TempoLife › Weight questions › Why am I not losing weight even in a calorie deficit?
Why am I not losing weight even in a calorie deficit?
Almost always because the deficit is smaller than it looks — unlogged food, underestimated portions, or a maintenance level that has dropped as you lost weight.
When the scale will not move despite "eating in a deficit", the deficit is usually not as big as the diary says. The three common culprits, in order: portions logged smaller than they really are (oil, dressings, spreads and "a handful" are the classic underestimates), bites that never get logged (tastes while cooking, the end of a child's plate, a couple of biscuits with coffee), and a maintenance level that has fallen because you already lost some weight.
Water retention also masks fat loss for stretches — a salty meal, a hard workout, hormonal shifts or a new creatine habit can hold several pounds of water that hide real progress for a week or two. This is why the weekly trend matters far more than any single morning.
The fix is boring and effective: weigh food rather than eyeballing it for a couple of weeks, log everything including the small stuff, and judge progress on a 7-day average rather than the daily number.
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General information, not medical advice. Figures are mainstream reference values; individual needs vary.
