Please Help. Can't even lose a lb.

thepretender501

Hi,

This is my first time posting so I apologize if I've done something wrong and/or if I'm posting this in the wrong location! If I am, please let me know and I will either change or remove this post asap, thanks!

I am a student trying to lose weight for the second time in my life. When I was in my early 20s I weighed about 190lbs. I'm 5'7 and over the course of about 4 months I lost 30 lbs mainly by running on the track and riding my bike. My diet did not change at all. I kept the weight off for quite a few years although the 2lb-5lb gains kept slowly sneaking up on me. By the age of 24 I was right back to 185 lbs. Even as I was gaining the weight I continued running however not with the dedication or frequency I had before. I would run off and on, lose a few pounds, fall off the wagon and it sort of became a cycle.

Another event going on in my life was I'd just graduated from college and immediately went into quarter life crisis state because my life hadn't worked out as I wanted it too. I was underemployed for a year or so, working as a shop manager. I spent a lot of time on my feet and developed severe pain in my feet from standing for too long a period of time. It made my hobby of running for fitness much more difficult to do.

Long story short I'm now 26 and halfway through a post graduate degree and am attempting this weight loss journey for the 2nd time. I've picked up running again and have been doing this since early April. I weighed 180 lbs at the start. It's now approaching the end of July and I've lost no weight whatsover. It is incredibly discouraging. On average I run 2-4 miles 4-6 days a week. There was a period in early June when I was out of school and not working and I had the time to run on average about 7 miles a day. During that period I did lose 5 lbs but as soon as I started work and stopped running 7 miles a day (who has the time, when you run as slow as I do?) I gained the weight back and then some.

My diet has improved I've stopped eating out. Most I eat is chipotle or subway once or twice a week, if at all. I've made smoothies for breakfast and stir fried brown rice for dinner. I'm not a stellar cook but I am trying to learn. I've been trying to eat healthy snacks. I'm not sure if raisins and almonds count as healthy/ perhaps I've gone overboard in the amount I've eaten. For dessert I'll have fruit salad with whipped creme instead of ice cream or candy. I know some of these things sound bad, like perhaps I could leave out the whipped creme but could this small amount of whipped creme have so much impact on my weight? I run nearly everyday and I recently moved to NYC so I walk everywhere. I've started to do some weight lifting. There's no squat rack at the gym I go to so I use free weights, the heaviest I can find (15lbs) for squats/lunges/bicep curls. I do this maybe once or twice a week.

I don't remember weight loss being so hard even with a not- all- there diet. I mean I could understand it if I were losing weight incredibly slowly like a 2-3 lbs a month but having a net weight loss of 0 lbs after 4 months is incredibly discouraging. I don't know how much excitement I can work up to run 5-6 miles at the gym when I can't even lose 1 lb.

Anyway, the reason I told this long story is because I'm wondering if I'm doing something glaringly wrong and I'd love it if someone could point that out. It's my second time committing to losing weight but my umpteenth attempt. I don't want to give up again but part of the motivation for me is seeing the scale move . I'm 26 right now and I'm wondering if maybe my metabolism has slowed so considerably that maybe I'm working at too huge a disadvantage. Or perhaps the multiple attempts at sustained weight loss have hindered me in some way? Maybe my body is so used to running 4 miles that it doesn't recognize my effort as work unless I've gone above and beyond (i.e. 7 miles a day)? I've tried to think about it as much as possible but I just don't know. If anyone has any advice or has perhaps been down this road before please enlighten me?

I apologize also if this is a frequently asked question. If anyone knows where to find previous responses I will glad delete this post and search there. Thanks for taking the time read this.

ETA: I apologize haven't updated my fitness/food diary consistently.

laserturkey

If you open your diary to the public you'll get much more useful feedback from people. Without knowing your calorie goal and macro settings people would be just guessing as to what the problem is.

thepretender501

Thank you! I didn't know it was closed. I will open it.

PepperWorm

This should help.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

- Configure the right amount of calories for your activity level and eat 'em.
- Try to incorporate more resistance training. Lifting, using resistance bands, or body weight exercises should help.
- It doesn't matter what you eat, so long as you consume less than you burn (moderately). Aim for a fair amount of whole foods, but if you like things like ice cream and fast food, there's no need to give them up. Moderation! Moderation is key.
- Fat loss is slow. It's ok to lose slowly! Get a measuring tape and start measuring yourself. Losing inches is a great indicater that you're changing your body composition.
- Invest in a digital food scale. This way you can weigh your foods and get accurate amounts of it. Measuring cups and spoons aren't as accurate.

Best of luck!

janesmith1

Hi, I sent you a friend request. Feel free to look at my diary. I only went back a few pages on yours & didn't find you logging anything.

Here's my goals that work:

*Pre-plan & pre-make meals. The reason is that you can pre-fill out your Food DIary and see your calorie counts.

*Set an achievable daily calorie goal for yourself. For me, it's 1200 per day, but I eat way more than that since I exercise by going UP hills. If you can, walk up hills for an hour a day.

*Realize that it's a really slow process. I've been here longer than you, sometimes I'm better sometimes not, but your goal of weight loss is achievable, you just have to do the things I've mentioned.

Good luck!

pbrahan

This should help.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

- Configure the right amount of calories for your activity level and eat 'em.
- Try to incorporate more resistance training. Lifting, using resistance bands, or body weight exercises should help.
- It doesn't matter what you eat, so long as you consume less than you burn (moderately). Aim for a fair amount of whole foods, but if you like things like ice cream and fast food, there's no need to give them up. Moderation! Moderation is key.
- Fat loss is slow. It's ok to lose slowly! Get a measuring tape and start measuring yourself. Losing inches is a great indicater that you're changing your body composition.
- Invest in a digital food scale. This way you can weigh your foods and get accurate amounts of it. Measuring cups and spoons aren't as accurate.

Best of luck!

OMG this is the best advice EVER. I second everything she said. This is why I love MFP - you'll almost never hear common sense advice like this any where else.
Get a food scale. It's important. I have been known to take my scale to restaurants. I recommend this one: http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Stainless-Pull-Out-Display/dp/B000WJMTNA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374436347&sr=8-1&keywords=food+scale+oxo
Cook 90% of what you eat. By that I mean prepare it yourself. Chop and dice. Cut out most dairy and calorie-laden things and focus on lean meats and veggies.
Be honest about your calories. I'm no nutritionist, but I believe your diet is 80% and the exercise is 20% - your post seems to focus a lot on the exercise. Get your focus more on staying within your calories.
Best of luck to you!
Paula

laserturkey

I see someone has already pointed you toward In Place of a Road Map. That truly is the best starting place I know of. I do think you can lose weight eating a lot more than 1200 calories a day. If you look at this as a long-term lifestyle change instead of a temporary diet, you can set up a plan that will allow you to lose weight and become more fit gradually and comfortably.

samcat2000

Great job on the running! I agree with the other posters - I would put A LOT more focus on what you're eating and track it like crazy...make tracking your #1 priority. Then start paying attention to any overages on calorie intake and figure out how to balance it out. If your honest with yourself, you should be able to tell exactly how much your eating. There have been times when I've been over like 450 cal/day and well it didn't feel good seeing the red but I still tracked it.

Hopefully your MFP numbers have you eating enough. When I first got on MFP, MFP wanted me to eat way too few calories - like 1370 cal/day for the first couple of weeks and then it bumped me down to 1270 calories/day after Iost some lbs. I'm 5'10" and was in the 150s at that time. Yes the immediate weight loss was good incentive but I only wanted to lose 1 lb/week and was lost more like 2-2.5 lbs/week for a couple of early weeks. About 6 weeks into being on MFP, I diligently followed MFP numbers, but then I figured out hey there is a message board and started reading all of the different information and immediately upped my calories. Try to make sure you're eating enough.

I'm 40 now and started MFP 6 months ago. I wish I knew what I know now about the importance of eating right when I was your age. I was always very athletic and active, but looking back I could have performed that much better had I been eating right! You're on the right path and hats off to you for being on MFP.

samcat2000

P.S. I know you said you only eat at Subway or Chipotle once or twice a week but try to find out how many calories you're consuming with those meals. Chipotle has a nutrition tab on their website...not sure about Subway but I think they do too. One thing I learned when I first joined MFP was that the freaking Jimmy Johns Tuna sandwich I'd been eating once or twice a week for a whole year at a time when I wasn't exercising at all had more than 1,000 calories - that didn't include the chips and cookie I'd throw in. I've never been able to bring myself to eat another Jimmy Johns tuna sandwich.

Ed98043

You can't out-exercise a bad diet. That's great that you're making healthier choice in what you eat,, but you have to count your calories too because even healthy food adds up,

Perception and reality are not always aligned, unfortunately. Before I started weighing and measuring my food I truly thought I wasn't eating very much. Yet I was getting fatter every year...so I thought I was just doomed with a slow metabolism, pre-menopause, fat genes...every excuse in the book because I KNEW I wasn't eating very many calories. Then I joined MFP and started actually counting them. Oops. I'm jealous of those people that can instinctively eat just the right amount to maintain a body weight that they're happy with, but I'll probably be counting calories for the rest of my life. Even an extra 140 calories day is 15 lbs gained in a year, which is what I did for about 5 years.

deksgrl

To lose weight, you need a calorie deficit. You can create the calorie deficit by reducing the amount of calories you eat, or by burning more calories through exercise, or a combination of the two.

You must pay attention and log everything you are eating. The road map link is a good way to determine what it as appropriate amount of calories for you.

KAS0917

My guess is you are way overeating. Or maybe under-eating. But if you aren't tracking your food, how do you have any idea of how many calories you're taking in? It's all a guess for anybody to tell you what's going on without it.

I

wilsoje74

You will not lose weight by just running. You must log your food, everything you eat, and stay under or at your calorie goal. Weight loss happens in the kitchen!!!!

themedalist

I agree with the other posters. Exercise is very important, but your diet is the key to weight loss.

Take a look at this 3 minute video. A real eye opener on how crucial it is to have a good digital food scale to weigh your food:

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

thepretender501

This should help.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

- Configure the right amount of calories for your activity level and eat 'em.
- Try to incorporate more resistance training. Lifting, using resistance bands, or body weight exercises should help.
- It doesn't matter what you eat, so long as you consume less than you burn (moderately). Aim for a fair amount of whole foods, but if you like things like ice cream and fast food, there's no need to give them up. Moderation! Moderation is key.
- Fat loss is slow. It's ok to lose slowly! Get a measuring tape and start measuring yourself. Losing inches is a great indicater that you're changing your body composition.
- Invest in a digital food scale. This way you can weigh your foods and get accurate amounts of it. Measuring cups and spoons aren't as accurate.

Best of luck!

Thanks so much for this advice! I actually read the link calculated my body fat percentage(27.8), BMR (1631) and TDEE(2546). Yesterday I ate as close to 20% below that number as I could and when I got on the treadmill for my evening run I had so much energy and strength. Usually I feel weak, headachey and tired at the end of the day and barely have enough energy to run for 30 minutes. Yesterday I ran for an hour and faster than my usual pace. It all seems promising. I plan to continue this method for at least the next few weeks. I have to admit I'm highly skeptical because it is so counter intuitive to eat more to lose weight. I'm nervous it won't work but it won't be any worse than seeing no change at all!

Thank you again!

thepretender501

Thank you for the advice and the support! I think pre-planning meals would be extremely useful, especially considering how busy my schedule is at the moment and how much worse it's likely to get. I hope I'll see some results at some point but I do understand that it's a long and sometimes stressful process

seekthao

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear about your plight, but at 26, you really shouldn't be having too much trouble losing weight IF you are indeed improving your diet and keeping up with exercise.

With that said, I have to ask you again "Are you on top of your calorie count?" This is an important question because most people tend to forget to log a food here or there or simply don't log certain things like the tablespoon of mustard they had with their sandwich at lunch. It's very important. It's important to log the correct amount of calories and not just pick the food with the lowest calorie count when you go to search your food. I've been guilty of this and I'm sure many other people are too. Counting your calories is annoying, but you have to be specific and precise if you're serious about losing weight. Just try it and be thorough for one day and then review your log. You'd be amazed at what additional calories you're taking in that you didn't account for before. Don't cheat and don't skip a crumb. Count everything.

Good luck!

thepretender501

Thank you so much for your advice and enthusiasm! I have been focused mainly on exercise so I'm definitely going to shift gears. A food scale is the next thing on my too buy list once I can get on track for making my own healthy meals.

thepretender501

I appreciated reading that information on energy expenditure! It seems counter-intuitive to eat more and lose weight which is why I've been so down on myself about my diet. I've felt like I was maintaining at or near the 1200 calorie limit. Sometimes even less. And with the insane amount of exercise I was doing I was beginning to think there was something wrong with me. Reading the road map gave me new hope and motivation (which is really all I truly needed:) ). I'm going to try out this new method for a while and also aggressively count my calories. I hope to see a difference at some point. Thanks for the support!

thepretender501

Thank you for your support and your advice! I'm upping my calories based on some of the advice I was given earlier in this post. It's already improved my endurance for running so I'm very hopeful and excited! I agree, where I have been going wrong has been nutrition. It's been hard for me because I don't cook and so I'm learning to cook and also learning to cook healthy. I don't normally have a taste for healthy foods but I plan to up my calories by snacking on things that are good for me. I thought I was meeting my calorie goals but I know for a fact that I wasn't doing it in the healthiest way possible. I have been checking calories on chipotle but I think I need a more accurate system for doing that. My burrito is different every time depending on who makes it lol. Either way I'll probably cut down on those trips out and save my money. Maybe I can learn to make something much healthier on my own

Thank you again!

peggymdellinger

This should help.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

- Configure the right amount of calories for your activity level and eat 'em.
- Try to incorporate more resistance training. Lifting, using resistance bands, or body weight exercises should help.
- It doesn't matter what you eat, so long as you consume less than you burn (moderately). Aim for a fair amount of whole foods, but if you like things like ice cream and fast food, there's no need to give them up. Moderation! Moderation is key.
- Fat loss is slow. It's ok to lose slowly! Get a measuring tape and start measuring yourself. Losing inches is a great indicater that you're changing your body composition.
- Invest in a digital food scale. This way you can weigh your foods and get accurate amounts of it. Measuring cups and spoons aren't as accurate.

Best of luck!

Thanks so much for this advice! I actually read the link calculated my body fat percentage(27.8), BMR (1631) and TDEE(2546). Yesterday I ate as close to 20% below that number as I could and when I got on the treadmill for my evening run I had so much energy and strength. Usually I feel weak, headachey and tired at the end of the day and barely have enough energy to run for 30 minutes. Yesterday I ran for an hour and faster than my usual pace. It all seems promising. I plan to continue this method for at least the next few weeks. I have to admit I'm highly skeptical because it is so counter intuitive to eat more to lose weight. I'm nervous it won't work but it won't be any worse than seeing no change at all!

Thank you again!

Be honest with your logging and give it 6 weeks... if your metabolism was tanked it may take that long to readjust AND Don't freak if you gain a few lbs the first few weeks. Your body has to realize that you're not going to starve it anymore!

peggymdellinger

Also... if you can, get the food scale now. It'll make a huge difference.