Why am I not losing weight??

loribethrice

I have been following a 1580 calorie diet for the past almost 21 days. I do my food diary daily and I am usually either under or just a bit over and when I'm over I use my recumbent bike to work those calories off. I have a chronic illness that causes me exercise intolerance so I am unable to work out daily. I haven't even lost a pound yet. Does anyone know why??

Frankiane

Are you eating healthy or just eating the calorie amounts? Even if you only eat the 1500 calories you may not lose weight because of other factors like the carb content or fat content. There is a report on MyFitness pal that tells you how many of each you should have. I would look at that. I have problems losing if I go over my carbs that are reccomended. Also If you eat an apple every day it will help because of the fiber that is in the apple.

SherryTeach

The most obvious reasons are:

a. you aren't measuring accurately and are really eating more than you think.
b. you have incorrectly figured how many calories you actually burn in a day and are eating at maintenance and not at a deficit.

I'd always look at the obvious possibilities first. Carb or fat content doesn't really matter. 1500 calories of Twinkies and 1500 calories of broccoli. One may have more nutritents, but they are both the same amount of caloric energy.

arlenem1974

we would be able to help you more if you opened your food diary.

susannamarie

The most obvious reasons are:

a. you aren't measuring accurately and are really eating more than you think.
b. you have incorrectly figured how many calories you actually burn in a day and are eating at maintenance and not at a deficit.

I'd always look at the obvious possibilities first. Carb or fat content doesn't really matter. 1500 calories of Twinkies and 1500 calories of broccoli. One may have more nutritents, but they are both the same amount of caloric energy.

Yep. Are you weighing all your food? Are you making sure you aren't forgetting any condiments or salad dressing or things like that?

QuietBloom

As the others have already said, under estimating calories consumed, or over estimating calories burned.

Are you weighing your food?
How are you calculating calories burned by exercise?

DebbieLyn63

I have been following a 1580 calorie diet for the past almost 21 days. I do my food diary daily and I am usually either under or just a bit over and when I'm over I use my recumbent bike to work those calories off. I have a chronic illness that causes me exercise intolerance so I am unable to work out daily. I haven't even lost a pound yet. Does anyone know why??

Would you happen to be very short? Sounds like you are pretty sedentary? If so, then your TDEE might not be much higher than 1580. If you only have 100 calories deficit, then small miscalculations can wipe that out easily.

Don't know what your chronic illness is, but it may lower your metabolism rate.
Have you been restricting calories before the past 3 weeks, or did you just start then? What was your calorie level before you dropped them? Have you lost weight before the past 3 weeks?

ETA reading your previous posts you apparently have been on 1200 cal level recently. If you have upped your calories almost 400 calories a day, then that would explain why you aren't losing now. It may take a while to lose any. Be patient, and make sure you are measuring and logging correctly. If that doesn't work, then try lowering them 100 cals and do that for a couple of weeks.

MaiLinna

I lost a lot of weight really quickly, then stayed at a plateau. Kinda stuck here myself.

AlongCame_Molly

Are you eating healthy or just eating the calorie amounts? Even if you only eat the 1500 calories you may not lose weight because of other factors like the carb content or fat content. There is a report on MyFitness pal that tells you how many of each you should have. I would look at that. I have problems losing if I go over my carbs that are reccomended. Also If you eat an apple every day it will help because of the fiber that is in the apple.

Um, WHAT??

Please do not listen to this, is person is clearly very misinformed. Carb and fat content of food have nothing to do with weight loss. If you are eating at a calorie deficit, you WILL lose weight, no matter what those calories are from.

That being said, I suggest you double-down on your food tracking, it can be really easy to overestimate a little here and there, and over 21 days, that can really add up. Invest in a kitchen scale, if you don't already have one (mine was $5) and be meticulous in every bite you eat. See if that helps.

Cindyinpg

As several people have already said, get a food scale, one that weighs in grams and weigh everything. Also be very careful in eating back exercise calories. I have a recumbent bike and use it often, but I have found that MFP overestimates my burns on that by double, even triple. This is an excellent read about logging accuracy.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think?page=1

loribethrice

I eat the same things everyday due to my selective eating disorder. For breakfast I eat 2 eggs, 2 pieces of toast, and 3 pieces of bacon. I eat that same thing for dinner. And for lunch I have either a cup noodles (for the sodium) or a bowl of cereal with a cup of ultra skim milk.

I have to eat up to 10,000mg of salt a day due to my chronic illness because otherwise my blood pressure goes too low and I also end up dehydrated. I drink 6 32oz bottles of Smart Water a day and no other liquids other than the cup of ultra skim milk. I also have a 100 calorie pack of Goldfish for a snack.

I have my activity level set to 0 since most days I cannot exercise although I have to walk a lot at work because of my job.

loribethrice

I am 5'9 and a half and if it helps I haven't gained any weight either. Just haven't lost any at all. Before I got sick I was able to do an hour a day of cardio 5 days a week and I did weights 3 days a week and had lost 80lbs. Now that I can't work out I can't seem to lose any weight. I have heart, stomach, and cortisol issues and I also have issues with insulin due to PCOS. I don't know if all these things are just stacking the odds against me or what.

naenae2517

I'm in the same boat kinda. I lost a bunch of weight at first then this last week I haven't lost any. Why?????

loribethrice

I have been following a 1580 calorie diet for the past almost 21 days. I do my food diary daily and I am usually either under or just a bit over and when I'm over I use my recumbent bike to work those calories off. I have a chronic illness that causes me exercise intolerance so I am unable to work out daily. I haven't even lost a pound yet. Does anyone know why??

Would you happen to be very short? Sounds like you are pretty sedentary? If so, then your TDEE might not be much higher than 1580. If you only have 100 calories deficit, then small miscalculations can wipe that out easily.

Don't know what your chronic illness is, but it may lower your metabolism rate.
Have you been restricting calories before the past 3 weeks, or did you just start then? What was your calorie level before you dropped them? Have you lost weight before the past 3 weeks?

ETA reading your previous posts you apparently have been on 1200 cal level recently. If you have upped your calories almost 400 calories a day, then that would explain why you aren't losing now. It may take a while to lose any. Be patient, and make sure you are measuring and logging correctly. If that doesn't work, then try lowering them 100 cals and do that for a couple of weeks.

I went to a website just now for that TDEE thing and it says that my BMR is 1727 calories/day and my TDEE is 2072 calories/day. I'm not quite sure what that means!

Cindyinpg

I am 5'9 and a half and if it helps I haven't gained any weight either. Just haven't lost any at all. Before I got sick I was able to do an hour a day of cardio 5 days a week and I did weights 3 days a week and had lost 80lbs. Now that I can't work out I can't seem to lose any weight. I have heart, stomach, and cortisol issues and I also have issues with insulin due to PCOS. I don't know if all these things are just stacking the odds against me or what.

Yikes, sounds like you'll probably have to talk to your doctor about it. You definitely want to focus mostly on your health right now. :flowerforyou:

loribethrice

I'm in the same boat.

Sorry! It sucks so bad.

mmipanda

try cutting gluten out of your diet. I've heard it works wonders with managing PCOS symptoms, and theres a good chance it could be holding you back weightloss-wise.

It should be pretty easy to substitute in gluten-free versions of food you're eating.

loribethrice

I am 5'9 and a half and if it helps I haven't gained any weight either. Just haven't lost any at all. Before I got sick I was able to do an hour a day of cardio 5 days a week and I did weights 3 days a week and had lost 80lbs. Now that I can't work out I can't seem to lose any weight. I have heart, stomach, and cortisol issues and I also have issues with insulin due to PCOS. I don't know if all these things are just stacking the odds against me or what.

Yikes, sounds like you'll probably have to talk to your doctor about it. You definitely want to focus mostly on your health right now. :flowerforyou:

'

The doctors are as confused as I am. It's like my body just decided that it's going to hold on to as much weight as it can and not let me let them go.

leviclampitt

Sounds like water retention.

3 questions to ask yourself:

1. Do you sleep 8 hours a night?
2. Are you allergic or sensitive to anything in your environment?
3. Do you think you may have actually dropped your calories too low?

When your body is stressed, it retains water. Those 3 questions (plus emotional stress) are generally what keeps the scale from moving. I am sure you illness has something to do with it (what is it by the way?).

loribethrice

Sounds like water retention.

3 questions to ask yourself:

1. Do you sleep 8 hours a night?
2. Are you allergic or sensitive to anything in your environment?
3. Do you think you may have actually dropped your calories too low?

When your body is stressed, it retains water. Those 3 questions (plus emotional stress) are generally what keeps the scale from moving. I am sure you illness has something to do with it (what is it by the way?).

It depends on the night. I definitely do not do it every night...some nights I only get like 4-6. I am allergic to trees, grass, pollen, dust, mold, dogs, cats, cockroaches, horses, cod fish, and latex. And according to that TDEE thing I am 100 calories under where I should be a day...so maybe?

My illness is dysautonomia. It is a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. My branch of dysautonomia is Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. My BP is all over the place and my HR is usually above 90-100 even while laying down. I also have GERD, PCOS, IBS, and chronic migraine.

tmauck4472

Are you eating healthy or just eating the calorie amounts? Even if you only eat the 1500 calories you may not lose weight because of other factors like the carb content or fat content. There is a report on MyFitness pal that tells you how many of each you should have. I would look at that. I have problems losing if I go over my carbs that are reccomended. Also If you eat an apple every day it will help because of the fiber that is in the apple.

Um, WHAT??

Please do not listen to this, is person is clearly very misinformed. Carb and fat content of food have nothing to do with weight loss. If you are eating at a calorie deficit, you WILL lose weight, no matter what those calories are from.

That being said, I suggest you double-down on your food tracking, it can be really easy to overestimate a little here and there, and over 21 days, that can really add up. Invest in a kitchen scale, if you don't already have one (mine was $5) and be meticulous in every bite you eat. See if that helps.

I actually lose better keeping my COMPLEX carbs to a min. She may be the same. Just because you don't have an issue with carbs does NOT mean that someone else doesn't. I also found that cutting out those carbs have helped me with my sugar cravings.