. their calorie totals are NOT accurate, either by ignorance, or simply lying to themselves and others.


once again, I will give the benefit of the doubt that most posters of this type of thing are NOT intentionally lying....

so, that leaves us with only one conclusion: IGNORANCE..lol.....

People simply do NOT know how to accurately track calories, proportions of macros, etc.....

what they say is 2300, is probably closer to 3300....and they conveniently "forget" certain "cheats" here and there......


I will stand on my ground here; it is IMPOSSIBLE for an active grown man to NOT lose weight on 2000 calories a day, UNLESS: he is already at some ridiculously low bodyfat percentage, stage ready, type, and at low single digits, his metabolism is greatly altered....

there are few here that qualify for that....

[ironwill2008]

2. their calorie totals are NOT accurate, either by ignorance, or simply lying to themselves and others.


...

^^^^This is the main cause, right here. Noobs will say they're 'tracking' their calories, but fail to mention that the numbers they're "tracking" have been derrived from the label on the box the food came in, or they are just taking a WAG, rather than actually using a scale and weighing their portions.

When the success or failure of a cut hinges on a mere 300-500 calorie deficit per day, that small amount can be wiped out by just a few miscalculations or guesses, thus rendering the 'deficit' null, or even worse, turning it into a surplus.

[highiso]

Every calorie counts but not every calorie is counted. Big surprise. I track everything. Only way to succeed at your goals. A scale is a must.

[chodan9]

many will look at calorie trackers and say chose "a serving of cheerios" which is 3/4 a cup of cheerios
when in fact they had a large bowl with 2.5 full cups of cheerios in it, in a 12 ounces of milk with a spoon full of sugar or 2 on it.

[ironwill2008]

many will look at calorie trackers and say chose "a serving of cheerios" which is 3/4 a cup of cheerios
when in fact they had a large bowl with 2.5 full cups of cheerios in it, in a 12 ounces of milk with a spoon full of sugar or 2 on it.

^^^^THIS.








qwerty

[JRT6]

When one is 25lbs overweight of course the first 10-15 pounds comes off easy; it's the last few pounds that's a bitch.

[Tifflex]

many will look at calorie trackers and say chose "a serving of cheerios" which is 3/4 a cup of cheerios
when in fact they had a large bowl with 2.5 full cups of cheerios in it, in a 12 ounces of milk with a spoon full of sugar or 2 on it.

Yep; that's why a food scale is so important. When working to lose fat, I measure or weigh everything including whey.

[Brackneyc]

the regulars know just how many of these we have seen over the years....

now: I just started the arduous process again, having gained weight over the whole moving experience ( my profile is NOT updated )......and as a rule, I do approximately 2000-2300 a day when looking to shed.


The very first week, as expected, I dropped 3 pounds.....was some of it water weight? who cares...the scale immediately went down, and why not??

how could a grown man, who lives an active lifestyle and works out 4-5 times a week NOT lose weight on only 2000 calories a day?

if one doesn't, they would HAVE to have a thyroid problem....

Yet, we have seen so many threads about this, so, as before, my conclusion is that there are only two possiblities:

1. that they don't even work out at all...don't laugh, this is the 'net...we really never know for sure about anyone.....

but I will give them the benefit of the doubt on this one, so that brings me to:

2. their calorie totals are NOT accurate, either by ignorance, or simply lying to themselves and others.


once again, I will give the benefit of the doubt that most posters of this type of thing are NOT intentionally lying....

so, that leaves us with only one conclusion: IGNORANCE..lol.....

People simply do NOT know how to accurately track calories, proportions of macros, etc.....

what they say is 2300, is probably closer to 3300....and they conveniently "forget" certain "cheats" here and there......


I will stand on my ground here; it is IMPOSSIBLE for an active grown man to NOT lose weight on 2000 calories a day, UNLESS: he is already at some ridiculously low bodyfat percentage, stage ready, type, and at low single digits, his metabolism is greatly altered....

there are few here that qualify for that....

All of this ^^ is why I no longer inquire about, or even discuss diet (esp calories) on these forums anymore. If a person isn't losing, they are eating too much. If they are not gaining, they are eating too little. Outside of a physical issue, the remedy in either case is glaring, and usually an easy fix.

FWIW, I think calorie calculators (any/all of them) are a waste if time. Getting an "actual" baseline of daily caloric needs takes about 7-10 days, and then you adjust.

[ironwill2008]

many will look at calorie trackers and say chose "a serving of cheerios" which is 3/4 a cup of cheerios
when in fact they had a large bowl with 2.5 full cups of cheerios in it, in a 12 ounces of milk with a spoon full of sugar or 2 on it.

Let's take a closer look at the actual numbers in ^^^^this seemingly harmless scenario. I've got a box of 'Multi-Grain Cheerios here.






1 serving (1 cup) Cheerios with 1/2 cup skim milk totals 150 calories. Not bad at all.







Now let's look at what happens in the real world (minus a food scale), such as you described in your post:

2 1/2 cups of Cheerios (a nice-looking portion in a big bowl) = 275 cals. Add a cup (more cereal requires more milk, right?) of 2% (who really drinks skim anyway?) milk = 130 calories, and just 1 tablespoon of sugar adds an additional 45 calories. This changes our conservative, 150 calorie bowl of cereal into a 450 calorie meal, a difference of 300 calories. That seemingly innocuous increase is enough to pretty much single-handedly wipe out the required daily calorie deficit needed to see a fat loss.

And that's just the error from one small meal; compound it by at least two more larger meals' worth of miscounting that day, and our cut trainee, who thinks he's eating at a "deficit," is now on a bulk. A big one.

[jdtemple]

Then help me explain this:



Prior to that, I was eating 1600/day and losing nothing. That went on for several weeks.

I do have a digital food scale, and I weigh everything I eat.

Body fat and LBM numbers are derived from an average of my skin caliper readings (which seem to read low) and the Navy's circumference formula (which seems to read high).

Notice the 1000 calorie increase in daily intake and the relatively flat stats.

The gap is Christmas. I was out of town.

[ironwill2008]

Then help me explain this:



Prior to that, I was eating 1600/day and losing nothing. That went on for several weeks.

I do have a digital food scale, and I weigh everything I eat.

Nobody can continuously drop body fat forever. The leaner you get, the slower your metabolism becomes, as your body fights to hold onto the last bits of fat. We are genetically-coded to function this way in order to simply survive during times of famine. Some of us see this reaction to calorie deficit in a more-pronounced fashion than others.

The solution to this is to call off the cut, gradually ease back up to maintenance, then bump up further to a slight surplus, and work to build more muscle for a few months. Somewhere down the road, another cut can be attempted.

[Gary89]

I work out 4 - 5 days a week. Try very hard to eat 3300 calories on workout days and 3000 on rest days. I keep a spreadsheet of everything I eat, and usually get within 100 calories of goal, but don't go over. I have a hard time getting all the calories in.

Not gaining.

Everybody is different.

[EB68]

I lost 30 lbs and went from 23 percent BF to 12 percent BF in 6 months eating 2600 calories a day. Once I got there I maintained for a bit and then cut to 2100 calories and lost three more pounds in three weeks. I am starting to bulk now and gonna start with 3200 calories and see how that goes for a few weeks.

[nixter]

In before "starvation mode"

[flairon]

many will look at calorie trackers and say chose "a serving of cheerios" which is 3/4 a cup of cheerios
when in fact they had a large bowl with 2.5 full cups of cheerios in it, in a 12 ounces of milk with a spoon full of sugar or 2 on it.

yep.

[ironwill2008]

I work out 4 - 5 days a week. Try very hard to eat 3300 calories on workout days and 3000 on rest days. I keep a spreadsheet of everything I eat, and usually get within 100 calories of goal, but don't go over. I have a hard time getting all the calories in.

Not gaining.

Everybody is different.

If you're trying to gain, eat to the same total every day. On 'rest' days, your body is working hard to repair muscle/joint/attachment damage caused by training; it only stands to reason to have the raw materials needed for that job to be already on board and in sufficient quantity.

If you're not gaining weight, you're simply not eating enough. If it's tough to choke down all the food required to maintain a calorie surplus (I've been there, and despite what overweight folks think, it's no fun at all to have to force feed yourself. True story.), augment your intake with calorie-dense food choices. Natural peanut butter, nuts of all kinds, avocados, full-fat diary, fattier cuts of meat, and olive oil on everything you can stand to eat it on are all good ways to bump up your daily calorie total.

[BrotherWolf]

they conveniently "forget" certain "cheats" here and there......

^ this

[JRT6]

I'm never bulking again b/c I can't take another diet.

[mtdman]

Getting a phone app to help you count your calories is a big help. In the past I've tried writing things down, keeping a running total in my head, etc, none of it worked right. Getting a phone app, putting everything in it to track your calories, was a huge help. I tracked my food for a couple weeks before I made my change in eating, and I was amazed at how many calories I was taking in (mostly through sugary drinks and snacks). Literally watching what you eat is a big help. People ask me what I'm doing, I just tell them I track everything and meet my calories/macros every day. It's pretty much as easy as that.

[jrctherake]

the regulars know just how many of these we have seen over the years....

now: I just started the arduous process again, having gained weight over the whole moving experience ( my profile is NOT updated )......and as a rule, I do approximately 2000-2300 a day when looking to shed.


The very first week, as expected, I dropped 3 pounds.....was some of it water weight? who cares...the scale immediately went down, and why not??

how could a grown man, who lives an active lifestyle and works out 4-5 times a week NOT lose weight on only 2000 calories a day?

if one doesn't, they would HAVE to have a thyroid problem....

Yet, we have seen so many threads about this, so, as before, my conclusion is that there are only two possiblities:

1. that they don't even work out at all...don't laugh, this is the 'net...we really never know for sure about anyone.....

but I will give them the benefit of the doubt on this one, so that brings me to:

2. their calorie totals are NOT accurate, either by ignorance, or simply lying to themselves and others.


once again, I will give the benefit of the doubt that most posters of this type of thing are NOT intentionally lying....

so, that leaves us with only one conclusion: IGNORANCE..lol.....

People simply do NOT know how to accurately track calories, proportions of macros, etc.....

what they say is 2300, is probably closer to 3300....and they conveniently "forget" certain "cheats" here and there......


I will stand on my ground here; it is IMPOSSIBLE for an active grown man to NOT lose weight on 2000 calories a day, UNLESS: he is already at some ridiculously low bodyfat percentage, stage ready, type, and at low single digits, his metabolism is greatly altered....

there are few here that qualify for that....

I don't know if I'm normal or not....lol.......

If I eat more than 2400 to 2500 cals a day when on a keto.....70/25/5......f/p/c......I don't lose bf.....I stall.

On the other hand if I'm on 40/40/20.....p/c/f..........I can eat as much as 2900 to 3000 cals a day and still lose bf.

Why is that? I do the same type training (frequency, volume, poundage, intensity etc...) on both diets but get different results from each.

I always thought it was cals in vs cals out.

Getting more to your point.............I did not figure any of that out until I tracked every little bite I put in my mouth........down to the gram/ounce of all foods/liquids.


EDIT: I forgot to mention that going by the test IronWill talked about on how to figure out your fiber makeup as far as ft or st.......I did the test by doing my 1rm on several lifts and rested for 15 minutes and was able to get only 4 reps on next set. The test put me at mostly FT fibers.

Does having mostly FT fibers cause my diet results to be as such?.......Still a newb so just wondering.

Rake

[PhantomMaxx]

I will stand on my ground here; it is IMPOSSIBLE for an active grown man to NOT lose weight on 2000 calories a day, UNLESS: he is already at some ridiculously low bodyfat percentage, stage ready, type, and at low single digits, his metabolism is greatly altered....

or UNLESS: he is a smaller person. I have no problem cutting but I can't do it eating 2000 calories a day. I need to go LOWER. Past few winters I've bulked, 20, 15, and this winter 11 pounds. During cut I will lose about 1~1.25 lbs a week @ 1800 calories, and in the final week down to 1650. I know that sounds freakishly low to some of you, but at only 5' 2" my max bulk weight is about 136~138lbs and lean I'm in the 125lbs range. But I agree 100% about an average height guy dropping weight if he only ate 2000 calories.

[drudixon]

I remember my first cut. I didn't add in condiments. Since I'm a condiment junkie, I decided to add them up....

220 calories a day in ketchup, mustard, and a1... lol, whoops....

[BillReilly]

1) I agree with the assertion that most people complaining about not losing weight are either making excuses, kidding themselves about calorie intake or they are not doing it right. My guess is the root cause is a desire to fail so they can pretend they are just big boned and give up on losing the blubber.

2) I disagree with the implication here that everyone has the same metabolism. That's simply not true. Ectomorphs, those ridiculously skinny guys, tend to have very high burn rates. Everyone has known that guy who eats like a horse and never gains an ounce. Many here struggle to add muscle because they are ectomorphs. Body type is as important a consideration as diet.

[cmoore]

The leaner you get, the slower your metabolism becomes, as your body fights to hold onto the last bits of fat.

And the louder your demons become.

[jdtemple]

Nobody can continuously drop body fat forever. The leaner you get, the slower your metabolism becomes, as your body fights to hold onto the last bits of fat. We are genetically-coded to function this way in order to simply survive during times of famine. Some of us see this reaction to calorie deficit in a more-pronounced fashion than others.

The solution to this is to call off the cut, gradually ease back up to maintenance, then bump up further to a slight surplus, and work to build more muscle for a few months. Somewhere down the road, another cut can be attempted.

That's what I'm figuring out now. I just wanted to point out that there's not necessarily a concrete line between cutting, maintenance, and bulking. It's more of a hazy gray area that you have to find via trial & error. That's why counting everything becomes so important, as you mentioned earlier. You really don't know where you stand if you aren't tracking accurately.

And the louder your demons become.

Don't I know it! Cravings were killing me. I have never been as crazy lean as you are (but damn if I didn't try); I can only imagine.

As I raised my intake, the craving demons were replaced by "You're a fatass" demons. I'm still fighting them. But, as I see it, I don't have much of a choice. I eat more, or I sit and spin my wheels for eternity, letting my fear of bodyfat run my life, never getting bigger & stronger.

To make matters worse, I have quite a bit of loose skin. That makes it ultra tough gauge my state.

[ovfdfireman]

I think these folks come here for help for the problems they are facing. That's why I joined, particularlyMyron 10 years my eating habits have been lean and healthy, always weighing 220 in the summer and 230 in the winter (beer has been my arch enemy in achieving my goals). I recently decided beer is out and to bulk and had trouble eating so much and needed advise. Who knew eating can be miserable. Inversely, I am fine at Cutting, but still plan to look too guys like cmoore who have mastered it.

With that, I hope people can help these folks who post their dilemma. My opinion is unless these guys are 120, 2000 calories will shred you, but for a newbie counting cals is tough, hell I have counted calories for years and used a scale, but still miss things, very easy to do if you are a snacker. I suspect the original poster is correct when saying they likely missed some calories. It is hard not to feel so hungry at 2000 unless you know the light foods that fill you.

[Firminator4]

I'm about 6 weeks into my first ever controlled "cut". I started at 215lbs and today weighed in at 203.5. My daily target was around 2200-2300kcals. All the years I have lifted I have never tracked exactly what I was eating, just tried to eat fairly clean and did pretty well. This has been a whole new experience for me. I plan to run this for 4 more weeks until the wife and I leave for vacation in Cancun. May try to stay in maintenance through the summer, then move my calories close to 3000kcals and see where that takes me.

The things I struggle with the most right now are:
1- feeling like I've lost some muscle but only losing 2 lbs per week probably not that much - just feel a lot smaller all over.
2 - Dealing with the fact that my numbers are down a little as well. Understandable with the weight loss but still a little bit of a downer. i've just taken this opportunity to concentrate more on the mind-muscle connection
3 - the daily struggle I have to get over 200g of protein into my daily intake without using more than one protein drink to do it. Really don't want to be on a liquid diet - lol.

At any rate - I agree John - If I ate at 2000kcals I would be shedding weight at TOO high of a rate, especially on a day like yesterday when it was so hot in the gym - I was soaked at the end of my workout.

Firm

[mickdoo]

I am hypo thyroid and take meds for it. If I take in 2000 I lose. Plain and simple. If I take in 2000 and exercise I lose more. Plain and simple. When I dont track I dont lose simply because Im taking in more energy than expending.

[Payton1221]

I recall reading an Alan Aragon article that said obese people tend to understimate their calories by 50% and overestimate their exercise by 50%. Looks like a recipe for "poor 'ole me . . . I just can't seem to lose weight no matter how hard I try."

[SillieBazzillie]

I'm 44 6'1 and started in February at about 245. I'd been working out for the last year or so, but never watched my diet so I had a good amount of fat on me along with muscle. Since February, I've been eating around 1,700 kcal/day while lifting for 40 minutes 3x / week and doing 30 minutes of intervel cardio on the elliptical the other 4 days. My goal is to get lean for the summer while still maintaining decent muscle. Currently I'm at 217 and for a size perspective, I actually look a lot like Payton1221's avatar, except I'm not quite as lean and have a hint of love handles left to lose. Anyway, I think I'm to the point where I'm starting to lose muscle faster than fat now. My question is should I continue to lose until I'm completely lean, or will this wipe out all of my muscle? While I haven't gotten any stronger the last 3 months, I was staying flat until recently when my numbers have started to go down. On the bench for example, I would typically do 4 worksets of 185 x 10. My last two benches have been 185 x 10, 9, 9, 8. Not huge but definately less. I'm also feeling tired the last 2 weeks or so. Is it time to maintain for the summer, then do a controlled bulk during the fall/winter?