Not losing weight

amykhigdon

I've been staying within 1400 calories a day and working out 4 to 5 days each week (cardio and strength) for about 7 weeks. I have not lost a single pound. What am I doing wrong?
I've read that when you start weight lifting, you can gain..and that it could be muscle gain and fat loss causing you to weigh the same..but after 7 weeks, I would expect SOME loss. I'm 40 years old, 5'5" and 180. My goal is 150. I'm not cutting carbs or anything, just counting calories...maybe that's my problem. Any insight?

quiksylver296

ASKyle

How do you calculate your intake? Do you weigh your food?

How do you calculate your exercise burns? Do you eat your calories back?

Essentially, something is off on your CI vs. CO calculations. Answering the above can help us figure that out.

diannethegeek

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

amykhigdon

I don't weigh it. I use measuring cups, etc. I use a fitness band (misfit) which automatically pulls in the number of calories I can add back. And as far as eating them back, it depends. If I'm hungry, I might, if not I don't.

SezxyStef

amykhigdon wrote: »

I don't weigh it. I use measuring cups, etc. I use a fitness band (misfit) which automatically pulls in the number of calories I can add back. And as far as eating them back, it depends. If I'm hungry, I might, if not I don't.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1186508-weighing-food-vs-measuring-wow?hl=Wow&page=4#posts-18526270

Just gonna leave these here.

amykhigdon

Thanks all. Great advice. Love the flowchart.

size102b

Measuring by cups are no use
Not sure what you mean by pulls back calories

You have to use a food scale and measuring hug for liquids exercise calories are usually way out