Doing all the right things but my weight won't budge.

SoSusieQ

Hi, I am 55 and female. I exercise and diet (with MFP and occasionally WW) and my weight won't budge. I have been like this for over a year now. Does anyone else of my age have this annoying issue? I would love to hear from someone who has perhaps found a solution to a really long plateau. Thanks

GiveMeCoffee

Are you using a food scale to weigh out portions?
Can you open your diary it would help to see if any advice on logging.

Sued0nim

SoSusieQ wrote: »

Hi, I am 55 and female. I exercise and diet (with MFP and occasionally WW) and my weight won't budge. I have been like this for over a year now. Does anyone else of my age have this annoying issue? I would love to hear from someone who has perhaps found a solution to a really long plateau. Thanks

Unfortunately you're quite simply eating at maintenance

I agree with opening your diary so people can give advice

SoSusieQ

Yeah I do, I weigh mostly everything. How do I open my diary. Cheers

GiveMeCoffee

SoSusieQ wrote: »

Yeah I do, I weigh mostly everything. How do I open my diary. Cheers

Click "My Home" then "Settings" then "Diary settings" make public

SoSusieQ

Thanks done

pkw58

I highly recommend reading "The Menopause Makeover"... it is available on amazon for kindle or just google to get the website. It was life changing for me after i read it in 2012. I lost 46 pounds and now I weigh less than I did my senior year in high school. It emphasizes nutrition and exercise and sleep. All things that matter more and more. The last 5 pounds took 3 months to lose. I also believe in getting in 10000 steps a day and Barre3 10 to 60 minutes a day. I no longer see food as daily entertainment.

SoSusieQ

I would have thought that exercising for 45 minutes every day would reduce the amount of calories. And get ball rolling

mamadon

Exercising every day wont do the trick unless you are eating at a calorie deficit.

SoSusieQ

Hi Mamadon I am eating a calorie deficit. 1300 cals a day

SoSusieQ

Hi pkw58, Yes I am menopausal I should have said. But I will definitely have a The Menopause Makeover. My sister is six years older than me and has the same problem. Thanks for that.

GiveMeCoffee

You have rice often and every time it's logged in as .4 cups for 82 calories, are you using a scale to weigh that portion of rice out or using a measuring cup?

Also are you really eating 1 macadamia nut?

I would also recommend staying away from generic entries in the database, and homemade entries. If it's a recipe make sure you enter your recipe not someone else's.

I'm menopausal as well and have lost over 100 lbs, so it is very possible

Sued0nim

Your food tracking looks pretty good - if it's honest that is- but you did miss Sunday

on homemade I assume those are your own recipes that you built in the recipe builder

How are you measuring and entering your exercise? you seem to be earning rather a lot daily - some days over 1000 calories?

SoSusieQ

Hi GiveMeCoffee, I am measuring the rice in a measuring cup, and sometimes I might eat two or three macadamia's but no more & they are my own recipes. Thanks for the info about the generic food, its good to know. Cheers, Thanks

harlequin0318

Everything that goes in the mouth - goes on the food scale first.

GiveMeCoffee

SoSusieQ wrote: »

Hi GiveMeCoffee, I am measuring the rice in a measuring cup, and sometimes I might eat two or three macadamia's but no more & they are my own recipes. Thanks for the info about the generic food, its good to know.

I would suggest getting and using a digital food scale. Measuring cups aren't going to give you an accurate measurement.

SoSusieQ

Hi GivemeCoffee I have digital food scale too.

SoSusieQ

hi Rabbitjb Yes, I am fairly honest, with logging. I did WW on Sunday, I do eat rather late at night though that may be a negative as well. All recipes are made by me with the recipe builder and I do step exercise for approx. 35 to 45 minutes a day. Thanks

jenilla1

Over a year at the same weight is not a plateau - it's maintenance. You need to be in a deficit. Exercise is great for your health, but it won't help weight loss unless you are in a calorie deficit. But I guess everyone has already pointed that out.

Make sure you are weighing and measuring your food accurately, and CONSISTENTLY, and not overestimating your calorie burn. Also, even if you weigh your food, if you pick some of these crazy messed up entries in the database you might be getting inaccurate numbers. I've found some of them to be outrageously wrong - some are typos and some are just foolishness.

If something isn't on my confirmed frequent foods list, I am double-checking entries in the database to make sure I don't get one of those ridiculous ones like "Grandma's chicken stew - 80 calories per bowl" or "Homemade Mini Pot Pie - 150 calories each." I mean, really, how do you know what a serving is and what's in those things? It's a random guess unless you put in the entry yourself and know for sure what the ingredients are and how big a serving is. And sometimes people even screw up entries for processed products when the info. is right there on the package. Be careful!!!

Your tracking seems pretty consistent. Not sure what the problem is, but we know something's not quite right if you're still not budging after a year. Time to change it up because what you're doing isn't working. Maybe that menopause makeover thing a previous poster mentioned might have some good ideas for you. My Mom lost 4 sizes just using calorie deficit and she's in her 60's. It did seem like a slower process for her, but it was steady and she got there eventually, so if she can do it, I know this can work for a young thing like you! Hang in there! (*)

Quasita

I see no one has asked, who calculated your TDEE, what formula are you using to calculate your daily intake need and your deficit, and what method of calorie burn tracking are you using?

Menopause and other hormone changes in the body can really affect our metabolic rates, and it's typical that it slows for women during this time. Also, if you are always doing step exercises, the same routine, without weight resistance or other increasing challenge, the calorie burn you achieved a year ago is certainly not the same that you achieve now... Now it will be lower, as your body is accustomed to the exercise and becomes more efficient with practice.

If you truly weigh and measure every bit of food, it means that you're likely miscalculating your burns. 45 minutes of step aerobics for a menopausal woman of age 55 is not going to burn nearly 1000 calories even at the earliest stages of burn efficiency, unless that woman is also extremely tall and heavy. I'm 32 years old with normal metabolic rate when fed, 6'1" and weigh around 430lbs, and I can only achieve a burn of 1000 in an hour if I bust my *kitten* on a bike or something. Now, we're not all in the same body, but if you're eating back your exercise calories, and using generic calculators such as what may be provided here on MFP or on a stair stepping machine, you're likely grossly over-estimating you burns.

Weight loss is a simple matter, of burn more than you take in. If you're not budging, it means you're taking in what you burn. Try obtaining some accurate measuring tools for your burns, adjusting for post-menopause metabolic change, and varying the diet a bit.

SoSusieQ

Hi Jenilla1, Young thing..Ha ha thanks. Yes, the only frozen food I get are pizza subs and meat pies and that is only once a week I make all my other meals. I feel I am in a calorie deficit I eat just over 1300 cals per day. I have already lost about 30 kilo's. But I have about 13 to go and it is very annoying for me. Yes, I agree consistency is another area that is key. I exercise for 35 to 45 a day. But thanks for your information it all helps

Sued0nim

I appreciate you're exercising each day - but where are you getting your calorie burns from?

Are you wearing a HRM?

Laurend224

I see that you have cleaning, light effort for 360 minutes as a 1000 calorie burn. If that is a normal part of your week, I wouldn't be logging it as exercise. Sure all movement adds up, but I'd not be logging it.

SoSusieQ

Hi Quasita, Sorry what do you mean by TDEE ? The exercise tracking I do is with MFP. I burn a day only 350 to 500 at the very most. I think one day I did about 8 hours of housework which did rate as much as 1000 calories. I don't eat back my calories I am pretty sure I am not miscalculating. I eat a little bit more once a week and it might be 1500 but that is only once a week. And when I first started dieting with WW I didn't exercise at all and still lost weight every week! And I have lost over 30kg already. But thank you for that info, I suspect it has something to do with the menopause.

SoSusieQ

HI Laurend224 No, that is not a normal day for me that was a spring clean...lol. But yeah, I get the point. Cheers

Unknown

This content has been removed.

MelodyandBarbells

FYI if you meant 82 cals of white rice, that's 1/8 of a cup, raw, or about 24g raw.

Check out this post about logging accurately, and please read the stickies at the top of the forum as well:

Logging Accurately: A step by step guide

njmark72

Hi Susie... Obviously MFPs calculation on house work is a little off. Here's the deal. You should stick to 1300 calories and do not eat any additional exercise calories you gain. See where that takes you.

SoSusieQ

HI MrM27, But what is a TDEE? I lost a lot of weight with Weight Watchers International, I lost 15 kilos in a year. I didn't have too many loggings errors, I lost a consistent amount of weight each week.

Laurend224

http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
TDEE = total daily energy expenditure

SoSusieQ

Thanks Lauenend224 thats what I wanted to know