This isn't working! Need help!

BritMaxon

I have been exercising regularly and meeting my calorie goal and yet my weight loss is practically non-existent. I have my account set up to lose 2 lbs per week, which I did lose 2 lbs the first week, but after that it just stopped. After being unsuccessful the 2nd week I decided to mix things up. Instead of being under my calorie goal every day I went over and under and took 2 days off from working out to try and shock my body into losing again but still nothing. With my busy schedule between going to school and raising 2 kids (my husband works a lot, he helps when he is home but I have to use that time to study) I can't possibly increase the amount of time I spend working out, and I don't want to decrease my calories any more either because I don't want to overdo it. I think it's possible that it could be due to too much stress but if that's the case I don't know what I can do about that. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

bwogilvie

How long have you been aiming for 2 lbs./week? For someone with your weight loss goals, that seems high. If it's just been a few weeks, give it time; often there's initial water loss followed by water retention. If it has been longer, then something is off: either you're overestimating calories burned or you're underestimating calories eaten. MFP and other fitness calculators often overestimate how many calories an activity burns, sometimes by as much as 100%. Try recording fewer exercise calories and see what happens. Another mistake some people make is setting their activity level including exercise, then logging exercise on top of that, which effectively counts exercise twice. I get a lot of exercise, but I log it all, so I set my activity level to sedentary.

I'd recommend scaling back your goal to 1 or 1.5 lbs./week; you don't have that much to lose and you've got a lot of stress in your life. Better to lose gradually, eating in a way that you can sustain when you reach maintenance, than to do too much too fast and relapse into bad habits when you're done.

Good luck!

psuLemon

2 lbs per week is too aggressive. .. set your goal to 1 lb per week and lightly active since you raise kids. Than eat back about 50% of the exercise calories. I suspect that will put you around 2000 calories. Also, adjust macro to around 40% carbs 30% protein and fats. If you want post your height age weight and workout routine and we can look at your caloric needs.

Also can you open your diary? And do you weigh and measure foods?

BritMaxon

I don't use their amounts for calories burned, I use a watch that tracks calories burned. I know everybody's bodies differ so the amount of calories I burn doing an activity would be different from someone else. I just started about 3 weeks ago. I did figure in exercise when I set up my account but I've been doing way more than what I figured. Thanks for that tip, I will change that.

3dogsrunning

Open your diary.

2lbs a week is too high of a goal. You should be at around 1 lb a week with what your ticker says you want to lose.

JanieJack

When I exercise right and don't lose weight it's usually because a) I'm not eating well for my body and/or b) I'm under a lot of stress. Stress can impede weight loss EVEN IF YOU AREN'T "STRESS EATING"

If you're exercising right and eating right just give it some time. One year, my weight pegged at 153 before finally dropping. But when I looked at my pictures you could tell my body shape was changing. I wasn't getting much smaller but I *WAS* getting fitter and younger looking.

BritMaxon

I am 5'5, 171 lbs, and 27 years old. I do 30-60 minutes of zumba every day, usually 60 which burns a little over 1000 calories. This is according to my own calorie tracker, not what myfitnesspal says. I don't know if it makes a difference to know that I am in nursing school so I spend several hours a day sitting either in class or doing homework but I also get up and move around quite a bit between cleaning and chasing around a 2 year old. My other child is 8 so she's pretty independent. Also on clinical days I spend about 6-8 hours on my feet.
Janie, I have also noticed I look healthier and my stomach looks a lot more toned than it used to. I FEEL a lot younger and healthier and even my skin looks better.
How do I open my diary?

3dogsrunning

I am 5'5, 171 lbs, and 27 years old. I do 30-60 minutes of zumba every day, usually 60 which burns a little over 1000 calories. This is according to my own calorie tracker, not what myfitnesspal says. I don't know if it makes a difference to know that I am in nursing school so I spend several hours a day sitting either in class or doing homework but I also get up and move around quite a bit between cleaning and chasing around a 2 year old. My other child is 8 so she's pretty independent. Also on clinical days I spend about 6-8 hours on my feet.
Janie, I have also noticed I look healthier and my stomach looks a lot more toned than it used to. I FEEL a lot younger and healthier and even my skin looks better.
How do I open my diary?

My home > settings > diary settings.

Are you eating those extra calories back? If so I would cut them in half. I am a huge propent of eating for exercise, however, I'm going to be totally honest with you - you aren't burning 1000 calories in a hour of Zumba.

That's about 16 calories a minute - that's an all out effort, one that should not be sustainable for an hour.

BritMaxon

Ok, I think my diary is open now. It does say that I've lost 2 lbs since my last weigh in but that is because I hadn't logged in 2 weeks and it is fluctuating so yesterday it said I was still 173 but today it said 171. I am not using a digital scale which also makes it a little bit harder to read, especially since I need new glasses and tend to be really shaky in the morning before I eat.

3dogsrunning

My suggestions -

Change your goal from 2 lbs a week to 1 lb. 2 lbs is really only doable for those with 100 lbs or more to lose.

Continue to log exercise and eat some of those calories back, not all. I truly believe you are overestimating your calorie burns. I wouldn't give Zumba more than 500 calories for the hour.
Or you could switch to the TDEE method.
Check out this topic for help with that.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

On top of that, if you aren't, weight everything, measure the rest. You look like you are logging consistentl but I didn't go too far back.

Mokey41

Are you using a reputable HRM with a chest strap or one of those cheap watch things you randomly touch to get your calorie burn? Without a chest strap to monitor all the time you're working out the calories are going be way off. 1,000 calories an hour of Zumba is pretty much impossible to do. I can't do that at a full out run for an hour.

scubar17

I am 5'5, 171 lbs, and 27 years old. I do 30-60 minutes of zumba every day, usually 60 which burns a little over 1000 calories. This is according to my own calorie tracker, not what myfitnesspal says. I don't know if it makes a difference to know that I am in nursing school so I spend several hours a day sitting either in class or doing homework but I also get up and move around quite a bit between cleaning and chasing around a 2 year old. My other child is 8 so she's pretty independent. Also on clinical days I spend about 6-8 hours on my feet.
Janie, I have also noticed I look healthier and my stomach looks a lot more toned than it used to. I FEEL a lot younger and healthier and even my skin looks better.
How do I open my diary?

My home > settings > diary settings.

Are you eating those extra calories back? If so I would cut them in half. I am a huge propent of eating for exercise, however, I'm going to be totally honest with you - you aren't burning 1000 calories in a hour of Zumba.

That's about 16 calories a minute - that's an all out effort, one that should not be sustainable for an hour.

This! Those calorie counters are notorious for being inaccurate. When I use my own, I take 20% off of whatever it tells me I burned because I know it overestimates.

Please calm down about the scale. It cannot tell you everything that's going on with your body. The fact that you said you're looking and feeling better and are toning up is what you really should be paying attention to. The weigh will come off but you've got to give it time.

I encourage you to take body measurements every few weeks--that will really tell you what's going on with your body. To me, inches matter more than pounds and how your clothes are fitting.

BritMaxon

I have been doing measurements and I have lost an inch off of both my waist and my hips. I don't use diet pills as most of them are not FDA approved, sorry I guess that's just the nurse in me. Thanks for the tip on the calorie monitor, it's kind of irritating that you can't trust them considering how much you spend buying them and they claim to be accurate with about 20 calories. I guess I will update my settings and start entering my calories differently and see if that helps. Patience is a virtue I don't really have, but I guess I can be happy with 1 lb a week. Hey, it's better than gaining lol.

3dogsrunning

I have been doing measurements and I have lost an inch off of both my waist and my hips. I don't use diet pills as most of them are not FDA approved, sorry I guess that's just the nurse in me. Thanks for the tip on the calorie monitor, it's kind of irritating that you can't trust them considering how much you spend buying them and they claim to be accurate with about 20 calories. I guess I will update my settings and start entering my calories differently and see if that helps. Patience is a virtue I don't really have, but I guess I can be happy with 1 lb a week. Hey, it's better than gaining lol.

Great attitude!

What are you using for a HRM? There might be some ways you can adjust it to be more accurate.

SarahMinett1993

I've been doing the same thing as the OP. I set it as 2lbs/week and I've only lost 5 lbs in 75 days. Why is that?

acpgee

I am 5'5, 171 lbs, and 27 years old. I do 30-60 minutes of zumba every day, usually 60 which burns a little over 1000 calories. This is according to my own calorie tracker, not what myfitnesspal says. I don't know if it makes a difference to know that I am in nursing school so I spend several hours a day sitting either in class or doing homework but I also get up and move around quite a bit between cleaning and chasing around a 2 year old. My other child is 8 so she's pretty independent. Also on clinical days I spend about 6-8 hours on my feet.
Janie, I have also noticed I look healthier and my stomach looks a lot more toned than it used to. I FEEL a lot younger and healthier and even my skin looks better.
How do I open my diary?

My home > settings > diary settings.

Are you eating those extra calories back? If so I would cut them in half. I am a huge propent of eating for exercise, however, I'm going to be totally honest with you - you aren't burning 1000 calories in a hour of Zumba.

That's about 16 calories a minute - that's an all out effort, one that should not be sustainable for an hour.

I too have reservations about 1000 cals for an hour of zumba. My typical workout is 65 minutes on the elliptical targeting a heart rate of 140-153 using HIIT. The HRM says I burn 550, the exercise machine itself says 780, and MFP database says 926.

BritMaxon

I am using a watch that tracks heart rate and calories. I push the button to get my heart rate every time between songs.

FlaxMilk

I've been doing the same thing as the OP. I set it as 2lbs/week and I've only lost 5 lbs in 75 days. Why is that?

Can you open your diary? You are probably eating more than you think, or if you are exercising and eating back calories, it's probably because the calorie burn is overestimated.

3dogsrunning

I am using a watch that tracks heart rate and calories. I push the button to get my heart rate every time between songs.

Ahh! That's why. If you are going to use a HRM to estimate calories burned you really need one with a chest strap so it can continuously monitor. Not saying you need to buy one, I'm not a huge fan on them for estimating calories either, but the one you have will be the most inaccurate.

wilsoje74

From the few days I looked at, looks like a lot of fast food and very little fresh fruits and veggies. You can still lose if under calories, but are you sure you aren't going over??? Maybe try fast food like once per week?

funkim55

Did you try looking up how many calories you should be ingesting on WebMD? According to WebMD, even though I am Obese Class ll, I am not supposed to lose more than 1/2 to 1.5 pounds per week.

Are you close to your goal weight? Many people who are only 10-15 pounds overweight have difficulty losing the last few pounds. Check out PINTEREST for low calorie recipes of your favorite dishes.

Do you get 8 hours of sleep per night? Too little sleep affects weight loss! You sound very busy; get your rest.

Try meditation!! It works!!! Slow down and smell the roses.

Good Luck!!!