ok whos got the definitive answer

Stephen E Forde

To lose weight you have to create a calorie deficit.

You do this by using more calories than you consume.

To maintain a certain weight you have to consume as or near as the same amout of calories you use.

Now why if you create a calorie deficit you can find yourself  not loosing weight BUT not increasing muscle bulk which may be the reason.

Why?

What is happening?

Like I said I want facts as this is something I can see happens to people  but I cannot explain why.

 

[Deleted User]

I don't think there is a definitive answer, which is why losing weight can be so difficult and so frustrating.

After all, if it was just about simple maths, there would be a lot fewer obese and overweight people around.

Your weight is not the same from one day to the next, or even one hour to the next. There are so many processes going on and fuel being consumed and broken down that it is unrealistic to expect to see a loss each and every day, regardless of whether we have created a calorie deficit. This is why we shouldn't weigh ourselves every day - it is much more realistic to look at the scales once a week or even once a month.

For many people, weight loss is a series of "plateaus" where weight will remain constant for a few weeks and then a few pounds will come off at once. This can be very de-motivating and frustrating. I think the key to getting past the weight loss plateaus is to look at things in the long-term. As long as you can keep up the calorie deficit, without going too low, you will eventually see the weight come off.

One of the most difficult things to learn on a weight loss programme, is to have patience. When you are putting the hard work in it seems very unfair that you might not see the results for many months, but the time will pass anyway - so I keep telling myself.

Unknown

Well, there are three facts that are fairly well proven by science that may be part of the explanation:

1. It's almost impossible to know accurately your calories in and calories out. On the out part, we may have rough estimates of the calories per mile burned by running, but minor variations in terrain, wind speed, and individual running style, mean those are not precise. And on the food in side, even if you weight everything you eat on accurate scales (which not many people do), there are variations in ingredients, and more importantly, quite significant variations in absorption, depending on what foods you eat together and how you chew! And I mean variations in absorption enough to make a difference! So you never accurately know calories in or out unless someone in a lab is analysing your stools. Sorry.

2. Every body is different. I saw a good paper on the response to weight training. A selection of male subjects, same ages, subjected to the same diet and weight training, some immediately gained muscle, some didn't at all. We all have individual hormonal responses to exercise and to food.

3. The body compensates automatically for what happens to it. If you eat less, or lose weight for any reason, or exercise more, the body is specifically evolved to adjust and compensate for these things. The metabolism adjusts. See papers by Rudolph Leibel for example, some pretty solid science here.

 

Tom77

If you lose weight then the amount of energy you use goes down. E.g. if you weigh 80kg (176 pounds) then running 5 miles uses 642 calories. If your weight drops to 75kg (165 pounds) then running the same 5 miles only uses 602 calories.

So you could easily start off with a calorie deficit, lose some weight and then have your weight stay constant, even though you're eating the same amount of food and doing the same amount of exercise.

SideBurn

Have a look at this site; some (most?) of it is about ultra distance running but it is packed with good stuff! http://www.optimumnutrition4sport.com/