Really struggling and at my wit's end!

OrangeBabelfish

So, I've been attempting to lose weight all of this year now.

Last year I lost a lot of weight when I went through a rough breakup, but found happiness again and piled on the weight.

I am 165cm tall, (5'5'') I started the year at 66.7kg, and managed to lose 4kg just before I went on holiday in September (to the US), although the process was extremely slow and difficult.

I came back from 3 weeks in the US pretty much back at that weight. Despite returning to normal eating habits, healthier, and introducing much more exercise again, I am struggling to lose even a small amount of weight. Last weekend was an atrocious blow out weekend for me, and I ended up Monday morning at 66.9. Expecting most of this to be carb and alcohol bloat, I resolved to really start logging accurately and upping the exercise. Mostly in the past this would have resulted in initial reasonably quick results.

However, fast forward 4 days, and despite 3hrs in exercise and good eating, I have still barely lost anything. So we're now 5 weeks after I've returned from the US and I am still just as heavy as just after I returned.

I am totally at a loss as to where I am going wrong now. The basic laws of physics state that if I input less than I put out, I should lose weight, yet the last 4 weeks have shown that it simply isn't happening.

I used to be a professional dancer and whilst I am not expecting to get back to looking like that, the fact my BMI is putting me almost in the overweight category is freaking me out. I am also not losing any inches.

Someone please let me know where I am going wrong.... I have a weekend away this weekend where again, I can't control what I eat as I am a houseguest, but genuinely, every day I am on the scales and I just want to break down and cry....

pkw58

I found that as I aged there was no quick weight loss.. work and life reduced my activity level, but when I decided to change my lifestyle, the weight started coming off. Also, when I hit "overweight" on the charts, it was pretty devastating and painful. Three hours of exercise isn't even enough to lose one pound. You got other benefits from that exercise, so keep it up. Find a way to get more activity in your day - even if it is just standing up every hour for 10 minutes. It really makes a difference. Everyone has their moment(s) when it seems hopeless, but it isn't. Even if you have no healthy choices to eat as a houseguest, you can suggest a walk after the meal to help you "digest" or limit your portion size. Eat as slow as you can so that everyone finishes ahead of you so that you don't tempt yourself with "seconds".

galprincess

Either weigh everyday or once a week, besides this measure yourself our bodies are funny things when I lose weight I don't lose inches and vice versa, im 5ft 5 too ive had 3 children and ive struggled a lot , firstly I would say measure your food I understand as a guest this could be tricky but you need support so just say you are doing a food journal and want to know exactly how much you eat just weighing logging and analysing is how ive lost weight I do exercise but when I don't weigh food or log accurately I gain weight I know this as ive done it. Feel free to add me im great motivation and believe me the scales aren't worth crying over when you can do this!!!! you can because you did it. My fiancé is a chef and a feeder so I have had to learn to say no and mean it or yes but only 10 grams as that's all that fits it sounds funny but hey im 35lbs lighter and its worth it!!!

OrangeBabelfish

Thank you for the replies so far!

I know there isn't a quick fix. But a plateau of 5 weeks after a pig out holiday is also not normal.

I weigh myself every day in the same place (to be honest, multiple times a day anyway) and measure myself every 2-3 weeks.

I seemingly hold on to a ridiculous amount of water. I have started drinking loads more, in order to reduce bloat. But the scales just keep going up, despite me having drunk the same amount.

It's just all depressing and this week I've genuinely been getting choked up when looking at the scales every morning. The worst is, in August before my holiday I had a busy time at work and stopped eating as healthy (more carbs) and exercised a lot less, yet still managed to lose weight. All that weight gained and now I am doing so much better and still failing miserably.

Have opened up my diary if people want to have anosey!

Liftng4Lis

OrangeBabelfish wrote: »

However, fast forward 4 days, and despite 3hrs in exercise and good eating, I have still barely lost anything. So we're now 5 weeks after I've returned from the US and I am still just as heavy as just after I returned.

It doesn't matter how "good" you eat. If you're not in a deficit, you won't lose.

Francl27

You seem to be weighing your food. Is your period due anytime soon? (I'm assuming you are female, lol). It could be why you're not losing.

notsuchaskinnybitch

I have basically been in plateau for 2 years! It's hard. I have just started doing TDEE about 3 weeks ago and I am finally losing some weight again I would recommend it- before I was eating back a lot of my exercise calories as I was hungry and felt like I had to earn them before I could eat them. Now I am set at 2000 calories a day but don't log my exercise- so I am actually eating less! x

BernadetteChurch

I just had a quick look in your diary and to me it doesn't look like you're eating enough. Try to meet your calorie target every day instead of staying so far under it and your weight might start shifting again.

notsuchaskinnybitch

Also- I went on holiday in September and only just got it off last week! Nearly 2 months later! Weight loss is slow- don't weigh yourself everyday!

mitch16

Any chance you're underestimating your calories in or overestimating your calories burned through exercise?

One other thing to be mindful of--I looked at your diary and I noticed that several of your foods have the sodium listed as 0. 1 oz of feta cheese has over 300 mg of sodium! If your sodium intake is much higher than expected than you could be holding onto water weight. Watch your sodium and drink more water!

notsuchaskinnybitch

mitch16 wrote: »

Any chance you're underestimating your calories in or overestimating your calories burned through exercise?

One other thing to be mindful of--I looked at your diary and I noticed that several of your foods have the sodium listed as 0. 1 oz of feta cheese has over 300 mg of sodium! If your sodium intake is much higher than expected than you could be holding onto water weight. Watch your sodium and drink more water!

Agree that you could be underestimating food or overestimating exercise! I was probably doing that which is why not logging exercise is helping me x

SingRunTing

Since you are in the normal BMI range, weight loss is going to be slow. You really should be aiming for ~0.5 lbs a week or less (if this isn't your goal, you should reset it so that it is, or TDEE - 5 or 10%, if you do the TDEE method). It's painstakingly slow and requires patience to see the progress through your body's natural fluctuations.

You said that you just started exercising again. This means your muscles are probably retaining more water (this is normal when starting exercise). Also you had a bad weekend = more water retention (and remember, that when you're losing this slowly, one bad weekend can reverse weeks of progress). Also, like pp mentioned, if your period is due soon, you could be retaining even more water from that.

Are you eating back your exercise calories? That's how MFP is designed to work. It establishes the needed deficit based on food alone, so if you exercise, you earn more calories to eat. However, MFP tends to exaggerate the amount of calories burned, so many people only eat back 50% or so just to correct for that. If you are doing the TDEE method, you don't eat back exercise calories because they are built into your calorie goal already.

Are you weighing your food? If you aren't, you might not actually be eating at a deficit. Even if you are, choosing the wrong entries from the database can mess with your accuracy as well. Just double check your food measuring accuracy against this thread: community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

Basically, make sure you're logging as accurately as possible. Keep in mind that you should be losing very slowly and it will take time to see progress. Remember that water weight fluctuations are normal, so you need to keep the long game in mind. If after a month or two (not weeks, but months) you still haven't lost anything, then you may need to reconsider your calorie goal.

RavenLibra

you may not be able to control what you are going to be eating.. BUT you can control how MUCH you are eating...

OrangeBabelfish

Wow - thank you everyone for the help and advice. So many options to choose from, it's almost difficult to see what will work for me and how long I need to give each of it a try!

I am indeed currently weighing all my food, including cereals, yoghurts, everything. This is hopefully making a difference in accuracy. I guess it is intuitive that I started lowering my calories because I wasn't losing weight, as it feels so odd to increase food to lose weight!

I will read all of this and give it a shot. Hopefully I can have a breakthrough....

esjones12

Consistency is key.

I would suggest figuring out how many calories you need to eat (I advocate .5-1lb loss per week depending on how much you need to lose). Then log EVERYTHING. Make sure you are eating healthy foods (and measuring them correctly), drinking plenty of water, reducing stress, getting some exercise, and enough sleep. Those can all factor into your weight loss. If you do that consistently for a month and don't see any progress I would see a doctor to rule out other issues. Progress can be slow depending on how much weight you have to lose. But consistency is key.

Also, in the US you can see a nutritionist for an hour for about $60 and it is so worth your money. They can help you figure out your calories, advise healthy food substitutions, review how to measure foods, etc. I went to one and found out I was eating too few calories and that is why I wasn't losing. Once I started eating more (healthy) foods, the pounds started shredding!

Best of luck!!!!

Branstin

Are you using a food scale and measuring cups to track your food? This is the first place to start. As you have realized, busting your butt in exercise means nothing if you don't have control over the amount of food you eat.

tracymayo1

yes, as others have said, WEIGH all your solids. Don't go by the package. 1 serving on the bag could be 85 grams (or 1 piece) but if you WEIGH that 1 piece, often is is NOT the same as the serving WEIGHT.
MEASURE all your liquids (you can weigh these also if you prefer, I do....)
This will make sure you are getting proper information when you log.

the next important thing is do your best to make sure the item you Log has the CORRECT information. If it is a packaged item - make sure the log item you choose from the database has the same information as the package you have on hand. Something I eat here in Canada may not have the same nutritional information as that same product from the States.
- Avoid entries with a * in front of it if you can (otherwise check the info as mentioned above) Entries with a * are made by members. Entries with no star are entered from MFP staff and generally are from the USDA website and are accurate.

For your exercise, MFP often overestimates the calories burned. If you are going to eat them back - I wouldn't suggest eating back more than half to be safe.
And lastly like others mentioned, try to lower the lbs per week you are set to lose - the closer to your BMI the less you should go for at a time.

Run the marathon... there is no reason to rush!

OrangeBabelfish

Thanks everyone. Yeah - I normally track and check the calories of the * entries and ensure the macros are accurate, but don't always bother with the salt/sodium entries. The issue is so many people enter the sodium as salt and then it skews the whole lot.

I do not track all my drinks (i.e. flavoured water at 1kcal per 100ml, or herbal teas) as I figure those 20cals a day are not what are causing me the issues, or should I start entering these too?

This weekend, whilst away, I have been as good as I could (whilst faced with limited options, I went for smaller portions and i.e. grilled sausage at the party as opposed to sweets and crisps) and on Saturday, a frankly GINORMOUS amount of herbal tea (no sugar) and ended up Sat vs Sun = +300grams. Or + 1/2lb. My body is stupid. I hate it.

happyfeetrebel1

BernadetteChurch wrote: »

I just had a quick look in your diary and to me it doesn't look like you're eating enough. Try to meet your calorie target every day instead of staying so far under it and your weight might start shifting again.

We don't need to tell people to eat MORE if they're not losing. She's not in a deficit, so eating more will cause gain.

BernadetteChurch

happyfeetrebel1 wrote: »

BernadetteChurch wrote: »

I just had a quick look in your diary and to me it doesn't look like you're eating enough. Try to meet your calorie target every day instead of staying so far under it and your weight might start shifting again.

We don't need to tell people to eat MORE if they're not losing. She's not in a deficit, so eating more will cause gain.

From her diary it looks to me like the OP is in a deficit. I suggested she MEET her calorie goal every day rather than staying under it. That's the way MFP is designed to work.

garnerish

ended up Sat vs Sun = +300grams. Or + 1/2lb.

Just as a general heads up, I've been weighing myself daily for the past month or so.

I've been up and down as much as 4lb or as little as 0.1lb day to day. Fluctuations will happen.

eldamiano

"I am totally at a loss as to where I am going wrong now. The basic laws of physics state that if I input less than I put out, I should lose weight, yet the last 4 weeks have shown that it simply isn't happening."

This is of course complete nonsense. When did you decide to tell yourself that laws of physics are just not working? Blimey I have never heard of this excuse before....

OrangeBabelfish

What do you mean? If I put in less calories than I burn, I should be losing weight. Calorie deficit should equal weight loss.

At the moment, as far as I can tell I am creating a deficit yet not losing weight. I am not making excuses for myself, I am quite clearly failing miserably at the losing weight part. I am wondering why, what worked 3 months ago, doesn't work.

eldamiano

OrangeBabelfish wrote: »

What do you mean? If I put in less calories than I burn, I should be losing weight. Calorie deficit should equal weight loss.

At the moment, as far as I can tell I am creating a deficit yet not losing weight. I am not making excuses for myself, I am quite clearly failing miserably at the losing weight part. I am wondering why, what worked 3 months ago, doesn't work.

So whereas the laws of physics define everything about the way we are, they go on holiday when dealing with your weight loss? Bizarre.

The answer is.... you are not eating at a deficit. This is the rule of physics you are not adhering to.