3 months, ZERO PROGRESS

Mokey41

Lovely.

Thank you to those that helped me out, I will take all of this advice and do my own thing away from here. I appreciate it.

Wait, isn't "doing your own thing" what got you into the situation you're in now? :huh:

Staying on the forums and getting my words picked apart by people that have nothing better to do is time I would rather spend with my weights and my "lying" big butt.

My next suggestion since you don't like any of the others is to seek some professional help to find out why you want to be the victim and keep choosing to say you're being called a liar. I haven't seen anyone say you lied. We've pointed out where you may have made errors in logging or figuring out your caloric needs. Your fixation on being called a liar makes me wonder if the lady doth protest too much?

You ask a question and got some good sound answers mixed with a bit of broscience but you should be able to take from all of it the things you need to know to get on track.

Debbie_Ferr

Here's some GREAT suggestions :

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1103385-what-are-the-top-5-things-you-recomend-to-do-to-lose-weight

Hang in there, girl !! you can do it. Be open to tweaking things abit, modify abit. And you will reach your goals !

cavia

You're eating at maintenance. You've tried eyeballing your portions and not logging consistently. These are your results. If you want different results, you'll need to do something different. 90 days of eyeballing your portions and not logging consistently doesn't work for you. It may work for some, I know it wouldn't work for me and it isn't working for you.

The most common piece of advice you've been given is to weigh your food using a food scale and log consistently. Commit to it for 21 days and if you don't see results, then stop.

Julzanne72

Eat back your exercise calories???? say what????
1200 cal is the minimum intake to avoid starvation mode regardless of how many calories you burn. If you eat back all your exercise calories you will not lose weight. Net calories are the caloric intake minus execise calories I operate at an average calorie intake of 1500-1600 per day minus about 800-900 cal that i burn curing cardio and weight training each day therefore my net calories are 600 and 700 per day I am losing around 2-3 lb per week because of this deficit.(My BMR is 1880 cal). I have lost 30 lb since the beginning of September.
That would never happen if I ate back by exercise calories... you are giving bad advice... please stop.

this is the best response.... OP if you want to lose muscle follow the advice above.. if you want to lose fat you might want to make sure your eating enough which the above advice is not doing...

30lbs since September?? That's like 30lbs in 6 weeks, 5lbs a week?? Really?? Good luck trying to maintain that...that seems like a lot of weight in a very short amount of time. Doesn't sound too healthy.

sabified

Bump to read later- not for the defensiveness but for the advice given

SezxyStef

I said and/or.

if your HRM does not have a chest strap and you are using it for weight training you are over estimating burns.

It doesn't matter the deficet in reality if you are at a deficet you will lose. People on VLCD (very low calories diet) lose weight not in a good way but they still lose.

End of story.

I disagree with you. That is not the reality of human beings. There are many more variables.

Actually this is the reality unless you have thryoid problems or PCOS which in most cases it is known and these questions are not asked.

Ang108

Eat back your exercise calories???? say what????
1200 cal is the minimum intake to avoid starvation mode regardless of how many calories you burn. If you eat back all your exercise calories you will not lose weight. Net calories are the caloric intake minus execise calories I operate at an average calorie intake of 1500-1600 per day minus about 800-900 cal that i burn curing cardio and weight training each day therefore my net calories are 600 and 700 per day I am losing around 2-3 lb per week because of this deficit.(My BMR is 1880 cal). I have lost 30 lb since the beginning of September.
That would never happen if I ate back by exercise calories... you are giving bad advice... please stop.

OMG, even if I would live by such an poorly informed, illogical, unmathematical, irresponsible and unhealthy diet regimen, I would never post it in a fitness and website, because I would be to ashamed.... you are actually giving the bad advise and I would like to encourage you to stop....unless of course you prefer being skinny and of poor health.

Dozer91

Oh my gosh, you poor thing. How frustrating it is to try so hard at something and not get the results you want to. I was there too. I had my 3rd baby and couldn't lose weight. I tried all different things at the gym from running to boxing. I went to weight watchers and kept my calories low. I still lost nothing. So I dropped weight watchers and I saw a nutritionist. She tested my resting metabolism. When I sit around all day I only burn 1100/day. She told me to keep my calories around 1400-1600/day and exercise most days. She told me to focus on building muscle to increase my metabolism because muscle burns more calories than fat. With weight lifting 4 times a week and cardio 2x/week, a whole food non-processed diet, it has helped me lose but I am only losing one pound a week at best. I cheat my meals once a month. This has worked for me but, that is just me it isn't you. The folks on these forums only know what works for them. Go see a nutritionist. At least he/she will tell you if you are doing things right. Go see your doctor too. Many talk about thyroid issues but there are other issues too like food allergies and polycystic ovarian disease that could muck up your weight loss. I admire your ability to stick with this for so long. It's time you heard some new answers. Good Luck!

Lorah122812

There's a lot of advice on these pages since the original post.

The way I understand it is like this...

You need to create a deficit either through decreasing your calorie intake through food, exercise or a combo of both.

Lets say, purely hypothetical numbers here, that you were 200lbs and the calories you consume on a daily basis that maintain that weight are 1,900 (you're not gaining or losing any pounds from day to day). To start losing weight you can cut 500 calories a day out of that to make the total deficit equal out to 3,500 calories by the end of 7 days. This would mean, only through cutting calories, you'd consume 1,400 calories a day. The 3,500 is the amount of calories they have deemed are required to equal one pound of fat loss. Now it's not good for any woman to dip below 1,200 calories a day because you're not giving your body the vital nutrients it requires in order to do your basic resting functions for survival.

Lets say that in some other random case your maintenance calories are equal to 1,600 a day so that you're not losing or gaining weight. If you cut 500 it puts you at 1,100 only using food. You don't want to starve your body so you could eat your 1600 calories of healthy balanced foods and then use exercise to burn the 500 calories a day. If it's too hard to burn 500 calories a day through the exercises then you can use a food and exercise combo of, lets say, a 200 calorie cut (lowering daily intake to 1,400 calories a day) and then cutting out the remaining 300 through your exercise. In theory it will make your net calorie "intake" (daily calories left over = food intake - exercise burn) be 1,100 but your body would rather utilize what's readily available from your food intake that day to give nutrients to your body functions which means your functions are going to burn the calories you ate and the exercise is going to eliminate the rest and dip into your fat stores when that's gone.

For your specific situation you just have to find the right balance for you. I was only cutting calories when I was losing weight because with a new baby I didn't have time for exercise. I was 170lbs trying to go down to 135lbs and I lost from 170lbs to 161lbs by just cutting 450 calories from my daily intake (the amount of calories to maintain 170lbs) and making sure I was getting a good balance of proteins and veggies through three meals a day with two snacks. If I ate something unhealthy I tried to make sure it wouldn't take me over my calories for the day.

There are two things that I came to the realization of. One is that while I do enjoy eating food I have to look at it more as fueling my body rather then satisfying my brain or my emotions. You wouldn't put diesel fuel in your unleaded car, right? Well, don't put the wrong fuel in your body or it won't work correctly. The other thing is that while I enjoy eating Weck's pancakes and bacon that meal carries 606, or more, calories and will leave me hungry in a short amount of time. It's full of simple carbs and fats and sugars and not really any protein or fiber or complex carbs my body can use. On the other hand I can eat a very large tasty omelet with .5 cup of egg whites, .5 a red bell pepper, onions, .5 cup of mushrooms and some beans topped with 4 tbsp of fresh salsa and put any spices on it I fancy that morning and it's only about 270 calories and will keep me more than full until my snack two or three hours later. It has a good mix of protein and nutrients from the veggies and won't give me a mid-morning energy dip.

These are the simple things I have been following and I just take it day by day and amend as necessary since nothing will always work 100% of the time...especially as you start to get closer to your goal weight.

missomgitsica

The caloric intake that MFP recommends has a 500 calorie deficit built in based on your BMR from what I've been made to understand . . . so if you burn 200 calories exercising and eat exactly what's recommended, you actually create a deficit of 700 calories . . . does that make sense? So you can eat back some or part of your exercise calories and still have a deficit. But if you really have done everything as accurately as you say then I'd suggest talking to a Dr. You could have a thyroid issue.

Quieau

I don't know if someone has posted this yet or not because frankly, I don't have the energy to read all ten pages of people making sarcastic remarks back and forth ...

BUT: Wanted to suggest, in case someone hasn't, to make sure you are MEASURING all liquids, but WEIGHING all solids! Sometimes the volume of things in a measuring cup can be much greater than the volume=calorie calculations made in the database. For instance, you might have 4 oz. of cereal in that cup instead of the 3 oz. that are in the cup measured for a calorie count. Things settle and pack in and can fool you into eating more.

The safest is to weigh all solids on a small digital scale and to measure all liquids with measuring cups and scoops, using the actual markings on the cup (my measuring cup holds a full quarter cup more volume than the measured 1-cup line).

Hope this helps! :drinker:

bunnies26

Try having your cheat day be the day you go up to 1500, and the rest of the week stick to 1300. You have to create that deficit.

dezb64

Have you ever had your thyroid checked? Mine is under active and if the medication is too low I could do all the right things and stay the same or worse gain.

lauren3101

Lovely.

Thank you to those that helped me out, I will take all of this advice and do my own thing away from here. I appreciate it.

Wait, isn't "doing your own thing" what got you into the situation you're in now? :huh:

Staying on the forums and getting my words picked apart by people that have nothing better to do is time I would rather spend with my weights and my "lying" big butt.

You have received a lot of very good advice on here that I've noticed you've completely ignored, and you've chosen to concentrate only on the posts that annoyed you. There's no helping some.

njbh86

If I burned more than I took in, then I would be working out for hours

You've misunderstood. Your body burns calories CONSTANTLY. Obviously more so when you're exercising than not, but nonetheless.

You seemed confused by what BMR was. Your BMR is the amount of energy your body requires to function without going wrong. This number (1,333 in your case) is the BARE MINIMUM number of NET calories you need to consume each day to remain healthy - if you don't, vital systems in your body will cease correct function.

A better gauge is TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure). There are TDEE calculators online that can be found using your preferred search engine. This takes into account your height, weight, and some other bits, and if you make sure you set your activity level to "sedentary", can work out how many calories your body burns in a day where you do no exercise at all.

Once you have calculated your TDEE, you can subtract 20% of that, and take that number as the number of calories you should be eating per day when you do no exercise. On days where you do exercise, you can/should! eat back 80-100% of the calories you burn through the exercise. You're still operating on a deficit because you are eating ~20% less than your body is burning.

If you're still struggling to work out what I'm on about then feel free to add me and we can discuss this on walls etc. The forums are great but you get as much bad advice as good. It seems like you've come into this with incorrect information about how it all is supposed to work, that's not a reflection on you in the least, but it does explain why what some of us are saying is a bit like greek to you..!

I'll add you in hopes you take me up on the offer!

Take care

njbh86

deksgrl

The caloric intake that MFP recommends has a 500 calorie deficit built in based on your BMR from what I've been made to understand . . . so if you burn 200 calories exercising and eat exactly what's recommended, you actually create a deficit of 700 calories . . . does that make sense? So you can eat back some or part of your exercise calories and still have a deficit. But if you really have done everything as accurately as you say then I'd suggest talking to a Dr. You could have a thyroid issue.

It has a 500 calorie deficit *if you choose I want to lose 1 pound per week*. If you choose another amount of weight to lose each week, that deficit is different.

ndj1979

I think you are overestimating your burns...300 in a half hour sounds high ...

you may want to take 25% off of our burn number and then not eat those 25% of calories back..

but like others said..you are either over estimating calorie burns, or calories consumed...

if you are in a deficit you will lose....unless you have some underlying medical condition..?

ndj1979

I don't weigh anymore, I've gotten pretty good at knowing by looking since I was weighing at the beginning. I thought that might be my problem, that I was underestimating portion sizes, but I really don't. I tend to be generous with protein since it keeps me happier and full, but I don't eat a whole steak or anything.

ding, ding, ding..there is your problem....

ndj1979

It is confusing look up starvation mode. If you are undereating, your body thinks you are starving. Your net calories on MFP should be your goal. Example: this morning I started off with 1410 calories. OK I walked and burned 262, I had breakfast and water. My NET intake is 78 calories. I have 1332 remaining for the day. My breakfast was 320 calories but after walking, my net is only 78. If I eat my 1410 and stop, I will be under that by 262 calories. You need at least a net of 1200 per day net and when I am closer to 1300 net, it falls off. Good luck.

sorry but this a NO...you can't be eating 1500 calories a day and be in starvation mode...Starvation mode is when you eat nothing for a prolonged period of time (greater than 72 hours) and then your body starts to turn on itself for energy...

please stop spreading the starvation mode myth...

BeautyNBriefcase

Good morning and i applaud you for all the elements you've put into place. do not be discouraged. i didn't see weight loss while either in the first few months.

some recommendations.
1. exercise. mix-it up and take a break or two. for example. do cardio every day. do a class/treadmill/elliptical) 2 x's a week and other days take a 30min walk w/your family. getting your partner involved will aid in the loss and be a great time to be non-digital (i.e. phone, tablet, laptop, etc). other 3 days do weights (back/bi, chest/tris, legs), rest one day.
2. water 64oz is enough - don't go overboard w/100oz.
3. food. if your not diabetic, don't totally eliminate it. our liver will break it down naturally sicne your exercising and not sick.
4. vitamins: may i suggest a multi, vitamin D, Milk thistle

hope this helps.

p.s. are you under any stress? maybe cortisol is ailing you. if you say yes, try Relora from vitamin shoppe. doctor oz recommended to reduce cortisol.

good luck!