This time around... I cannot lose weight no matter how hard I try

PrincessTinyheart

50f, 5'11", 242 lbs.

I've been using MFP off and on for a few years now but fell off the wagon after my mother died in 2018. Over the next four years, I devoted my life to caring for my father, and then my grandmother. Now that they have passed, I'm focusing on myself and my health.

A couple of months ago, I started going back to the gym, hired a personal trainer and got back on MFP. I'm giving it my all... weighing my food, drinking lots of water, focusing on whole foods and lots of protein (I'm a vegetarian so this is a challenge but I'm getting better). I work out 4-5 times a week for an hour each time, and my trainer has me focusing on heavy weights, cardio and HIIT sessions, which has resulted in feeling stronger and fitter than ever. However..

I haven't lost a single net pound since getting back into this. I lose a couple of pounds, then gain them right back the next week, or I stay at 242 for weeks on end. My profile is set to "not very active" and Im aiming to lose 1 lb per week by calorie restriction alone. I don't eat back my exercise calories either. I usually stay within +/- 50-75 calories of my daily goal.

I honestly don't get it. Surely I would be losing at least 2 lb a week between the exercise and restricted calories? My TDEE is 2160 and MFP says I should consume 1762, so that's about 400 under. I burn an additional 200-300 calories when I exercise as well.

I don't understand, and to be honest, I'm getting sick of it all. My trainer doesn't really focus on calories and seems to follow intuitive eating instead, so she hasn't been able to provide much insight into whether I'm eating enough or need to restrict even more.

Alatariel75

Are you taking measurements? Measuring loss in any way aside from the scale? When you start exercise, particularly heavy lifting and resistance, you will retain fluid for muscle repair and that will hide fat loss on the scale. Are your clothes getting looser?

Also, are you weighing all your food? Ensuring you have used accurate entries in the database? Sometimes all it can take is one or two things that you eat often that you're underestimating the amount you're eating, or logging it with an inaccurate entry and it can eat up your deficit.

PrincessTinyheart

Alatariel75 wrote: »

Are you taking measurements? Measuring loss in any way aside from the scale? When you start exercise, particularly heavy lifting and resistance, you will retain fluid for muscle repair and that will hide fat loss on the scale. Are your clothes getting looser?

Also, are you weighing all your food? Ensuring you have used accurate entries in the database? Sometimes all it can take is one or two things that you eat often that you're underestimating the amount you're eating, or logging it with an inaccurate entry and it can eat up your deficit.

Yes, I'm weighing everything I can. I can't do that if we go out to eat but in those situations I make common sense choices and eyeball portions. I always end up with leftovers and I weigh those when I eat them later.

My clothes don't seem to be looser.

I have heard the stories about muscle "tear and repair", and I get it conceptually... But wouldn't the calorie deficit and increased water consumption offset the retention at least somewhat?

csplatt

Can you make your food diary public? It’s locked right now. A few thoughts. It’s possible you burn fewer calories between exercise sessions (normal day) than you think.

How often do you eat out?

cupcakesandproteinshakes

If you aren’t losing weight then you need to reduce the calories you are taking in. People here can give you suggestions if you let us look at your diary. Typical issues are not logging accurately, (I’m guilty of this) not logging weekends (also guilty) under estimating portion sizes again leads to inaccurate logging and possibly over estimating calories burned during exercise.
Most of us have fallen into these traps.

88olds

The calculators have limits. They are based on averages and statistics. And no one is exactly average. We really don’t know how many calories we are using unless we are hooked up in a lab. Plus, there are calorie counting gray areas. Sooner or later we all end up estimating and eyeballing. I’ve heard of people taking food scales into restaurants but most of us aren’t going to go that far. Also, a lot of the time we are relying on NI that may not be accurate.

Read this board a lot and you’ll see people losing their minds because of the numbers the calculators and gadgets are putting out don’t result in losses. It has to be one of 2 things- either do a deep dive into your counting to find inaccuracies or accept that you need to find a number that works through trial and error. Maybe try and experiment. Cut 50 calories a day for a couple of weeks and see if you get any kind of loss. Any. If not, knock off another 50 until you do. You will eventually find your number.

A high level of fitness combined with weight loss works on tight margins and can be painstakingly slow. Starting at 285 lbs, I was stuck for years at around 215 lbs trying to lose weight in the gym. I really liked the gym. I liked the results. My wife liked the results. But it wasn’t until I started tracking that I got back to losing. The key for me was basically finding a way to cut calories without eating less food. It can be done. That and allowing enough indulgences to avoid feeling deprived. That can be done too. Good luck. Keep working. You can fix this.

Oh, and this- I learned incrementalism in the gym. I found it a valuable lesson when I got back to weight loss.