Why is it so hard to lose weight?

spvlat

I've always stuggled with losing weight and now is no different: I'm 21, 5'6 tall, I weight 132 lbs and I want to lose 6 lbs. For the past month and a half I've been following a 1200 kcal diet that includes enough protein and lots of fruits and vegetables and excludes sugar and gross processed foods (As a matter of fact I used to visit a nutritionist so I have a pretty good idea of what a healthy diet looks like).
What I've achieved is to lose 1 single pound, which is progress but also incredibly disheartening for such a long period of time. On top of that there's that MFP suggestion that at the end of the time says "You'll weight x lbs in 5 weeks..." which NEVER happens. I try to walk for at least an hour every day and I'm very accurate on the amount of food that I eat since I weight everything on a scale, I'm careful about how I cook things and I don't drink my calories so to me this is ruining my motivation.
I guess being overweight for most of my childhood and adolescence ruined my metabolism and any chances of losing a few extra lbs for good...

L1zardQueen

6 pounds is...... really not that much. You need to be super accurate with you calorie counting.

ETA. Clarity

deannalfisher

At 5’6”, 132 you are right in the middle of the weight range (117-144 being the range Dr Google Gabe me); so losing 6lbs is going to take serious work and you should expect to probably only lose .25-.5lb a week.

Conversely - you could look to recomp - maintain weight but lose fat while gaining lean muscle - it will take time but ppl tend to look slimmer when they do it well

Candyspun

spvlat wrote: »

I've always stuggled with losing weight and now is no different: I'm 21, 5'6 tall, I weight 132 lbs and I want to lose 6 lbs. For the past month and a half I've been following a 1200 kcal diet

Could you eat more calories at that height? I'm 5'1, so I don't know. But if you can, that will help!

spvlat wrote: »

On top of that there's that MFP suggestion that at the end of the time says "You'll weight x lbs in 5 weeks..." which NEVER happens.

That's because that estimation is complete and utter crap. Don't pay any attention to it. It's not you, it's the system.

sijomial

spvlat wrote: »

I guess being overweight for most of my childhood and adolescence ruined my metabolism and any chances of losing a few extra lbs for good...

No - if you are in a genuine calorie deficit then you will lose weight. Your body fat is an energy store and if you are in a sustained calorie deficit that energy store will reduce.

Opening your food diary might help diagnose the issue.

sardelsa

You are at a healthy weight so weight loss will typically be very slow at this point. Also water weight fluctuations can mask progress.

Eating healthy is great but if you aren't in a deficit, you will not lose weight. Have you just started an exercise program? Also, if you are as accurate as you think you are, you should be losing at that intake..so as mentioned, opening up your food diary can help.

MFP's projection is not very accurate. It doesn't account for water fluctuations or anything... back in the day when I used to track and I was trying to lose it used to tell me I would gain weight with my intake, I would just laugh because I would always hit my goals regardless.

mkculs

You should really be looking at recomp, not weight loss, for now. Forget the number on the scale. Focus on strength training and losing inches. You’ll lose the extra fat slowly but look better relatively quickly. Good luck.

candicew70

sardelsa wrote: »

Eating healthy is great but if you aren't in a deficit, you will not lose weight. Have you just started an exercise program? Also, if you are as accurate as you think you are, you should be losing at that intake..so as mentioned, opening up your food diary can help.

^^ This.

mkculs wrote: »

You should really be looking at recomp, not weight loss, for now. Forget the number on the scale. Focus on strength training and losing inches. You’ll lose the extra fat slowly but look better relatively quickly. Good luck.

^^and this. But back to your query.

1) Six pounds isn't much too lose; 2) you're not overweight so, yeah, it'll be slow going. And 3) if you've only lost 1 lb after a month and half, it doesn't sound like you're eating at a deficit. If you were, you'd lose weight, end of story.