Progress is so slow

simi1421

I workout 5 times a week, I eat healthy, I am a bit confused in between tracking macros and tracking just calories... I'm not sure which of the two to focus on. Second, I do not eat back my exercise points...I used to be 174, I hit my goal weight of 134 and maintained it for 5 years, now I am at 145. I would like to get back down to 135, I wear a size 8 in pants, and I have been stuck in the 140's for two years now. I can't seem to get back down to the 130's....Thats my story... I am attaching a picture of myself at my highest weight...and one as of right now

melissaulmen

The last 10-15lbs are usually the hardest. Do you switch up your workouts? Give 100% and see if your heart rate is at a higher level?
As far as the macros vs calories are concerned, I have my goals to where they fit into both. I enter foods in before I eat them to see what the calories/macros will look like and keep trying until I find something that fits.
Best of Luck! It sounds like you are close, don't give up now!

simi1421

sadiegirl81

I completely understand what your going through. I have been stalled out for a few months now and I have been at this for 2 years. I have changed up several different things several different times to no avail. Keep pushing forward and trying and don't give up!

middlehaitch

Focus on counting your calorie intake. Your macros, though important are secondary for weight loss. Don't neglect nutrition though.

You may want to review your logging practices. Double check the entries you are using, and weigh everything, no generic inputs like, dab of oil, orange, slice of bread- these are things I did when my loss was going well, but would start weighing again as soon as I thought I was having problems.

Also, check you have the correct calorie goal for your weight now, and because you have so little to lose, .5 lbs a week would be an appropriate rate of loss.

As a side note, MFP is set up so you eat your exercise calories back. You may find it helpful long term to try and do this then if you need to take an exercise break you can knowing what your base, non exercise, calories are.

Cheers, h.

luckywizard

I have heard that sometimes is good to take a few weeks off working out. Bring your calorie intake down to match. Just walk and do gentle stuff like yoga, then when you start training harder again your body is jolted into action again. Anyone else have this experience? I did it last year before my wedding. Stopped training, switched to mostly vegetarian and raw foods for a few weeks and lost another 2-3% body fat.

SCoil123

jjpptt2 wrote: »

amtyrell wrote: »

Oh one other thing let's say you lose 0.2 lbs a week. That is still more than 10 lbs a year.
Time is on your side.

I wonder if that's encouraging to most people... Making effort every single day for 10lbs per year? I'm not trying to be snarky, it's a legit question. If someone told me that, if they said, "Hey, do the best you can and you can reasonably expect to lose 10-15lbs over the course of a year" I'd probably just accept that I'm going to be fat forever. That is nto a good return on investment for me.

As someone who lost about 20lb in a year and also gained a few lbs of muscle I think it should be encouraging. Slow progress is still progress and the changes I made in my fitness have made my body look a lot different. Not only that I feel better and heft stronger every week.

lorrpb

gabriellejayde wrote: »

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

jjpptt2 wrote: »

amtyrell wrote: »

Oh one other thing let's say you lose 0.2 lbs a week. That is still more than 10 lbs a year.
Time is on your side.

I wonder if that's encouraging to most people... Making effort every single day for 10lbs per year? I'm not trying to be snarky, it's a legit question. If someone told me that, if they said, "Hey, do the best you can and you can reasonably expect to lose 10-15lbs over the course of a year" I'd probably just accept that I'm going to be fat forever. That is nto a good return on investment for me.

I suspect that the deficit needed to lose 0.2 lbs a week would be pretty dang easy - we're not talking an hour of cardio and a 1000 deficit a day. More like swapping the afternoon soda for an ice tea.

I think that on the surface, that sounds like an easy plan, but how many of us make a simple change like that and find themselves thinner at the end of the year without trying anything else. Most of us will make other, not-so-great changes as well that completely counter-act the slight deficit ("oh look, a frozen yogurt shop opened up nearby!" or "mom's gotten into baking, now I always have cookies at home!").

Whenever I see someone come here and talk about how hard it is to stick to their calorie goals, someone will always tell them to reduce their weightloss goal to 1lb per week. That is fine if you don't have much to lose, but for the person who needs to lose a lot, having it take 2 years seems like a prison sentence.

It's not a sentence, it's reality. It took me 2.5 years to lose 150 lbs. Was it a long time? Yes! Did I sometimes feel sorry for myself? Yes! So what did I do? I read the success stories of people who took 3 or 4 years to lose even more. Then I felt glad I didn't have more to lose. Why do we think that weight loss should happen FAST?

shaunshaikh

simi1421 wrote: »

I workout 5 times a week, I eat healthy, I am a bit confused in between tracking macros and tracking just calories... I'm not sure which of the two to focus on. Second, I do not eat back my exercise points...I used to be 174, I hit my goal weight of 134 and maintained it for 5 years, now I am at 145. I would like to get back down to 135, I wear a size 8 in pants, and I have been stuck in the 140's for two years now. I can't seem to get back down to the 130's....Thats my story... I am attaching a picture of myself at my highest weight...and one as of right now

It's just calories. You can "eat healthy" and workout and still gain weight if you are eating too many calories. Sounds like you need to tighten up your logging and diet to see results. Weigh and log everything that goes into your mouth.

kimny72

simi1421 wrote: »

I workout 5 times a week, I eat healthy, I am a bit confused in between tracking macros and tracking just calories... I'm not sure which of the two to focus on. Second, I do not eat back my exercise points...I used to be 174, I hit my goal weight of 134 and maintained it for 5 years, now I am at 145. I would like to get back down to 135, I wear a size 8 in pants, and I have been stuck in the 140's for two years now. I can't seem to get back down to the 130's....Thats my story... I am attaching a picture of myself at my highest weight...

Focus on calories and use a food scale for every solid and semi-solid food possible. The last 10 is super hard because it's vanity lbs and you just kind of have to have faith in the process. Hang in there!

Rebirth08

simi1421 wrote: »

Lately, it feels like no matter what I do – I am unable to make progress.
My weight is not going down, and my measurements are not going down..
It’s really frustrating! I don’t know what to do to get the scale to move down…sometimes it starts to feel hopeless, like your not ever going to see any change!

Ahhh! The joys of making changes to lose body fat! All I'm going to say is keep going, keep reassessing your choices. You're doing your body more justice by trying than not, so please, don't give up. Your body will thank you for it.

simi1421

I'll try to be stricter about weighing foods and also trying to track calories I know I burned for sure ...for example 300 calories burned on elliptical today