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

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  • renee8865
    renee8865 Posts: 61 Member
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    Spliner1969 wrote: »
    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
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    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
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    need2belean wrote: »
    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
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    Spliner1969 wrote: »
    need2belean wrote: »
    ^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
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    Spliner1969 wrote: »
    need2belean wrote: »
    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.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
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    shanika88 wrote: »
    Spliner1969 wrote: »
    need2belean wrote: »
    ^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.

    You're getting dizzy because you're not eating back your exercise calories. You aren't giving your body the nutrients it needs to sustain the level of activity you're doing.

    It sounds to me like you're losing weight in a normal, nonlinear way, but are undereating.

    Your solution would therefore be to consistently weigh and measure your food accurately, eat your exercise calories, and be more patient with the weight loss process.
  • soniaf
    soniaf Posts: 106 Member
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    That sounds really really frustrating OP. Sounds like you are really doing so well but not seeing it on the scales. Can I suggest something that has helped me, trendweight.com cos then you can see the trend above the little fluctuations. Sympathies! Hope the measurements are good.
    I feel like I'm in the same position as I should be losing more than a kilo a week cos I am eating really well, weighing stuff, exercising heaps, but I am losing 0.2 kg a week. I am really hoping for a whoosh soon.
  • renee8865
    renee8865 Posts: 61 Member
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    apullum wrote: »
    shanika88 wrote: »
    Spliner1969 wrote: »
    need2belean wrote: »
    ^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.

    You're getting dizzy because you're not eating back your exercise calories. You aren't giving your body the nutrients it needs to sustain the level of activity you're doing.

    It sounds to me like you're losing weight in a normal, nonlinear way, but are undereating.

    Your solution would therefore be to consistently weigh and measure your food accurately, eat your exercise calories, and be more patient with the weight loss process.

    So I should eat all my exercise calories? How do I know exactly what I burned? I'm confused. I thought exercising was to create a larger deficit? I don't know how much more patient I can be. I mean 7 weeks to lose 1.2 pounds seems a little ridiculous, but I'll keep chugging along I guess.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    edited February 2018
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    shanika88 wrote: »
    apullum wrote: »
    shanika88 wrote: »
    Spliner1969 wrote: »
    need2belean wrote: »
    ^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.

    You're getting dizzy because you're not eating back your exercise calories. You aren't giving your body the nutrients it needs to sustain the level of activity you're doing.

    It sounds to me like you're losing weight in a normal, nonlinear way, but are undereating.

    Your solution would therefore be to consistently weigh and measure your food accurately, eat your exercise calories, and be more patient with the weight loss process.

    So I should eat all my exercise calories? How do I know exactly what I burned? I'm confused. I thought exercising was to create a larger deficit? I don't know how much more patient I can be. I mean 7 weeks to lose 1.2 pounds seems a little ridiculous, but I'll keep chugging along I guess.

    Many people eat back half of their exercise calories if they don't have a super accurate calculation of how much they burned. This is because they don't want to overeat, not because they want a larger deficit. MFP's database for exercises is notorious for overstating calorie burn, so the "eat half" advice is just an attempt to fix that problem.

    The goal of exercise is a) to achieve other health and fitness goals in addition to losing weight, and b) to be able to eat more. Your deficit is already built into your MFP calorie allowance. If you feel dizzy, or are afraid that you might get dizzy, then you are either undereating and/or have a medical concern that should be addressed. Given what you've told us, undereating seems very likely. It isn't safe to undereat in order to lose weight faster.

    Although 30 pounds may seem like a lot depending on your starting weight and goals, many people find that they can't sustain rapid weight loss at that point. When I was within 30 pounds of my goal, my weight loss happened in fits and starts. It took me over a year to lose the last 30 pounds, and I only saw any movement on the scale once every 4-6 weeks. When my weight did go down, it tended to drop suddenly by a couple pounds. So what you're describing in terms of pace of weight loss doesn't seem unreasonable to me because it sounds similar to what I experienced.

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