What am I doing incorrectly?

ameeters
ameeters Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm about 5'6 and I currently weigh about 160lbs. At my lowest I was 145 lbs which is where I would like to sit.

I'm on a 1500 daily calorie high protein (about 115g a day) diet.

For macros, I try to aim for a 30/30/50 protein/fat/carb split but it tends to be more 30/45/35 protein/fat/carb which I guess is okay.

I weight train with a trainer twice a week and have seen great progress with my strength and new muscles.

I used to walk 11,000 steps a day but that stopped during the winter due to the weather but also my mental health. I've been getting back into it but am struggling a little.

I make sure I get a 10 minutes walk in every day but I haven't really been hitting the new goal of 7500 consistently.

I have a bit of a sweet tooth but I've been able to manage it well and make room in my calories for my sweets (no more than 20% of my daily calories).

It feels like I'm doing the right things but the scale is not moving and it's really discouraging as I've done it once before but I seemingly am unable to do it again.


Any insight & guidance on how to get back to my ideal weight would be amazing.

PS. I'm T2 diabetic and would really like to go into 'remission' which is why the weightloss is so important to me.
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Replies

  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    Hi! Could you share how long the scale has been stalled please?
  • ameeters
    ameeters Posts: 8 Member
    MelodyandBarbells wrote: »
    Hi! Could you share how long the scale has been stalled please?

    I stopped checking me weight in October and started checking again in January. In that time frame, I saw a 10 lbs increase (likely most from December as that was where my mental health was it's lowest).

    I have been hovering between 160 - 164 since the start of the new year.
  • StaciInGa
    StaciInGa Posts: 60 Member
    How accurate is your logging? Food scale for solids, accurate diary entries, eating mostly food made by you? (Nothing wrong in my opinion with eating food made by others, but it requires you to estimate.) If you can improve your logging accuracy, you'll probably find your answer.
  • ameeters
    ameeters Posts: 8 Member
    StaciInGa wrote: »
    How accurate is your logging? Food scale for solids, accurate diary entries, eating mostly food made by you? (Nothing wrong in my opinion with eating food made by others, but it requires you to estimate.) If you can improve your logging accuracy, you'll probably find your answer.

    I would like to believe it's pretty accurate.

    I usually meal prep and I'll measure everything before it goes into the container.

    I have been eating ready for you the last few days and will likely be doing the same this week as I'm part of a wedding at the end of the week so time is a bit limited.

    Also, if I eat ready made or take out, I'll usually add an extra 100 calories to somewhat make up for any discrepancies.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    Your calories are probably okay if you're feeling okay, maybe even a little low if you're working out.

    With 15 pounds to lose I was also at 160. I ate 1500 per day PLUS 300 more on exercise days.

    It takes time to lose that last 15. I would say two pounds per month would be very good progress. If you are a menstruating woman you'll have lots of scale changes per month and that's okay. Stay the course, you'll get there - but it is better to not try to eat too little. That just leads to frustration, binging, and difficulty sticking with the Plan.
  • ameeters
    ameeters Posts: 8 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    Your calories are probably okay if you're feeling okay, maybe even a little low if you're working out.

    With 15 pounds to lose I was also at 160. I ate 1500 per day PLUS 300 more on exercise days.

    It takes time to lose that last 15. I would say two pounds per month would be very good progress. If you are a menstruating woman you'll have lots of scale changes per month and that's okay. Stay the course, you'll get there - but it is better to not try to eat too little. That just leads to frustration, binging, and difficulty sticking with the Plan.

    The frustration was real this weekend and I definitely binge ate basically the entire weekend which hasn't happened in several months but it is what it is. I fully plan on getting back on track today but it's just frustrating to see the scale not move in the direction that I'm looking for after cleaning up my eating, but I guess it is what it is.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 12,073 Member
    The scale only measures mass, not what TYPE of mass. If you lose a pound of fat, but gain a pound of muscle, the scale shows "no change." If you lose a pound of fat but gain a pound of water, the scale shows "no change." You could very well be making continued progress in terms of fat loss, but it's being masked from the scale.

    The fat loss will make its presence known, however, in the form of inches lost from the body, as a pound of fat takes up more volume than either a pound of muscle or water. So if your clothes are feeling looser, or a tape measure shows a smaller figure, that's a more accurate barometer of whether you're still losing fat.
  • ameeters
    ameeters Posts: 8 Member
    StaciInGa wrote: »
    It is possible your TDEE is a little lower than you think. You can try shaving 100-150 off your daily calorie allowance, accept slow but steady weight loss, or try to increase your daily activity to burn a little more.

    That's totally fair and not something I was considering. Thanks!
  • Lotusstarr
    Lotusstarr Posts: 112 Member
    I'm sitting in the same spot basically... My newest thing I'm trying is Intermittent fasting at 16:8 split and then making sure my first meal is low carb, but lean protein. Also drinking a lot of water and trying to make sure my meals are mostly whole foods and not processed. I've mostly worked on getting the majority of unnatural sugars out of my diet. I'm also working on my mental health along with trying to get to where I'm physically happy again. I don't know if any of this is going to work they say it should help my metabolism jump back. Suffice to say I'm not sure why I'm stuck also but hoping this works.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,749 Member
    At 5'6" and 125 my supposed maintenance calories are 1400. I am older and mostly sedentary aside from deliberate exercise, which is why the number is so low. (Fortunately, I do a lot of exercise (walking, running, bike) so can eat a lot more than that.) If your maintenance calories are only about 1600-1700, then eating 1500 would make for very slow loss and doesn't allow much room for error, and we all make errors.
  • ameeters
    ameeters Posts: 8 Member
    spiriteagle99 wrote: »
    At 5'6" and 125 my supposed maintenance calories are 1400. I am older and mostly sedentary aside from deliberate exercise, which is why the number is so low. (Fortunately, I do a lot of exercise (walking, running, bike) so can eat a lot more than that.) If your maintenance calories are only about 1600-1700, then eating 1500 would make for very slow loss and doesn't allow much room for error, and we all make errors.

    I used a few calculators to determine my maintenance and it comes back with an average of 2050 calories so I'm 500 under what I should be eating to maintain.

    I definitely have had binge days which don't help but I'll look at the weekly average to see if there is a way to make it net 0 over calories, if that makes sense.

    I'm wondering if I should add Intermittent Fasting to the mix again and see if I can start walking more again as the sun is coming out more.

    I'm just a tad stumped
  • ameeters
    ameeters Posts: 8 Member
    Lotusstarr wrote: »
    I'm sitting in the same spot basically... My newest thing I'm trying is Intermittent fasting at 16:8 split and then making sure my first meal is low carb, but lean protein. Also drinking a lot of water and trying to make sure my meals are mostly whole foods and not processed. I've mostly worked on getting the majority of unnatural sugars out of my diet. I'm also working on my mental health along with trying to get to where I'm physically happy again. I don't know if any of this is going to work they say it should help my metabolism jump back. Suffice to say I'm not sure why I'm stuck also but hoping this works.

    I've tried the same with the sugar part. When I first started my weightloss journey, I dropped 20 lbs simply by reducing my sugar intake which was amazing and I was hoping for that to happen again but I haven't seen the shift and I kinda ruined my streak of no sugar this weekend.

    I hope IF and the sugar reduction works out for you!
  • natajane
    natajane Posts: 295 Member
    It looks like its your steps - you're not getting as many as you used to since winter, and that is when the weight started creeping up.

    Can you get additional steps in, in different ways? 10 mins of dancing here and there, 15 min burst of cleaning, gardening on the weekends? Break it into little lumps.

    Other than that, weigh all of your food before eating by the gram and be really precise. Weigh before you eat it, cut out processed foods where you can.

    Good luck, you can do this! x
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,265 Member
    edited March 2023
    Yeah, total calories are too high and confirmed if you've put on 10 lbs since October. Tighten that up. Cheers.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    neanderthin wrote: »
    Yeah, total calories are too high and confirmed if you've put on 10 lbs since October. Tighten that up. Cheers.

    But she is now at 1500. That weight was gained when she wasn't tracking nor exercising.

    Don't you read the whole thread before posting? Rookie! :lol:
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,265 Member
    edited March 2023
    cmriverside wrote: »
    neanderthin wrote: »
    Yeah, total calories are too high and confirmed if you've put on 10 lbs since October. Tighten that up. Cheers.

    But she is now at 1500. That weight was gained when she wasn't tracking nor exercising.

    Don't you read the whole thread before posting? Rookie! :lol:

    Hahaha, no I just normally wing it, you know that lol. :D
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
  • sbelletti
    sbelletti Posts: 213 Member
    Likely culprit.. Not counting calorie intake accurately. "Adding 100 extra calories for ready made or takeout meals" is ringing alarm bells for me. Restaurant salads can easily be 1000 calories or more.

    I'm 5'5“ and maintain around 1400-1500. I lost 40+ pounds to get to my goal range of 122-125 at a slow and steady pace eating around 1200-1300. The last 10lbs required VERY accurate logging.
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 921 Member
    So...I'd highly recommend you re-calculate what your TDEE is (or your maintenance calories - however you want to measure that).

    I used a TDEE cal (but don't know your age)...but even if you were sedentary (which you aren't), your maintenance calories would be ~1700...so you are in a 200 cal deficit.

    All I can really tell you is that you are quite close to a healthy weight range anyway for your height...and with a 200 cal deficit, it will just be very slow - and all of those other things that can affect the scale will def affect it (water retention for example). I don't think you're doing anything 'wrong'.
  • sarabushby
    sarabushby Posts: 784 Member
    It’s very likely your TDEE estimate is running a little high at 2050 for your current activity level.

    Maybe using a ‘sedentary’ setting (1695) then adding exercise calories on the days you do more would show more accurately your likely daily deficit which is evidently less than you’d have hoped for in order to meet your preferred rate of loss.
    Doing it this way may also encourage you to go out and take a longer walk or do some more exercise as you can see the difference it makes to how many calories you burn in a day.

    Could you consider a Fitbit or other HRM activity tracker that links to MFP? It might be helpful for you.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,307 Member
    edited March 2023
    You don't seem to be at a very high weight and you said as far as I can tell that your goal is t2 remission

    I would suggest that a good strategy may be to figure out how soon after a meal (especially your 20% --- and trust me I am not judging, my dessert category hits 50% of my calories at times 🤪) anyway how soon your sugar levels spike.... and be out there doing at least moderate level exercise at that time.

    I tend to do my 50% in a good way before or right after a hilly or fast walk. And in a bad for my health way when eating to try to stay awake 🤷‍♂️

    It is not just weight but both weight and activity

    If the activity you were doing is not to your liking you may want to look for something more compatible? 🤷‍♂️

    Silly things like getting up every hour to get the blood flowing also count!
  • NanethAllen
    NanethAllen Posts: 1 Member
    @ameeters I have your same exact stats, and I also experienced rapid weight gain 1lb / week over the course of a year.

    For additional context, this happened to me making the transition from 39 to 40. I had a very active, regular routine - treadmill at a 15 incline at 3-4 speed 30 mins, kettlebells, pilates 4-5 × week 45 mins to 1.5 hours, and what I thought was clean eating.

    Here's what I've learned that's helped me to lose 1-2lbs per week with me fitting into previous clothes, several inches in my visceral body fat without losing muscle.

    I hired a Dietician. They told me I was grossly underconsuming calories 1200-1300, and I was underconsuming protein and fiber with my workouts. I needed to be closer to 1600. I also needed to up my protein to at minimum to 120g.

    She also told me my HIIT workouts were causing extreme inflammation with how often I went into the red with my heart rate. I was averaging around 150-175, and I needed to stay withing the 125-135 max range. If I did peak above that I needed to consciously wait until a lower rate before starting my next set.

    She shared my genetic body map of what my body needed with my ratios of macros - 40% carbs / 30% fat / 30% protein.

    The one change that had losing weight quickly was implementing a 14-hour fast, just that alone helped with losing 1lb / week.

    What's helped accelerate it 2lbs / week is taking the probitic lactobacillus gasseri and Omega 3s. Really sticking to my percentages, and LOTS of protein, lots of legumes and fibrous vegetables.

    I also have a sweet tooth, and one thing that helped me was eating Quest protein bars or Think protein bars when that craving would hit. These are low sugar 2-4g with 20-21g of protein. Also, limiting my fruit intake to max 1/2 cup per day.

    Also, I'm paying more attention to my InBody scans (Dietician led) and inches lost than my weight. Body recomposition and weight can look totally different based on muscle mass.

    Hope this helps!
  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,159 Member
    If you are binging/overeating once or twice a week then you are erasing your deficit. For me to lose the ‘last 10 pounds’ I had a deficit of 250 Cals week days then maintenance cals at the weekends. It took me a year to lose 10 pounds that way.
  • Sinisterbarbie1
    Sinisterbarbie1 Posts: 711 Member
    edited March 2023
    I don’t mean for this to sound as tough love as this will, but the OP question is what am I doing incorrectly. Many of the answers above offer one idea, but it seems likely that there are multiple things going on.

    First it sounds like you are close to your goal weight so in a zone where you have to be super careful in order to actually lose weight (and for some people even to maintain). Instead of weighing yourself regularly, and weighng and logging your food carefully and maintaining the exercise you have been doing to lose weight, it sounds like you
    1. Stopped weighng yourself for a period of months (I am really sorry that you were feeling low and I hope you got help and feel better, but when I stop looking at how much I weigh that is already a sign of trouble)
    2. are probably overestimating how many calories you are burning if you think you are at 2050 (I am taller than you and trying to GAIN muscle weight and my calories are set well below 2000 by a nutritionist as well as by the site)
    3. not accurately weighing and logging the calories you are consuming, (you are probably eating over 1500)
    4. regularly having “cheat days” (do you log those at all?) where you could be erasing your entire deficit assuming you have one,
    5. Regularly eating lots of sugar heavy desserts as a T2 diabetic which will impact insulin need and other hormones perhaps in ways that are different than for non diabetics and may contribute to inability to manage weight. Besides trying to manage your sweet tooth you should probably be trying to stick to a low glycemic diet to get into remission. If you drink alcohol, you should stop.
    6. On top of this you have cut back on cardio exercise (which is most likely to immediately burn calories)


  • Jacq_qui
    Jacq_qui Posts: 443 Member

    As someone who also started re-tracking after christmas I know it took at least a month to get to the level of accuracy I was previously achieving. With hormones, covid, starting weight training again and other life things, I've literally only seen my first loss this week.

    I always use sedentary calories though and add in any exercise afterwards. That to me is much more reliable. I know TDEE works for many people, but my life is seldom as consistent as TDEE requires.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,028 Member
    Are you counting accurately? Are you taking insulin?

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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