Disappointed with slow weight loss, need advice

kathy9083

I am 21 yrs old and 5’5 and currently weigh 171. Despite having 30+ lbs to lose still, weight loss has been very sluggish for me. These past two months, I have only managed to shed 5 pounds. This is despite me consuming around 1600 calories per day and doing intense work outs (hour of cardio & 20 mins of weights) 5x a week.
Is it possible that I am eating too much? For the time that I am not working out, I am sedentary and not moving very much. Because of this, should I be on a 1200 calorie diet instead?

snickerscharlie

kathy9083 wrote: »

I am 21 yrs old and 5’5 and currently weigh 171. Despite having 30+ lbs to lose still, weight loss has been very sluggish for me. These past two months, I have only managed to shed 5 pounds. This is despite me consuming around 1600 calories per day and doing intense work outs (hour of cardio & 20 mins of weights) 5x a week.
Is it possible that I am eating too much? For the time that I am not working out, I am sedentary and not moving very much. Because of this, should I be on a 1200 calorie diet instead?

How are you measuring your food intake?

Your answer is somewhere in this chart:

lorrpb

Congrats on your loss so far. With 30 lb to lose, you should target about 1 lb per week or less, so you’re not too far off.

I suggest you set up MFP for your stats, choose Sedentary activity level and 1 lb per week goal. See what it gives you for a calorie goal and let us know.

Get a digital food scale and weigh and log all your food per MFP guidelines. These are explained in the sticky posts at the top of the page. Eat back about half of your exercise cals.

All this gives you a good time proven approach that can be refined after 4-6 weeks.

kathy9083

snickerscharlie wrote: »

kathy9083 wrote: »

I am 21 yrs old and 5’5 and currently weigh 171. Despite having 30+ lbs to lose still, weight loss has been very sluggish for me. These past two months, I have only managed to shed 5 pounds. This is despite me consuming around 1600 calories per day and doing intense work outs (hour of cardio & 20 mins of weights) 5x a week.
Is it possible that I am eating too much? For the time that I am not working out, I am sedentary and not moving very much. Because of this, should I be on a 1200 calorie diet instead?

How are you measuring your food intake?

Your answer is somewhere in this chart:

Thanks for the reply! I actually don’t use a HR monitor but usually eat back 50% of my exercise calories. I also currently use a food scale and even weigh my produce (sucks because I love fruit!!) I am now thinking that maybe I shouldn’t be doing this anymore...

PAV8888

How do you feel?

Are you progressing with your lifts? Are you moving faster with your cardio?

What's wrong with moving more when not exercising

are you too tired or just don't have time? It doesn't sound great for your health to be sedentary 22.5 hours a day at age 25! There is a thread that discusses NEAT improvement strategies.

As to the rest of it, I would first start weighing my ingredients, especially the more calorically dense ones, and only once I was absolutely sure I was not eating a bit more than I thought start thinking about reducing.

You may also want to use a weight trend app. Between of exercise and being female it can be hard to see your exact weight level movement without some solid data...

kshama2001

kathy9083 wrote: »

snickerscharlie wrote: »

kathy9083 wrote: »

I am 21 yrs old and 5’5 and currently weigh 171. Despite having 30+ lbs to lose still, weight loss has been very sluggish for me. These past two months, I have only managed to shed 5 pounds. This is despite me consuming around 1600 calories per day and doing intense work outs (hour of cardio & 20 mins of weights) 5x a week.
Is it possible that I am eating too much? For the time that I am not working out, I am sedentary and not moving very much. Because of this, should I be on a 1200 calorie diet instead?

How are you measuring your food intake?

Your answer is somewhere in this chart:

Thanks for the reply! I actually don’t use a HR monitor but usually eat back 50% of my exercise calories. I also currently use a food scale and even weigh my produce (sucks because I love fruit!!) I am now thinking that maybe I shouldn’t be doing this anymore...

I don't understand.

1. What's wrong with weighing produce? Weighing is so much more accurate than any other unit of measure, plus you don't have to worry about how tightly to pack a measuring cup or need to wash it afterwards.
2. Maybe you shouldn't be doing what anymore?

wmweeza

I am one of the rare people that loses VERY slowly despite weighing my food, excersize (with rest days too), tracking every calorie, and eating less then most people dieting. I eat 1200 calories a day ( I do not recommend that, I'm just short, disabled etc and under a docs care) and rarely eat my calories back.
My point however is that while I'm one of the unlucky ones as far as scale numbers I AM losing fat, and more importantly I am losing inches. My clothes get bigger before I see a smaller number on the scale, maybe you too have other ways of seeing progress? Muscle also can mask fat loss.
Don't give up! What if the scale never budges but you look and feel fabulous, would you give up? No! A scale is a number, and while it has some importance it is not the only thing that measures progress

wmweeza

Also I found that while yes I was measuring my food, many of the database entries and food labels are approximate, especially the labels. I could meticulously record every bit but still be eating 30% more in calories then what is on the label. I cut back a small bit on even my measured portion and started losing again https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2012/08/21/when-nutrition-labels-lie

MikePTY

kathy9083 wrote: »

snickerscharlie wrote: »

kathy9083 wrote: »

I am 21 yrs old and 5’5 and currently weigh 171. Despite having 30+ lbs to lose still, weight loss has been very sluggish for me. These past two months, I have only managed to shed 5 pounds. This is despite me consuming around 1600 calories per day and doing intense work outs (hour of cardio & 20 mins of weights) 5x a week.
Is it possible that I am eating too much? For the time that I am not working out, I am sedentary and not moving very much. Because of this, should I be on a 1200 calorie diet instead?

How are you measuring your food intake?

Your answer is somewhere in this chart:

Thanks for the reply! I actually don’t use a HR monitor but usually eat back 50% of my exercise calories. I also currently use a food scale and even weigh my produce (sucks because I love fruit!!) I am now thinking that maybe I shouldn’t be doing this anymore...

Are you eating 1600 plus your exercise calories, or is 1600 inclusive of exercise calories? If you are eating 1600+exercise calories back, then you are losing right about at schedule.

I ran maintenance calorie projection for you using MFP's formula, and they have you at 1925 calories for maintenance, not including intentional exercise. That means that your deficit is 325 calories a day, which is slightly more than half a pound a week, which is what you are losing by losing 5 pounds in 2 months.

I think the best suggestion would be for you to be more active during your regular day. get up and go for walks around the block, move more in your house, even stand or fidget. All those things burn calories. If you got to a point where you are lightly active in your daily life, that puts you to 2160 maintenance calories. That would give you slightly more than a pound a week of weight loss, which is a good rate for your stats.

LyndaBSS

Slow weight loss is fine by me. When I look at how long it took me to put the weight on, I'm just glad it won't take me THAT long to take it off.

Good luck on your journey!

AnnPT77

PAV8888 wrote: »

How do you feel?

Are you progressing with your lifts? Are you moving faster with your cardio?

What's wrong with moving more when not exercising

are you too tired or just don't have time? It doesn't sound great for your health to be sedentary 22.5 hours a day at age 25! There is a thread that discusses NEAT improvement strategies.

As to the rest of it, I would first start weighing my ingredients, especially the more calorically dense ones, and only once I was absolutely sure I was not eating a bit more than I thought start thinking about reducing.

You may also want to use a weight trend app. Between of exercise and being female it can be hard to see your exact weight level movement without some solid data...

To the bolded, this is one:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss

kathy9083

lorrpb wrote: »

Congrats on your loss so far. With 30 lb to lose, you should target about 1 lb per week or less, so you’re not too far off.

I suggest you set up MFP for your stats, choose Sedentary activity level and 1 lb per week goal. See what it gives you for a calorie goal and let us know.

Get a digital food scale and weigh and log all your food per MFP guidelines. These are explained in the sticky posts at the top of the page. Eat back about half of your exercise cals.

All this gives you a good time proven approach that can be refined after 4-6 weeks.

Thanks for your helpful advice and encouragement! I just changed my settings and MFP suggested 1430 calories per day to lose 1lb per week.

kathy9083

PAV8888 wrote: »

How do you feel?

Are you progressing with your lifts? Are you moving faster with your cardio?

What's wrong with moving more when not exercising

are you too tired or just don't have time? It doesn't sound great for your health to be sedentary 22.5 hours a day at age 25! There is a thread that discusses NEAT improvement strategies.

As to the rest of it, I would first start weighing my ingredients, especially the more calorically dense ones, and only once I was absolutely sure I was not eating a bit more than I thought start thinking about reducing.

You may also want to use a weight trend app. Between of exercise and being female it can be hard to see your exact weight level movement without some solid data...

Thank you for your post! I figured not moving enough could be part of the problem. I've been mainly sedentary since I'm home for the summer but will try to go for a long walk at least once a day. Hopefully that will help my weight budge.

kshama2001 wrote: »

kathy9083 wrote: »

snickerscharlie wrote: »

kathy9083 wrote: »

I am 21 yrs old and 5’5 and currently weigh 171. Despite having 30+ lbs to lose still, weight loss has been very sluggish for me. These past two months, I have only managed to shed 5 pounds. This is despite me consuming around 1600 calories per day and doing intense work outs (hour of cardio & 20 mins of weights) 5x a week.
Is it possible that I am eating too much? For the time that I am not working out, I am sedentary and not moving very much. Because of this, should I be on a 1200 calorie diet instead?

How are you measuring your food intake?

Your answer is somewhere in this chart:

Thanks for the reply! I actually don’t use a HR monitor but usually eat back 50% of my exercise calories. I also currently use a food scale and even weigh my produce (sucks because I love fruit!!) I am now thinking that maybe I shouldn’t be doing this anymore...

I don't understand.

1. What's wrong with weighing produce? Weighing is so much more accurate than any other unit of measure, plus you don't have to worry about how tightly to pack a measuring cup or need to wash it afterwards.
2. Maybe you shouldn't be doing what anymore?

I'm sorry - I didn't quite phrase my post clearly. I meant that maybe I shouldn't be eating 50% of my exercise calories. I don't mind weighing produce. It's just that I find myself a lot more strict about how much fruit I eat when using the food scale.

springlering62

Please don’t forget, building muscle adds weight, since muscle weighs more. When I get frustrated that my weight isn’t budging or creeping up, I try to remember that I’m still shaping up since I added weight training.

Even though my weight has actually gone up two or three pounds in the past month or two, my pants fit looser and my thighs are thinning out. Maybe you’re seeing similar on your body?

ceiswyn

springlering62 wrote: »

Please don’t forget, building muscle adds weight, since muscle weighs more. When I get frustrated that my weight isn’t budging or creeping up, I try to remember that I’m still shaping up since I added weight training.

Even though my weight has actually gone up two or three pounds in the past month or two, my pants fit looser and my thighs are thinning out. Maybe you’re seeing similar on your body?

Where do you think this weight comes from? The body doesn’t build muscle out of air. If you’re gaining weight, even if the weight is muscle, then you’re eating in a surplus.