Why can't I lose weight?

nygr8guy

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. I have a lot to digest! :-) I am going to eat more, make sure I track everything that goes on the lips so it doesn't wind up on the hips and keep on exercising. Lifting weights is out right now due to a shoulder injury.
I will also watch my sodium, fat. (lower sodium, more fat)

KAS0917

I'm baffled. I walked approximately 5 miles on my treadmill every day this week, ate within my calorie allotment plus I ate some of my exercise calories. The scale didn't budge. It's not like I'm eating crap either, pretty much all healthy foods.
I'm not on medication, I drink lots of water.
This just kills my motivation because I work so hard to eat right and exercise, and I get no results, so I think why bother?
Anyone have any suggestions? It would be much appreciated!

OP - When you track your walking, you are setting the time and duration, right? Just trying to make sure that your're not 'double counting' with your fitbit. If it doesn't know that you tracked that you burned 700 calories taking a walk (for example) it will count them as well, meaning you would have 1400 burned calories you could eat -- when in reality it should only be 700.

You would still appear to be under-eating, but not by as significant of a margin. It just seems like your exercise + fit bit calories in a day are pretty high for a 5 mile walk - unless, of course, you have a job where you are also very active, which is entirely possible. Or maybe your 'walk' pace is my run pace.

mhcoss

Weight loss fluctuates week to week due to water weight fluctuations. So you either retained some water and lost some fat or your eating too much. One of the two

Before you speak on how much someone is eating, could you please have a look at their food diary? Please, for future reference. There are way too many people on here with food disorders already only eating 500 calories and if you tell them that, they are going to take it to heart (not this guy, but others). This guy is obviously not eating too much either, however. He is not eating enough.

this person seems to disagree with the laws of thermodynamics. Intradasting.

Ops food diary may say 1700 calories but its likely he is consuming more.. much more. If you are not losing weight nor gaining you have found your maintenance and you need to eat less given your current activity level. It really is that simple. As far as me advancing eating disorders... lol.

OP also said this:
"make sure I track everything that goes on the lips"
do that while eating 1700 calories and come back to us if you don't lose weight. (hint you will)

Also: don't eat back calories.. my experience has been MFP drastically overestimates calories burned. Find a reasonable calorie threshold and eat it every day. Ignore the MFP activity logging its basically useless. No one knows how many calories said calorie burns and its different for everyone. figure out your average TDEE and eat under it consistently. Log everything that touches your lips and you will lose I guarantee it.

mjl54

I'm baffled. I walked approximately 5 miles on my treadmill every day this week, ate within my calorie allotment plus I ate some of my exercise calories. The scale didn't budge. It's not like I'm eating crap either, pretty much all healthy foods.
I'm not on medication, I drink lots of water.
This just kills my motivation because I work so hard to eat right and exercise, and I get no results, so I think why bother?
Anyone have any suggestions? It would be much appreciated!

OP - When you track your walking, you are setting the time and duration, right? Just trying to make sure that your're not 'double counting' with your fitbit. If it doesn't know that you tracked that you burned 700 calories taking a walk (for example) it will count them as well, meaning you would have 1400 burned calories you could eat -- when in reality it should only be 700.

You would still appear to be under-eating, but not by as significant of a margin. It just seems like your exercise + fit bit calories in a day are pretty high for a 5 mile walk - unless, of course, you have a job where you are also very active, which is entirely possible. Or maybe your 'walk' pace is my run pace.

good catch.

i just looked back at his previous posts i didn't know he had a fitbit. one of the posts mentioned he was inputing his walks to MFP so if you are and syncing your fitbit it is most definatly doublediping calories burned.

blandwriter

For a dude, I think you are not eating enough. I see lots of calories left on the table at the end of the day. Lots of opinions on your post. :bigsmile:

Also, I'm about to turn 50. Losing weight is not just about the scale for me. Celebrate the healthy changes you have made, as annoying advice as that may be, and see the scale for what it is.

ChristineS_51

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. I have a lot to digest! :-) I am going to eat more, make sure I track everything that goes on the lips so it doesn't wind up on the hips and keep on exercising. Lifting weights is out right now due to a shoulder injury.
I will also watch my sodium, fat. (lower sodium, more fat)

Hi
Just had a quick look at your diary, haven't read all the posts, looks like things might have got a bit heated - this is a topic that stirs people up. I LOVE your choices - you have such a great range of food, so that is not an issue. However, I would say in my opinion that you need to NET more calories, so maybe swap the "diet" type foods for "normal" foods (often you will find that things that are labelled "Low Fat" or "Low sugar" etc usually make up for it in some sneaky way that you don't expect!! :laugh: By eating good choices and getting in your great exercise, things will happen. For me personally it was a revelation that I needed to eat enough, and the weight dropped off. Have hit a plateau for the last few months but not being as careful as I was.

Hope things work out for you.

nygr8guy

I do have a Fitbit and use it everyday. I log my exercise on MFP as well, but input the time and the minutes , so hopefully they are not causing duplication. I don't think they were dupliating because the exercise takes away from the Fitbit adjustment numbers.
Today I didn't log my exercise, only synched my fitbit to MFP. I also ate back nearly all my calories.

nygr8guy

This morning I ramped up my exercise. Instead of walking the treadmill, I jogged outside. My goal was 5 miles. I guess I did more because towards the last leg of my jog, I discovered that I dropped my Fitbit somewhere. I went back at least a mile and found it. So that's another 2 miles RT. :-)

I must be retaining water because last night is was like I broke my water. I had to go to the bathroom 4 times during the night.
I feel lighter today. :happy: :laugh:

freebirdjones

Maybe your muscles are toning up? So losing fat, but replacing with muscle mass

No! Just no. You don't gain muscle on a calorie deficit.

yes you can. you might be eating a calorie deficit, but your body is still operating at calorie parity. it takes what it needs to make up the deficit from your fat.

thats how fat loss works.

if you had very low body fat, and you ate a deficit, yes, you won't put on muscle mass. but when you have a casino buffet worth of body fat, like those of us trying desperately to lose weight often do, as long as you are getting the protein needed for building blocks, your body will take from it's fat reserves for energy.

thats how fat loss works.

umm not quite:


Many people think of weight loss within the context of fat loss, but it is actually a combination of body fat, muscle tissue and whatever substances they contain: in other words, a reduction of total body mass. The body normally does this automatically and without your conscious control. However, it is possible to influence the type of tissue that your body loses over time.

Muscle Loss

When your body faces a calorie deficit, it tends to indiscriminately grab energy from multiple sources. This is due to the fact that both muscles and fat contain energy. However, fat is much more energy-dense -- it contains nine calories per gram, vs. only four calories per gram from other sources -- so your body tends to prefer to use energy from the fat stores just beneath the skin. For this reason weight loss is on average 75 percent fat and 25 percent lean tissue, which means muscles.

__Di__

I'm baffled. I walked approximately 5 miles on my treadmill every day this week, ate within my calorie allotment plus I ate some of my exercise calories. The scale didn't budge. It's not like I'm eating crap either, pretty much all healthy foods.
I'm not on medication, I drink lots of water.
This just kills my motivation because I work so hard to eat right and exercise, and I get no results, so I think why bother?
Anyone have any suggestions? It would be much appreciated!

How many calories are you thinking you burn for 5 miles walking?

I am wondering if you are overestimating the calories burned. As an example, I burn approximately 500 calories for running five miles, if I walked I would burn around about the same, but of course, it would take longer.

nygr8guy

I'm baffled. I walked approximately 5 miles on my treadmill every day this week, ate within my calorie allotment plus I ate some of my exercise calories. The scale didn't budge. It's not like I'm eating crap either, pretty much all healthy foods.
I'm not on medication, I drink lots of water.
This just kills my motivation because I work so hard to eat right and exercise, and I get no results, so I think why bother?
Anyone have any suggestions? It would be much appreciated!

How many calories are you thinking you burn for 5 miles walking?
Anywhere between 670-850...depends if I incline. I do it on the treadmill usually at 4.2-4.3.
I am wondering if you are overestimating the calories burned. As an example, I burn approximately 500 calories for running five miles, if I walked I would burn around about the same, but of course, it would take longer.

wwwdotcr

Exactly why you need to use Keto if you are trying to retain muscle. Weight loss is slower, but you definately keep your muscle loss to a minimum.

Maybe your muscles are toning up? So losing fat, but replacing with muscle mass

No! Just no. You don't gain muscle on a calorie deficit.

yes you can. you might be eating a calorie deficit, but your body is still operating at calorie parity. it takes what it needs to make up the deficit from your fat.

thats how fat loss works.

if you had very low body fat, and you ate a deficit, yes, you won't put on muscle mass. but when you have a casino buffet worth of body fat, like those of us trying desperately to lose weight often do, as long as you are getting the protein needed for building blocks, your body will take from it's fat reserves for energy.

thats how fat loss works.

umm not quite:


Many people think of weight loss within the context of fat loss, but it is actually a combination of body fat, muscle tissue and whatever substances they contain: in other words, a reduction of total body mass. The body normally does this automatically and without your conscious control. However, it is possible to influence the type of tissue that your body loses over time.

Muscle Loss

When your body faces a calorie deficit, it tends to indiscriminately grab energy from multiple sources. This is due to the fact that both muscles and fat contain energy. However, fat is much more energy-dense -- it contains nine calories per gram, vs. only four calories per gram from other sources -- so your body tends to prefer to use energy from the fat stores just beneath the skin. For this reason weight loss is on average 75 percent fat and 25 percent lean tissue, which means muscles.