When it isn't working

hgillesp

I've been trying to lose the same 10 lbs for years. It seems that every time I try again, I end up seeing no change on the scale, and I get frustrated and give up after a month only to try again further down the road. And I am right at the month of trying with no results right now. I am tired of that same old routine and want to really and truly get rid of that 10-12 lbs before I end up with more as I get older. I track my calories, exercise religiously and just don't seem to be able to make it happen. I am absolutely not perfect and will have bad days or a bad weekend but I know those aren't the problem. So I guess my question is what have others done when what they are doing isn't working?

Thanks for any ideas. FWIW I am doing IF right now with an 8 hour eating window. I eat my exercise calories and follow what MFP tells me I should eat calorie-wise.

concordancia

I never lose weight the first couple of weeks of changing things up, so I understand the frustration. At some point, you just have to know that you are doing the right things for your body, no matter what the scale says.

-try eating back half of your exercise calories.
-do you weigh all foods that offer a serving size in weight?
-do you incorporate resistance training into your exercise?
-are you looking at your nutrition? If the scale is going to be an *kitten*, you might as well eat things that are good for your body.

hgillesp

Thank you! I do always weigh my food and had stopped resistance training but am starting up with body weight training again. I am a vegetarian so generally eat pretty well and don't eat a lot of processed foods. As much as I hate the idea of cutting calories further your point about exercise calories is a good one and I may give it a shot. I agree on being good to your body - it's the only one we have!!

kommodevaran

I think you need to separate "not working" from "not doing it properly", in other words, take charge of what you can control directly, and be patient with what you can't directly control, and to be able to do that, you have to take emotion out of it. The first step would be to stop excusing yourself. Weightloss is about concistency, not perfection. You just have to eat less, over time, but do it for real, and then keep doing it, forever.

You can lose weight without counting calories, but if you do count calories, you have to do it right to produce the desired effect: A food scale is a must, and so is picking correct entries (or making your own), and logging everything, in the exact amount, and sticking to target. If you eat back exercise calories, eat back no more than 75% of them.

Any particular eating window has no effect besides - if that helps you eat less - limiting the amount of time you can eat per day.

ladyhusker39

You don't give details but maybe you're trying to cut too drastically and that's why you're tired of it after only a month. Ten lbs is a small amount to lose and it will come off very slowly because you simply don't have a lot of wiggle room without cutting too drastically.

I wonder if the main problem here isn't your expectations and lack of patience more than anything else. Just something to consider as obviously I don't know.