Stuck for over a year

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jaded989
jaded989 Posts: 164 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
OK so I have slipped herre and there but for the most part have been on target and meeting my nution & exercise goals but have been stuck in the same weight range for over a year. My calorie goal is at 1200 per day which I do sometimes exceed but not to the point of gaining weight. WTH is going on? Any suggestions? I would like to lose another 15-25lbs, currently at 165lbs & 5'4. Suggestions welcome.
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  • Lildarlinz
    Lildarlinz Posts: 276 Member
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    I have been doing 1200 calories a day for 2 weeks and lost 4lb…
    This is what MFP gives me when I set it up in goals
    I will up my calories in the next few weeks though…
    But you MUST track everything…even gravy,sauce,mayo,ketchup,oil

    I think your under estimating your calorie intake…

    I’ve just done a calorie counter for you online for the stats you gave…here are the results
    m5ffjo27bauj.png

    I averaged that you were say 35 years old…and put you as lightly active
    Don’t give up…that’s the most important thing
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,960 Member
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    It took me nine months to lose the last 15, from 155 to 140.

    I logged every single bit of food I ate.
    I prepared 90% of my own meals myself and used a digital food scale for portions.
    I took a one hour walk or did one hour of other exercise five days a week.

    I was hungry. A lot. It was difficult. I had many days where I was way over on my food. I had it set to 1500 plus 300 exercise calories on those days, so I was eating 1500+300=1800. Still was hard.

    Good luck. 1200 isn't really sustainable. Set your Goals here on this site to "Lose 1/2 pound per week." Eat more on Exercise days. Use a food scale.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

    https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-

  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,013 Member
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    can you make your diary setting public so we can look at your entries? all signs point to you’re eating more calories than you think, on that kind of a timeline! your weekly average is likely maintenance
  • Rockymountainliving
    Rockymountainliving Posts: 26 Member
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    If you are eating 1200 PLUS your exercise calories, your exercise calories may be inflated, causing you to eat more calories than you should to lose weight. Some people only eat back 1/2 their exercise calories due to this.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,898 Member
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    There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public. In the app, go to Settings > Diary Setting > Diary Sharing > and check Public. Desktop: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 1,624 Member
    edited September 2023
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    You are not in a weekly calorie deficit. Your goal MAY be 1,200 however due to most likely a few different factors you’re a bit higher. Some things to look at…


    -picking wrong food entries
    -under estimating amounts
    -not counting everything that goes in your mouth
    -not counting higher calorie days

    Any of these or a combination of these will contribute to no losses

  • jaded989
    jaded989 Posts: 164 Member
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    Well no, no & no to all the above, I weigh all my food, most everything I eat is home made from scratch. I do my research and make sure I am using the approriate enties with as accurate as possible calorie counts. I appreciate the answers and suggestions and thank all who responded.
  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,013 Member
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    jaded989 wrote: »
    Well no, no & no to all the above, I weigh all my food, most everything I eat is home made from scratch. I do my research and make sure I am using the approriate enties with as accurate as possible calorie counts. I appreciate the answers and suggestions and thank all who responded.

    are you willing to make your diary public for troubleshooting? it can be helpful.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,164 Member
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    jaded989 wrote: »
    Well no, no & no to all the above, I weigh all my food, most everything I eat is home made from scratch. I do my research and make sure I am using the approriate enties with as accurate as possible calorie counts. I appreciate the answers and suggestions and thank all who responded.

    It's extremely rare, but technically possible, to have calorie needs surprisingly below what the so-called calorie needs calculators estimate.

    If you've experienced literally no material weight change in a year, you've found maintenance calories, one way or another.

    It could be an accounting problem (lots of theoretical possibilities there, but you've ruled them out in the quoted post); it could be statistically very unusual low calorie requirements (perhaps affected by adaptive thermogenesis?). I don't see a lot of other possibilities.

    Either way, the solution is to be more active than currently, or to eat fewer calories than currently.

    If you want to lay your bet entirely on adaptive thermogenesis - which I personally wouldn't, in like circumstances - then reverse dieting for a while would be the theoretical answer.

    Have you talked with your doctor about potential medical issues? Again, this is a lower-probability bet, but might be worth ruling out.

    People here are not trying to criticize or blame you: We generally truly want to help, but this kind of situation can be hard to sort out, and folks need to ask some pointed questions along the way to rule out common problems.

    I hope you're able to find a solution!
  • bcalvanese
    bcalvanese Posts: 32 Member
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    jaded989 wrote: »
    Well no, no & no to all the above, I weigh all my food, most everything I eat is home made from scratch. I do my research and make sure I am using the approriate enties with as accurate as possible calorie counts. I appreciate the answers and suggestions and thank all who responded.

    You mentioned that you meeting your exercise goal.

    If you are doing the same exercise routine at the same intensity, you could be burning less calories, because your body adjusts to your activity level and burns calories more efficiently, which means you are burning less calories doing the same workout(s).

    Try upping the intensity of your workouts, and see if that helps.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 1,624 Member
    edited September 2023
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    One of the biggest issues in counting\tracking of calories is underestimating the calorie amount of foods you consistently eat and also not tracking liquid calories.

    1,200 calories every day for a year you'd have to be a bedridden 5 foot tall woman to not lose.
  • ddsb1111
    ddsb1111 Posts: 739 Member
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    I just wanted to say congrats on dropping from 240 to the mid 160’s! I noticed you’ve been on MFP for 9 years, I think you’re doing a phenomenal job. Because you’re so active here I doubt I can say anything you don’t already know but I did want to applaud you for losing weight and keeping your weight down. Sometimes that’s the hardest part.
  • herringboxes
    herringboxes Posts: 259 Member
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    My thought is that exercise calories are often (or usually) overestimated by apps. If you eat back your exercise calories, try eating back only a portion, such as half.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 1,624 Member
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    herringboxes wrote: »
    My thought is that exercise calories are often (or usually) overestimated by apps. If you eat back your exercise calories, try eating back only a portion, such as half.
    Regardless, not losing on 1,200 calories is suspect to not tracking calories correctly.
  • herringboxes
    herringboxes Posts: 259 Member
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    It might be 1200 plus exercise calories.
  • jaded989
    jaded989 Posts: 164 Member
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    As I have slipped here and there & fully admitted to that (never by alot) & usually no more than 2 days a week if that. My exercise has dropped off a little (to damn hot in AZ & most of my excercise is walking). To be clear I am a 66 yr old female have successfully dropped from my all time high of 240+lbs & have been at this for awhile. I have made an appointment for a checkup with my doctor and will be requesting a full thyroid panel at that time. Many years ago I was on thyroid meds due to mild hypothyroidism. I didn't know until recently that was something that doesn't go away. I double checked my last labs (from about a year ago) & this was not checked on any of my panels. I'll see what if anything pops up on lab work, thank you all for your input
  • jaded989
    jaded989 Posts: 164 Member
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    tomcustombuilder wrote: »

    Well obviously there is a hole in your counting and tracking somewhere, once you come to grips with that fact you'll progress and not before.

    Can you be a little more snarky??? It would be very helpful & motivating
  • jaded989
    jaded989 Posts: 164 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    jaded989 wrote: »
    Well no, no & no to all the above, I weigh all my food, most everything I eat is home made from scratch. I do my research and make sure I am using the approriate enties with as accurate as possible calorie counts. I appreciate the answers and suggestions and thank all who responded.

    It's extremely rare, but technically possible, to have calorie needs surprisingly below what the so-called calorie needs calculators estimate.

    If you've experienced literally no material weight change in a year, you've found maintenance calories, one way or another.

    It could be an accounting problem (lots of theoretical possibilities there, but you've ruled them out in the quoted post); it could be statistically very unusual low calorie requirements (perhaps affected by adaptive thermogenesis?). I don't see a lot of other possibilities.

    Either way, the solution is to be more active than currently, or to eat fewer calories than currently.

    If you want to lay your bet entirely on adaptive thermogenesis - which I personally wouldn't, in like circumstances - then reverse dieting for a while would be the theoretical answer.

    Have you talked with your doctor about potential medical issues? Again, this is a lower-probability bet, but might be worth ruling out.

    People here are not trying to criticize or blame you: We generally truly want to help, but this kind of situation can be hard to sort out, and folks need to ask some pointed questions along the way to rule out common problems.

    I hope you're able to find a solution!

    Thank you Ann for the most helpful reply, I'm begining to think it id definitely some medical issue & will follow up with my doctor.

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