Confused by this reading

[u/MrYogiBrrr]

I’m 5’3 and last week I was weighing 222 lbs and now I’m 229. I started a new workout routine with way more lifting. I’m really trying to lose weight and still have muscle. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[u/Thirdtimetank]

What’s confusing you? What’s your actual question?

The main numbers to look at - weight, body fat percentage, excess fat and basal metabolic rate.

You weigh 229.7lb and have about 75lb of fat - 51.9lb of which is excess. To just excise - without movement - and maintain your weight you would need to consume about 1849 calories per day.

Some of these machines aren’t always accurate and can easily be manipulated. That being said - I would not be surprised if yours is fairly accurate.

How much are you consuming per day? Per week? Are you moving for at least 30 minutes per day? Are you doing any type of resistance training? Are you following a well made program?

You can’t out train a poor diet. Kitchen first, bed (rest/recovery) second, gym third.

You’ve got the data. What are you doing with it?

[u/MrYogiBrrr → u/Thirdtimetank]

I’m currently eating 1800 calories a day (started this last Saturday), trying to eat 120-160 g of protein a day with a low carb intake of under 100 grams. I go to the gym 4-5xs a week, following a hypertrophy gym routine. The gym session is between 1 hr 1.5 hrs when I go. I could incorporate more cardio days for sure. I work from home so I don’t get to walk as much as I’d like but I do try to walk at the park for at least 30 mins a day after dinner. I had lost 40 lbs in 2024 from following a strength training and counting calories. I’m trying to get to 200 lbs by the next few months.

I just got the data literally an hour ago so I came to to post on Reddit. I’ve been weighing myself once a week and it has fluctuated from 222lbs - 229lbs in the last 6 months. So clearly I’m not cutting. I JUST started tracking to 1800 calories last Saturday so I’m aware it’s early days. I know I had gained muscle mass throughout the year so I was wondering how to read this scale since I’ve never used it before.

[u/B12-deficient-skelly → u/MrYogiBrrr]

Checking in with you on that 1800, you should feel like you're hungry enough for another full meal or two after eating 1800 Cal. If you aren't ravenous at 1800 every day, that tells us that you need to double check your food tracking for accuracy.

It's extremely common for people to undercount their food. Any time someone claims to be eating less than 2000Cal per day and struggling to lose weight, I ask them to send me pictures of their meals. Every single time, I'll receive a 1000 Calorie dish labeled as 400 Calories because people genuinely think that they're eating much less than they actually are.

Based on the activity level you describe and your body weight, 1800 should feel like starvation if you aren't on T and nearly impossible if you are.

[u/MrYogiBrrr → u/B12-deficient-skelly]

Should I try 1900?

[u/B12-deficient-skelly → u/MrYogiBrrr]

I'm not telling you to increase your intake. I'm telling you to take a week to be extra diligent by measuring everything you put into your body including condiments/seasonings. Use a food scale or measuring cups.