What am i doing wrong?

aymi_needstobeslim

Hi im an 18 yr old girl and have been trying to loose weight for a month but have seen no results at all. I have been counting my calories and going on my elliptical trainer for approx half an hour 6 days a week. I dont log my water but i drink about 6 glasses a day. I also watch what types of food i eat and its making me depressed that i havnt lost anything yet. What am i doing wrong?

Bluizflame

It's hard to tell with your diary closed. Are you logging everything you eat? Weighing the items, or just guessing?

melaniecheeks

Whats your height and weight? What are your goals? Can you change your diary settings to "public"?

nicoleisback

A lot of getting it right on this site starts with making sure you are set up properly. If for example you put yourself as lightly or moderately active when you work a desk job or sit down all day, then this site will allow you LOADS more calories than your body actually needs. Also making sure your height and weight are correct will help.

If you haven't exercised much recently and you go straight to exercising almost every day, then your body will put on muscle which is much harder to measure on the scales. Also keep in mind that the more exercise you do, the more water and nutrients your body needs to keep on board to aid with muscle repair, which can also make the number on the scale jump.

The best way to measure your results is to take your measurements as well as your weight. If you are eating at a deficit and exercising regularly, at least one of these numbers will be decreasing.

It's also important to ask yourself if you are FEELING better, as this can be a big indication of your progress too. Are you getting more fit? Can you do more than you could at the start?

If all this fails, go to the doctor and check there is no health issue affecting your attempts

aymi_needstobeslim

Iv made it public now and yes i
Log everything i eat

aymi_needstobeslim

Whats your height and weight? What are your goals? Can you change your diary settings to "public"?

Im 9 stones and 5.1 feet. I wanted to loose at least a pound a week

TavistockToad

your ticker says you want to lose 12lbs, so set your goal to lose 0.5lb per week.

you should eat up to your goal, most days you only eat about 800 cals... eat more...

add some resistance/strength training to yuor routine, just doing cardio wont get you a nice 'toned' figure.

tigersword

A lot of getting it right on this site starts with making sure you are set up properly. If for example you put yourself as lightly or moderately active when you work a desk job or sit down all day, then this site will allow you LOADS more calories than your body actually needs. Also making sure your height and weight are correct will help.

If you haven't exercised much recently and you go straight to exercising almost every day, then your body will put on muscle which is much harder to measure on the scales. Also keep in mind that the more exercise you do, the more water and nutrients your body needs to keep on board to aid with muscle repair, which can also make the number on the scale jump.

The best way to measure your results is to take your measurements as well as your weight. If you are eating at a deficit and exercising regularly, at least one of these numbers will be decreasing.

It's also important to ask yourself if you are FEELING better, as this can be a big indication of your progress too. Are you getting more fit? Can you do more than you could at the start?

If all this fails, go to the doctor and check there is no health issue affecting your attempts

No, you do not out on muscle just from randomly exercising, especially in a calorie deficit. Water retention, sure, but muscle gain? No way. An average woman in a surplus would be lucky to put on 5-10 pounds of muscle in a year.

sijomial

Your logging is all over the place - quick add calories, very low days, blank days.

Until you start to log accurately and actually hit your goal you and everyone else can't possibly know what is going on.

I really hope that your diary isn't accurate otherwise "no results" will be the least of your problems, the recorded amount of food isn't enough to keep a small child functioning.

HealthyVitamins

What I think you are doing wrong:

1. Logging is inconsistent and probably inaccurate due to a lot of 'Quick Added Calories'

2. You probably aren't weighing your foods and therefore are eating more than the 800+/- calories a day you say you are eating.

3. You are probably overestimating calories burned if you are not using a HRM

4. You aren't giving it enough time - I see you've only been on MFP since September.

mazdauk

What everyone else said, plus are you sure you want to lose that much? 9 stone is really not very heavy.

If you just want to change your body shape from soft to firm, then you need to do it through exercise - try a body pump class - rather thn calorie deficit.

maryjaquiss

I think you're probably not logging things properly - e.g. an egg mayo baguette I'm sure isn't only 300 calories and I noticed a Chinese meal out at 244 calories. That said, you're small (you're at my goal weight!) so you won't lose as quickly as somebody larger - log more accurately and be patient.

gigglesinthesun

every time you make something, weigh each ingredient and log it separately. Unless it is your own homemade recipe, you can't trust other peoples homemade recipe. Don't use quick-add calories, and if you do write down in the food notes what it is.

MFP over estimates the calories burnt, just so you know.

log accurate, maintain a deficit and you will lose weight until you have nothing left to lose.

j6o4

What I think you are doing wrong:

1. Logging is inconsistent and probably inaccurate due to a lot of 'Quick Added Calories'

2. You probably aren't weighing your foods and therefore are eating more than the 800+/- calories a day you say you are eating.

3. You are probably overestimating calories burned if you are not using a HRM

4. You aren't giving it enough time - I see you've only been on MFP since September.

^ This, and you are undereating which will ruin your metabolism. You shouldn't try to eat under your daily amount of calories because your calorie goal already has a deficit built into it.

bridgie101

What I think you might be doing wrong:

If you are logging exact amounts of calories, then you are eating like a bird. Eat your 1200 cals a day BUT.

Be very careful on the weekends. When you're so little, you are working on very small margins of error. you can blow in one weekend all you have worked towards in the week, without realising.

Now: I want to know - is that chapatti really only worth 60 cals? Because 30g of flour is worth over 100cals, which would mean you're eating a 20g chapatti. that's, like, a tiny torn off bit.

Weigh EVERYTHING. Be very, very careful. At 5'1 your tdee is pretty low. I'm getting 1933 cals a day if you choose 'lightly active' and 1687 a day if I choose 'no activity.'

Very narrow margins.

aymi_needstobeslim

Ok so i think im probably underestimating the calories and ill have to be more careful with weighing food etc. and the days i ddnt log i did eat but just ddnt log. Even though my calorie intake is supposedly less i do eat to my full i never skip meals. Another thing is i need to exercise harder i noticed its harder to get my heart rate higher. Thankyou so much for your advice all!

aymi_needstobeslim

How should i calculate the amount of calories in a chapatti?

lauren3101

You need to eat more for a start, your food diary is depressing. One night you had two fish fingers and 40g of frozen veg for dinner. For lunch one day you had what looked like half a tin of tuna and a spoonful of sweetcorn.

You don't seem to be eating back your exercise calories either - any idea why? MFP doesn't tell you to eat them back to try and sabotage your weight loss. It is a weight loss site (and a successful one).

Even 1200 calories is too little in my opinion; you are not aiming for a big loss so you need to set a 0.5lb a week goal, as too aggressive a deficit will not work for you. Your BMR is 1400 alone. If you call yourself lightly active (which I think you are based on your exercise calories) then you would need to be eating around 1600 calories a day to lose 0.5lb a week.

You also have to bear in mind you are at a healthy weight already, so weight loss for you may well be harder. If it's your shape you are unhappy with, rather than your weight, try ditching the scales and doing strength training instead. There's plenty of threads on here that will help you with that.

Speaking of threads, read this one, I think it will benefit you.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013?hl=road+map+2013

melaniecheeks

You say yourself on your profile that you know you're not overweight.

So why are you trying to lose weight?

If it's looks/ shape etc that you're after, then you should be strength and weight training.

And make sure you eat properly, 800 calorie days will not sustain you in the long run.

3foldchord

Ok so i think im probably underestimating the calories and ill have to be more careful with weighing food etc. and the days i ddnt log i did eat but just ddnt log. Even though my calorie intake is supposedly less i do eat to my full i never skip meals. Another thing is i need to exercise harder i noticed its harder to get my heart rate higher. Thankyou so much for your advice all!

1 feeling full is not the best indicator of getting proper nutrition. Eat all your calories and eat your macros (carbs, fat, protein) and watch your sodium.

2- in meting your macros, first change the macros that MFP gives you. Increase your protein and get adequate fats. (Mine are set to approx 40% carbs, 35% fat, 35% protein)

3- you get 30 minutes of cardio 6 days a weak. You do not need to exercise harder in the cardio department (but can if you want and it doesn't make you end up feeling worse..and you eat your exercise calories so you have the energy) instead of upping your cardio, add resistance or strength training. Body weight exercises like lunges, squats, push ups, pull ups. Or lifting weights.

aymi_needstobeslim

You need to eat more for a start, your food diary is depressing. One night you had two fish fingers and 40g of frozen veg for dinner. For lunch one day you had what looked like half a tin of tuna and a spoonful of sweetcorn.

You don't seem to be eating back your exercise calories either - any idea why? MFP doesn't tell you to eat them back to try and sabotage your weight loss. It is a weight loss site (and a successful one).

Even 1200 calories is too little in my opinion; you are not aiming for a big loss so you need to set a 0.5lb a week goal, as too aggressive a deficit will not work for you. Your BMR is 1400 alone. If you call yourself lightly active (which I think you are based on your exercise calories) then you would need to be eating around 1600 calories a day to lose 0.5lb a week.

You also have to bear in mind you are at a healthy weight already, so weight loss for you may well be harder. If it's your shape you are unhappy with, rather than your weight, try ditching the scales and doing strength training instead. There's plenty of threads on here that will help you with that.

Speaking of threads, read this one, I think it will benefit you.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013?hl=road+map+2013

Thanku this helped so much