Ideas about why I am not losing weight?

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  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,940 Member
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    You are baffling me.

    First of all at 230lbs and 5ft 6 and 35 yo I would definitely hope you're eating more than the past 3-4 days of logging indicate. That's if you want to lose weight as opposed to crash and burn.

    Yes, a cliff bar is often 72g not the 68g it advertises. Or something else may weight considerably more than what you think it does or what the package seems to indicate. And yes a pop-tart package is TWO servings, not one!

    ***But the margins you're playing with are WAY too big.***

    You're flirting with over 1000 Cal a day deficit which should translate into fairly rapid weight loss even if you were only hitting 500Cal a day.

    How much do you move around in a day? Even if you don't have a fitness band, you probably have a phone and both iphones and android phones have apps that can act as plain pedometers.

    Broken scale? Double check scale by holding 2lb+ water bottle and then not.

    Bowel movements? Pregnancy? Edema? Sleep eating?

    Make a rule for youself that you can't put ANYTHING in your mouth unless you have actually already measured it and logged it into MFP. Nothing. Not even water. At least for now till you can trouble shoot this.

    Make sure you're netting at least 1200 Cal using verified (green checkmark) entries or USDA cross referenced entries or package cross referenced entries.

    Put your daily weight in data in weightgrapher.com or happy scale for iphone or libra for android.

    Visit doctor if this continues.
  • scrocke
    scrocke Posts: 39 Member
    edited November 2016
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    The past few days are accurate. I can download a pedometer app to see, until then my daily activity is: ride to school (2.5ish mi, whatever mapmyfitness says), sit in class/internship, ride to next class (don't usually count this it's less than 2 min ride), ride home (2.5ish mi again) do a cardio video 25min for 1, 50min for 2 (usually only 2 twice a week when I have more time). Study/homework until bed.

    What I am seeing from many of you is that I am not eating enough for a sustainable future and I should be eating more. If I try for 1400 a day, will that at least be better? I am really struggling with eating enough now to make it to 1100 (as many have noticed). Since I am due to visit grocery tomorrow I should look for more nutritionally dense foods (maybe get real peanut butter and whole grain toast).

    Edit:
    Bowel movements? Pregnancy? Edema? Sleep eating?
    Normal, once daily, not floaters. Pregnancy not possible, I am not Mary. Edema: no, can see lateral and medial malleolus clearly, I easily notice when I have water weight gain (after a salty meal for instance I get cankles). Sleep on bunk bed, would likely have broken something if sleep eating.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,940 Member
    edited November 2016
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    You can experiment with the institute of medicine equation:
    http://www.globalrph.com/resting_metabolic_rate.htm
    You will see similar EXPECTED results to what I'm chatting about above.
    Yes your body does have the potential to down regulate, though not estimating calories in correctly is much more likely.
    Yes, if you sit and study for long periods of time you might want to seriously look into forcing a 3-5 minute break every hour where you get up and vigorously walk. Around the block, up and down the corridor, around the kitchen. MOVE. regularly. instead of almost being asleep in your chair ;-)
    It will make a world of difference.
    And yes, you should eat more than what you've got down in your log.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,020 Member
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    Psychgrrl wrote: »
    scrocke wrote: »
    Well, I won't be able to get to my doctor until March for a scheduled check-up (again, away for school and I have VA healthcare so I can't just find a local Dr.). Until then I guess I will try to make sure:
    -look for verified entries
    -weigh bulgur/protein powder
    -aim for 1100-1200 calories a day vs <1100

    Thank you for all of your responses :smile:

    Just a reminder, this should be your NET (what you have left after eating back some exercise calories) not your GROSS (the total of what you ate for the day. With your activity level, 1100-1200 is not enough nutrition to sustain you. You'll end up losing a good deal more lean muscle than you probably want.

    If you're at a college campus, they have services like a health center, wellness center, Rec center you can access with people like doctors and registered dietitians.

    Since OP isn't losing weight, I don't see how lean muscle loss can be a serious concern.

  • scrocke
    scrocke Posts: 39 Member
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    Ah science and math, feels so good (really!). I truly appreciate you listing how expected calories are calculated, and all of the other valuable information. I will make a plan to aim for 1400cal for a week, and try for 1500 the week after, eating back around 50%. Will also try to move more during study lest I grow roots. I'll have access to my digital tape measure in a few weeks and can then have another source of information.
    though not estimating calories in correctly is much more likely
    I eat so little, and am fairly confident in my ability to use a scale, I can't imagine that I am so far off. Regardless, I will endeavor to weigh all things, protein powder being the biggest as that is many of my meals.
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
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    i am 5' 3" and i have been 175 pounds twice in my life. once i was bodybuilding, and while i wasn't low fat, i was unusually muscular for my height. the other time i was in poor shape and probably had less muscle mass than the average woman my height. i could easily have had a 25% difference in amount of muscle mass.

    i mention this because i had totally different calorie needs, yet i was the same weight and BMR. online calculators would, however, list the same needs at both times, so consider the MFP calories are only a generalization.

    also weigh your food. measuring cups and spoons can have surprising differences with things like protein powder and powdered peanut butter, as there can be a lot of air or very little fitting into the same measuring thing. also quest protein powder, as an example, as a scoop that holds well over one serving where some others have a scoop that holds less. but 25 grams will always be 25 grams.

  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    edited November 2016
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    Psychgrrl wrote: »
    scrocke wrote: »
    Well, I won't be able to get to my doctor until March for a scheduled check-up (again, away for school and I have VA healthcare so I can't just find a local Dr.). Until then I guess I will try to make sure:
    -look for verified entries
    -weigh bulgur/protein powder
    -aim for 1100-1200 calories a day vs <1100

    Thank you for all of your responses :smile:

    Just a reminder, this should be your NET (what you have left after eating back some exercise calories) not your GROSS (the total of what you ate for the day. With your activity level, 1100-1200 is not enough nutrition to sustain you. You'll end up losing a good deal more lean muscle than you probably want.

    If you're at a college campus, they have services like a health center, wellness center, Rec center you can access with people like doctors and registered dietitians.

    Since OP isn't losing weight, I don't see how lean muscle loss can be a serious concern.

    She's not eating enough to sustain her basic bodily functions. She's taking in 1000 or less calories a day and exercising a lot on top of it. Her body will take the nutrients it needs from within, this means cannibalizing lean muscle tissue first. Over the long term, heart and other organs are affected.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    as a cook, I feel like there are things missing from some of your entries. How do you cook the chicken thighs? How do you cook the salmon? How do you roast the brussels sprouts? Is there any oil involved in those preparations?

    I have met people who honestly do not count oil used in cooking because "you lift it back out of the oil." Are you really cooking all those things without any oil at all?
  • scrocke
    scrocke Posts: 39 Member
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    I have nice non-stick pans for cooking on the stove, where I use the recommended 1 second spray of cooking spray. I use non-stick foil to roast things in the oven. The times I do use oil (today for instance) I measure and include it.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,707 Member
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    If you don't supply enough calories for your body activity, it will compensate by lowering your resting metabolic rate, which is where you burn the most fat calories by percentage. You CANNOT undereat to try to lose weight effectively.
    Your BMR is 1800, so even just eating 1300 with NO EXERCISE should result in a loss of 1lbs a week. But if you're eating 1100 and doing all that exercise along with regular activity (walking to your car, walking around work/home, etc) then you're likely only netting less than 500 calories a day to survive on. Body will compensate for that.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
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    This might seem like a really silly question, but do you also log drinks? Including cream in coffee (and sugar) or milk in tea? Despite the name, "vitamin water" is full of sugar and calories (unless it's Vitamin Water Zero). So, is it possible you're getting a bunch of extra calories from something like that?
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,940 Member
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    Note that 1 second of PAM is approximately 1 gram (try it on a scale), and approximately 9-10 Cal, regardless of what the bottle says.

    A food "portion" under 5 Cal can be reported as 0 Cal and many manufacturers take advantage of that labeling rule. Same sometimes with subtracting fiber calories even though some of the calories may be absorbeable.

    Having said that, @ninerbuff said the same thing I told you earlier, and as @SueSueDio says above... do you plan on eating this way forever?

    Note that you can be losing 5lbs a month and still on a random day weigh the same or more than you did 30 random days before. It is just a matter of the number of samples you recorded and whether the particular pair of samples you're comparing happen to be a "high" or "low" in respect to the timeframe they were recorded in.

    Hence the advice to sample every day for a while and enter the info into a trending weight program such as weightgrapher, happy scale, or libra (I use trendweight)
  • scrocke
    scrocke Posts: 39 Member
    edited November 2016
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    If I eat/drink it, I log it (except water). The only drink I consistently have, other than water, is tea. I log the sugar, milk, and tea leaves. Even the rare occasions I have 0 calorie drinks, I log those.
    Is this how you intend to carry on eating in the longer term? Is it lack of time that causes you to eat this way?

    No, I don't intend this long term. I have a lot of academic pressure right now and don't have/make as much time for 'proper' meals. To exacerbate the issue, I just haven't been hungry the past couple weeks. It is often a struggle to eat the last meal of the day as I really am not hungry. I am further limited by budget, so I can't afford a large variety of items and portability/ease of consumption. That is I need to be able to fit a mid-day meal in a small area of my pack and be able to eat it in 5 minutes or quietly during class.
  • Athena98501
    Athena98501 Posts: 716 Member
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    scrocke wrote: »
    What you are seeing as peanut butter is powdered peanut butter, 1 serving is 2 TBSP or 12g, what I do is put my shake on the scale and weigh it, but it is listed in the database as 2 TBSP (or half that if I use half a serving). Well, I do use a measuring cup for the quinoa/bulgur, so I will start weighing that. I will also start weighing my protein powder. Otherwise, I am confident in my logging.
    Can you point to specific days where you are not seeing completion or need an overhaul? There was a week in late Oct where I was significantly below 1000, but it was a very stressful week and I couldn't make myself eat more. So I did complete my diary but it won't post due to the very low calories.
    I am also a bit confused as if the only major issues are the powdered peanut butter and quinoa, and I am logging less than 1100 cals a day, then an extra half serving of powdered peanut butter would add 32 cals a day (if I do not weigh correctly, for example) and an extra half cup of bulgur would add 75 calories a day. This is still below 1200 calories. So is that the major issue, that I am not eating enough?

    Edit: I worked in a lab, so I have a lab scale that goes to 4 decimals. I am pretty confident in its precision. Also, I hope I am not sounding like I am making excuses, I am just trying to reply to specific points, and as we all know, weight loss is frustrating. So my apologies if I seem, snarky.

    I should also mention that early this year a I had a full panel done and have no thyroid, diabetes, cholesterol, or other health issues.

    Did you have a thyroid panel, or just TSH tested? Does Your body temp run low?
  • scrocke
    scrocke Posts: 39 Member
    edited November 2016
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    I see a lot of generic entries, as well as one I know is wrong and others I suspect are wrong.

    Please be specific if you see an obviously wrong entry. I wouldn't want to use that one in the future.
    You have salmon as 47 calories per 28 grams, when it's actually more like 58-60

    I used a verified entry in the MFP database, not sure what else I could do other than cross referencing via the USDA.
    Eyeballs, tablespoons and measuring cups are not great for solid foods

    I mentioned in an earlier reply, the two main solid foods I hadn't been weighing were bulgur and protein powder. I will be weighing these in the future. Although many things, such as the powdered peanut butter and sugar, are listed in measurement(s), this is because the serving in the database is listed so. I do weigh these things and will have a half or whole serving and list it as such.
    Make sure you log every single thing you eat[...]
    I do :(

    Regarding exercise, I realize the numbers are overestimated, which is one of the main reasons I have not been eating back any calories.

    There is now doubt for me, either I am starving myself and my body is eating itself or I am so far off in my measurements of food that I am eating at maintenance level.
    Did you have a thyroid panel, or just TSH tested? Does Your body temp run low?
    I would have to ask my doctor, I was told no thyroid problems. And no, pretty normal during the day, I am sometimes a hot sleeper though.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
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    You mention stress.
    I wonder if cortisol is an issue. i personally have never heard it affecting weight loss that much, though.

    If not, you might be sleep eating.

    Do you have roommates? I yes, could they be the pranking type to add a bunch of oil or sugar to your food (yes, it has happened to me)?

    Do you drink alcohol?

    If no to the above...I agree with seeing a doctor. Something is not right here. You should be losing weight if you say that you're counting all foods, beverages, cooking oils/condiments, coffee add-ins, etc.

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