Haven't lost a pound in 3 months!
avocados9
Posts: 38 Member
Hey there! I'm definately no expert here and hoping someone can push me in the right direction.
I haven't lost a pound on the scale in 3 months. I know that a number isnt everything, but its still something. I have been going to a "cross fit" style gym 5 days per week. My muscles are looking a bit more toned, and my clothes fit a little better for sure so i can't complain.. I've definately lost inches and all, but is it normal to have absolutely no weight loss in 3 months? I've tried watching my eating habits and making sure to eat clean, and I've even upped my cardio in the last month to try and jumpstart things a little. Any input would be awesome. Im 150 lb currently but started at 165lbs 6 months ago.
I haven't lost a pound on the scale in 3 months. I know that a number isnt everything, but its still something. I have been going to a "cross fit" style gym 5 days per week. My muscles are looking a bit more toned, and my clothes fit a little better for sure so i can't complain.. I've definately lost inches and all, but is it normal to have absolutely no weight loss in 3 months? I've tried watching my eating habits and making sure to eat clean, and I've even upped my cardio in the last month to try and jumpstart things a little. Any input would be awesome. Im 150 lb currently but started at 165lbs 6 months ago.
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Replies
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How many calories deficit are you making a day on average? How accurately do you measure your intake?4
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Maintaining a weight loss is the hard part so you are doing well.
Seriously when I read all of your Non Scale Victories I say you are doing awesome. I find dropping 10% of one's weight and then maintain that for six months before the next weight loss is a great method to prevent regains down the road.
Gaining health is my only objective at my age but the weight is slowly coming off not thinking about it.
Best of continued success.11 -
gebeziseva wrote: »How many calories deficit are you making a day on average? How accurately do you measure your intake?
I don't know. I eat between 1500-1800 a day. If i work out hard I eat more and if I don't work out I don't overeat. I don't know how to calculate any deficit.. I'm confused6 -
Is it possible you need to increase your calories? check out Eat To Perform.. they talk a lot about properly fueling your body to improve your work outs and thus improve your body, sometimes that means eating more, not less.31
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gebeziseva wrote: »How many calories deficit are you making a day on average? How accurately do you measure your intake?
I don't know. I eat between 1500-1800 a day. If i work out hard I eat more and if I don't work out I don't overeat. I don't know how to calculate any deficit.. I'm confused
Haven't you set up your MFP info and put in your stats and selected a rate of loss? It will figure it for you. It doesn't sound like you have any idea how much you should be eating or even how much you are eating. You need to use MFP the way it was designed, then track accurately what you eat - weigh your solid foods and measure with cups and measuring spoons the liquids. I would say you haven't lost anything because it seems you don't know what calories you should be eating so you aren't in a deficit. Just because you are "eating clean" - whatever that means - and are exercising, it doesn't mean you will lose weight.10 -
musicfan68 wrote: »gebeziseva wrote: »How many calories deficit are you making a day on average? How accurately do you measure your intake?
I don't know. I eat between 1500-1800 a day. If i work out hard I eat more and if I don't work out I don't overeat. I don't know how to calculate any deficit.. I'm confused
Haven't you set up your MFP info and put in your stats and selected a rate of loss? It will figure it for you. It doesn't sound like you have any idea how much you should be eating or even how much you are eating. You need to use MFP the way it was designed, then track accurately what you eat - weigh your solid foods and measure with cups and measuring spoons the liquids. I would say you haven't lost anything because it seems you don't know what calories you should be eating so you aren't in a deficit. Just because you are "eating clean" - whatever that means - and are exercising, it doesn't mean you will lose weight.
I have done it. I use it every single day. It says to eat 1500 calories. I weigh and measure and track everything. I make sure to net 1500 everyday. I workout and I eat more because otherwise I would starve. Your response is not exactly helpful. Just rude. I said I don't know what my calorie deficit is but if you'd like to enlighten me please do, as I said before I'm no expert!16 -
If you really have no idea how much you eat.........................that's where you need to start because that's usually the first issue people disregard when weight loss doesn't happen and they don't track.
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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skinnybkimmy wrote: »Is it possible you need to increase your calories? check out Eat To Perform.. they talk a lot about properly fueling your body to improve your work outs and thus improve your body, sometimes that means eating more, not less.
That's what I was thinking. Is eat to perform a website?23 -
Yes, what musicfan68 above said.
Eating clean or dirty (no such thing imo) makes no difference. To lose you need to eat less than you burn. You need to measure with a scale all your food and log it accurately if you want to know your intake. You not losing in 3 months means you have been eating at maintanance calories.16 -
skinnybkimmy wrote: »Is it possible you need to increase your calories? check out Eat To Perform.. they talk a lot about properly fueling your body to improve your work outs and thus improve your body, sometimes that means eating more, not less.
Did you gain your extra weight by eating too little?16 -
I measure everything and track daily. I dunno what he means by knowing my calorie deficit. If calorie deficit is just what mfp says to eat daily then I guess I know my calorie deficit.. if someone cared to explain that would be great. If im eating at a maintenance - that would be good to know. I don't know though.0
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musicfan68 wrote: »gebeziseva wrote: »How many calories deficit are you making a day on average? How accurately do you measure your intake?
I don't know. I eat between 1500-1800 a day. If i work out hard I eat more and if I don't work out I don't overeat. I don't know how to calculate any deficit.. I'm confused
Haven't you set up your MFP info and put in your stats and selected a rate of loss? It will figure it for you. It doesn't sound like you have any idea how much you should be eating or even how much you are eating. You need to use MFP the way it was designed, then track accurately what you eat - weigh your solid foods and measure with cups and measuring spoons the liquids. I would say you haven't lost anything because it seems you don't know what calories you should be eating so you aren't in a deficit. Just because you are "eating clean" - whatever that means - and are exercising, it doesn't mean you will lose weight.
I have done it. I use it every single day. It says to eat 1500 calories. I weigh and measure and track everything. I make sure to net 1500 everyday. I workout and I eat more because otherwise I would starve. Your response is not exactly helpful. Just rude. I said I don't know what my calorie deficit is but if you'd like to enlighten me please do, as I said before I'm no expert!
Sorry if it came across rude, but you didn't really give any info to go on. Since you didn't say something like "MFP gave me 1500 calories to lose 2 lbs a week, and I weigh and log all my foods..." it sounded like you just really don't have a clue. Also, if you set up MFP, it should have asked you how many lbs you want to lose a week - .5 is a 250 calorie deficit, 1 lb is 500 calorie deficit, 2 lbs, 1000 calorie deficit, so you should know what you set it to lose.
Logging the correct info is important also. I looked at your diary and you have a lot of "1 serving" or 2 of this or that. It should have the actual weight in grams to get correct calories.4 -
gebeziseva wrote: »skinnybkimmy wrote: »Is it possible you need to increase your calories? check out Eat To Perform.. they talk a lot about properly fueling your body to improve your work outs and thus improve your body, sometimes that means eating more, not less.
Did you gain your extra weight by eating too little?
I haven't gained any weight. I've lost 15 pounds and have maintained weight for 3 months.5 -
gebeziseva wrote: »skinnybkimmy wrote: »Is it possible you need to increase your calories? check out Eat To Perform.. they talk a lot about properly fueling your body to improve your work outs and thus improve your body, sometimes that means eating more, not less.
Did you gain your extra weight by eating too little?
I haven't gained any weight. I've lost 15 pounds and have maintained weight for 3 months.
I was asking the person who I quoted.4 -
Generally speaking, we tend to look for things like logging errors first because the alternatives usually require a trip to the doctor to get checked out.
I went back to the first of the month in your diary. It's great that you've kept up with logging even without seeing a loss. A lot of people would have just given up. Is the frittata a recipe you entered or are you using someone else's entry? How carefully are you tracking on days where you quick add calories?3 -
musicfan68 wrote: »musicfan68 wrote: »gebeziseva wrote: »How many calories deficit are you making a day on average? How accurately do you measure your intake?
I don't know. I eat between 1500-1800 a day. If i work out hard I eat more and if I don't work out I don't overeat. I don't know how to calculate any deficit.. I'm confused
Haven't you set up your MFP info and put in your stats and selected a rate of loss? It will figure it for you. It doesn't sound like you have any idea how much you should be eating or even how much you are eating. You need to use MFP the way it was designed, then track accurately what you eat - weigh your solid foods and measure with cups and measuring spoons the liquids. I would say you haven't lost anything because it seems you don't know what calories you should be eating so you aren't in a deficit. Just because you are "eating clean" - whatever that means - and are exercising, it doesn't mean you will lose weight.
I have done it. I use it every single day. It says to eat 1500 calories. I weigh and measure and track everything. I make sure to net 1500 everyday. I workout and I eat more because otherwise I would starve. Your response is not exactly helpful. Just rude. I said I don't know what my calorie deficit is but if you'd like to enlighten me please do, as I said before I'm no expert!
Sorry if it came across rude, but you didn't really give any info to go on. Since you didn't say something like "MFP gave me 1500 calories to lose 2 lbs a week, and I weigh and log all my foods..." it sounded like you just really don't have a clue. Also, if you set up MFP, it should have asked you how many lbs you want to lose a week - .5 is a 250 calorie deficit, 1 lb is 500 calorie deficit, 2 lbs, 1000 calorie deficit, so you should know what you set it to lose.
I think it's set at 1lb. I don't have a clue that's why im asking. Mfp tells me to eat 1500 calories, but I'm being told by people that i need to be eating way more than that. I have been sticking to what mfp says to do and I'm maintaining.4 -
From looking at your profile, it sounds like you're within 25-30 pounds of your goal. At that point, your deficit may be very small, and inaccuracies in logging can add up very fast to put you in maintenance or even cause you to gain weight.
Your diary also looks like there are quite a few things that might be measured more accurately. For example, how are you calculating a "scoop" of protein powder? Depending on how rounded or level your scoop is, there could be a lot of variation in how much powder you're eating--better to weigh it out. The same is true for things entered as "1 serving" or "1 piece." How are you calculating a serving? If you're weighing the whole recipe out using the recipe builder, that's ideal. And you have quite a few "quick add" entries, so you would want to think about those things and how accurate they are or aren't.
It does sound nitpicky, but when you don't have a large amount of weight to lose, every calorie can really add up.5 -
From looking at your profile, it sounds like you're within 25-30 pounds of your goal. At that point, your deficit may be very small, and inaccuracies in logging can add up very fast to put you in maintenance or even cause you to gain weight.
Your diary also looks like there are quite a few things that might be measured more accurately. For example, how are you calculating a "scoop" of protein powder? Depending on how rounded or level your scoop is, there could be a lot of variation in how much powder you're eating--better to weigh it out. The same is true for things entered as "1 serving" or "1 piece." How are you calculating a serving? If you're weighing the whole recipe out using the recipe builder, that's ideal. And you have quite a few "quick add" entries, so you would want to think about those things and how accurate they are or aren't.
It does sound nitpicky, but when you don't have a large amount of weight to lose, every calorie can really add up.
Hey! I was using the recipe builder for a lot of it. I normally portion out and weigh pieces and adjust as needed each time the recipe is made. I suppose for the protein I went with the scoop it came with. I will weigh it going forward. The quick adds were from when i was sick, and I was under eating. It's not something I make a habit of. Thanks for looking into that for me !4 -
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What's your activity level set at (sedentary, etc)? I am assuming that you're down as sedentary or lightly active. I'm around the same weight and height as you, and I'm set to los -1lb a week. I think I gives me about 1600kcal. The people saying "that isn't enough" probably aren't taking into account the fact that five days a week, when you workout, you are eating more than that. 1600 is just for the days where you don't do any exercise (besides normal wandering around at work, or whatever).
It's possible either your logging is off (so you're eating closer to maintenance, hence not losing), or that whatever you're using to calculate the energy you're burning working out, is overestimating. Make sure MFP knows your current weight, too (as obviously you'll need less calories as you lose more and more). Try weighing all your foods, and seeing if you see a change in a month or so. If you're definitely logging accurately, then try reducing the % of your exercise calories you're eating back (75%, say), because you may be burning less than it says.2 -
First, "eating more" will just make you gain more weight. I'm not sure why people keep suggesting it.
Now that you're closer to maintenance, it will be harder to lose. But you're not at the point where it should be a 3 month struggle.
Honestly, it's most likely that you are eating maintenance calories. Try lowering your calories by 100 a day.12 -
Another thing, have you reset your settings since you lost weight? You should reset every 5-10 lbs. Because your body will need less calories as you lose weight. You should read some of the stickies so that you can better understand the cico and weight loss process. Otherwise if you ever stop logging you will gain since you don't understand why you lost weight or why people gain. (Eating too little is not why people maintain or gain weight).6
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callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
Thank you so much for this!!! It has helped ease my irritation with the fact that I've been weighing/logging religiously and started running again and the scale has barely moved. I just started down this road a smidge over three weeks ago. I just need to give it more time and continue with what I'm doing.5 -
"I have no clue" - you can just go and look at what you set it as.0
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So you lost inches, your clothes fit better, you work out and your muscles "look" better - why is the number on the scale an issue? Is your weight tattooed on your forehead?5
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Keep in mind, too, that the last three months had Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and NYE. If you had family in town, if you went out or went drinking or celebrated a little too much and eyeballed, that could be eating up the deficit you've created by working out and watching your intake.
The last couple of months are tough for EVERYONE. Listen to the advice on here, weigh everything you eat, and bump up the entries you choose against the USDA website.
Good on you for maintaining through the holidays! Don't get discouraged. When you don't have a whole lot to lose, it can be really slow going.3 -
I think there are 2 main questions to help with your conundrum. First, how are you measuring your food? Are you using a food scale? The only way to accurately log food is by weight. If you are using volume (cups/ tbs, etc) you are probably eating more than you think. Second, on days you work out, how are you calculating your calories lost? You may be over estimating calories lost and eating too much, therefore maintaining your weight.1
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1. Recalculate your goals if you haven't done so already with your new CW.
2. Try eating back a portion of your exercise calories, not 100%.
3. Look for places where you can tighten up your logging. Everyone has inaccuracies; absolutely nobody calculates their intake 100% correctly.1 -
If you're doing CrossFit 5 days a week, then you have likely gained a lot of muscle and lost fat. As you know, muscle weighs more than fat. If your clothes fit better and your muscles are more defined, you should worry less about the number on the scale. It's difficult to do after a lifetime of focusing on that number, I get it. I've been doing CrossFit for the last 4 years and my weight hasn't changed that much. However, my body looks and feels totally different due to fat/muscle ratio.6
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Also, get a tape measurer. your body will "reshape" while you are loosing fat and gaining muscle. remember muscle is dense while fat - not so much. so although a smaller size of muscle may weigh the same you're still re-proportioning your body. It's really not just about what that bloody scale sez :-) Get a tape measurer and when you run into a plateau take your measurements and see if maybe that's what's actually happening.3
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