Not losing anything.

MsMaeFlowers

For the past 6 weeks I have been tracking everything I eat on my phone app. I generally consume 1,200 calories per day (what the app tells me I should be at), and more on the days that I exercise.

I exercise 5-6 days per week. Nothing crazy, but I do 30-60 minutes on a rebounder (work up a good sweat), and then some weight exercises with our home gym. I have been working on cleaning up my eating habits. Adding more fruits and veggies, and dropping the processed junk. I have also been working on cutting out added sugar.

When I started 6 weeks ago I wasn't getting regular exercise, and I wasn't eating healthy at all.

In 6 weeks, I haven't lost a pound, and I haven't lost size anywhere on my body. I am starting to feel discouraged, which of course makes me want to eat. My blood tests are clean, so I don't have any medical reasons for not being able to lose weight. I know it can take a while to lose weight and get healthy, it just feels like I should have noticed a difference at least somewhere on my body.

Other than going cold turkey and eating nothing but veggies and water, is there anything else I can do to jump start my weight loss? I would like to get healthy and feel good about myself, and maybe drop most of the extra 40 pounds I am carrying.

janejellyroll

Are you using a scale to weigh your food? Are you choosing generic entries from the database?

When people don't lose weight when eating 1,200 calories, it's often because of logging issues. If you open your diary, you may get some more helpful advice.

WBB55

I second the question about whether you weigh your food on a scale. Also, do you "eat back" exercise calories?

MsMaeFlowers

I am not using a scale to weigh food, as I don't have one and can't afford one at the moment. And I do eat back my exercise calories, otherwise the app gets mad and tells me I am not eating enough food. I use some generic entries, and some of my own when I know the exact information.

WBB55

LittleMissMae wrote: »

I am not using a scale to weigh food, as I don't have one and can't afford one at the moment. And I do eat back my exercise calories, otherwise the app gets mad and tells me I am not eating enough food. I use some generic entries, and some of my own when I know the exact information.

digital scales can be purchased for something like $5 at walmart. I highly suggest prioritizing buying one if losing weight is something you want.

Also, maybe just eat back 1/2 of the calories you "earn" via exercise. Often, the calorie credit it gives can be quite overexaggerated.

But weighing your food to make sure of the calorie count is pretty important if you're finding you're not losing.

queenliz99

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

janejellyroll

LittleMissMae wrote: »

I am not using a scale to weigh food, as I don't have one and can't afford one at the moment. And I do eat back my exercise calories, otherwise the app gets mad and tells me I am not eating enough food. I use some generic entries, and some of my own when I know the exact information.

It sounds like you're eating more than you think you are. It's likely that you're consuming more because of the not weighing and the generic entries. Since the database often over-estimates calorie burns, if you're eating back all the exercise calories MFP is giving you, you may also be eating back more than you're burning.

The app can't get mad at you. It has no emotions. You will get a warning message if it thinks you are netting below a certain amount, but if you truly aren't losing weight then you know that something is off and you aren't netting that little.

You don't have to limit yourself to vegetables and water. You can eat whatever you want. But given that it is very difficult for humans to estimate what we're eating, is there a way for you to save up for a food scale?

MsMaeFlowers

I will try to buy a scale next time I get paid. We're just saving up for a Xmas vacation right now so things are tight. I'm sure I can fit in $5, I thought they were a lot more than that.

I will also attempt not to eat back all my exercise calories, and see if that helps. And yes, it doesn't get mad, but the warning is annoying.

My calories burned for exercise, I went from a chart I found online that someone had figured out based on your weight and how hard your workout was (for rebounding).

janejellyroll

LittleMissMae wrote: »

I will try to buy a scale next time I get paid. We're just saving up for a Xmas vacation right now so things are tight. I'm sure I can fit in $5, I thought they were a lot more than that.

I will also attempt not to eat back all my exercise calories, and see if that helps. And yes, it doesn't get mad, but the warning is annoying.

My calories burned for exercise, I went from a chart I found online that someone had figured out based on your weight and how hard your workout was (for rebounding).

Many people eat back just 25-75% of their exercise calories to account for the over-estimation. When I was losing weight (I am not maintaining), I ate back about 30-50% until I got a heart rate monitor and had more confidence in the numbers.

Yes, the warning is annoying. But I find not losing weight much more annoying!

daniwilford

Here's a great chart from lemonlionheart:

kshama2001

LittleMissMae wrote: »

I will try to buy a scale next time I get paid. We're just saving up for a Xmas vacation right now so things are tight. I'm sure I can fit in $5, I thought they were a lot more than that.

I will also attempt not to eat back all my exercise calories, and see if that helps. And yes, it doesn't get mad, but the warning is annoying.

My calories burned for exercise, I went from a chart I found online that someone had figured out based on your weight and how hard your workout was (for rebounding).

I don't see any as low as $5 on Walmart.com, but I do see the Etekcity Digital Kitchen Food Scale, DKS (White) for $7.99.

Just don't get the Walmart Mainstay brand which a lot of people have complained about. Do get one with a TARE or zero function, and that will easily switch back and forth from grams to ounces. Looks like Etekcity meets all of these requirements, but I have no personal experience with it.

Last year, I put an XOXO scale on my Amazon wish list and my sister bought it for me for my birthday

This year I have a Fitbit on my wish list.

carr3107

I've had the same frustrations. While I second the food scale suggestion, do not eat back more than 20% of your exercise calories. Either you're miscounting or something weird is going on, but you apparently need more of a deficit than mfp says you do. It sucks, but it is what it is. If your baseline is 1200, don't eat more than 1300-1400 (if you're exercising), regardless of what mfp is telling you about net calories.

janejellyroll

carr3107 wrote: »

I've had the same frustrations. While I second the food scale suggestion, do not eat back more than 20% of your exercise calories. Either you're miscounting or something weird is going on, but you apparently need more of a deficit than mfp says you do. It sucks, but it is what it is. If your baseline is 1200, don't eat more than 1300-1400 (if you're exercising), regardless of what mfp is telling you about net calories.

If OP doesn't know how many calories s/he is actually eating (because s/he isn't weighing and s/he is using generic entries) and s/he doesn't know how many calories s/he is burning (because s/he is using a chart to estimate), then declaring that s/he needs more of a deficit than MFP says s/he does is premature.

MFP's deficit may be right on the money, but OP just isn't hitting it. We don't know.

flippy1234

First,I know for me, that I have to be really honest as to what I am eating and log properly or I do not lose.
Second, I do not eat back exercise calories, if I do, I do not lose, and...
Third, I eat less than the reccommended 1200 calories, or I do not lose.
But, then you have to be able to make this all sustainable.
It's a balance.

ramepithecus

I was/am very casual about logging my calories and I have a very modest weight loss goal. When I first started on MFP I also started exercising a lot more than I had before and I saw an initial gain (possibly water?) that persisted for about 6 weeks but started dropping rapidly after that. If you've just upped your exercise that could be masking some fat loss. I think that having this go on for 6 weeks is unusual, but it was my experience.

My suggestion: don't panic! Keep with it and consider tightening up your logging/eating back less of the exercise calories.

Mom24incali

I am having the same issue and it really is discouraging. I too am at a 1200 calorie limit per day and exercise 5-6 times a week. I typically do not eat back my calories, but I have tried everything even adding an additional 100 calories to my diet. When nothing happened I lowered it again to 1200 calories. I went to the doctor and had blood work and a physical. Results show a vitamin D deficiency and nothing else. I do both cardio and strength training. I've varied my exercises too, but nothing. No weight loss and no changes in my measurements. Has this happened to anyone?

My 1200 calories consist of 45% carbs, 30% protein, and 25% fat. I typically go over fat with the eggs, walnuts, almonds, and avocado, but I try really hard to keep them close to the 25% mark.

MsMaeFlowers

I don't know how anyone can eat less than 1200 calories per day. I am struggling to keep my intake around that, plus exercise calories (which I will attempt to stop eating). I am a boredom eater though, and when I'm not eating, I'm thinking about eating.

ramepithecus - last year I bought a gym membership and gained 10 pounds in the first month. I never lost that weight, and I eventually gave up the membership as it was too expensive, and too time consuming to get there and actually work out. Most of my night was spent getting ready to go, going, working out, and getting home. It was exhausting.

I think I am going to try to cut out eating most of my exercise calories back and see if that helps. And get a scale when I can. For now, I will start overestimating when I use the generic options. It's mainly when I make an all in one meal, and I don't feel like figuring out every single ingredient in it.

tincanonastring

LittleMissMae wrote: »

I don't know how anyone can eat less than 1200 calories per day. I am struggling to keep my intake around that, plus exercise calories (which I will attempt to stop eating). I am a boredom eater though, and when I'm not eating, I'm thinking about eating.

ramepithecus - last year I bought a gym membership and gained 10 pounds in the first month. I never lost that weight, and I eventually gave up the membership as it was too expensive, and too time consuming to get there and actually work out. Most of my night was spent getting ready to go, going, working out, and getting home. It was exhausting.

I think I am going to try to cut out eating most of my exercise calories back and see if that helps. And get a scale when I can. For now, I will start overestimating when I use the generic options. It's mainly when I make an all in one meal, and I don't feel like figuring out every single ingredient in it.

If you're not weighing your food, you're actually eating more than 1200 calories a day. Once you get a scale, tighten up your logging. Stop using generic entries and verify that you're using entries based on the USDA nutrition database. Not sure what your stats are, but it would be very difficult for you not to lose on 1200 calories a day. There is only a small subset of the population whose TDEE would be that low.

tincanonastring

Tedebearduff wrote: »

LittleMissMae wrote: »

For the past 6 weeks I have been tracking everything I eat on my phone app. I generally consume 1,200 calories per day (what the app tells me I should be at), and more on the days that I exercise.

I exercise 5-6 days per week. Nothing crazy, but I do 30-60 minutes on a rebounder (work up a good sweat), and then some weight exercises with our home gym. I have been working on cleaning up my eating habits. Adding more fruits and veggies, and dropping the processed junk. I have also been working on cutting out added sugar.

When I started 6 weeks ago I wasn't getting regular exercise, and I wasn't eating healthy at all.

In 6 weeks, I haven't lost a pound, and I haven't lost size anywhere on my body. I am starting to feel discouraged, which of course makes me want to eat. My blood tests are clean, so I don't have any medical reasons for not being able to lose weight. I know it can take a while to lose weight and get healthy, it just feels like I should have noticed a difference at least somewhere on my body.

Other than going cold turkey and eating nothing but veggies and water, is there anything else I can do to jump start my weight loss? I would like to get healthy and feel good about myself, and maybe drop most of the extra 40 pounds I am carrying.

Try harder

Super helpful!

ammo7

LittleMissMae wrote: »

I don't know how anyone can eat less than 1200 calories per day. I am struggling to keep my intake around that, plus exercise calories (which I will attempt to stop eating). I am a boredom eater though, and when I'm not eating, I'm thinking about eating.

ramepithecus - last year I bought a gym membership and gained 10 pounds in the first month. I never lost that weight, and I eventually gave up the membership as it was too expensive, and too time consuming to get there and actually work out. Most of my night was spent getting ready to go, going, working out, and getting home. It was exhausting.

I think I am going to try to cut out eating most of my exercise calories back and see if that helps. And get a scale when I can. For now, I will start overestimating when I use the generic options. It's mainly when I make an all in one meal, and I don't feel like figuring out every single ingredient in it.

If you are finding it difficult to stick to your calorie limit, your goal might be too aggressive. If you don't have much weight to lose, you might be much better off if you lower your goal (e.g. from losing 2 pounds per week, to losing 1 or 0.5 pounds per week). This would give you a little more calories each day, which will probably help you to stick to this in a consistent way, since you may not feel like you're depriving yourself so much.

For whatever goal you choose though, weighing and logging your food correctly is very important. Stick to it, have patience, and you will meet your goals

kshama2001

LittleMissMae wrote: »

I don't know how anyone can eat less than 1200 calories per day. I am struggling to keep my intake around that, plus exercise calories (which I will attempt to stop eating). I am a boredom eater though, and when I'm not eating, I'm thinking about eating.

ramepithecus - last year I bought a gym membership and gained 10 pounds in the first month. I never lost that weight, and I eventually gave up the membership as it was too expensive, and too time consuming to get there and actually work out. Most of my night was spent getting ready to go, going, working out, and getting home. It was exhausting.

I think I am going to try to cut out eating most of my exercise calories back and see if that helps. And get a scale when I can. For now, I will start overestimating when I use the generic options. It's mainly when I make an all in one meal, and I don't feel like figuring out every single ingredient in it.

I found recipe building easier once I got a digital scale. Also knowing the general syntax for how to find a system entry helps. For example, "Onions, raw."

sarahrosheen

calories burned on a machine like a treadmill are really not very accurate

PinkPixiexox

LittleMissMae wrote: »

I am not using a scale to weigh food, as I don't have one and can't afford one at the moment. And I do eat back my exercise calories, otherwise the app gets mad and tells me I am not eating enough food. I use some generic entries, and some of my own when I know the exact information.

You can get really cheap scales! :]
I picked up a small electric scale for around £3 from Amazon and it's been fantastic.

Once I started weighing my food, I realised that I was under estimating my calories by around 300 - 400 a day. This really effected my deficit! As soon as I started weighing my food, I started losing again!

Colorscheme

The same thing happened to me. Started exercising 30 mins-1 hour a day (walking, sometimes HIITcardio). Realized it's because I was eating too much. Once I started measuring everything with a food scale and logging accurately, I started losing.

miztessbert

Maybe looking at your general activity level outside of the daily exercise routine might help. When I first started tracking my steps I was averaging around 2000-3000 steps a day. Using a step tracker, I now get between 10K-12K steps a day which helped to kick-start my weight loss.

MsMaeFlowers

Thank you so much for the advice everyone. I lost 4 pounds this week! So happy!