Can't seem to lose weight

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jocanlose
jocanlose Posts: 47 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
i seem to be putting on weight not losing it, I work out four times a week.,I eat about 1,500 calories a day, but the weight doesn't come off. I'm fed up of dieting what diets work.
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Replies

  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    56af6olgk3kj.jpg
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    If you aren't losing weight, you aren't eating less calories than you're burning. It is almost always that simple. This chart created by @lemonlionheart may help determine what's going wrong:


    a37btb7mxb3t.jpg

    Here's a great post about keeping a food diary that might offer some insight: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10191216/the-most-important-thing-you-can-do-to-lose-weight#latest

    If you still have questions, please ask.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    SueInAz wrote: »
    If you aren't losing weight, you aren't eating less calories than you're burning. It is almost always that simple. This chart created by @lemonlionheart may help determine what's going wrong:


    a37btb7mxb3t.jpg

    Here's a great post about keeping a food diary that might offer some insight: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10191216/the-most-important-thing-you-can-do-to-lose-weight#latest

    If you still have questions, please ask.

    We must have posted right at the same time! That link you added to the bottom of yours is great, though. :drinker:

  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
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    LOL, love that chart!
  • dargytaylor
    dargytaylor Posts: 840 Member
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    very very important to WEIGH your food ~ it's quite surprising the difference between a weighed half cup of "whatever" and a half cup calorie wise :)
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited June 2015
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    dargytaylor wrote: »
    very very important to WEIGH your food ~ it's quite surprising the difference between a weighed half cup of "whatever" and a half cup calorie wise :)

    So true! The size of the food you're measuring in a cup matters as does whether or not you mash the food in there or lay it in carefully. Measuring with a kitchen scale is always better than using a measuring cup for solid and semi-solid foods and even many liquids.
  • Dofflin
    Dofflin Posts: 127 Member
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    Great chart!!
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    Food scale FTW!!!
  • jocanlose
    jocanlose Posts: 47 Member
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    I measure and weigh everything have done for years been stuck at this weight for 6 months
  • jocanlose
    jocanlose Posts: 47 Member
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    Ok I log everything I stick to about 1 500 calories a day and work out 4 days a week. Do you think I should drop calories down or eat different food.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    jocanlose wrote: »
    I measure and weigh everything have done for years been stuck at this weight for 6 months
    I completely understand your frustration but the simple truth is, unless you have an underlying medical condition (rare) if you aren't losing weight then you aren't eating at a caloric deficit. It is up to you to figure out whether you're eating more calories than you think you are, burning less calories than you think you are or a combination of both. The flow chart above is a good start for making that determination.

    The fact that you've been sitting at the same weight for 6 months leads me to believe that you're actually consuming the right amount of calories to maintain your current weight. It might be beneficial to adjust your calorie goal downward by 250 calories per day. Give it a couple of weeks and if you start to lose a half pound per week (which you should) you know what you need to do going forward.
  • jocanlose
    jocanlose Posts: 47 Member
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    I've been thinking. Hard about the advice I have been given. Sometimes when I have a salad I put down a mixed salad which is 60 calories, maybe I should itemise everything. Weigh out the cucumber and tomatoes etc. that's probably the only thing I don't track. Also I don't weigh fruit, I put down 60 for an apple when it may be 70 or 80. I started the year off as 11.6 and I am not 11.9. I will cut my calories down to 1,250 from tomorrow and see how I go. Not sure I should go much lower than that.
  • jocanlose
    jocanlose Posts: 47 Member
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    Now 11.9, sorry my typing is bad on the phone. Thank you for the advice.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    jocanlose wrote: »
    I've been thinking. Hard about the advice I have been given. Sometimes when I have a salad I put down a mixed salad which is 60 calories, maybe I should itemise everything. Weigh out the cucumber and tomatoes etc. that's probably the only thing I don't track. Also I don't weigh fruit, I put down 60 for an apple when it may be 70 or 80. I started the year off as 11.6 and I am not 11.9. I will cut my calories down to 1,250 from tomorrow and see how I go. Not sure I should go much lower than that.

    You only shouldn't go lower than 1200 if your counting is accurate. That's not a judgement or a criticism of what you're doing at all. It's a known fact that most of us, even when we're trying to be very accurate, still don't do a great job at counting everything. I'm not excepting myself. I read a great article on this the other day which is well summed up in this post: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10191216/the-most-important-thing-you-can-do-to-lose-weight. The main takeaway is "on average people under-report their food intake by as much as 50%".

    Whether you try really hard to get more accurate or simply lower what you're counting by 250 calories, then end result might be the same, you're eating a little less and creating a deficit which will allow you to lose weight.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    jocanlose wrote: »
    Ok I log everything I stick to about 1 500 calories a day and work out 4 days a week. Do you think I should drop calories down or eat different food.

    Are you sure you're logging everything? I only ask because I went back about a month in your diary and I don't see you hitting 1,500 calories ever. You're coming in around 1000-1100 calories most days, with 7 days logged below 1000 calories and 4 days blank. I see a lot of quick add calories, things measured out by slices, packages, and such instead of weight, and what I'm assuming are your personal recipes in there (things like 1 plate of spaghetti).

    I'm not trying to pick your diary apart or anything (heck, if you go to mine it's pretty much blank at the moment) but it seems like there's a disconnect between what you say your doing and what your diary reflects. Those kinds of things are what tend to stall weight loss for us.

  • WeddedBliss1992
    WeddedBliss1992 Posts: 414 Member
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    are you pregnant? are you on medications that cause weight gain?
  • charnessa52
    charnessa52 Posts: 20 Member
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    Your prob gaining muscle weight. Same thing happens to me. Go by the mirror not the scale
  • LeanButNotMean44
    LeanButNotMean44 Posts: 852 Member
    edited June 2015
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    charnessa52 wrote: »
    Your prob gaining muscle weight. Same thing happens to me. Go by the mirror not the scale

    No. OP is eating too few calories for muscle gain and has not even mentioned doing any sort of lifting.
  • snowflakesav
    snowflakesav Posts: 647 Member
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    I see a few potential logging issues. Generally large eggs have about 80 calories not 60. Apples unless the are the tiny snack size ones for children's lunches have nearly twice the calories you've logged.

    This isn't your fault...some of the entries are just plain incorrect in the database.

    i am by no means perfect with logging. Sometimes I eat premeasured packaged diet meals as a reality check for a few days and I will start losing according to the deficit.

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