1200 calories, exercise, but no weight loss!!

shayemimi

when I started weighing my foods was when I REALLY started seeing what the serving sizes actually were, AND when I started seeing the scale go down!

And fit people may not have to weigh everything, but that's because they already are eating what their bodies need to stay fit (along with their movement,etc). When you are trying to REDUCE you have to find the balance for YOU. And it looks like you are miscalculating just enough to keep you around the maintenance mark. It really does add up- if you are worried that weighing and measuring more accurately means you won't get enough food, just try eating more of the foods that are naturally low in calories like unprocessed veggies and lean proteins, and less of the processed, low volume foods. It works!

jjplato

I am sure that works great for those that have the time and desire, but I just don't see myself weighing a spoonful of peanut butter or a tsp of sugar. If the calories listed on food packages is that far off, how do I know I can trust my scale? Or how do I know if the weight of that particular food is really the calories the package says? I guess I just don't believe that getting that obsessed about what the exact calories were in my portion is necessary. If it was 10 calories more....oh well. Maybe it was 12 calories less...It just seems that it would all come out in the wash. I feel that my calorie intake is low enough that even if I added in that bite of cake and it was 200 calories (it's not), I should still be losing something. And no disrespect to those of you that do weigh everything. I admire you, but it's just not something I will ever do.

and it only took 8 pages for it to come to this conclusion ... sigh ... you are currently eating at maintenance and it's not 1200 cals like you think it is, you are eating more then you think and as you are experiencing it is not just coming out in the wash

I agree. Everybody seems to undercount when they don't weigh everything. And you'll forget about that handful of chips you had, that "teaspoon" of creamer was really a tablespoon, etc, etc. Here's a simple rule that I use if I'm trying to drop weight: if I can't be bothered to weigh it, I don't eat it.

I measure out my creamer with a measuring spoon. I counted out my chips. They were the uniform round ones to those of you that are going to tell me how far off that can be. Weighing everything that I eat is not sustainable for me. I don't know anyone that does that, and I have a lot of fit friends. Just sayin.....I don't think it is a requirement for weight loss, at least not for everyone. I do measure, but weighing a spoonful of sugar is just making me shake my head. How about if I don't fill my measuring spoons and cups all of the way to the top, to account for all of those calories I am missing?

I weigh just about everything (at least once), to be sure that the three cups of whole wheat flour I'm using is really X grams, for instance. Your comment about it all "coming out in the wash" is what caught a lot of people's attention, I think, and trying to fudge here and there to make up for the calories you're "missing" probably isn't going to work. A lot of people think that "bite of cake" they didn't count shouldn't make a difference. In my opinion, if you want to lose weight - especially if you're not having any success, you've *got* to be anal about this stuff. Same thing with your exercise calories - you have to be diligent about accuracy. Many people over-estimate.

sillysquirrel68

In a nutshell, it seems that the majority of people responding to my post feel that I am eating a lot more calories than what I am logging. I am logging everything and I don't think it would be healthy for me to eat less than what I am eating now. So, basically I have learned that I should eat more, I should eat less, I should work out more, I should work out less, I am paranoid, I may have an ED, I need to change what I am doing, I need to stick to what I am doing, etc. I am more confused now than I was when I originally posted this! Ha Ha!!! To those of you that are truly here to help....THANK YOU!! And to those of you that find joy in being rude and sarcastic and have no desire to be helpful, get a life!

Mr_Knight

So, basically I have learned that I should eat more, I should eat less, I should work out more, I should work out less, I am paranoid, I may have an ED, I need to change what I am doing, I need to stick to what I am doing, etc. I am more confused now than I was when I originally posted this! Ha Ha!!!

Welcome to MFP.

3foldchord

You do weigh some foods on a scale, but you should weight everything.
Weigh out those chips instead of counting 14 of them to eat.
Put your bread on the scale, Tare to 0, then add the mayo or peanut butter, and weight it.
Weigh the teaspoon' of sugar.
Most nutrition labels have both the volume (cup, teaspoon) and the weight for the serving. Use the weight information.

And have a check up with your doctor if you haven,t recently, just in case it is a thyroid or other issue.

I am sure that works great for those that have the time and desire, but I just don't see myself weighing a spoonful of peanut butter or a tsp of sugar. If the calories listed on food packages is that far off, how do I know I can trust my scale? Or how do I know if the weight of that particular food is really the calories the package says? I guess I just don't believe that getting that obsessed about what the exact calories were in my portion is necessary. If it was 10 calories more....oh well. Maybe it was 12 calories less...It just seems that it would all come out in the wash. I feel that my calorie intake is low enough that even if I added in that bite of cake and it was 200 calories (it's not), I should still be losing something. And no disrespect to those of you that do weigh everything. I admire you, but it's just not something I will ever do.

I don't eat peanut butter.

Well in that casement never mind, just continue to do the same thing over & over that isn't succeeding and expect different results next time,

sillysquirrel68

You do weigh some foods on a scale, but you should weight everything.
Weigh out those chips instead of counting 14 of them to eat.
Put your bread on the scale, Tare to 0, then add the mayo or peanut butter, and weight it.
Weigh the teaspoon' of sugar.
Most nutrition labels have both the volume (cup, teaspoon) and the weight for the serving. Use the weight information.

And have a check up with your doctor if you haven,t recently, just in case it is a thyroid or other issue.

I am sure that works great for those that have the time and desire, but I just don't see myself weighing a spoonful of peanut butter or a tsp of sugar. If the calories listed on food packages is that far off, how do I know I can trust my scale? Or how do I know if the weight of that particular food is really the calories the package says? I guess I just don't believe that getting that obsessed about what the exact calories were in my portion is necessary. If it was 10 calories more....oh well. Maybe it was 12 calories less...It just seems that it would all come out in the wash. I feel that my calorie intake is low enough that even if I added in that bite of cake and it was 200 calories (it's not), I should still be losing something. And no disrespect to those of you that do weigh everything. I admire you, but it's just not something I will ever do.

I don't eat peanut butter.

Well in that casement never mind, just continue to do the same thing over & over that isn't succeeding and expect different results next time,

Thank you for your input. However, I am not here looking for sarcasm. I was just innocently looking for some advice. If that isn't something that you can offer, please don't post. Thank you.

gigglesinthesun

and it only took 8 pages for it to come to this conclusion ... sigh ... you are currently eating at maintenance and it's not 1200 cals like you think it is, you are eating more then you think and as you are experiencing it is not just coming out in the wash

I disagree. I measure. I just don't weigh most things other than meat . If you are saying that I'm not losing weight because I didn't weigh my tortilla chips yesterday and that resulted in me eating 13 instead of the 12 I should have had, or that the 1/8 cup of granola I measured out was really 70 calories instead of 60 because I didn't weigh it, I will have to disagree with you.

you can disagree all you want. Your body is keeping a pretty accurate food diary and it's saying you are eating at maintenance. Unless you have medical issues your TDEE is not going to be 1200 or less, so if you have been the same weight for the last year, you have been eating more.

2spamagnet

In a nutshell, it seems that the majority of people responding to my post feel that I am eating a lot more calories than what I am logging. I am logging everything and I don't think it would be healthy for me to eat less than what I am eating now. So, basically I have learned that I should eat more, I should eat less, I should work out more, I should work out less, I am paranoid, I may have an ED, I need to change what I am doing, I need to stick to what I am doing, etc. I am more confused now than I was when I originally posted this! Ha Ha!!! To those of you that are truly here to help....THANK YOU!! And to those of you that find joy in being rude and sarcastic and have no desire to be helpful, get a life!

Crikey. Keep logging like you have been, and cut more calories. Simple. If your food measurements are off, cutting more will solve that issue (by bringing you to a true deficit). Don't need to change HOW you have been measuring, just eat less. **Eating less food always works to lose fat. Try it for a couple weeks and see what the results are.

Sounds like you are working out, so as long as you get at least 0.8 grams of protein per lb that you weigh, you should be able to sustain or gain muscle (despite what people may think) while you lose fat.

**If you have more than the essential body fat levels of 10% - 13% (for a woman), cutting below 1200 is not a problem. You will continue to function doing your daily routine because your body converts body fat (stored energy) to do this. If it did not, we would pass out when we were out of food, and we would not wake up. Thankfully, our bodies magically do this for us, so losing fat is really a simple math problem. Calories in/calories out.

hedgiie

that's magic

ereck44

Use a scale that weighs in grams. Measuring cups are so subjective as are tablespoons, teaspoons. You should mainly measure things that come in packages. Try not to eat at fast food restaurants for a couple of months--they underestimate the calories and those foods are full of salt. I only weigh fruit like apples, pears, and bananas. Vegetables have virtually no calories, but if you put butter or cheese, then yes, weigh that. Weighing takes a few seconds--I have been doing it for almost a year and have lost 32 pounds this year.

You can do this. Keep an open mind.

_Jessicastro

How are you doing it??
I'm having a hard time with 1500 calories a day. I'm having a hard time figuring out foods and it does not help that my oven does not work.

Qski

I think I your post where you list all the conflicting advice sounds farcical but that is essentially what you should do since you want your measuring style to remain constant and sustainable for you. Any of the suggestions could work for you that don't involve changing the way you measure.

If you try one option at a time for a couple of weeks you won't do significant damage to yourself and you can evaluate how each change works or does not for your situation.

Some people on this site can be harsh or mean but even those are trying to help it just comes across as if its bashing because they have tried to help lots of people before and each helpful post gets more and more diluted as time goes on. No-one would persist as much as they do or get as passionate about what they are saying if they didn't really believe what they are trying to tell you.

Raindrop_

sillysquirrel68, I wish you Good Luck on your weight loss adventure. I'm not too sure how much help you actually got here! But honestly, I do hope the scales starts to move in the right direction for you real soon!

SloMo47

I had the same problem. For me, it was the carbs that were too high. I had to reduce my carb intake, and increase my protein and fat intake. I went from losing nothing in 3 months to about a 17 pound loss in an equal amount of time. Of course, this is all done under the watchful eye of a healthcare professional.

sammieloft91

Reduce ur carb intake.Also those beach body workouts tend to make.u gain muscle. I did the insanity one and put on weight which was actually muscle.

brower47

In a nutshell, it seems that the majority of people responding to my post feel that I am eating a lot more calories than what I am logging. I am logging everything and I don't think it would be healthy for me to eat less than what I am eating now. So, basically I have learned that I should eat more, I should eat less, I should work out more, I should work out less, I am paranoid, I may have an ED, I need to change what I am doing, I need to stick to what I am doing, etc. I am more confused now than I was when I originally posted this! Ha Ha!!! To those of you that are truly here to help....THANK YOU!! And to those of you that find joy in being rude and sarcastic and have no desire to be helpful, get a life!

Well that was rude.

FlaxMilk

In a nutshell, it seems that the majority of people responding to my post feel that I am eating a lot more calories than what I am logging. I am logging everything and I don't think it would be healthy for me to eat less than what I am eating now. So, basically I have learned that I should eat more, I should eat less, I should work out more, I should work out less, I am paranoid, I may have an ED, I need to change what I am doing, I need to stick to what I am doing, etc. I am more confused now than I was when I originally posted this! Ha Ha!!! To those of you that are truly here to help....THANK YOU!! And to those of you that find joy in being rude and sarcastic and have no desire to be helpful, get a life!

You left off going to the doctor. If you really feel you are not miscalculating in any kind of way, then you need to see your doctor for some tests. If you don't get any answers, ask if they can recommend a place to get your RMR or BMR tested, so you know what your body needs.

I think that you logging is going to make a big difference for you. Do log those bites of cake, and do consider overestimating for takeout or restaurants, because what's on the website is often not what is actually served. You're right that weighing is not essential for weight loss, but since you aren't losing, at least do what you suggested, which is not to fill your measuring scoops and spoons to the top.

The only other possible idea I have for you is to eat only prepackaged foods, so there is no estimating error. While packaged foods are allowed to be 20% off, if you are eating as little as you are, that won't make enough of a difference to matter. Actually, if everything you ate was 20% underestimated, that would put you right where MFP says you should be, in the 1400 calorie range.

For what it's worth, I don't think you are paranoid, and I don't think you have an ED. It's reasonable to not want to eat more when you haven't been losing any weight.

pinksparklefairy

Sorry if I missed the answer to this - but how long have you been on this diet?

I keep on failing due to the boredom factor. However, the one time I truly stuck to the plan for a solid 2.5 months, religiously weighed things, kept to the daily calorie limits (no cheating, no under-eating!) and kept up the workouts (just high-impact cardio back then, I did not even use weights at all) I successfully lost weight. This was with a diagnosed under-active thyroid, which I do not believe makes much impact in terms of metabolism.

However, it was very SLOW. Some weeks I did not lose anything at all. It's tough to see that on the scales when you have been working so hard and avoiding so many temptations. But other weeks I finally lost a pound or two as a small reward. It is very hard not to get discouraged and I think the fact results are so slow is why dieting is such a challenge.

tmauck4472

In a nutshell, it seems that the majority of people responding to my post feel that I am eating a lot more calories than what I am logging. I am logging everything and I don't think it would be healthy for me to eat less than what I am eating now. So, basically I have learned that I should eat more, I should eat less, I should work out more, I should work out less, I am paranoid, I may have an ED, I need to change what I am doing, I need to stick to what I am doing, etc. I am more confused now than I was when I originally posted this! Ha Ha!!! To those of you that are truly here to help....THANK YOU!! And to those of you that find joy in being rude and sarcastic and have no desire to be helpful, get a life!

Well that was rude.

Not rude, just the truth. Everyone has their own way and their own reasons for telling her what she might be doing wrong. My suggestion is to take what you think may help you and leave the rest on these pages. It's not worth the effort of arguing with people who are passionate about their way of dieting, even if you think it's wrong for you. Pick a way, try it for two weeks if it doesn't work pick a new way.

3foldchord

Well in that casement never mind, just continue to do the same thing over & over that isn't succeeding and expect different results next time,

Thank you for your input. However, I am not here looking for sarcasm. I was just innocently looking for some advice. If that isn't something that you can offer, please don't post. Thank you.

I did offer advice. Weight food, see your doctor.
Other people offered advice..consume fewer calories, log differently, eat less, see a doctor, etc

You are not taking advice.

If you're not gonna take advice why ask for advice?