1700 calories but no weight loss

sydneysteinberg1324

I’m a 23 year old female, 5’4” and 190lbs. My goal is in the 150s. I’ve been using MFP for months and I’ve used it briefly in the past but never with any success.

My goal is to lose 1 lb per week. I don’t like feeling deprived so allowing more calories per day means slow and steady weight loss that lasts.

I have not lost any weight. I use a food scale to measure my food, I work a job on my feet (no heavy lifting but I walk around a medical office for 5 hours a day) and I exercise 5+ Days a week. I do a mix of machine cardio, HIIT cardio, and heavy weight lifting (powerlifting) I squat 185, bench 125 and deadlift 215.

I’m never expecting to be tiny, but I’m not understanding why the fat loss isn’t happening. Any thoughts??

HellYeahItsKriss

So you started months ago and have no loss at all?

sydneysteinberg1324

No loss. It fluctuates from 190-194. My previous highest weight in high school was 185. I was down in the 150s throughout college. But idk how that happened. I was eating comparable amounts to what I eat today. I was walking everywhere and going to the gym. Now I swapped out the walking to classes with lifting heavy

HellYeahItsKriss

well lifting heavy isnt going to burn the same calories as walking.

DebLaBounty

I'm 5'6" and aimed for a thirty pound weight loss, starting at 173 pounds. MFP suggested 1200 calories a day. I readjusted that to 1370 calories per day, plus ate back about half of my exercise calories. I'm thinking that you need to cut your daily calorie intake. I lost the 30 pounds in under six months. That's what worked for me.

sydneysteinberg1324

I thought weight lifting helped you to continue to burn more calories in the 24 hours after instead of cardio calories which you stop burning after you complete the cardio??

sydneysteinberg1324

@DebLaBounty but did you aim for 1lb or 2lb loss per week? I’m only aiming for 1lb!

HellYeahItsKriss

Lifting heavy in a calorie deficit helps maintain your lean muscle, so that you can maintain your BMR and not lose that, the burn is continual because muscle mass burns calories continually, but it's not going to burn the same as walking

Arleigh7

Couple comments - #1 - has your clothes gotten loser? Sometimes if your working out well you can pickup some muscle and water that offsets the fat loss so you weigh the same but you lose inches. Love that you do heavy lifting which I love and do 3x a week. Are you taking measurements to see if your losing inches?
OR
You need to cut the calories more but focus on good foods with protein. I'm 5'9" and carry about 130% of normal muscle (per body composition tests I do every month) but I had to cut my calories to 1500 a day (and often do 1200 to 1300 daily avg in a week) to lose 2.5lbs a week. I'm almost at my goal weight now at 199 but started at 282. I know some people will say I'm not eating enough but I'm stronger and have much better cardio fitness thanks to the indoor rowing classes (and my body composition tests showed in 9 months I've gained 4lbs of muscle, gained 4 pounds of water and lost almost 90lbs of fat). If you can reduce your calories to 1200 (but healthy foods with protein and healthy fats) and see if that bumps you off your plateau. But give it at least a month. The body doesn't like to change so it takes awhile to see results.

Good luck!

kimny72

OP I'm 5'4" and went from 145 to 130 losing barely a lb per month eating 1500 cals. I maintain at @ 1700-1800 cals. You do sound a little more active than me, but it's possible 1700 is just too much. Would you be willing to temporarily make your food log public? We might be able to spot some logging issues that would help you out too.

Having said that, you def don't have to go down to 1200, few people do, and certainly not someone looking to lose slowly with your stats.

Regardless, I'd try dropping the calories a little. You seem to be maintaining at the calorie level you're currently at. Hang in there!

sydneysteinberg1324

@kimny72 I’m definitely contemplating dropping to 1500 calories for a little while. If I give that a few weeks and still nothing, I’m a little reluctant to drop it any further. I feel like at that point I’d really need to employ a health coach or someone to physically MAKE me a meal plan to follow

MindfulDecision

Based on your activity level, this is a calorie intake problem (in my opinion). Play around with your calories for 2 months at a time (if you aren't willing to drop them drastically) and see if that will help. Hope that works and best of luck on your journey - don't give up!

kimny72

sydneysteinberg1324 wrote: »

@kimny72 I’m definitely contemplating dropping to 1500 calories for a little while. If I give that a few weeks and still nothing, I’m a little reluctant to drop it any further. I feel like at that point I’d really need to employ a health coach or someone to physically MAKE me a meal plan to follow

Good. If you are maintaining at 1700 and logging accurately, you should start to see a little movement if you drop to 1500. Feel free not to answer this here, but also do a little gut check to ensure that you are logging accurately and consistently. Double check that the entries you are using in the database are correct (many are user-entered and incorrect), don't use generic or recipe-style entries that you didn't create. Make sure you aren't missing nibbles, snacks, or beverages. And if you aren't, commit to using the food scale for every possible thing you can for a couple of weeks - whole food, packaged food, fruit, nut butter, everything. I only say that because many posters who say they use a food scale or actually only using it for limited things and doing more estimating than they realize, so it can't hurt to mention it! Good luck, I hope you figure it out :drinker:

SteamPug

I’m 5’4” and maintain at 1,600 on minimal activity, so maybe you could try dropping to 1,300 - 1,500

ruqayyahsmum

Are you weighing all foods and measuring all liquids?
Choosing the correct entries in the food diary? Some user created entries are wildly inaccurate

That said I'm 5ft 2, 233lb and mfp has me at 1750 to lose 1lb a week

Francl27

Are you eating exercise calories back? Are you using accurate entries?

lucerorojo

I tend to think it's a logging problem. I'm at 205 and to lose 1 lb per week MFP puts me at 1650. I am 52 and OP is half my age. She's 10 lbs. lighter but maintenance at 190 at her age would not be 1700. Maintenance for my gw of 137 is in the 1600s at my age.

What scale is OP using? Maybe it's broken. How are her clothes fitting. If no changes in clothes fit , weight or inches,over several months she is maintaining but is the 1700 calories accurate? Or is she eating more? Who is doing the cooking? If someone else or eating out there is potential for underestimating. Is she eating back exercise calories? How is she tracking her exercise calories?

sjd421

I am 5'4" but have a desk job, MFP has my calories at 1340 (at 1lb a wk and I think I started at 1380). Started at 189 and now down to 170. I would go back to using the calories that MFP gives you during the set up. Do lightly active (to account for work) and then add in any of your exercise, but only eat back 50-75% of those calories.

Jancandoit7

I'm 5' 3" - started at 193- down to 175- about 1 pound a week. I don't lose much if I eat over 1300 cal. a day. I walk several times a week (3 miles and use a recumbent bike at home a few days a week. I initially started at 1450 and was only losing .25 pounds a week. I did this for about a month than dropped to 1300 and the results were much better.Generally, I don't eat back many exercise calories unless I'm really extra hungry- I just listen to my body. MPF placed me at 1200 calories but I just can't seem to sustain that so I upped it a bit.

sydneysteinberg1324

Thank you everyone for the responses! To answer some of the questions:

1. I do 99% of my own cooking, so I know what I’m putting in each meal. When I go out, I understand that tracking becomes harder bc you are out of the control of your food.

2. I do not eat back my exercise calories. I USED to, but I don’t think it made much of a difference. I wasn’t doing it properly, I think it was just me convincing myself I needed the extra food.

3. I don’t input my exercise calories. I eat my allotted calories for the day and then my exercise is a bonus.

4. I use a food scale. I measure everything that can be measured in grams or ounces, and I use measuring spoons/cups for liquids and other things that don’t have a nutrition label

nowine4me

If your logging is spot on, then 1700 is simply too high. Cut to 1500 for 6 weeks and see what happens.

cavia

Can you open your diary?

ahoy_m8

It's smart to go slow and sustainable. One difficulty with that approach, however, is it takes longer to see scale movement and progress can be hidden in normal weight fluctuations. Are you using a trending app? Or a rolling average or some other tool for seeing through the fluctuations?

SheilaCali

I'm one of those "sad" ones at 1200 cals. I'm 5'4" and 50 years old. I started a year ago at 148 and am down to 134. It's about a pound a month. Slow, but pretty steady. I'm eating cake fairly often-YOLO. I bumped up to 1500 but the scale didn't budge. I don't do heavy lifting, but moderate cardio/weights/walking. I eat back some exercise cals after a hard workout. I'm with everyone else about lowering your cals a little. Make sure your macros aren't whacked out (eat more protein?) and drink lots of water. It's hard to tell without seeing your diary. Seeing a nutritionist isn't a bad idea. Good luck and don't stop moving!