Not losing the weight

aleeix

I have been weight lifting and running for 4 weeks, eating clean and healthy all organic. I stay under 1200 calories, and I still have not lost even 1 pound. What am I doing wrong?

diannethegeek

Hi there! There are tons of people here who would like to help you out if you can share some more details with us. Opening your diary might help to get you more specific advice too, if you're comfortable doing so.

These are my general tips. Maybe something will help you out.

1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so since you last saw a drop on the scale, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

healthygreek

Are you weighing all your solid food with a food scale and measuring all your caloric liquids and logging everything?
If not, you are probably eating more that you think.

aleeix

healthygreek wrote: »

Are you weighing all your solid food with a food scale and measuring all your caloric liquids and logging everything?
If not, you are probably eating more that you think.

Yes, I am measuring everything out to a tee. And I never really lost any weight. I started at 160, and I am still there. Going from eating crap food and not working out, to working out and eating healthy food.. I feel that I should have at least shed some weight.

aleeix

diannethegeek wrote: »

Hi there! There are tons of people here who would like to help you out if you can share some more details with us. Opening your diary might help to get you more specific advice too, if you're comfortable doing so.

These are my general tips. Maybe something will help you out.

1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so since you last saw a drop on the scale, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

i don't have a diary yet, I just started tracking the food on here. But I am following a very clean very healthy diet plan from fitgirlsguide.

maidentl

aleeix wrote: »

diannethegeek wrote: »

Hi there! There are tons of people here who would like to help you out if you can share some more details with us. Opening your diary might help to get you more specific advice too, if you're comfortable doing so.

These are my general tips. Maybe something will help you out.

1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so since you last saw a drop on the scale, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

i don't have a diary yet, I just started tracking the food on here. But I am following a very clean very healthy diet plan from fitgirlsguide.

Then that's the problem. Eating "clean" doesn't do anything if you're not in a deficit. If you haven't been tracking your calories, you're probably eating too many.

Patttience

It looks like you are already skinny and don't need to lose anymore anyway. It would not be responsible to tell you to cut your calories any more or to increase your exercise. Learn to accept yourself as you are. Perfection is not all its cracked up to be and its certainly not necessary to be happy and beautiful and loved or lovable. Look around you. Look for happy people in love who are not super skinny. There are many such people.

DeguelloTex

aleeix wrote: »

healthygreek wrote: »

Are you weighing all your solid food with a food scale and measuring all your caloric liquids and logging everything?
If not, you are probably eating more that you think.

Yes, I am measuring everything out to a tee. And I never really lost any weight. I started at 160, and I am still there. Going from eating crap food and not working out, to working out and eating healthy food.. I feel that I should have at least shed some weight.

"Crap" food and "healthy" food have nothing to do with it.

When you say "measure" are you weighing your food? 1200 -- a real 1200 -- would almost certainly result in weight loss for someone at 160.

If you're not losing at 1200, you either need to give it a little more time, you're not really eating at 1200, or 1200 is your maintenance. Probably a combination of the first and a lot of the second.

DemoraFairy

Do you eat back your exercise calories? If you're weighing everything as you say you are, then maybe the calories out part of the equation is what's going wrong. Do you eat 1200 or net 1200?

It's also worth asking where you get the calorie values you're using for counting, do you use the MFP database or go buy the nutritional label on foods that have one?

aleeix

Then that's the problem. Eating "clean" doesn't do anything if you're not in a deficit. If you haven't been tracking your calories, you're probably eating too many.[/quote]

The guide is a clean eating guide to promote weight loss. And I have tracked some of my previous meals and the calories are all within my range. My carb intake is 150, fat is at 31g and protein at 102 with 1259 calories before exercise.

aleeix

Patttience wrote: »

It looks like you are already skinny and don't need to lose anymore anyway. It would not be responsible to tell you to cut your calories any more or to increase your exercise. Learn to accept yourself as you are. Perfection is not all its cracked up to be and its certainly not necessary to be happy and beautiful and loved or lovable. Look around you. Look for happy people in love who are not super skinny. There are many such people.

That was when I graduated high school, that is my goal weight to get back to. I have gained over 30 pounds since then.

diannethegeek

aleeix wrote: »

diannethegeek wrote: »

Hi there! There are tons of people here who would like to help you out if you can share some more details with us. Opening your diary might help to get you more specific advice too, if you're comfortable doing so.

These are my general tips. Maybe something will help you out.

1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so since you last saw a drop on the scale, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

i don't have a diary yet, I just started tracking the food on here. But I am following a very clean very healthy diet plan from fitgirlsguide.

This is a tough question to answer without solid information about how much you're eating vs. burning. As others have said, not losing over such a period of time is usually due to inadvertently eating more than you realize (again, this is often caused by the issues I mentioned above).

Tracking your food here will help to get you that information so that you can troubleshoot further. Definitely read through the posts stickied at the top of each section (they're marked as "must reads") and see what happens.

_Waffle_

Accurate logging of intake calories and accurate logging of calories burned in exercise. That's what this comes down to. Some days I run 0 miles and others it might be 18. My weight stays pretty much were I want it to stay by keeping track of both intake and output.

Pro tip: If you enjoy running, the bigger the mileage number, the more likely you will need to log to keep your weight on.