Losing hope instead of weight :(
xx1chloe5xx
Posts: 44 Member
So I have been in a calorie deficit of 500-600 calories a day now for over a month as well as burning 200-300 calories walking everyday but instead of Of losing weight I’m gaining it! I weigh everything and always scan everything and put it in my diary on here. I occasionally have cheat days and from that alone I will gain like 4lbs and it won’t come off. Yesterday I woke up and seen I had lost 1lbs so was happy however I woke up today and I had gained 2lbs?? Yet I didn’t eat anymore than I’m supposed to and burned 200 cals walking. I feel and look fatter i have made no progress yet stuck to my diet perfectly 99% of the time. Feel like nothing is ever going to work for me. By advice
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Replies
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Sorry cant help in the same boat ! Maybe not eating enough and your body is in starvation mode so every time you eat your body stores instead of burning but getting balance between calories in and out is every challenging .0
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Well, it seems many people don't believe in a body going into starvation mode.
First thing that pops into my meager old brain is maybe you're not logging as accurately as you think you are? Are you on any meds that might be derailing your efforts? How much do you have to lose? It could be you're gaining muscle or holding fluid but IDK.
People always say weight loss isn't linear. And while we all know that, I feel by this time you should've seen different results than you're seeing. JMO Be patient and give it some more time. Be completely 100% honest and transparent about what goes in and energy expended. If you can, give it another month and see what happens. Everybody's body is unique and reacts differently to everything. If it's still a problem ask your doctor.
Good luck!!9 -
@ReenieHJ i log Everything. I don’t eat anything unless it has been weighed and logged
. I probably should drink more water but surely I should still lose something 4 -
lots of disagrees with the previous post (which is absolutely deserved) but no advice for OP. come on guys. you can do better.
Alrighty OP, first things first. open up your diary. We can not TRULY help if we can not SEE what you are doing. We can make guesses, give generic advice, etc... but without being able to ACTUALLY see, all it is is generic advice.
The first thing I will always and forever say to someone (especially who is new here) who is not losing weight or is losing/gaining the same weight is that you are likely eating more than you think you are. It is easy to do and not realize it. Truly, this is almost always the case, when someone bothers to actually follow advice and come back and admit they were doing it wrong
Check your logging. open your diary so we can help. We do not care WHAT you are eating. I promise. At least no one who is worth anything on here.
Useful Links
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1
Next... there are many many many reasons why the human body (especially women) holds on to weight. EVEN when you ARE doing everything RIGHT.
-hormones. Monthly cycles in women can wreck havoc with the scale. You do not say how old you are, but if you are having a monthly cycle you really need to give it 6-8 weeks to really get an idea of what your weight is actually doing. This is kind of true in weight loss in GENERAL, as the first several weeks, or for some people even the first couple of months our bodies can be like 'WTH!' and freak out on us, for lack of a better term
- If you added in exercise, you can be retaining water from THAT, and that can be masking any weight loss on the scale. Again, give it several weeks for your body to adjust to the new routine youve developed and to adjust to this new pattern.
- If you have drastically changed the way, or how you eat, your body can freak out a bit. Give it time.
- Meals high in sodium can make your weight spike up temporarily. Whether at home or eating out.
- To gain 1 pound overnight in REAL weight, you would have to eat 3500 calories (if I am remembering correctly, someone please correct me If I am wrong) OVER your maintenance calories. Think how much 4 pounds of weight would be.
- Our bodies naturally ebb and flow weight. Some days up, some days down. Even when EVERYTHING is perfect. My own weight has a fluctuation pattern of +/- 3 pounds on any given day and during my cycle I can be up as much as 7 pounds. Its not REAL weight. And it goes away. A trending app can help you see those trends over time. If you obsess unhealthily over daily fluctuations though, I would not recommend it. I only weighed weekly or a LONG time. Its only been in the past 2 years maybe that I have weighed daily. Try it for a while and see how you do with it. I weigh in the morning and forget the number as soon as its logged (sometimes before i log it and i have to go back LOL). happy scale for ios and trend weight? for android iirc
One thing I really suggest doing, and that I wish I had done sooner in my process, was to take MEASUREMENTS and PHOTOS. Sometimes these tell us more than the scale. I could see weight loss in those many times before the scale (and now, quite often always see it in measurements before the scale).
So, are you seeing a pattern here? Our bodies REALLY like to hold on to water. Especially womens bodies. It is just a cruel fact of nature. Ive lost over 200 pounds. Just a bit more to go. No rush. I've had weeks and months even, where I trended up. And more weeks, obviously, where I trended down. But patience is the name of this game.
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The first thing that jumps out to me is the phrase "cheat days". You can easily undo an entire week (or more) in one cheat day.25
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Can you make your food diary public? You're eating more than you think if you haven't seen a loss in over a month.1
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@cavia @callsitlikeiseeit my diary is public now thanks2
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It is likely that your cheat days are wiping out your entire deficit. Maybe eliminate the cheat day.10
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@nooshi713 that’s annoying because I’m having a cheat at this Saturday and Tuesdays for peoples birthdays
I’m going to from Monday up my water intake to 1 gallon a day as now I drink maybe 500mls a day that’s all so I think I have a lot of water weight. 0 -
No amount of water is going to make up for multiple cheat days in a week. How motivated are you to lose weight? Is that more important to you than being able to eat what you want?
If you know you have special occasions coming up, you can eat less for several days in order to "bank" extra calories. Or work out more in order to "earn" extra calories. But you can't eat at your usual deficit for five days, then splurge for two and expect to remain in a calorie deficit.19 -
Are you also logging your cheat days? How many calories over your goal are those usually?6
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This is exactly the discussion I was looking for! I have had the same experience since November—lose/gain. I thought I was logging my eating properly but I had a hard look at myself a couple of days ago and admitted that there were foods I wasn’t logging, thinking that “it’s only 80/90/100 calories.” I have also not been logging as I eat. So that at the end of the day I am trying to figure out I ate and the calories. All this is to say that I have committed February to be the month where I log everything, as it happens. Continue to weigh daily as much as I can but not expect to see a “trend” until at least a week has passed.19
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@sbelletti i don’t go over my maintenance calories on cheat day I don’t go over 1600 calories on those days and on my diet days I eat 1200 or under. So either way I should still be maintaining at least I deffo shouldn’t be gaining weight2
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@Johal2021 i log everything I eat except my cheat days because I have a higher calorie allowance on those days so I just track it in my iPhone notes0
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I took a look at your diary and it looks like you are recording a very low level of calories most days if your logging is accurate. Perhaps if you increased your intake on normal days then you wouldn't feel the need to indulge in "cheat" days. I also try to find balance when facing special events or meals where I expect to go over. I either try to get in some extra exercise or allow myself to eat up to my maintenance calories while still logging accurately. Stay consistent and make it as easy as possible to stick to your goals.6
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You just wrote that you log everything you eat, except for cheat days. So how do you know you haven't gone over? It is so easy to go WAY OVER your maintenance calories unless you are logging consistently. And not just logging, but weighing and checking your entries to make sure they are correct. I can't tell you how many times I've had to submit my own entry because the ones in the data base are way off base. I am all for "cheat" days as long as you realize that having them could result in weight gain.
I've had people tell me early on that one cheat day would not result in fat gain, but possibly water gain. And as long as I go back on plan right after, the weight will come down. And it happened to me just recently. I made spaghetti this past weekend. Even though I did not eat it like I used to, I did eat more than what is my maintenance. But I weighed and logged it all. I gained 2 lbs the next day. It fazed me a bit, but continued with my normal diet the next day. And the next day I had lost almost 4 pounds! So if you are serious about losing, weigh your food. All of it. Make sure the entries are correct. If you go over, don't fret. Just continue on with your diet the very next day. Don't let a lapse in your diet or a number on your scale derail you.
Good luck!11 -
For the last week, you were under 1300 calories every day, sometimes WAY under 1300 calories.
For the next month, tighten up your logging, ***especially on cheat days***, and then get back to us.10 -
basically what I read was: "I log EVERYTHING....except for the stuff I don't log"
so, yeah. there ya go.
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Scanning bar codes does not mean correct entries. Double check against the package and know that packaged food can weigh more than the stated weight. It also can have slightly more calories.
How are you tracking calories out? A heart rate monitor can give inflated calorie burns. Fitness trackers can also be off for certain exercises that are not steady state cardio.
Finally, how much do you have to lose? How old are you? A fully grown woman will normally weigh more than a teenage girl at the same height and frame. If you have less than 20 pounds to lose, it will come off slower than if you had more to lose. If you do have more to lose then @callsitlikeiseeit was right on the nail. My body went through wtf month before weight started to come off. And we all lose weight at different rates so don’t set a deadline or compare yourself to others.10 -
When I first started on MFP the "rule" for me was that I had to log everything by weight and using verified entries BEFORE I ate it. BEFORE. Not after.
Nothing eaten till logged fully and correctly (USDA site used to work properly back then!)
Eight years later I still log; but way more casually than before. I still have no intention of missing items. I have eight *kitten* years of experience logging, a time during which I haven't logged less than 15 days in total. And when logging after the fact I consistently catch myself forgetting things. Or opening and logging a bag of chocolates as it gets eaten, when the 750g bag is done a week later I add up the logged numbers and find out I only logged 500. Yes. This happened. With NO intention to cheat. And eight years experience. And a reputation for being, shall we say... "precise"?
One of the corollaries of not eating till it's logged was that I started eating before I was totally famished. Or ate something easy to weigh and log (like an apple) essentially a few minutes before the rest of the food. Both of which helped me control my calories-in especially in the beginning when 4 and 5000 Cal meals were a far from distant memory.
The reason I even logged an all you can eat thanksgiving buffet (from pictures and with several MFPeops providing assistance back then to our conclusion of a good 7000 Cal) is that without relatively good data you can't make good decisions.
Maybe your issue is hormonal fluctuations and punching your weight trend in a weight trend app will show you a normal loss when you only compare your weight during similar times in your monthly cycle.
Maybe your issue IS that a single cheat day wipes your 500 a day average deficit... hey I am MAINTAINING (deliberately) by having myself set to a 497 calories deficit (too lazy to adjust it) that I regularly exceed to an either lesser or greater degree.9 -
kshama2001 wrote: »For the last week, you were under 1300 calories every day, sometimes WAY under 1300 calories.
For the next month, tighten up your logging, ***especially on cheat days***, and then get back to us.
Yes, there are several days with meals missing as well. Did you really only eat breakfast a few days ago and nothing else? Do you sometimes have just a hot chocolate for dinner? It looks like making your logging more accurate might be the first step.9 -
basically what I read was: "I log EVERYTHING....except for the stuff I don't log"
so, yeah. there ya go.
Good study. And here for the youtube generation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA9AdlhB18o 6 -
No one on this app ever listens to me 😡😡 I have said repeatedly I weight Everything yet majority of comments are telling me to weight everything and I have said I log everything I eat on normal days yet people are telling me my logins are inaccurate 😡😡😡😡😡😡. I’m a student which means I can wake up at 7am and only get home at 9pm at night therefore there are days where I will only have a hot chocolate all day or only eat 800 calories a day because I don’t have time to eat anything or go Home and make meals and I don’t buy pre packaged food because it’s expensive. Stop trying to tell me my logins are inaccurate Or I’m not logging when I’ve stated loads of times I am. I’ve also said I do log my cheat days just not on this app so why are people repeatedly telling me to do stuff I’ve said I already do 🥲🥲 it’s really rude to just ignore Everything I say and try to presume stuff or make things up lmao8
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So you're a student. You should be able to do literature research. Do research. Find properly conducted studies showing there are people who eat in a proper deficit, log correctly and don't lose weight. Find research in people who have a cheat day and permanently gain 4lbs. 4lbs corresponds to eating 14000 calories over maintenance. Have you done that on every cheat day where your weight permanently went up and didn't come down again?
Lets do this a bit differently.
1. Calm down! No, really. Relax. Panic and stress actually leads to increased cortisol, leads to waterweight gain. See, I write water, not bodyfat. That's important.
2. How often to you weigh? You're only at it for just over a month? Waterweight fuctuates constantly. It's very possible that you lose a bit of weight, but then, during a part of your cycle your body stores more water. Simples. Likewise, if you have a cheat day you might eat more carbs and/or more salt. Both lead to increased waterweight again. This can stick around for possibly a week. Until which time you might have your next cheat day. See what I'm aiming at? Repeated cheat days, and normal menstrual cycle can mask fat loss! If you happen to step on the scale where either of this is true you might think nothing has happened. The same actually is also true for exercise, new exercise, anything that causes sore muscles. Oh, and did I mention stress?
3. You're not at a very high weight, right? So every weightloss is going to be slow. Not because your body is holding onto everything (that's not how it works) but because a smaller body cannot lose too much at one given time. Have you chosen an appropriate weightloss goal here? Re-evaluate. It's not always the highest. With for example 10lbs to lose you should be looking at losing 0.5lbs per week. So 2lbs per month. See point above about waterweight. Patience. Again: relax! Trust the process.
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I don’t have nearly as much experience as a lot of the ppl giving answers but the one thing I would contribute is that I would absolutely record cheat days/meals in MFP. That way when the scale isn’t doing what you expected you can go back through your food diary and see what you ate that could be effecting the scale. It seems odd that you would record it but not on MFP…why not just record it here so all of your info is in one spot.
I don’t do cheat days/meals right now. I hate when the scale goes up so I’ve been really diligent at keeping my calories in check, that way when the scale fluctuates I don’t freak out…I know that I’ve done my part and it must just be my body doing it’s normal natural fluctuations.
Good luck figuring it out and getting in your groove.11 -
xx1chloe5xx wrote: »No one on this app ever listens to me 😡😡 I have said repeatedly I weight Everything yet majority of comments are telling me to weight everything and I have said I log everything I eat on normal days yet people are telling me my logins are inaccurate 😡😡😡😡😡😡. I’m a student which means I can wake up at 7am and only get home at 9pm at night therefore there are days where I will only have a hot chocolate all day or only eat 800 calories a day because I don’t have time to eat anything or go Home and make meals and I don’t buy pre packaged food because it’s expensive. Stop trying to tell me my logins are inaccurate Or I’m not logging when I’ve stated loads of times I am. I’ve also said I do log my cheat days just not on this app so why are people repeatedly telling me to do stuff I’ve said I already do 🥲🥲 it’s really rude to just ignore Everything I say and try to presume stuff or make things up lmao
Help us to help you by logging everything here where we can see it, including your cheat days. Otherwise, from the incomplete picture you provide, the only logical conclusion we can draw is that you are eating more than you acknowledge.
Don't take this personally, we see this here again and again, and studies find that too.
You've logged 5,538 calories for the past 7 days; 791 calories per day. What are we supposed to do with that information?16 -
If you are logging accurately and maintaining your determined calorie deficit over the course of 4-6 weeks or more, you *should* see a change either on the scale, body comp or measurements. If you aren't, then it maybe time to see a doctor.
The reason most people haven't suggested that is that 99% of the time when we see posts like yours, it's not a medical issue but usually inaccurate logging. So if you are absolutely sure you're doing everything you need to do to create a deficit and waiting long enough to see results, then blood work is probably the next step.
I didn't see this asked... Are you on any kind of medication? Health issues? High-stress job/school? How much sleep do you get?7 -
I've had "cheat" days in that I didn't worry about staying in my calorie range, but I still weighed and logged every bite, LICK, or NIBBLE that went in my mouth (yes, even that 1/2 of a tortilla chip).
For me anyways, it is extremely easy to blow my deficit out of the water in one evening, and that's with logging everything (which makes me slow down and realize just how much I'm consuming and I almost always end up eating and drinking WAY less than I would without logging it as it goes into my mouth).
In fact, a couple days like that can undo WEEKS of deficits.
One night eating out, enjoying an appetizer and drinks with friends can blow the entire week plus some, then add in the extra water weight to boot - it can add up to putting on several pounds in the course of just a month! ONE evening a week! Restraunants also add a LOT of stuff like butter, and other high calorie (but oh so tasty) sauces into foods that aren't reflected in the list of "what you're eating" sometimes even if you request it plain they add stuff in so it tastes better (not always by any means, but it does happen, or they are cooking on a surface that was just slathered in butter or oil). And who orders a plain chicken breast and plain broccoli at a birthday party?
Yup, it sucks!! But that's the reality. So if you want a "cheat" meal, don't just note it down - as things go in your mouth they are weighed, measured and entered in the app (I'll literally sit there with the food diary open on my app)...
And something else I found out the hard way, is that not all "like" things are the same. Beers, for example, can range from 100-over 400 calories for a 12oz beer - so if you're picking the wrong "beer" choice, you could be killing your entire day's work just in that sometimes (as a random example, I did not look in your diary).10 -
Are you taking measurments? When I went from 250 to 175 pounds there were several plateau's. Some were weeks long! Measuring (chest, waist, hips) was the proof that I was still moving in the right direction even though the scale was stalled.4
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How are you determining exercise calories burned and are you eating those calories back? I see this in your diary:
Walking, brisk pace for 30 minutes: 362 calories burned.
Where are you getting that calorie count as it seems very, very high. If you're eating all of those back and you're logging this several times a week with an inaccurate number, that could also account for the scale not moving. I would expect a 30 minute walk to be around 100-200 calories, and I would only give myself a portion of that to eat back. So if you're eating an additional 362 calories vs around 50 calories, that could make a huge difference over the course of a month.
In addition, I can easily walk briskly for 30 minutes as part of my daily activity. Is this an activity that you are logging completely separately from the exercise already included in your daily calorie calculation?7
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