Why can't i loose weight?

Sammy85x

I've been trying to loose weight since the start on jan. But nothing seems to be working.
I go to a high impact aerobics class once a week and go to the gym 2 - 3 times a week burning between 300 - 400 cals each time. I'm eating a lot less and more healthier. I am a chocoholic so still eat a few bars a week but not excessively over eating it.
I've not lost any weight at all since I've started. I don't no what to do it's so frustrating. What am I doing wrong? My tummy looks bigger now than when I started!
Please help xI use fitness pal and according to my height and weight it says my calories should be around 1,750 to be loosing 1 pound a week. Is that too much? x

juggernaut1974

Do you know how many calories you're consuming in a day?

Eating "healthier" (whatever that means) and working out is not enough.

You need to eat less calories than you burn.

StaciMarie1974

What is your height, weight, age? How many calories do you consume each day? How often do you use a food scale? How do you determine you burn 300-400 calories each workout?

Your profile says you've lost 5 pounds. What is your expectation, in terms of how quickly do you think you should be losing weight? (This may be the issue - realistic expectations would be .5-2 pounds per week, depending on what you have to lose.)

Sued0nim

The simple answer is you are eating more calories than you are burning across the week

The simple solution is to weigh everything you eat and log it accurately to ensure you don't eat more than your calorie allowance to lose weight

Hope that helps

Sued0nim

What's your age, height and current weight. And what kind of job do you do eg sit at a desk all day? Move around like a teacher or nurse etc?

Sammy85x

I'm 29, I'm 13 stone 3 at the min and around 5ft 7. I'm a nursery nurse, so on my feet quite a bit running around after 2 year olds. I use the gym and when I log out it tells me how many cals I've burned. That 5lbs was lost ages ago when I was on weight watchers and wasn't doing any exercise at all. But I can't afford to do weight watchers as it's not cheap. I don't understand as I wasn't exercising at all then and now I am and I'm not loosing anything! It's really getting me down

luvbwfc

The calorie estimation on exercise burn is only an estimation. Most people only use a percentage of those calories to be safe. Apart from that if you're not weighing and logging dietary calories it will be impossible to know how many you are taking in. Several chocolate bars likely cover the exercise calories for starters!

DawnieB1977

You've only been doing it a month so give it time. Have you lost anything? Also, have you taken measurements? You may have lost a couple of cm off your waist for example.

You need to make sure your logging is accurate, weigh your food, especially things like cheese and peanut butter as you'd be surprised how small a portion actually is.

I know people say you can still eat chocolate, crisps etc, but I'd try and cut down a little bit on the chocolate bars.

I also don't eat back exercise calories, but I know people have success eating them, so obviously eat them if you lose doing so, but make sure you know for sure what you've burned. Machines can overestimate.

Sammy85x

Not lost a thing since I started at the start of jan it's really depressing as I've been trying really hard at the gym. One problem with me is that I don't eat fruit of salad but I make up for it with lots of vegetables. Yeh maybe I should cut back on the chocolate etc and maybe I'm eating too many calories. No I haven't taken any measurements. It's just unfair that my boyfriend who weighs just over 11 stone can still eat crap and work out 3+ times a week and looses 2lbs almost each week, it's not fair.

mfp2014mfp

I gained 5 pounds in my first month of my diet, I was horrified! I was eating at a defecit, so I knew I was doing it right, so despite this I kept going now I'm down 40 pounds. Dont give up, I attribut that initail gain to my change in lifestyle rather than let it get me down. As long as you are tracking and your allowances/defecit is correct there is no reason why you wont see a loss, you may just need patience.

honkytonks85

Keep in mind that weight fluctuations are normal, especially with hormones etc (so if you are trying to lose a half a kilo a week it's possible you are holding on to 2-3kg of water). So give your strategy a bit of a chance before freaking out too much.

But if the trend continues - you are probably overestimating your exercise calories or underestimating calories eaten - or both.

Unfortunately some people have higher BMR due to being taller/leaner etc and they are able to eat a bit more than you but you gotta work with what you got

sijomial

The answer most probably lies in your food diary - which is private.
It's far from uncommon for people who start to exercise more to simply eat more to compensate.

Your focus for losing (not "loosing"!) weight is your calorie balance and your exercise calories in a week is a drop in the ocean compared to your food intake. That's where to focus.

You may simply have too high a calorie goal or your food logging may be inaccurate. A month isn't a long time by the way, normal weight fluctuations can mask the trend over a short time.

DawnieB1977

Sammy85x wrote: »

Not lost a thing since I started at the start of jan it's really depressing as I've been trying really hard at the gym. One problem with me is that I don't eat fruit of salad but I make up for it with lots of vegetables. Yeh maybe I should cut back on the chocolate etc and maybe I'm eating too many calories. No I haven't taken any measurements. It's just unfair that my boyfriend who weighs just over 11 stone can still eat crap and work out 3+ times a week and looses 2lbs almost each week, it's not fair.

Yeah, it's unfair, but c'est la vie and we can't do much about it, just have to work with what we've got. My husband isn't overweight, but if he decides to lose a bit, all he has to do is cut back a little and do some exercise and he loses a stone in a month.

I wouldn't worry about not eating fruit or salad. I think the nutrients in lettuce for example are minimal. I do like fruit and salad, but I think vegetables are far better for you. Fruit is quite high in sugar.

I'd work out how many calories you're actually eating, because maybe all you need to do is cut back on portion sizes, so you don't need to change much.

I was 11 stone and a size 10/12 (UK) pre pregnancy and I have about 2 stone to lose to get back to that, which sucks as my baby will be 9 months tomorrow, but I've accepted that I lose weight slowly, and I gain in pregnancy.

Sammy85x

Thank you for all your messages, they really help. I suffer from depression so any little sort of set back brings me down. I'll keep trying hard and see how I get on x

cityruss

Can we see your diary?

Are you accurately weighing, measuring and logging your intake to get an accurate as possible calorie intake?

Have you used one of the various online calculators to estimate your calorie needs. It's always worth getting an estimate of your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) from a source other than MFP

I use this one http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

I prefer a to use the TDEE method rather than let MFP do it for me. So I calculate an estimated TDEE then deduct 10%/15%/300/400/500/whatever then set a custom goal in MFP.

Do this for a month, then reassess. Losing too much - up your calories, not loosing enough - lower your calories.

Eat less calories than your body needs and you will drop weight.

As for exercise calories, I personally log half of the estimated burn.

johnsat

With the gym exercises you could be building mussel mass and mussel are a lot heaver than fat keep at it. To many people expect a instance lose but not putting on weight is a good start. Keep doing with what you are and have a look in 3 months even if you still haven't lossed anything at least you will know that you are a lot fitter than you were and that's what counts. Enjoy and don't let any one tell you that you are not wonderful.

Sammy85x

But on herehttp://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ it asks for your body fat %, how do i find out what it is?

malibu927

johnsat wrote: »

With the gym exercises you could be building mussel mass and mussel are a lot heaver than fat keep at it. To many people expect a instance lose but not putting on weight is a good start. Keep doing with what you are and have a look in 3 months even if you still haven't lossed anything at least you will know that you are a lot fitter than you were and that's what counts. Enjoy and don't let any one tell you that you are not wonderful.

No

OP, are you logging everything you eat and using a food scale? If not, then you're eating more than you think. Weight loss ultimately comes down to eating less than you burn, but it's extremely difficult to do if you aren't keeping track accurately.

Sammy85x

Yeh I am logging everything? What is a food scale?

kommodevaran

Sammy85x wrote: »

Yeh I am logging everything? What is a food scale?

Oh.
http://www.amazon.com/Scales-Measuring-Tools-Cooks-Gadgets/b?ie=UTF8&node=289787

Sammy85x

Oh yeh I know what that it, I have one. I thought you meant it was an app called a food scale