5 weeks dieting and exercising, no weight lost. HELP!

renee8865
renee8865 Posts: 61 Member
edited November 24 in Motivation and Support
I have been dieting (following my own clean meal plan) and exercising using Kayla Itsines BBG workout 3 days per week and jogging two additional days per week for 5 1/2 weeks now. My meal plan is just over 1,400 calories. I'm 5'6". I'm really discouraged because I've spent each week prepping meals, weighing out and measuring my food exactly, and exercising for 30-45 minutes 5 times a week only to see the scale...do nothing. I am 165 right now and would like to lose 30 pounds. It feels like it's impossible.

I can't figure if I'm eating too much, too little, or not the right balance of macro nutrients...it's all overwhelming and I'm constantly tempted to just give up since it's not working anyway. I was planning on eating 1,200 calories for a week to see if it makes a difference, but I'm afraid that's too few calories. But I don't want to go up to 1,600 either because even though I know it's still a deficit, I'm nervous that I'll gain weight. And the overall stress of not seeing any progress can't be helping either :neutral: .

Here is my normal meal plan:

1/2 cup low fat plain yogurt: 70
banana (weighed): 25
mango (weighed): 25
1/2 TB almond butter: 45
1 tsp honey: 30
1 TB muesli: 60
1 hard-boiled egg: 70
= 325

Snack:
guacamole (avocado, salt, lime) weighed: 100 calories
1/2 yellow pepper: 25
7 almonds: 50
= 175

Lunch:
1/2 cup brown rice or quinoa: 107
8 oz cooked tofu: 172
1 c roasted vegetables, no oil: 50
150 grams sweet potato: 129
= 458

Snack:
10 baby carrots: 40
1/2 hummus single size serving: 80
= 120

Dinner:
300 grams spaghetti squash: 93
roasted tomatoes, zucchini, onion (no oil): 65
4 oz cooked chicken: 184
= 342

==1420 daily calories

Only beverages are LOTS of water (80+ oz) and hot tea (unsweetened)

So what gives?

«1345

Replies

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    You seem to be weighing some things and not others, maybe try weighing everything.

    Have you taken any measurements?

    Would you mind opening your diary so we can see if there is anything that could be throwing you off?
  • renee8865
    renee8865 Posts: 61 Member
    Everything has already been weighed or measured, I just got tired of writing it over and over. I portion all my foods at the beginning of the week. I don't know how to unlock my diary, I'll figure it out. But I don't log everything in my fitness, I write it all down and have tracked all the calories already and get too lazy at the end of the day to put everything online.

    The things I measure instead of weigh (yogurt, vegetables, honey, liquids, etc) are all things that can't be tightly packed and I often measure slightly less than level with the top of the measuring cup or spoon. I feel any discrepancies would result in a few less daily calories, not more.
  • Have you had your thyroid checked by your doctor?
  • renee8865
    renee8865 Posts: 61 Member
    Melanie, no I haven't. But I plan on going in for a physical soon and I'll talk to my doctor about it. I've always had a hard time losing weight, but this time just seems even more ridiculously hard than usual.
  • need2belean
    need2belean Posts: 358 Member
    edited February 2018
    What's the OP's height, current weight, age? Activity level? If everything is being weighed to the gram, then I agree it makes no sense as long as 1400+ calories is actually a deficit for the OP. I assume it is. I get away with estimating a lot of stuff because I'm 6'2" tall and generally keep a a pretty heavy exercise schedule/regimen but my wife, who is 5'2" tall has some of the same issues. If she isn't accurate to the gram on most things, especially condiments like oil, butter, nuts/nut butters it'll throw her off and she won't lose anything that week. Sodium also slams her pretty hard, more so than it does me. I do see a couple of possible mistakes in the list above though.

    For instance, brown rice, cooked (not dry) 1/2 cup is around 150 calories. Even then it depends on how it's "cooked". Did you add butter like most people do? 1 tbsp of sweet cream butter is 100 calories. You have it listed as 107 calories. To me that would assume it's steamed with no butter or oil, and you're measuring it cooked, and then it's still questionable that it's only 107 calories. Guacamole is made from Avacado. 100g of an avacado is 160 cals. I'm assuming you're talking about 50g or so of Guacamole with no other ingredients than the salt and lime (lime juice has calories)? Inconsistency really can throw you off. Not saying you're not trying, just that you might scrutinize your diary a bit more to see if you can spot mistakes. Too often than not I've seen people pick entries in the database over other entries because they had lower calories and they felt it was a better match. That's not always the case.

    Anyway, food for thought, just some suggestions not accusations.

    ^ OP you didn't state if you eat back your exercise calories or not and how much of those calories you do eat back if you don't.

    [Edited by MFP moderator]
  • need2belean
    need2belean Posts: 358 Member
    edited February 2018
    rach3116 wrote: »
    My weight loss calculation for calories is 1,146/day. It’s low, and will only get lower so that’s why workouts are imperative for me. Also, I calculate like so: fruits and veggies (with no oil or condiments) are free. I do count starchy veggies. I’ve still always lost weight doing this and it helps me consistently consume more fruits and veggies.
    I can tell you that I gain weight at 1600 calories a day. Many of us need far fewer calories than we think.
    I say lower your net intake!
    Feel free to add me, I’m open diary.

    Oh geeze. So much Woo in this post. fruits and veggies have calories so the OP is right. You aren't actually eating 1,146calories/day. Also, someone else had a good question, how tall are you to gain at 1600 calories a day? I was going to check your diary out of curiosity but it's not open to the public.
  • need2belean
    need2belean Posts: 358 Member
    jangel66 wrote: »
    The one thing that stood out from your list was Sugar. Use the food tracker here to see how many grams of sugar you are consuming. There is no good sugar. Drive the sugar out of your diet and the pounds will come off.
    Pls remember Carbs are just sugar so when looking at total sugar consumption you have to look at the Carbs and the added suger.

    keep up the exercise and cut the sugar as much as possible and see if the next 30 days are a lot better than the last 45 for weight loss.
    Any thing you eat that is packaged in a box has added sugar.

    never touch fruit juices- your water and unsweetened tea are great
    check all labels and if the sugar is higher than 5 grams per serving dont touch it again
    if it has Carbs but has no Dietary Fiber listed than it is just sugar with a another name.
    good luck and dont give up.

    track other milestones such as inches and clothes fitting better dont depend on scale for your all your positive feedback.
    with that much regular exercise you must feel better. Take your victories small and large and hold on tight to them.

    Besides the fact that you can have carbs if you want as long as it fits in your calorie budget (fiber or no fiber), this person has a good point. Do you track other measurements besides weight? Have you taken progress photos and measurements? When I first started losing weight last year, if it wasn't for the progress photos I was taking weekly, I wouldn't have kept going.
  • need2belean
    need2belean Posts: 358 Member
    ^^She states her weight and height in the original post and mentions the guacamole is made from AVOcado (not avacado). But OP you didn't state if you eat back your exercise calories or not and how much of those calories you do eat back if you don't.

    Apologies for the typo/spelling error. Beyond that I still didn't see her age listed. The reason I ask is that TDEE for a 21 year old female, 5'6" tall, 165 lbs doing 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise 5 days a week can be as high as 2113 calories per day. A 1lb deficit per week would put her at 1613 calories per day. However, the TDEE for the same female with the same stats who is 50 years old is about 1947 calories/day, and a 500 calorie per day deficit would be 1447 calories/day; closer to what she's attempting. Again, assuming her recipes/calories are accurate (some still don't seem that way) she should be losing weight if she is 50 years old, and possibly losing weight faster if she's much younger. Those calorie estimates are different depending on the calculators you use, I tend to use iifym.com.

    Good point. I didn't see the age thing. And sorry for the avocado rant. spelling "avocado" and "losing weight" (loosing by some people) wrong has been driving me nuts in the forums as of late. It's just one of those days.
  • renee8865
    renee8865 Posts: 61 Member
    Your weight hasn't changed at all? It doesn't go up with your monthly cycle or ovulation? Sodium doesn't change it? Carbs, constipation? If you stand on the scale at different times of the day it doesn't change? You would expect your weight to bounce up and down throughout weight loss because of normal fluctuations. The fact that it hasn't changed at all would point to a scale problem rather than a routine problem. Your scale might have a memory and sometimes you have to trick them in order to show the new Weight after weight loss.

    Well, I only weight at the same time each day, right when I wake up in the morning. I don't weigh throughout the day because I tend to get obsessive. It's finally gone down about 1.2, but it's been stuck there for a couple days now. I can definitely check out a newer scale, I've had this one for probably...7 years or longer.
  • renee8865
    renee8865 Posts: 61 Member
    What's the OP's height, current weight, age? Activity level? If everything is being weighed to the gram, then I agree it makes no sense as long as 1400+ calories is actually a deficit for the OP. I assume it is. I get away with estimating a lot of stuff because I'm 6'2" tall and generally keep a a pretty heavy exercise schedule/regimen but my wife, who is 5'2" tall has some of the same issues. If she isn't accurate to the gram on most things, especially condiments like oil, butter, nuts/nut butters it'll throw her off and she won't lose anything that week. Sodium also slams her pretty hard, more so than it does me. I do see a couple of possible mistakes in the list above though.

    For instance, brown rice, cooked (not dry) 1/2 cup is around 150 calories. Even then it depends on how it's "cooked". Did you add butter like most people do? 1 tbsp of sweet cream butter is 100 calories. You have it listed as 107 calories. To me that would assume it's steamed with no butter or oil, and you're measuring it cooked, and then it's still questionable that it's only 107 calories. Guacamole is made from Avacado. 100g of an avacado is 160 cals. I'm assuming you're talking about 50g or so of Guacamole with no other ingredients than the salt and lime (lime juice has calories)? Inconsistency really can throw you off. Not saying you're not trying, just that you might scrutinize your diary a bit more to see if you can spot mistakes. Too often than not I've seen people pick entries in the database over other entries because they had lower calories and they felt it was a better match. That's not always the case.

    Anyway, food for thought, just some suggestions not accusations.


    No, I appreciate all suggestions! I looked up 1 cup cooked brown rice, plain and found it listed at 214-216 calories, so 1/2 cup brown rice would have been 107-108 calories.. I'm not good at tracking everything in my fitness pal, so usually I just look it up online and write it down. Anyway, I don't cook with butter or oil. As for the avocado, I use about 1/4 of a small avocado, around 1tsp lime juice and a pinch of salt. I know that's not measurable, but I literally put a bit in my palm, take a pinch and sprinkle it on. I try to be very honest with myself and what I'm eating. If I have a square of chocolate, I will add it, if I add an extra tsp of muesli to my yogurt, I'll add it. I don't let myself lie about what I ate and try to be as accurate as possible when weighing and measuring, that's why I'm stumped. And I prepare all of my food myself (99% of the time) so I know that no secret ingredients are adding unnecessary calories.
  • renee8865
    renee8865 Posts: 61 Member
    jangel66 wrote: »
    The one thing that stood out from your list was Sugar. Use the food tracker here to see how many grams of sugar you are consuming. There is no good sugar. Drive the sugar out of your diet and the pounds will come off.
    Pls remember Carbs are just sugar so when looking at total sugar consumption you have to look at the Carbs and the added suger.

    keep up the exercise and cut the sugar as much as possible and see if the next 30 days are a lot better than the last 45 for weight loss.
    Any thing you eat that is packaged in a box has added sugar.

    never touch fruit juices- your water and unsweetened tea are great
    check all labels and if the sugar is higher than 5 grams per serving dont touch it again
    if it has Carbs but has no Dietary Fiber listed than it is just sugar with a another name.
    good luck and dont give up.

    track other milestones such as inches and clothes fitting better dont depend on scale for your all your positive feedback.
    with that much regular exercise you must feel better. Take your victories small and large and hold on tight to them.


    Can you explain more? I know a lot of people claim you should even cut out fruits, but I have a hard time accepting that as valid fact. With the exception of the honey I add, which I've read has good health benefits, everything I eat I try to make sure has no added sugar, even the muesli I bought has no added sweetener. I'm going to look at my food list more carefully though and go over all the labels for the plain yogurt I eat (I searched hard for one that didn't have sugar), etc to make sure it's not above 5grams. I don't ever drink fruit juice.

    I do actually feel a lot more energy overall and that IS a great feeling. Thanks for the encouragement there. My next step is to take measurements because that might be a better reflection of any changes happening. We'll see!
  • renee8865
    renee8865 Posts: 61 Member
    jangel66 wrote: »
    The one thing that stood out from your list was Sugar. Use the food tracker here to see how many grams of sugar you are consuming. There is no good sugar. Drive the sugar out of your diet and the pounds will come off.
    Pls remember Carbs are just sugar so when looking at total sugar consumption you have to look at the Carbs and the added suger.

    keep up the exercise and cut the sugar as much as possible and see if the next 30 days are a lot better than the last 45 for weight loss.
    Any thing you eat that is packaged in a box has added sugar.

    never touch fruit juices- your water and unsweetened tea are great
    check all labels and if the sugar is higher than 5 grams per serving dont touch it again
    if it has Carbs but has no Dietary Fiber listed than it is just sugar with a another name.
    good luck and dont give up.

    track other milestones such as inches and clothes fitting better dont depend on scale for your all your positive feedback.
    with that much regular exercise you must feel better. Take your victories small and large and hold on tight to them.

    Besides the fact that you can have carbs if you want as long as it fits in your calorie budget (fiber or no fiber), this person has a good point. Do you track other measurements besides weight? Have you taken progress photos and measurements? When I first started losing weight last year, if it wasn't for the progress photos I was taking weekly, I wouldn't have kept going.


    I did take progress pictures, but I haven't taken a second set yet and my goal this week is to get a measuring tape so I can take measurements and start gauging progress that way rather than depending so much on the scale. At some point though, I do feel I have to lose some weight. I can't envision a scenario where I'd reach my ideal size/fitness level and still be 160+ pounds...so...I'm sure it'll come off eventually.
  • renee8865
    renee8865 Posts: 61 Member
    ^But OP you didn't state if you eat back your exercise calories or not and how much of those calories you do eat back if you don't.

    I still didn't see her age listed. The reason I ask is that TDEE for a 21 year old female, 5'6" tall, 165 lbs doing 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise 5 days a week can be as high as 2113 calories per day. A 1lb deficit per week would put her at 1613 calories per day. However, the TDEE for the same female with the same stats who is 50 years old is about 1947 calories/day, and a 500 calorie per day deficit would be 1447 calories/day; closer to what she's attempting. Again, assuming her recipes/calories are accurate (some still don't seem that way) she should be losing weight if she is 50 years old, and possibly losing weight faster if she's much younger. Those calorie estimates are different depending on the calculators you use, I tend to use iifym.com.


    I don't eat back any exercise calories and I'm 29 years old :). I'm going to recalculate and re-weigh everything once again (sigh, so fun) when I do my meal prep tomorrow just to make sure everything is on point. But I just can't see myself eating much less, I start to get dizzy and don't feel good when I've cut out a snack or missed a meal. On top of the workouts I've added (Kayla Itsines 3 days per week and 2 runs for 30+ minutes), I also work 6 days a week and I'm generally standing all day or chasing children. So if I have to cut more calories I'm going to have to figure out a diet that will also keep my blood sugar really stable.
  • renee8865
    renee8865 Posts: 61 Member
    Good point. I didn't see the age thing. And sorry for the avocado rant. spelling "avocado" and "losing weight" (loosing by some people) wrong has been driving me nuts in the forums as of late. It's just one of those days.

    Full disclosure; I typed the first post without my glasses on hah. Usually there's this neat little red line that happens when you screw up spelling lol. I was busy eating an orange with some of that dreaded sugar in it and neglected to put them on lol.

    A suggestion to the OP as well, stop tracking sugar and track fiber/sodium instead unless you have some medical reason to track sugar. It's not the devil any more than anything else is in too much excess. Calories are really all that matters; unless of course there's a medical reason to stay away from carbs, sugar, or protein. See your doctor if you're sure that your calories are accurate, there might very well be something causing it. Only other thing I can think of is track sodium as well, it can mask weight loss in the form of water weight. Eventually though, even if you're carrying 2-3 lbs of extra water weight you should see weight go down if you're actually at a consistent deficit. Oh.. if your doctor tells you there's nothing wrong with you but carbs are the reason, go see a different doctor. ;)


    I'll ask my doctor at my next checkup. I also want to get my thyroid checked. I agree about the carbs/sugar thing. I'm not sitting here eating cane sugar all day and I'm not ready to demonize vegetable/fruit carbs because if I did, I'd find myself eating nothing.
This discussion has been closed.