NO WEIGHT LOSS! what am i doing wrong?

Holly_Hickman

Hi guys,

I have battled with my weight all my life. i have always been over weight, apart from one time i went through a tough time in life and got down to 75 kilos ( currently 92kilos)

i was wondering if someone could look at my food diary, and tell me what im doing wrong, the kilos are not budging at all.. and i am really trying.. but maybe i need to excessive more.. or eat less.. i am keeping in my 1200 calories each day, and i am doing most days 1 hour of cardiac exercise minimum!

Can anyone give me some advice? Does anyone have a diet plan i can follow? I don't want to do a fad diet, but would like to loose the weight as soon as possible.

I have been eating healthy for 1 month and going to gym at least 4 times a week...

Help please!!

Thanks in advance

trogalicious

If you're not hitting 1200 calories and doing an hour of more of cardio you're absofreakinglutely not eating enough.

eat more. That's all you need to you.

Also, don't even consider fad diets... or put time/date goals on how fast you have to lose weight.

kikicooks

You probably need to eat more. If you are doing an hour of cardio a day you need to eat more than 1200 calories.

Holly_Hickman

sometimes i eat the calories burned! ... i am eating lots through the day.. lots of fruit & veg, every now and again i have a treat, but i log everything..

cwolfman13

Your diary is not public. 1200 NET calories is really the minimum (and is a huge deficit from your maintenance level of calories already)...it is extremely difficult to get adequate nutrition at that low of a calorie intake as it is. BTW...being healhty doesn't just mean eating fruits and veg...those are great and will provide your body with essential vitamins and minerals and antioxidants...but you also need ample protein and 20-30% of your diet should be in fat to help keep your hormones in balance (essential to weight loss).

9 times out of 10 when it's not working it's because you're not doing it right...1.) you're not using the tool as designed (eat back exercise calories and eat to your GOAL...get a dictionary if you must); 2) you are underestimating intake (not weighing and measuring food...cheating, not counting certain calories, etc); 3.) you are overestimating consumption (2&3 often go hand in hand).

If you're truly doing everything right and nothing is happening, you should have a visit with your doctor...could be serious or could just be some vitamin D deficiency that is easily taken care of.

trogalicious

sometimes i eat the calories burned! ... i am eating lots through the day.. lots of fruit & veg, every now and again i have a treat, but i log everything..

Again. The 1200 is with a pretty extreme deficit already built in. You only set a goal of 40lbs to lose. Change your settings on MFP to 1/lb per week loss at most. Change your activity to "active" and eat the minimum that MFP gives you, plus a portion/percentage (I'd go 50% minimum) of exercise cals.

Doesn't matter what you're eating through the day if you aren't eating ENOUGH to start with.

cwolfman13

sometimes i eat the calories burned! ... i am eating lots through the day.. lots of fruit & veg, every now and again i have a treat, but i log everything..

See my other post...but I just want to reiterate. Fruits and veg are great...but you need a lot more than that to get proper nutrition and be "healthy"

AlwaysWanderer

How long have you been login? You said you've been eating healthy for a month, but randomly looked at 1 st July and its blank, few days before too.
Log everything, every day and you'll see results.

trogalicious

Yeah, since you've opened your diary, you're positively not eating enough.

cmriverside

Are you measuring and weighing everything you eat and drink? Start there. Buy a $20 digital food scale. If you aren't using one, you can easily make 500+ calories a day errors.

And eat those exercise calories - that is the way this site is designed to be used.

deb_137

Do a search on this site for TDEE. Based on what I read about that and what you post, I'd have to guess that the amount and type of your food is the issue. TDEE is a different way to determine the amount of calories you need to ingest to lose weight. It takes into account your stats BMI and activity level. Eat too little and your body tries to conserve. Might help...

blondageh

You haven't lost anything in a month at eating 1200 calories a day and working out 4 x's a day? That doesn't sound right at all. Hmm...I didn't look at your diary But I would try upping your calories to 1500 a day and making sure you measure and weigh every thing that touches those pretty little lips. I was having a hard time getting my calories in recently and my weight loss completely stalled. I upped them and boom, it started dropping again. I don't work out like I should but I focus on eating good right now. Don't push yourself too hard. You are young and beautiful regardless. I know it is hard when you are 19. Looks seem so much more important at that age and there is so much pressure to be thin like all the celebs. But just be healthy and the pounds will come off in time. I was your age and skinny and miserable thinking I was fat. I would give ANYTHING to be back there and happy. Don't end up like me 200lbs overweight because I couldn't just accept that I was beautiful with a few extra pounds.

trogalicious

these. You need them.

Mia_RagazzaTosta

these. You need them.

Agree. Also, your logging is a little spotty (sorry, didn't realize you just started). It's hard to say whether you're eating too much or too little without several weeks of solid, accurate logging.

ETA: eat your exercise calories back.

Holly_Hickman

How long have you been login? You said you've been eating healthy for a month, but randomly looked at 1 st July and its blank, few days before too.
Log everything, every day and you'll see results.

hi, i started loggin eevrything about a 10 days ago.. maby even less.. but before that i was eating more or less as what i am now

trogalicious

How long have you been login? You said you've been eating healthy for a month, but randomly looked at 1 st July and its blank, few days before too.
Log everything, every day and you'll see results.

hi, i started loggin eevrything about a 10 days ago.. maby even less.. but before that i was eating more or less as what i am now

and if that's the case, you're undereating.

Holly_Hickman

these. You need them.

Hi, i think you are right, maybe i am logging less g then i am putting on my plate!! ill defiantly have to get some digital scales!

cmriverside

I see that OP is in southern Spain. She may not (or maybe she does, I don't know) have ready access to buy a food scale there at her age.

Regardless, please eat more. At your weight and age, 1800-2000 cals a day would be more likely to help you lose weight. 1200 is way too low for a 19 year old woman who exercises and has 17ish kg to lose.. No wonder you aren't losing weight.

Holly_Hickman

i have changed my settings. I have a desk job, i work in an office (8 hours mon - fri) - but i have put i have put it as moderate. I have also changed it from loosing 1kg a week to 0.75kg a week - ill give it a go.

thanks guys for all your ideas, ill defiantly get myself some scales!!

jdaley90

I would say you're under eating, over estimating caloric burn, and not accurately measuring food. Eat at a MINIMUM 1200 cals NET (aka eat back exercise cals), research TDEE method (I'm a former 1200 calorie eater and saw much more success with TDEE method, get a heart rate monitor that estimates calories burned (it won't be 100% but it'll be better than the machines or the exercises in the mfp database, and buy a digital food scale (i have a perfect portions from kitrics, you can easily find one on amazon).

GOOD LUCK!

Holly_Hickman

Yes, i live in the south of Spain thus the terrible English spelling - sorry i was brought up here! there will be no problem in me buying the scales at all.

Before moving out mum used to cook healthy-ish meals every day mostly veg & meat, and i always yo-yoed from 82-85kilos. since i have moved our 2 years ago.. i have been eating nothing bu rubbish, and i have done so many fad diets, that never work..

Thats why i wanted to count calories to try and loose weight as i think it is the safest and best way to do it & keep it off!

Thanks so much for all your tips!

trogalicious

Best of luck with it! The process works. Just be patient. I'm elated to see someone moving towards a solid/proven method.. and moving away from fads.

Keep at it!

Bekahmardis

Remember that it's not just a diet, but a whole lifestyle change - eating healthy, working out/exercising, etc. I have hit my goal weight through eating more (it's weird and sounds counterintutive, but it really works!) and my body stopped betraying me. Now, I'm working on changing my body fat %-age....I'll be counting calories until the day I die and you know what? I'm okay with that.

cdcooper321

You need to eat more!!

Ang108

I see that OP is in southern Spain. She may not (or maybe she does, I don't know) have ready access to buy a food scale there at her age.

Regardless, please eat more. At your weight and age, 1800-2000 cals a day would be more likely to help you lose weight. 1200 is way too low for a 19 year old woman who exercises and has 17ish kg to lose.. No wonder you aren't losing weight.

Do you somehow believe Spain is an underdeveloped country ? And what does age have to do with food scales. ?Are they somehow on a list of illegal things forbidden to buy under a certain age?
Almeria is a big modern town and the OP can just go to the " Corte Inglés " ( The Macy's of Spain ) or at least to half a dozen of kitchen stores, or even a super market and buy a scale . They come in various prices.....no problem.

mumtoonegirl

add your excercise and then eat what MFP suggests, 1200 calories and working out is NOT enough to sustain anyone.

welshboy22

Hi, it looks like you are not eating enough. I work an office job and train 5 x a week( 5hrs cardio split over the 5 sessions). I was not eating enough to start with due to exercise level and was not loosing. I then increased my intake and started to loose. I notice that when on night shifts and don't eat properly I loose less weight even though I train the same.
My advice is increase input for a week and see if that makes a difference. Any questions give me a shout. Happy for you to add me as friend. Good luck. :-)

1princesswarrior

I looked at your diary. You also need to watch your sugar, it is high every day and your protein could be increased. I think if you focus more on protein it will help you lose weight. And drink more water, it will help, especially when you overdo the sodium. Typically from your diary you eat a very light breakfast, try to get a good protein at breakfast and add a morning and afternoon snack if you can. MFP allows you to customize your diary to add morning and afternoon snacks.

I agree you are probably not eating enough but I also think to be successful you need to focus on one thing at a time. Maybe sit down and make a list of what is most important to you. Is it eating balanced healthy foods? Or is it developing an exercise program? Do you need help shopping? (I still have problems with shopping and I'm old enough to be your mother ) You seem really overwhelmed right now and a list will help you organize your thoughts and priorities. The stress you are under is not helping either.

I also agree, get a food scale and measure everything. It will not take long for you to learn how to eyeball things.

Remember this, you are young and beautiful. You are also very smart to fight this battle now and not wait until it is out of control.

Feel free to send me messages or add me as a friend if you have any questions.

trogalicious

...I looked at your diary. You also need to watch your sugar, it is high every day...

Not relevant, and unless there's a specific need for the OP to watch their sugar intake (diabetes, etc) there's no real need to obsess over the sugar macro.

Juliane_

Hi guys,

I have battled with my weight all my life. i have always been over weight, apart from one time i went through a tough time in life and got down to 75 kilos ( currently 92kilos)

i was wondering if someone could look at my food diary, and tell me what im doing wrong, the kilos are not budging at all.. and i am really trying.. but maybe i need to excessive more.. or eat less.. i am keeping in my 1200 calories each day, and i am doing most days 1 hour of cardiac exercise minimum!

Can anyone give me some advice? Does anyone have a diet plan i can follow? I don't want to do a fad diet, but would like to loose the weight as soon as possible.

I have been eating healthy for 1 month and going to gym at least 4 times a week...

Help please!!

Thanks in advance

It can be VERY frustrating to see others around you lose weight normally doing their thing while you are doing everything right as well yet get very little to no results. I've been there done that and honestly not many people understand the frustration that comes with this. Everyone thinks you're either eating too much and/or you don't know how to control yourself. Others tell you to stop comparing your results to others. Yea...ok. I know people are trying to be helpful but implying that I can't control myself when obviously I am doesn't help me figure out what it might be the problem.

So for over a year I was stuck around the SAME number. My friends are all losing weight and I'm the same despite putting in my fair amount of effort. Not fair. When this happens it means that something else in your body is not working properly. If you are measuring, logging and creating your caloric deficit yet not seeing results you NEED to look at your health. Seriously....everything that has to do with your metabolism. I was checked for hypothyroid and that was positive. I was also tested for celiac...came back weak positive. I was tested for other allergies and such because I've been having these reaction.

Long story short, my hypothyroid has been under control for numerous months yet I wasn't losing weight. I can blame my hypothyroid for that but it made no sense to me if I was feeling "normal" again with the medication and my labs were good. I finally looked back to my lab results from that celiac testing. Even though everything was negative except that one marker, I was told I could have some sensitivity to gluten so I decided to avoid gluten June 12. Do you know what happened? I kept eating the same way I was eating before except without the gluten. Actually this time I wasn't even exercising but I'm still eating same amount of calories as before. The scale began moving downwards. I did NOT have to do anything else. I didn't have to go out jogging like a nut to burn calories. I didn't have to beat myself up for not losing the weight and feel bad that others are having succes and I'm not. I'm now losing consistently every week.

In summary: if you know you are doing everything right in regards to your diet, you are creating your deficit and you see no weight loss for a long time then it's time to check your health. I'm not saying going gluten free. That's just what worked for me in my situation. It may or may not be what works for you. You have to figure out what is halting your body from weight loss. Once you figure that out, you'll start losing again like everyone else does on a calorie deficit and you won't feel frustrated.

Juliane_

...I looked at your diary. You also need to watch your sugar, it is high every day...

Not relevant, and unless there's a specific need for the OP to watch their sugar intake (diabetes, etc) there's no real need to obsess over the sugar macro.

Eating sugar or not has nothing to do solely with diabetes or what not. You could be perfectly healthy and still tolerate carbs/sugar to a certain degree and not be a diabetic. Carbs/sugar have to do with how it makes you feel. After eating them, are you hungry after 2 hours? You shouldn't be and you shouldn't also be feeling cravings. If you are, then you can lower your carbs/sugar and increase protein/fats and you will be sustained for much longer. And again, this process is differently for everyone. Your metabolism is not my metabolism and while your body may tolerate more carbs, someone else's body does not. Hunger is the big clue. Choose your foods based on how YOU feel not what others tell you to eat and not to eat. 2 hours later you should still be satisfied, if not, check your meals.