Just not losing

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h_seaward
h_seaward Posts: 7
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi guys, I am 5'7", 25 YO and weigh around 138lbs and I just cant seem to lose weight! Only trying to get down to 130-134lbs so not far to go but been at it for a few months now and im just staying around the 138-140 area! MFP has recommended 1200 calories a day and I tend to stick to this. I dont usually eat all my exercise calories back. I workout most days with 1 hour of kickboxing 3 times a week, 1 hour of crossfit 3 times a week and usually 1 or 2 runs of between 5 and 8 miles. My mum is doing slimming world and we eat the same meals so I tend to eat healthily, have the odd piece of cake or bag of crisps but not every day, maybe once a week max. Any idea where i'm going wrong? I cant do any more exercise as I work a 40 hour week and commute 3 hours a day so know I need to change up my nutrition but just dont know what to change. Would love any tips or advice you guys have:) thanks!

Replies

  • pander101
    pander101 Posts: 677 Member
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    Are you weighing your food? Measuring cups don't cut it for solids.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    questions:
    1. are you doing TDEE or MFP method?
    2. do you own a food scale? Do you weigh, log, measure everything?

    If you are not eating back your exercise calories then that means that you are netting below 1200 calories ...more then likely you have some kind of metabolic adaptation going on and your body is trying to hold on to what it has, which is a natural reaction when one is already at a low weight.

    You probably need to re-adjust your goals to .5 pound per week loss and make sure that you are netting the number that MFP gives you. So if MFP says 1500 calories and you burn 400 then you need to eat 1900 - 400 = 1500 net....

    OR

    you can do TDEE method and calculate your maintenance level TDEE and deduct 250 calories from it and just eat that number. So if your maintenance TDEE is 1800, subtract 200 and just eat 1600 a day ..
  • CariJean64
    CariJean64 Posts: 297 Member
    edited October 2014
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    You're doing a lot of exercise, so 1200 seems pretty low. The advice I often see here is to increase your calories a bit. Sounds counter-productive, but it seems to work for a lot of people.
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
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    You are just overeating. There can be no other way.
  • berz82
    berz82 Posts: 100 Member
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    sounds like increase cals, when you work out you need cals to fuel it.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    can you open your diary?
  • luvmydawgs
    luvmydawgs Posts: 182 Member
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    Eat more if you are not losing. Also cut out all artificial sweeteners, that was a HUGE part of why I wasn't losing!
  • axw7454
    axw7454 Posts: 32 Member
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    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    can you open your diary?

    Yeah it'd be easier to tell if we saw what you ate
  • axw7454
    axw7454 Posts: 32 Member
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    Also, I stopped logging workouts and just stuck to my calories that way. It helped a lot I went from losing 1lb a week to 4
  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
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    What is your goal set to (0.5 pounds per week, 2 pounds per week)? It sounds like you set too aggressive of a goal for the weight you want to lose. Since you only want to lose 4-8 pounds, set your goal at 0.5 pounds per week and see what MFP gives you. (Side note: I'm the same height and age, but I weigh a bit more. I eat 1800 calories a day and still lose 0.5-1 pound a week.)

    Also, make sure you measure all liquids and weigh all solid foods.

    Also, make sure you use accurate entries in your diary. Some of the MFP entries are user-generated and not correct. Before you log anything, double check what MFP says to either the label or the USDA's food database.
  • h_seaward
    h_seaward Posts: 7
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    Thanks for your replies! Im not weighing my food at all so thats a really good idea, even if the food is healthy I could definitely be eating more of it than I think! Will have to get a scale and some examples of how much carb/protein to eat! I was doing MFP which stated 1200 a day but just did TDEE which says I should be eating 2161 a day, so taking 200 from that would equal 1900. I might try to increase a little (using healthy food) and see how that goes. Thanks again, you're all so helpful:)
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
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    Agreed with others that you are eating more than you think. Try out the scale and see if your logging has been off.
    luvmydawgs wrote: »
    Eat more if you are not losing. Also cut out all artificial sweeteners, that was a HUGE part of why I wasn't losing!

    Artificial sweeteners are zero calories, they don't cause people to gain or not lose weight.

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