Stall?
laurabredt
Posts: 12 Member
I have been tracking everything I put in my mouth. Everything. Stayed under my 1200 cal goal weight every day and have been adding in moderate exercise. Drinking more water. And I have actually gained a pound over the last 3 weeks. I’m ready to just throw in the towel and get lipo. I lost on HCG, I lost on Dukan. Always gained back tho. I figured this seemed much more reasonable. More lifestyle change then crazy fad diet. But I’m hungry at night and gaining rather than losing. At 1200 calories! I’m 5’5”. 178. The only thing that seems smaller is my boobs. Of course.
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laurabredt wrote: »I have been tracking everything I put in my mouth. Everything. Stayed under my 1200 cal goal weight every day and have been adding in moderate exercise. Drinking more water. And I have actually gained a pound over the last 3 weeks. I’m ready to just throw in the towel and get lipo. I lost on HCG, I lost on Dukan. Always gained back tho. I figured this seemed much more reasonable. More lifestyle change then crazy fad diet. But I’m hungry at night and gaining rather than losing. At 1200 calories! I’m 5’5”. 178. The only thing that seems smaller is my boobs. Of course.
There are several common errors many of us made when we first started logging. Would you be willing to make your diary public temporarily so we can help you spot them?
Also, if your exercise is new, that can cause you to retain extra water for a couple of weeks, hiding any fat loss on the scale. Also depending on where you are in your cycle, that can cause water weight swings too, so if your timing is bad, you could have hormonal water weight gain come on right as your new exercise water weight was easing off!3 -
I’d be happy to make my diary public not sure how
I’m post menopause- so no issue with that
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I figured it out.0
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Just to be sure, it looks like you're weighing your meats on a food scale but nothing else? That's going to be the first thing most people suggest.1
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I shake my head when I still people at 1200 or less a day. It's not sustainable - no wonder you're hungry!4
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diannethegeek wrote: »Just to be sure, it looks like you're weighing your meats on a food scale but nothing else? That's going to be the first thing most people suggest.
Even those are always round (4 oz, 6 oz, 2oz) so maybe not. OP, I'd also start with a food scale.
1200 calories probably isn't necessary for you to lose weight, but you need to be sure those calories are accurately counted first. If you're hungry at night, consider tweaking your macros (what satiates you? For some it is fat, other protein, carbs, or some combination) and also meal timing. Maybe save some calories for an evening snack. Consider subbing out calorie dense foods for food with more volume.
Is the workout new? Water retained for muscle repair can cause a temporary bump in the scale and mask fat loss in the meantime.2 -
If you want to stick with a 1200 a day deficit, try OMAD or 2MAD (one meal a day or 2 meals) and fast.
Either just 16:8 or 22/23:2:1... that's 16 hours fasting and 8 hour window to eat, OR 22 or 23 hours fasting and eating within an hour or 2.
1200 calories in one or even just 2 meals is a good bit of food and helps you feel like you aren't starving yourself. Also the type of food is really important. Yes, people lose by not limiting anything and just eating at a deficit, but try eating whole foods. A GIANT salad with a good dressing, cheese, meat etc can be extremely filling and satisfying. Or a big steak with some steamed non starchy veggies on the side.6 -
I'm going to do my basic tips for stalls and basic tips for hunger while we wait for the OP to pop back. Maybe something will help out:
1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making. Especially with a new workout routine in the mix and the water retention you can expect with that.
2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.
3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one and use it for everything. Everything. For a couple of weeks to see what kind of discrepancies you're running into. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.
4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries. Don't trust the barcode scanner or restaurant entries 100%.
5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.
6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.
7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.
8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight, happy scale, or libra to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.
9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.
And these are my really general tips for hunger:
1. Make sure that your calorie goals are set appropriately. Don't skip this step. A lot of people set goals that are too aggressive and then wonder why they're having a hard time. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
2. Try different macros. A lot of people look for foods higher in protein, fat, and fiber. These help us stay full and more satisfied longer. If you're using MFP's default settings, try to consider protein, fat, and fiber as minimums to reach every day rather than maximums to stay below. Others feel better with high volume, higher carb diets (I trend this way during my period, personally). That's okay, too. See what makes you feel best.
3. Drink plenty of fluids. Some people really do confuse thirst and hunger.
4. Get plenty of rest. This includes sleeping enough and taking rest days from the exercise. Sometimes our bodies look for food when they're exhausted.
5. Play around with your meal timings. Some people do really well on 5-6 small meals a day and others feel like they want to gnaw their own arm off eating like that. Skipping breakfast, eating breakfast, 16:8 fasting, 6 small meals, 3 larger meals, snacks, no snacks, meal timing won't make a big difference to your weight loss, but it may help your hunger levels, mood, concentration, gym performance, etc. throughout the day. Don't be afraid to try a different way and see if it helps.
6. Wait it out. If you know you're eating enough and the other steps above aren't helping, you may just have to wait it out. Our bodies send out hunger signals partially out of habit. If you eat at a certain time every day your body will start to get hungry at that time. The good news is that these signals can be retrained to stop telling you to be hungry all the time. The bad news is that you may just have to be hungry for a little bit while that happens.
7. I also think it's important to remember that there's a habitual component to hunger. This goes along with point #6, but if you eat because you're bored or you're used to eating in front of the TV or in the car or whatever it is, then you can replace those habits with others that are better for you. Things like keeping water on hand to sip instead of snacking or picking up hobbies that keep your hands busy or that get you out of the house more can help out a little while you're retraining your hunger cues. You might need to pay attention to why you're eating/hungry or what you're feeling when you eat and try to replace food with other things, but it can be really beneficial over time.10 -
laurabredt wrote: »I figured it out.
Are you using a food scale? Some people can get away without it, but when progress isn't happening as should be expected, this is the first variable that needs to be dealt with.
You can get a food scale off Amazon or in Walmart for @ $15. Commit to at least 2 weeks of really accurate logging. I'd bet that will shine a light on where you're missing calories. Stuff like peanut butter and meat are really easy to "measure" inaccurately, the scale eliminates that!
Also make sure you aren't skimming over anything when you log - condiments, cooking oils, beverages, nibbles, etc - they can add up.
Check out these threads when you get a chance, they might help too!
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
Hang in there!2 -
Ok. I have been using measuring cups for things like my steel cut oatmeal.
I do have a food scale I used back when I did HCG. I was trying to be more reasonable- less restrictive. This is supposed to be a life style right ? Using a food scale for every molecule I eat is not feasible but I can try it. I was taught at WW to estimate using palm of hand. I’ve been OVER estimating meat amounts etc.
I started back in February. The app calculated my goals and macros and calorie allowances.
My thyroid is fine. Checked recently
I’m menopausal- no HRT
I lost about 9 pounds initially and have not budged in 3 weeks. My clothes are the same. Bra still cutting into my armpits. Pants tight in the butt.
It’s very depressing
And of course my husband has cheated, constantly, traveling. And lost 15 pounds.
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laurabredt wrote: »Ok. I have been using measuring cups for things like my steel cut oatmeal.
I do have a food scale I used back when I did HCG. I was trying to be more reasonable- less restrictive. This is supposed to be a life style right ? Using a food scale for every molecule I eat is not feasible but I can try it. I was taught at WW to estimate using palm of hand. I’ve been OVER estimating meat amounts etc.
I started back in February. The app calculated my goals and macros and calorie allowances.
My thyroid is fine. Checked recently
I’m menopausal- no HRT
I lost about 9 pounds initially and have not budged in 3 weeks. My clothes are the same. Bra still cutting into my armpits. Pants tight in the butt.
It’s very depressing
And of course my husband has cheated, constantly, traveling. And lost 15 pounds.
Maybe just do it for a few weeks then. Make a note of the foods that don't "measure" well, and then going forward just use the scale for that stuff. I can tell you, I will be putting the damn PB jar on a scale for the rest of my life, my brain just cannot see one serving correctly
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Took a look at your diary and agree with the above poster. You are tracking everything- however your numbers are not accurate because you're using cups/measuring spoons which can lead to hundreds of added calories every day (it did for me!)
Hopefully someone can leave the link to the video that circulates around about the importance of weighing vs measuring.
Also, 1200 is likely not going to be sustainable for you long term unless you are very petite like 5'1'' or under and sedentary.2 -
First all, please don't give up. It takes time logging food (accurately) and consistently eating fewer calories than your body needs to see the loss happen. 1200 calories is quite low. Since you aren't losing, it's possible your logging is off and you're eating more than you think. Inaccurate logging is usually the reason people don't get the results they want, so that's why everyone keeps mentioning it.
Even though you do need a calorie deficit to lose, you don't need to (and shouldn't) cut your calories drastically below what your body needs because it's not sustainable long-term and you'll also feel miserable.
Step one is to use the food scale for everything to make sure your logging is correct. It may turn out you can eat more than 1200 and still lose. Wouldn't that be great!?
Whatever the number turns out to be, if you find you're still hungry, try to make the most of your calories by eating low calorie foods that take up a lot of space in your stomach. That way you'll feel full without blowing your whole calorie budget. For example, you can eat tons of vegetables with some protein for the same calories as a few slices of cheese. Some people find fats very filling while others don't. The veggie dish would be more satisfying to me. The point is you can experiment with things like that to make this work for you. Good luck in your journey--you can do this!0 -
laurabredt wrote: »Ok. I have been using measuring cups for things like my steel cut oatmeal.
I do have a food scale I used back when I did HCG. I was trying to be more reasonable- less restrictive. This is supposed to be a life style right ? Using a food scale for every molecule I eat is not feasible but I can try it. I was taught at WW to estimate using palm of hand. I’ve been OVER estimating meat amounts etc.
I started back in February. The app calculated my goals and macros and calorie allowances.
My thyroid is fine. Checked recently
I’m menopausal- no HRT
I lost about 9 pounds initially and have not budged in 3 weeks. My clothes are the same. Bra still cutting into my armpits. Pants tight in the butt.
It’s very depressing
And of course my husband has cheated, constantly, traveling. And lost 15 pounds.
Maybe just do it for a few weeks then. Make a note of the foods that don't "measure" well, and then going forward just use the scale for that stuff. I can tell you, I will be putting the damn PB jar on a scale for the rest of my life, my brain just cannot see one serving correctly
^^^^^ This.
I don't measure everything, but I do measure the things I know I easily eat a little too much of (peanut butter, granola, cereal, etc). For the most part, I'm able to eyeball serving sizes decent enough to keep the weight loss trend going, though sometimes if I hit a sticky point I'll do a round of food scale measuring to be sure I'm still on my game. Usually, I just have to be patient (not my strong suit) and/or go by other measurements.
As a personal example: January was a normal month. February was a month of traveling and visiting my mother, but I knew that while I ate at maintenance with a bit "over", I didn't eat enough calories to warrant a big jump), but then I lost nothing through most of Feb and March. I take measurements monthly and I lost no inches anywhere. After a good 6 weeks of this, all of a sudden, weight and inches dropped off. My body caught up with itself.
Another personal example: I want inches off in my calves and thighs like no one's business (I want to see my achilles' heel and not have toddler ankles and knees), but that's not where I lose weight. So I take a general measurement of about 12 different places. One month, I was once again wondering if I was doing something wrong, and realized that my clothing didn't really feel different because that month's measurement change was around my neck and ankles. A loss is still a loss, though, regardless as to whether it's where you *want* it to go from.
Stay strong and keep at it! My personal experience is that if you are confident in your logging, that sometimes, you gotta pull on the strength to be patient and wait it out. So! Check your logging and tighten it up where you find you might be overestimating and keep at it! You will see a loss!
FWIW, I've been losing pretty steadily between 0.5-1.0lbs/week and have lost 95lbs total, working my way towards 100. It's slow (because I'm lazy and don't want to exercise and also because I'm covetous of my existing muscle mass), and that's fine, but it means that fluctuations can do a number! I use Happy Scale (iPhone) to trend my weight and I keep a detailed excel sheet of my numbers (measurements plus total calories logged, total calories burned, what my target weight TDEE is and what my current weight TDEE is -- I'm a numbers gal, so I like to know that I can eat in a range up to maintenance, but I realize it's an excessive amount of data for most people XD).
GOOD LUCK!! You can do it! Don't give up!
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laurabredt wrote: »Ok. I have been using measuring cups for things like my steel cut oatmeal.
I do have a food scale I used back when I did HCG. I was trying to be more reasonable- less restrictive. This is supposed to be a life style right ? Using a food scale for every molecule I eat is not feasible but I can try it. I was taught at WW to estimate using palm of hand. I’ve been OVER estimating meat amounts etc.
I started back in February. The app calculated my goals and macros and calorie allowances.
My thyroid is fine. Checked recently
I’m menopausal- no HRT
I lost about 9 pounds initially and have not budged in 3 weeks. My clothes are the same. Bra still cutting into my armpits. Pants tight in the butt.
It’s very depressing
And of course my husband has cheated, constantly, traveling. And lost 15 pounds.
Maybe just do it for a few weeks then. Make a note of the foods that don't "measure" well, and then going forward just use the scale for that stuff. I can tell you, I will be putting the damn PB jar on a scale for the rest of my life, my brain just cannot see one serving correctly
Damn that peanut butter.........
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OP here. Thank you for your suggestions. I did pull out my food scale and weighed my food last night. My estimates were off, what I thought would be 4 ounces was weighed as 2.5. Kinda makes sense tho. When I did HCG you had to weigh exactly 100 grams of raw meat and that’s what it looks like when it’s cooked. So, I’ll keep weighing my food, but I’m pretty sure that isn’t the issue.
My DH wants me to commit to walking an hour a day for a month. I know it sounds great but I’ve injured my ankle at least 5 times. Two fractures and multiple sprains. So honestly I’m afraid of hurting myself again. But I have to do something. I like dancing but everything flares when I do that. Sigh. Getting old stinks.
Wish me luck on the walking. If that and the food weighing doesn’t make any change I’m getting lipo!
Oh and I did all my measurements last night - lll use that as a hopefully positive change.
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you also don't have to go from 0 to an hour daily. especially if recovering from injures it would be better to start with 15-20mins a day (or every second day) and build slower (unless you can do two walks a day that are shorter or lots of purposeful walking in your day).2
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I think the key could be that you lost the original 9 lbs quickly. I'm trying to read between the lines here. What sometimes happens is people cut back drastically and they lose alot of water weight along with fat in the first weeks. As they continue on the program they regain the water and lose more fat but the body equalizing the water level masks the fat loss. I could be totally out to lunch but I would continue on. As other have said you may not need to eat as low as 1200 calories. I'm 5'5" and 62 years old. I lost at 1300 calories. Try a couple hundred more calories and a slower rate of loss to make it bearable. It's better to take a little longer to lose it than to lose a few pounds quickly then give up. It took me 2 years to lose 105 pounds. But it was well worth it. Good luck and hang in there!0
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Ok. Still the same weight. No change at all. Been weighing everything. Walking the dogs but not too much. Exercise gently with my physical therapist. When I finish my day it keeps telling me I’ll be xx in 5 weeks. Hah!! Maybe if I chop off an arm. I’m so over this.1
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Have you considered that you may have stalled your metabolism with the fad diets? and.. you're eating too little this time also at 1200 cals and exercise? You're painting yourself into a starvation slow metabolism corner. If you did lose the weight. .you'd be stuck eating low maintenance calories and you'd yoyo back.
I actually lost all my weight eating more (of the right things ) every 2.5 to 3 hours and it worked like a charm. When I exercise. .I actually eat extra before to fuel my body.
In short. you are in quick fix extreme mindset - and your body is suffering.
Love your body..fuel it constantly with healthy nutritious lean foods.. it will respond in kind to you. Eat more and you'll lose the weight.2 -
Ok. This app told me what my calorie limit per day should be to lose weight. But y’all are all telling me to eat more than that. My husband has lost twice what I have and cheated numerous times. I’m so stressed out - I asked him to come on this journey with me and all I’ve done is proven once again that even being completely faithful to a program I can’t do what others do. I’m 53, working on my Masters and I just want to eat an entire chocolate cake and be done.0
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laurabredt wrote: »OP here. Thank you for your suggestions. I did pull out my food scale and weighed my food last night. My estimates were off, what I thought would be 4 ounces was weighed as 2.5. Kinda makes sense tho. When I did HCG you had to weigh exactly 100 grams of raw meat and that’s what it looks like when it’s cooked. So, I’ll keep weighing my food, but I’m pretty sure that isn’t the issue.
Did you weigh the meat cooked at 2.5 or was that raw? you should be weighing raw like you did before.
just looking at your diary for yesterday:
-2 slice bread 60 cals, did you weigh the bread? your slices may have been heavier and actually 80-100 cals?
-6 olives, did you weigh them? the 6 you had may have weighed what 8 on the label says?
-2 tablesppons Relish, did you weigh them? you may have had 3 tablespoons worth of cals
-Prosciutto 2 slices, did you weigh those?
I could go on and on with your logging of slices, tbs, oz, cups, 2 tortillas is rately what the package says...
I would guess looking at your day yesterday that you may have eating a good 50% more than you thought you did... so instead of 1054, you may have been in the 1400-1550 range.
The day before same, weighing cooked oatmeal, should do that raw, as amount of water absorbed can differ among cooked, and 1 chicken thigh, well what does it weigh, vs what the database things 1 weighs? and 2 days in a row your chickent thogh was exactly the same cals?? the chances of that are next to none, weigh in grams one may have been 112 grams and the other 125, but 1 in the database may assume 85 grams. And cooked rice logged, see my comment on oatmeal (weight, don't measure, and use raw/uncooked)
I suggest being meticulous with weighing your food for 4-6 weeks, but also make sure you are picking the proper database entries. if after that 4-6 weeks you don't see expected results try something else.2 -
laurabredt wrote: »Ok. This app told me what my calorie limit per day should be to lose weight. But y’all are all telling me to eat more than that. My husband has lost twice what I have and cheated numerous times. I’m so stressed out - I asked him to come on this journey with me and all I’ve done is proven once again that even being completely faithful to a program I can’t do what others do. I’m 53, working on my Masters and I just want to eat an entire chocolate cake and be done.
I gave you 8 or 9 suggestions in my earlier posts in this thread. Have you been through them all now? Did the doctor have any advice or suggestions?0 -
Yes. Thank you. I am weighing everything. Washing that scale a million times a day. The bread was exactly 25 grams per slice. Three grams less thN the package. Yes I weighed the olives and yes I weighed the super thin sliced prosciutto and the relish.
As far as the meat goes, I cut it to the proper amount. And there was bone , so I think that means less. The dogs are enjoying the extra. (Not bones of course).
I sleep
I drink water
I weigh myself about once a week.
The dr says I’m fine. Thyroid fine. Cholesterol fine. BP great. Just fat.
And I’m not hungry.
When I lost weight successfully I did just lean protein and non starchy veggies. But it makes me so constipated I couldn’t stand it. I can’t eat most raw veggies and even some cooked ones cause hours of pain. So I am trying to be reasonable. I eat steel cut oats and make enough for a week since it takes forever to cook- and portion it out. I weigh the dry amount and divide by the number of servings.
My physician husband is stumped too.0 -
You aren't putting a bowl or plate on your scale and then taring it so that you don't get the scale dirty? Are you using a bone-in or a boneless entry for the meat? There are ways to be sure you're accurate with bone-in meat if you're interested in that sort of advice.
Not all of us are telling you to eat more, which is where this gets tricky because it feels like some of the advice and questions are being glossed over in favor of eating more. Although I do think that, for instance, eating nothing but lunch and a clif bar is probably not going to do you favors in the long term, that's unlikely to be what's stalling your weight loss.
We run into sort of 3 possibilities:
1. A medical issue of some kind. This one sucks. We can't help with it and you may have to push and prod to get specific tests done to find out what it it. We all hope that you're healthy, but it is a possibility
2. Not enough time. Every time you make changes to your food and exercise routine your body weight can stall out for a few weeks before things settle down again. It's been 11 days since your first post in this thread and presumably you've made the changes we all suggested since then. It's entirely possible that patience, as hard as it is, is what's needed here. You may be in store for a woosh soon.
3. Inaccuracies. If it's not a medical issue and it's not a patience issue, then somewhere along the line you're eating more than your body burns in a day. Whether it's because you burn less than the calculators predict or you're accidentally eating more than you log (usually through bad entries in the database, relying on "generic" or "homemade" entries instead of the recipe builder, forgetting things like cooking oils, etc). This is the most common issue and it can take some trial and error to figure out. But it's so hard to do if you don't already trust that the process will work once you get it dialed in.
In my experience, stress makes dieting harder and more miserable along the way. Have you considered a full diet break just to let your body and mind reset before you dive in again? It might not help the weight loss but it may help you feel better along the way.6 -
laurabredt wrote: »Yes. Thank you. I am weighing everything. Washing that scale a million times a day. The bread was exactly 25 grams per slice. Three grams less thN the package. Yes I weighed the olives and yes I weighed the super thin sliced prosciutto and the relish.
As far as the meat goes, I cut it to the proper amount. And there was bone , so I think that means less. The dogs are enjoying the extra. (Not bones of course).
I sleep
I drink water
I weigh myself about once a week.
The dr says I’m fine. Thyroid fine. Cholesterol fine. BP great. Just fat.
And I’m not hungry.
When I lost weight successfully I did just lean protein and non starchy veggies. But it makes me so constipated I couldn’t stand it. I can’t eat most raw veggies and even some cooked ones cause hours of pain. So I am trying to be reasonable. I eat steel cut oats and make enough for a week since it takes forever to cook- and portion it out. I weigh the dry amount and divide by the number of servings.
My physician husband is stumped too.
If you weighed everything then you are using the wrong database entires. use the entry that matches the weight of what you weigh, you are loging cups and tbs, dont do that, find the entires by the gram and enter the amount of grams you weighed1 -
Thank you.0
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You said the app set your goal. It uses your requested weight loss rate to do that. Did you ask to lose 2 pounds a week? If so, I'd suggest that's too aggressive.
I started at about your size, 5'5" and 183lbs, age 59**, and 2 pounds a week was too aggressive for me. For some people, a too-aggressive goal makes water-weight fluctuation even weirder. For me, the 1200 calories at first was way too few (despite being hypothyroid and retired/sedentary outside of exercise). I got weak and fatigued, which took weeks to recover from. Even subtle fatigue, if it's happening, saps calorie burn out of daily non-exercise life: Simplistically, we rest more, do less.
I'd suggest not targeting losing more than 1% of current body weight weekly, and slower can be better if it's more sustainable. Beyond that, I'll echo others and say that water weight fluctuations (which are part of how a healthy body fluctuations) can hide gradual fat loss for several weeks at a time. I totally understand how frustrating that is, but please hang in there!
A lot of the change in our caloric needs as we age is body composition (less muscle mass) and a tendency to be less active in daily life than we were earlier in life (when, on average, there were younger kids to chase, a busier/less sedentary job, needs to decorate/remodel our newer homes we're now nesting in, more active/less food-centric social life, etc. - subtle, but important).
Fortunately, both of those are things we can work to improve.
On the muscle mass side, strength training is important (and strength is directly linked to long-term well-being, especially for women). This doesn't necessarily mean lifting impossibly giant weights, rather just doing something strength-building that's pleasantly challenging for us personally. Admittedly, muscle mass is slow to gain, but it's a worthwhile long-term goal to invest in. At worst, strength training helps us hold onto what muscle we have while losing weight, which is super useful given how slow regain is. And strength gains can be quite fast (not through added muscle, but better utilization of existing muscle).
On the "move more" front, it's not just exercise, either, but just more daily life movement (non-exercise activity thermogenesis, NEAT: It can make meaningful contributions.)
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss
You may also find some food scale efficiency tips helpful, because weighing food should be quicker than cups/spoons, not more tedious (ignore the title, it was a lame joke):
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10498882/weighing-food-takes-too-long-and-is-obsessive
** I'm now 63, and have been at a healthy weight since age 60 - currently BMI 22-point-something, 135-point-something pounds this morning.
You can do this! It takes more patience and experimentation up front, but I predict that if you stick with it, you'll find your personal groove.
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Thanks. I’m trying to be reasonable. I just want to fit in a dress and not look like a cow for my daughters law school graduation. Nobody cares but me about this. It’s a month and a half away. I started February 1 - I thought 15 pounds in over 100 days would be a reasonable goal. I do yoga, planks, walk the ridiculously strong Golden Retriever but I’m also stressed to the max with my parents, and my school. Maybe something magical will happen between now and then. I will keep going but I am not hopeful anymore. Guess I need a bigger dress.0
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