Not losing and even gaining!

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  • 04ward
    04ward Posts: 196 Member
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    The scales is not an accurate measure of weight loss in the beginning. Did you measure? Measure under your breasts, at the smallest part of your waist, just below your belly button and your hips and thighs. I think you'll be pleased in a week if you keep it up and remeasure. I have a "Note Keeping" app on my phone and I put the date and the measurements and it is encouraging to see those numbers going down even if the scales doesn't move like I think it should. Yesterday, I got on the scales and it showed I gained .4 so I got off and then got back on and it was at .2 (and I have a quality scales!) Don't get discouraged. I did that last year when I started this and then I ended up gaining back all I had lost plus another 10#. I'm determined to keep at it this time. When I'm hungry, I though some frozen broccoli in the microwave with just a little water and you can eat 2 whole cups for just 50 calories! Add just a little bit of low sodium soy sauce and it's delicious. I also throw in a few baby carrots to cook because they are also pretty low in calories and filling. Also, give this a read. It's long but print it out and study it. Good luck! Stay Positive! http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1017045-a-very-interesting-and-informational-read-on-deficits
  • bac219
    bac219 Posts: 16 Member
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    CARBS! That's my biggest dilemma. I know cutting them will probably work (anyone I know who did that lost weight, quick). I just didn't want to have to cut out things I really like. I thought I was being good. I don't go overboard when I eat them and I ALWAYS have wheat or multigrain.
  • ken2100289
    ken2100289 Posts: 1 Member
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    You say you are walking 45 minutes 3X per week. Is this new? If you were sedentary and just recently started walking, you are increasing muscle mass. This is good weight to gain, since the more muscle mass you have the more calories you burn at a resting rate.
  • AmykinsCatfood
    AmykinsCatfood Posts: 599 Member
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    Had you eaten/been moving at all before you weighed today? Even just getting up and moving changes how much we weigh from day to day. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after you've gone to the bathroom and are not wearing anything. This will give you the most accurate weight.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    I just looked at a few days of your diary, but on those days you were eating very little during the day and taking in about 50% of your calories for dinner. That kind of pattern can mess up your body chemistry and it can make it very difficult to stick with an eating plan over the long term. It also can cause blood sugar spikes and then crashes, and can make you crave carbs or sugar. (If I tried to go all day on 500 - 600 calories, I'd be ready to kill someone and eat them by dinnertime). Could you try spacing your calories out evenly throughout the day? You might have more energy (and be able to work out longer/harder).
  • moliva4
    moliva4 Posts: 29
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    Try doing measurements. My weight hasn't really changed in the last 2 weeks; however, I've lost 2" around my belly-button - had I just been going by the scale, I'd probably be a bit discouraged by now.
  • bac219
    bac219 Posts: 16 Member
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    Interesting. I was wondering if I needed to try to focus on not only how much and what I was eating but also WHEN I was eating them.
  • 1princesswarrior
    1princesswarrior Posts: 1,242 Member
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    You are probably eating more than you think. A lot of your diary entries are in fractions, cups and tablespoons, etc. Weigh all of your solids and measure all of your liquids, it makes a huge difference. There are numerous videos on YouTube and a lot of forums about this already if you search the topic.

    You can try cutting carbs if you want but that has more to do with body composition than weight loss. Weight loss is a matter of calories in vs. calories out. Most of the time I eat the majority of my calories right before bed and you can look at my ticker, and that's since May of 2013 when I actually got serious. There are many people on here who lost weight without any exercise, that's for physical fitness so don't think you need to be at the gym for 3 hours a day either.

    I'm not saying take a food scale to a restaurant (although I'd like to sometime just to see people react) but that is the one thing you should always have out on your kitchen counter. Look at the labels on the foods you eat, they will usually have a weight under the serving size and with some searching you can almost always find an entry in the database that goes by weight, if not, create a new one. It only take a few minutes.

    Remember you are doing this for you, be completely selfish about it, you're worth it.
  • JenMaselli
    JenMaselli Posts: 83 Member
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    As long as you are eating withing your calorie range and especially if you are helping yourself along with exercise, it will start to come off. Keep doing what you're doing. Also, I wouldn't stress about what time to cut off your food, it really doesn't make a difference. If you save 100-200 calories a day so you can have a snack in bed it won't make a difference, as long as you are watching the cals over the course of your day and really across the week (a bit over one day, a bit under another) you can eat after 7:00. Don't restrict yourself like that. Something that really helped move my weight loss along was yoga. Hot challenging yoga burns a ton of calories and it really helped push things along, plus it relieves stress and builds strength. I would definitely suggest trying a class or two. Good luck!

    ETA: Someone in the comments suggested spreading your calories out more. Yes, this! Spread your eating out evenly like 200-300 breakfast, 300-400 lunch, 400 dinner and 2-3 80-100 snacks. Then you never bottom out completely. It can be tough to plan it out but it works!
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    I have been using a scale and scanning bar codes. I thought I was being very thorough. I don't eat anything past 7pm and I walk about 45 minutes 3 days a week.

    You say you've been using a scale, but how often are you using it?

    Looking at your diary, you aren't weighing a lot.

    Examples:

    Banana is being entered based on size.
    Milk is being entered based on measuring cup.
    Cereal being measured with measuring cup.
    Your beef slider entered as a patty.
    A roll of bread as a roll
    Your cherry tomato per cherry tomato.
    Bacon as slices.
    Crackers per cracker.


    Even if a serving says 12 chips...it will also say something like (27g) with it. Go by the weight because many times, I've measured out those "12 chips" (for example) and it turns out to be more than just 1 serving per the 27g.

    Use your food scale for everything that you can. Weigh out the banana, the salad, crackers, etc. Because right now, there really is a good chance you are eating more than you think.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    I just looked at a few days of your diary, but on those days you were eating very little during the day and taking in about 50% of your calories for dinner. That kind of pattern can mess up your body chemistry and it can make it very difficult to stick with an eating plan over the long term. It also can cause blood sugar spikes and then crashes, and can make you crave carbs or sugar. (If I tried to go all day on 500 - 600 calories, I'd be ready to kill someone and eat them by dinnertime). Could you try spacing your calories out evenly throughout the day? You might have more energy (and be able to work out longer/harder).

    Meal timing is irrelevant. I eat a majority of my calories in the evening and have been fine.
  • mulecanter
    mulecanter Posts: 1,792 Member
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    You are getting some good advice, I'll pile on. You should expect a saw-toothed weight loss graph much like the Dow Jones Average. Water is the big variable, remember it's a little over 8 pounds a gallon so it doesn't take much. I lose 2-3 pounds overnight some nights just from exhaling and trips to the bathroom (I assume you are drinking more water, right?). I focus on net calories, MFP does a good job of calculating your caloric requirement to lose at a goal rate (say 2lbs/week), you need to keep that net calorie number in the green (not red and over budget). Put more focus on exercise and set some fitness goals. If you are walking, running, lifting weights, riding a bike, etc., you are not eating and you are burning more calories. Your calorie budget goes up and you can eat more and you will be more satisfied during the evening danger hours. Plus, when you exercise you are out there living and not fixating on your hunger or your scale. Like others have mentioned, I leave some calories on the table to allow for measurement/logging errors. Change your expectations, look at your loss over a month or two, not a week or two.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    Interesting. I was wondering if I needed to try to focus on not only how much and what I was eating but also WHEN I was eating them.

    Honestly, that was the very first thing that jumped out at me. It might take some planning to get used to having more food available during the day, but other than that it's a relatively easy adjustment to make, and it would go a long way to help stop any carb cravings. Also, could you bulk up your breakfast and lunch by adding veggies? A lot of your early meals seemed like they would be pretty small, volume-wise, as well. Adding veggies to eggs or a salad in addition to what you're eating for lunch wouldn't add many calories at all, but it would help you feel fuller longer (and make it easier to stick to your eating plan).
  • timberowl
    timberowl Posts: 331 Member
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    I understand what you mean. I was 149 when I went off the pill last June. In September, my hormones went haywire and I gained 12 lbs in 3 weeks. I've now lost 5 of it, but it's coming off VERY slowly.

    Hormones can play a HUGE role in water retention.....which, if that's what it is, your best bet (in my experience--but I'm no expert) is tons of water, little salt and tons and tons and tons of cardio. The kind of cardio where if you can carry on a conversation you're not doing it right. Sucks. It cuts into your personal time, but it's what's necessary to regulate this before it gets even further out of hand.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,239 Member
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    Interesting. I was wondering if I needed to try to focus on not only how much and what I was eating but also WHEN I was eating them.

    In terms of weight loss, meal timing is irrelevant. The only way the timing of meals is relevant is in terms of sticking to your calories. If it is not the natural way you eat, then you will eventually compensate, and that usually means eating way too much or giving up completely. If generally don't eat until noon or even later, and my calories are weighted toward the end of the day. I tried the 6 small meals a day spreading out my calories, and that just made me ravenous all the time so I had a difficult time sticking with my calorie goal.

    In short, eat whenever it works for you, but stick to your calorie goals.

    In terms of a 4 pound gain, it is likely water weight if you are measuring your food carefully and are confident that the foods you are eating match the calorie information on the nutrition information label on food packages, then I would say you are just experiencing the annoyance of water weight. For some people is will stay on for a while, with now weight change or sometimes a gain, then suddenly in a space of days they will lose a whole bunch of weight.

    As mentioned by others, taking measurements of your body other than weight, and taking pictures are almost a must to add to tracking your progress.

    This may be helpful as well http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    I am sticking to my calorie intake...MFP says to eat 1330 cals to lose 2lbs a week (goal is 70lbs this year) or 1570 cals to lose 1.5lbs/.

    Those numbers sound to high. Assuming a "typical" female height, having that much excess fat is going to put in the 45%-50% body fat neighbourhood. That will give you a "lightly active" TDEE of around 1900-2000 calories/day. To get to 2 lbs/week loss, you would have to drop your eating to 1000 calories/day.
  • bac219
    bac219 Posts: 16 Member
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    I am 5' 11" and 44 yrs old. I entered my current weight (244), my goal weight (167) and the numbers that came up was 1320 for 2lbs, 1570 for 1.5lbs and 1850 for 1lb per week. I checked other calculators on line to see if their calculations were within the same range and they were.
  • dangerousdumpling
    dangerousdumpling Posts: 1,109 Member
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    I am sticking to my calorie intake...MFP says to eat 1330 cals to lose 2lbs a week (goal is 70lbs this year) or 1570 cals to lose 1.5lbs/.

    Those numbers sound to high. Assuming a "typical" female height, having that much excess fat is going to put in the 45%-50% body fat neighbourhood. That will give you a "lightly active" TDEE of around 1900-2000 calories/day. To get to 2 lbs/week loss, you would have to drop your eating to 1000 calories/day.

    Ignore this, please. Do not drop down to 1000 calories.
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    You say you are walking 45 minutes 3X per week. Is this new? If you were sedentary and just recently started walking, you are increasing muscle mass. This is good weight to gain, since the more muscle mass you have the more calories you burn at a resting rate.

    She is not gaining muscle by walking sorry
  • mdhummel
    mdhummel Posts: 201 Member
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    Losing weight is not as simple as "calories in, calories out". Foods affect our bodies in different ways and go through different metabolic pathways. If I eat too many carbs or too much sodium I won't see the scale budge no matter how much time I am spending at the gym.

    Is it possible that you underestimating your portions or eating the wrong foods?

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