What am I doing wrong?

GlennaSkinner

From Glenna Skinner, certified Personal Trainer from Cooper Institute, and licensed Physical Therapist Assistant: You don't mention your age, check with your doctor for checking your hormones. Additionally, get in your 90 ounces of water per day, ensure you are eating clean: all natural, leafy greens, chicken breast, turkey breast, some fish (avoid tuna due to mercury). Also, you say 6 days a week of workout. You could possibly have plateaued in your routine. What's the intensity like? Are you just going through the motions? If so, you are likely not burning enough. Change your workout routine. Fast walk, up to 3 miles 3 times a week, implement resistance training. Don't swing your weights, use controlled manner.
In addition to avoiding "pre-packaged" foods, you gotta say no to eating out. Condiments are FULL of sodium, sauces, cheese, breads, pasta, potatoes.....take those out of your diet. And as the previous posters indicated, ensure you are creating a caloric deficit. Good Luck and feel free to friend me if you like. Glenna

Sarauk2sf

Could you clarify what your weight has done, in weekly increments if you have it, over the last 4 weeks.

When did you start exercising? When did you start logging your food? Also, what are your macros on average?

AprilTom

I'm also breastfeeding a toddler and it should burn some so they say. I'll check out the link you posted. Thank you. I found about Emma-Leigh yesterday and read about her recommendations a bit but I need to have our nanny back to do more reading. Hopefully, in a few days.

Honestly it could be the breastfeeding, try increasing your calories 200-300 to eat back what you would burn breastfeeding. According to MFP and other calculators i need to eat 1500-1600 a day to lose weight but i wasn't losing being so low because I'm breastfeeding, once i increased my calories to 1800 I started loosing again.

kimad

Honestly, at 5'6 and 145 pounds, you're not even that overweight. Losing the pounds is not going to be easy as someone that weighs 400 pounds at your height. Maybe its a set point for your body, in which case, you'll have to power through it. Do you do any weight training? Maybe you should focus on body comp at this point versus raw weight.

I had a few thoughts.

1. ^^ what the other poster said. Your body is in a normal BMI range for your weight so it's just possible you are going to have to just stick it out and wait for it to come!

2. With eating 1400 cals a day and exercising 6 days a week, I would also tend to wonder if you aren't eating enough.

3. I had first thought, maybe you aren't in enough of a deficit but with your exercise I wouldn't go any lower than 1400 cals or you will be starving!!!

So if you can stick it out I would try number 1, and if not, then try number 2.

eldamiano

Probably eating too much. Usually the case...

spintronicus

Just came back home. Kids fell asleep in the car so I'll try to reply as fast as possible before someone wakes up.

Exercise with kids isn't much of a challenge for me in terms of finding time since I can ignore the messy house or the piling up laundry. I'm lucky that they either jump around me trying to do the moves with me or ignore me and play with something else. I exercise in the bedroom and we have a small electronic drum and a keyboard which they only play while I exercise so those keep them busy too. If for some reason they don't let me, I try not to sweat over it and wait for my husband to come home and give me 30mins of free time. Those days we grab something from the freezer that I cooked sometimes months earlier and thaw it for dinner.

I try to follow exercise DVDs since exercise equipment is dangerous around kids unless the weather is nice and we can run outside. When I mean running, I don't mean leisurely walking but breaking a sweat. Same with exercise dvds. I can't work with heavy weights before kids go to bed at night and I've never tried it but I'll think about it.

Glenna, I don't eat out or order take out. People usually don,t believe me when I say that but I really don't. I'm working from home for the past 4 years and before that during grad school I brought my lunch most of the days or grabbed a salad from the cafeteria. I have certain dietary restrictions which don't allow me to eat whatever I can grab without checking the labels.

Editorgrrl, I was diagnosed with hashimoto's before kids after I went to the doctor saying that I was uncontrollably gaining weight and was depressed. My bloodsugar was also fluctuating to dangerously low levels. Weight gain and sugar fluctuations stopped several months after I started the meds and I lost 10 of 20lbs I gained in about 6 months. It wasn't easy. Then i got pregnant. Gained 45 with first, lost 35 before getting pregnant again. After my second child birth, I came home at 175. Joined mfp at 161 (this time around last year I think) and lost till 140 till May. During summer my weight plateaued. I wasn't logging back then but still exercising. I decided to log this time but I keep gaining. I might be due to a dose change so I'm gonna see my endo soon.

I wasn't eating this little when I was losing so maybe I really need some of those burnt calories back.

I don't rely on fitbit for how many calories I burn, though I think it's a more educated guess than one size fits all formulas but I keeps me grounded about my daily movement. I can see if I just sat my bum on all day or was walking around and climbing stairs.

ell_v131

It sounds to me like you need to eat more. If you're not eating back your exercise calories and only eating 1400 calories a day, then you are only netting about 1000 calories a day. I'm also breastfeeding a toddler and my estimate for that is around 150-200 cal a day because she only nurses before nap and bedtime. So you could actually be netting under 1000 cal per day. If your fitbit is telling you to eat around 1700, I would probably pick a number in between and see if there is any improvement. Eating 1550 or 1600 a day for a bit isn't going to derail you with your level of exercise and breastfeeding and might get the scale to move again.

I agree. If your entries are accurate, after deducting your exercise (even if only half) and breastfeeding which is 300 on average, you are eating too little. I am the same height as you and losing on 1600 net, so I eat 1700-1900 daily depending on exercise. I used to eat 1200 and hit a wall, it wasn't until I upped my calories to 1500 that the weight started coming off.

Try going up for a few weeks. You could gain a bit (water weight) so don't get discouraged. It's What's best for you and your baby.

wahmx3

You need to eat more, likely as much as 500 calories a day more....eat back your exercise calories and if you are breastfeeding more than once a day, your body needs more nutrients for this. Do you track your sodium? How much water do you drink? Overall, eat more every day!

Try weighing your food. You probably are eating way more than you think. I'm sorry but I just don't believe a breast feeding mom is only eating 1400 calories a day. You would be ravenous. You need to eat more, you and your baby need nutrients.

Also, increase your water intake and lower your salt intake.

At this weight a few pounds of excess fat (really, you are only 15-20 pounds overweight) comes off very slow. Expect no more than .5 pound a week.

kgeyser

Just because you aren't eating out, grazing, or eating junk food doesn't mean that your numbers can't be way off in terms of what you are actually eating. Weight gain and loss is a numbers game. It's the same number of calories from macronutrients no matter what the food source. Eating whole foods and making your own food is better than eating processed for a number of reasons, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you're not eating more than you think.

spintronicus

I didn't imply that I must be eating within range just because I don't eat out or graze. I said I don't eat out since someone mentioned that I shouldn't and I said I don't eat junk food or graze since someone gave an oreo example. I also mentioned not grazing to clarify that I was logging every single food that was going into my mouth. I was measuring by volume for soups etc since I cook with weighed dry ingredients, eyeballed or measurd by volume veggies and measured meats if I add any. Honestly, I don't see myself sustaining my energy if I eat less. I'll try upping my calories just a bit given that I take my exercise seriously and the fact that I don't eat back my exercise calories.

spicypepper

Are you counting your breastfeeding calories too? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you truly weighing out your food?

it seems to me like you're not fueling your body enough for the calories burned.

spintronicus

I'm not counting bfing calories. I never thought I should since YDS doesn't rely on me for much nutrition anymore. I probably don't get enough sleep, too. I go to bed around 1-2am and wake up around 7am. I'm working from home and otherwise, I can't keep up with work. Although, we recently hired a nanny to take care of the kids half of the day while I work so if it goes well, I'll probably get more rest.

spintronicus

So here's my plan:

1. I'll try to be extra careful with measuring/weighing the food and log in that way.
2. Will take levothyroxine an hour before breakfast with a full glass of water instead of just a sip and 45 mins.
3. Will up my calories to 1700 given the OK of the nutritionist
4. Will continue with exercise, trying to burn around 500. If I burn significantly less than 500, I'll drop that amount from my daily caloric intake.

I wasn't taken the fitbit adjustment into account anyway so I'll continue to do so.

Hopefully, I'll update in a few weeks if anything changes. Thanks for the suggestions!

spintronicus

I'll also be careful about my water intake. I have a humongous Klean Kanteen, 64 oz I think. I usually finish one and refill midday but I'll put it somewhere else to prevent anyone else helping themselves.

RGv2

Have you tried measuring yourself? You might have lost inches, but not weight. If you are working out you are gaining muscle, which is smaller than fat, but weighs more. So, instead of going by the scale, measure yourself.

Yes and no. Yes to use the tape measure to help measure progress as weight loss isn't linear. No on gaining muscle. If the op is on in her calories she isn't eating nearly enough to be building any muscle, plus the op is only doing cardio work.

editorgrrl

So here's my plan:

1. I'll try to be extra careful with measuring/weighing the food and log in that way.
2. Will take levothyroxine an hour before breakfast with a full glass of water instead of just a sip and 45 mins.
3. Will up my calories to 1700 given the OK of the nutritionist
4. Will continue with exercise, trying to burn around 500. If I burn significantly less than 500, I'll drop that amount from my daily caloric intake.

I wasn't taken the fitbit adjustment into account anyway so I'll continue to do so.

Hopefully, I'll update in a few weeks if anything changes. Thanks for the suggestions!

Did you try any of the above? Do you feel any better? Have you lost any weight?

jimmmer

Eat more to make sure your child gets the nutrition they need.

Then afterwards, worry about how you look.

Like seriously, you have an infant who is dependant upon you for their every need - nut up.

rockmama72

I'm 5'6 and last time around when I hit about 150, my weight loss stalled. I added strength training, and after a few weeks the scale started moving again.

blueneptune7228

Remember, too that muscle is heavier than fat. This means if you are building muscle with strength training exercises the scale may not move much in the way you want. Measure your inches lost from chest, waist, and hips every two weeks, you may find you are losing inches and not lbs. Good Luck!

mariabraceyrobinson

Have your thyroid checked out. That maybe the cause.