Confused about why I'm not losing weight... please help!

rowanwood

Well, based on what you put in your post (your diary is not public) about height, weight, and age, your BMR is approximately 1600. and you're eating 1500-1700 calories. This to me says you're eating in maintenance, not at a deficit. Yes you're exercising, but you're likely overestimating calories burned. If you feel the need to eat back your exercise calories, only eat back a portion (1/2 seems to work well) instead of all.

Eating at BMR is not maintenance unless you are in a coma.

I second the opening the diary and getting more info. Sometimes, it seems to help me to eat at TDEE (Total daily energy expenditure, which is actual maintenance) for a few days and then go back to my cut to break a plateau.

Doone33

There is a few things I believe that every new MFP person should be told right off.... You need to get a HRM to accurately track the calories burned during your exercise or walks, You need to get a set of scales and keep your measuring cups, spoons and scales out on the counter... use them.. do not GUESS it. The First thing.... Talk to your doctor about your journey.. if you have real struggles or are honestly keeping accurate records and nothing works... This is what you should be sharing with your doctor! No one here can eliminate the possibility of any of the three things I suggested as to that being the problem or not being the problem... I know until I started measuring... I had NO idea what 3 oz of taco meat looked like... or one tablespoon of peanut butter... I could only guess.. and could not keep an accurate count of calories in and calories out. I just know its hard to get healthy.. its even harder when we think we are doing things right to find out we have not and that's why wee see no progress. The HRM.. will give you an accurate count of the calories burned on your walks... do not guess at these... DO you really know how much one mile of walking at my quick pace burns for me?

This is me trying to help.. I hope you view in a positive way! THanks!

MyaPapaya75

a list of food only gives insight to one day an open diary helps more. If you plan to eat back a portion of your workout calories I hope you have a HRM

AJ_G

The list of food is not going to help anybody find out why you aren't losing weight, it's not the type of food, it's the calorie intake. What is your body fat percentage

Yes, the list of food says it ALL. Calorie intake is only one part of weight loss for those of us with metabolic issues. Please stop perpetuating the "it's ONLY calories in and calories out" oversimplification. There are many of us who have struggled for years, getting sicker and sicker, because of that BS.

If you have a metabolic issue, than that's a different story, the OP said she had her thyroid tested and it was normal and she did not mention any metabolic issues. Most people with metabolic issues will mention right away that they have them, so since she did not, my advice was sound. I'm not going to change my advice to everybody because a minority of the population has metabolic issues. If you have metabolic issues, go to a doctor for advice. If you don't have metabolic issues, then energy balance and calories in calories out is ALL that matters for weight loss and weight gain, it is not an oversimplification, it is scientific fact...

husseycd

You should be losing at those calories. I'm your height, but 37, and 130 lbs. I'm maintaining while eating between 1800-2000 calories/day. Sometimes more (on weekends), but rarely less than 1800.

I had my RMR tested and it was 1580 calories/day, which is in-line with my BF% (at 20%). It also seems to be work out with what my bodymedia fit says I'm burning (2150 calories/day on average) and my activity level. I do work out every day, but not excessively. I'd say I get an average of 200-250 "exercise" calories/week. I have a desk job but I don't sit still for long, so my "movement" exercise tends to be much higher, like 2.5 hours/day. This makes a huge difference in my TDEE. If I'm not active, my bodymedia tells me I only burn about 1800 calories/day.

Of course your situation is going to be different than mine, but I know seeing others' stats helps. I do follow a Paleo/Primal type diet 80% of the time, and although I don't usually advocate any special diet, this one did help me drop those last 8 lbs I'd been trying to shed. I have a friend who is strictly following it and has lost 20 lbs where she wasn't able to lose anything for years before. Hard to say if it's really the diet or if she (and I) are just stricter about food/calories, but it would be worth a shot to me. I do have another friend who just cut gluten and swears the weight fell off without changing a thing. :shrugs:

Kittyvicious1

Im in the same boat with one foot in the water. My scale refuses to move but inches are dropping and I gained lots of muscle. What I am going to do as of today I lowered my calorie intake to 1300 and continue workingout. I know my wkouts are working because Ive gained muscle so I figured it must be what or how much I am eating.

I looked up Chris Powell and he said take your weight x 12 equals the amt your body burns at rest and you should no eat over that amt also.

I alsp read if you want to drop 1lb you need to burn 500 calories a day.

Hope it helps, its best you do some research and make your own adjustments. It sounds weird but losing weieht is an
experiment. What wks for one does not wk for all.

GothBunnyy

Metabolism is a personal thing and different for everyone; and weight loss is far more complicated than calories in / calories out.
Perhaps better questions to ask should be am I healthy? Am I eating nutritious food? Can I move my body as much as I want without pain?
~Goth Bunnyy
Health At Every Size!

AJ_G

Metabolism is a personal thing and different for everyone; and weight loss is far more complicated than calories in / calories out.
Perhaps better questions to ask should be am I healthy? Am I eating nutritious food? Can I move my body as much as I want without pain?
~Goth Bunnyy
Health At Every Size!

A small minority of the population has actual medical problems with their metabolism. Let me start by saying that if you think you might have a medical problem with your metabolism, go see a doctor and find out for certain because you will have to do things differently because of that. For the vast majority of the population that does not have medical problem with their metabolism, weight loss is not complicated, it is very simple: you must burn more calories every day, then you consume, period, end of story, that is it. If you don't agree with me, that's fine, but this is not just some theory I came up with one day on a walk through the park, it is scientific fact that has been researched and backed up time and time again. Many people do not track calorie intake as accurately and diligently as they should and often underestimate calories consumed, and many people often overestimate calories burned from exercise, so their recorded calorie balance, and their true calorie balance are way off and this leads to frustration because they are not seeing the results they want. As far as what it takes to be healthy, you just have to make sure you're getting enough protein, fat, fiber, and micronutrients, and eating within your calorie goal. Eat whatever you want to hit those goals and exercise, and you will be healthy.

excitedaboutfitness

Hey everyone! I'm the OP! I wasn't expecting so many replies so quickly!

I unlocked my diary http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/excitedaboutfitness

I do eat fats, but I didn't really put them on the list. I mostly look to the smoked salmon for fats, as well as olive oil. I use an olive oil mister to cook the onions and zucchini, and I've had to estimate how much olive oil I actually use (it seems to be about 2 tablespoons per day from my measurements from filling the mister).

Are there any potential digestive issues that could be causing this? Or, if 3 weeks isn't long enough to really tell, how long would you suggest I wait before looking to determine if other issues are causing the plateau?

As for the exercise calories, I typically do not take those into account when eating. I shoot to eat 1500-1700, regardless of how much I exercise that day.

I do not know my body fat %

AJ_G

Hey everyone! I'm the OP! I wasn't expecting so many replies so quickly!

I unlocked my diary http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/excitedaboutfitness

I do eat fats, but I didn't really put them on the list. I mostly look to the smoked salmon for fats, as well as olive oil. I use an olive oil mister to cook the onions and zucchini, and I've had to estimate how much olive oil I actually use (it seems to be about 2 tablespoons per day from my measurements from filling the mister).

Are there any potential digestive issues that could be causing this? Or, if 3 weeks isn't long enough to really tell, how long would you suggest I wait before looking to determine if other issues are causing the plateau?

As for the exercise calories, I typically do not take those into account when eating. I shoot to eat 1500-1700, regardless of how much I exercise that day.

I do not know my body fat %

My best advice would be instead of picking a 200 calorie range to hit, actually pick a calorie goal, like say 1600 calories a day, and hit that goal as closely as possible every day for 2 to 3 weeks and see how that affects your weight. Try to be as accurate in your food weighing and measuring as possible. If you gain or are the same weight after that time, drop 100 calories and repeat the process.

Jill_with_a_G

It doesn't seem like there is a lot of fat in your diet... I know that "some" is needed. Do you cook your salmon in olive oil or anything?

Birder150

I don't know the answer but ...

Do you weigh your pre-packaged pieces of fish?
I started to and found out that frequently, the portions are actually much larger than the nutrition label lists.
This can result in a much higher calorie count, especially with a fattier fish like salmon.

excitedaboutfitness

It doesn't seem like there is a lot of fat in your diet... I know that "some" is needed. Do you cook your salmon in olive oil or anything?

I don't, I do cook the onions and zucchini in olive oil though. I estimated about 2 tablespoons per day (I use a mister, so getting a 100% accurate measurement is hard). I did not include the olive oil in the OP, but I should have :-)

excitedaboutfitness

I don't know the answer but ...

Do you weigh your pre-packaged pieces of fish?
I started to and found out that frequently, the portions are actually much larger than the nutrition label lists.
This can result in a much higher calorie count, especially with a fattier fish like salmon.

I do weigh the salmon on a food scale, and the chicken as well :-)

Gianna44

I agree - I would pick a number and try to stick to it as close possible for a week and see what happens. You may have to play around a bit to find the number that works for you. I think that your fats, etc, look fine (glad to see you do have some since not in original post

excitedaboutfitness

Awesome, thank you for the input! I think I will shoot for 1500 a day for the next 3 weeks and see how that goes! :-)

Hopefully it helps! Over the past couple of years I have slowly come down from 215 to 175, but losing any farther has been super hard! I appreciate the advice!

chasetwins

I am about the same height as you, and weigh around 150 lbs. I exercise about 200 min a week on average as well (cycling, running, walking). I was having some mixed results, playing around with daily calories to see where my "sweet spot" was for weight loss. I have been tracking the numbers for 3 weeks now.

Using a moving 7-day average and comparing this to weight loss I have determined that I need to eat around 1500 total calories per day to lose weight. When that number increased to 1600 my weight loss stalled, and when it hit 1700 I started to gain weight. So perhaps your total caloric intake is a bit high since your numbers are similar to mine.

I realize you may be sticking to what MFP or TDEE tells you, but as a wise person recently posted here, those numbers are meaningless if your own reliable data doesn't match up.

According to MFP I should be eating net 1330, but some days I exercise a lot and I always ate back all my calories so too many of those and suddenly I'm eating 1700 cal/day. According to the "TDEE - 20% method" I should be eating 1730 calories per day for weight loss, but that is too much - I started gaining again when I tried that.

So all of this is to say that I think you are eating too much, you are possibly hitting your maintenance level calories but not dipping low enough for weight loss.

I agree with this ^^ when I weighed more the TDEE-% worked wonders for me. But once I hit 173 lbs it no longer did. I am 5'5 also about 200 minutes per week of actual exercise (straight cardio) - my calorie goal per TDEE-% was 1720 per week I ate just over 1600 and gained!! Estimated of 1550 per day (and using zig zagging) worked perfectly for me. I keep a spreadsheet and make notes and always change things up when needed. Your body is not perfect science so you may need to lower those calories a bit.

Francl27

You didn't say if you weigh everything you eat. From what I see of your diary, you're not logging correctly though (I didn't read all the replies, sorry if someone mentioned it).

Spinach Egg White Omelet No Cheese - did you create that entry? Because it makes no sense. There's absolutely no way I'd make a spinach egg white omelet that has 132 calories, frankly, unless I cooked it in a ton of oil or something (and it has no fat in the entry, which makes no sense). My omelets have 270 calories but that's with olive oil, one egg, and some goat cheese! Otherwise for the spinach and egg whites it would be what... 30 calories total? You got to weigh your egg whites and your spinach, and enter those, plus the oil you use.

Same thing for the sauteed veggies. Weigh your veggies and add the oil, and enter that.

Bottom line, don't use user-made entries. Either make your own recipe and use that entry, or enter everything separately.

And weigh everything. It's unlikely you found two plums that weigh exactly 85g, like what you entered yesterday. Same with the other fruit... 1 cup of blueberries or strawberries can be anything from 50 to 100g, pretty much (ok... I exaggerate a little, but that's the idea). The quinoa is probably the worst culprit frankly, if you just use a measuring cup to weigh your 1/4 cup, you're probably actually eating over one serving every time. I'm guessing there's probably not exactly 5oz of smoked salmon in those packs you buy either.

To sum up : buy a food scale, use that instead of measuring cups and spoons, and make your own entries.

SkinnyMsFitness

It's a matter of trial and error...for all of us!! Try eating a little less cals or a little more each day. Stay consistent with whatever changes you do. Do you ever take rest days? Try it. Try eating/binging a little on the weekends...that kinda resets our metabolisms so the function more efficiently. Idk why you're not losing, but that's what I do. Just focus on eating 3 meals a day until you 'feel' full and workout. You should be seeing results.

Me = 3 meals/day, eat until feel full, walk/mow the lawn 30 mins/day, 5-7 days a week, drink only water and I overeat and drink 1-2 days on the weekends. I average 2-3 lb loss a week. HOWEVER, I do need to lose another 40.

How much are you trying to lose? It does get more difficult when you're closer to goal weight. Also, try weight lifting. Building muscles helps burn cals when you are inactive. You listed the food you typically eat...now is that every day or just your fave meals? You may not be taking in vital nutrition you think you should be avoiding. ??

excitedaboutfitness

You didn't say if you weigh everything you eat. From what I see of your diary, you're not logging correctly though (I didn't read all the replies, sorry if someone mentioned it).

Spinach Egg White Omelet No Cheese - did you create that entry? Because it makes no sense. There's absolutely no way I'd make a spinach egg white omelet that has 132 calories, frankly, unless I cooked it in a ton of oil or something (and it has no fat in the entry, which makes no sense). My omelets have 270 calories but that's with olive oil, one egg, and some goat cheese! Otherwise for the spinach and egg whites it would be what... 30 calories total? You got to weigh your egg whites and your spinach, and enter those, plus the oil you use.

Same thing for the sauteed veggies. Weigh your veggies and add the oil, and enter that.

Bottom line, don't use user-made entries. Either make your own recipe and use that entry, or enter everything separately.

And weigh everything. It's unlikely you found two plums that weigh exactly 85g, like what you entered yesterday. Same with the other fruit... 1 cup of blueberries or strawberries can be anything from 50 to 100g, pretty much (ok... I exaggerate a little, but that's the idea). The quinoa is probably the worst culprit frankly, if you just use a measuring cup to weigh your 1/4 cup, you're probably actually eating over one serving every time. I'm guessing there's probably not exactly 5oz of smoked salmon in those packs you buy either.

To sum up : buy a food scale, use that instead of measuring cups and spoons, and make your own entries.

The Spinach Egg White Omelette is a recipe that I made :-) It's 15 TBS of Egg Beaters Egg Whites and 1 cup of spinach. use about 3 1-second sprays of olive oil (a part of the estimated 2 TBS I eat in total daily). But that recipe is one that I made, since I use the same recipe every day.

That could be useful for the plums though! And maybe the other fruits. I use the generic "plum" entry instead of weighing each plum I eat. I usually shoot to over-estimate (if I am eating any plum, I use the "large" plum entry). I think the fruit may be the best place where this feedback is helpful.

For example, I buy the salmon in packages marked 12oz. I weigh out 5oz each time :-) I weigh everything unless it's like... 1 zucchini (I don't check the exact grams since it's within a 20 calorie range or so.)

Realistically I don't think I can weigh *everything*, like when I am out with friends and hungry so I get a plum or an apple or something. But maybe when I am home I can work on that a bit more! Thanks.