What gives?

ticribbs

Just because someone has a medical background does not mean they have a strong background in nutrition. In fact, nutrition education is commonly desperately lacking from medical curricula. Regardless, no member here should be criticized for a lack of understanding or lack of the confidence to follow their gut "knowledge" when faced w/ a tool telling them otherwise.

ETA: As for your question, OP, I agree with PPS that for your height & weight your goal is probably too aggressive & your selected activity level is too low. Healthy weight loss is NOT a race. You may also find that you feel better in your body even at the same weight if you increase strength training & toning exercises.

^^^^this

Sjonathanw

Yes, I think this was more of a MFP website confusion thing, when I changed my lifestyle to "sedentary" I thought that question addressed primarily my normal day-to-day activities EXCLUDING any exercise. It didn't seem quite right to me either, so again, I thank everyone for their kind remarks.

AmyRhubarb

When you entered all your info did you set your loss goal to 2lbs a week? Guaranteed to get a low calorie goal every time.

If you did, change it to 1 lb a week.

I'm a 45 year old stay at home mom and I lose on 1800-2000 cals a day. You definitely need to eat more.

SLLRunner

Drink more water.

WATER IS KEY!

A pint before each meal.. then a pint everytime you're hungry...

Or, you know, a little more food when you're hungry rather than these Cosmo weightloss tricks.

This.

Water is not key to weight loss, but it sure is key to hydration.

What is key to weight loss is eating at a calorie deficit and eating enough to fuel your body.

OP, you sure you're not miscalculating some of those calories in? In other words, you might not be estimating correctly, thus you could be eating more than you think.

If you open your diary we can probably give you more specific feedback.

ell_v131

Thanks guys. I'm 5'11", I started at 188, now I'm at 179 and stuck. I do have a food scale that I use, and I'm careful about measurements. I am a physician and my work days are fairly sedentary so MFP has me limited to 1,240 calories a day. For exercise I will do HIIT on a treadmill for 20 minutes or so, or if it's nice outside I will ride a bicycle for 45min to an hour (with varying hills, speeds, etc).

As an example, yesterday's diet was:
BREAKFAST: 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese with blackberries and bran flakes. 184 calories
SNACK: Protein shake with protein powder, a frozen banana, and almond milk. 260 calories
LUNCH: a small portion of PF Changs, using their online nutrition information. I over-estimated at about 250 calories
SNACK: High fiber english muffin with butter. 200 calories
DINNER: A fish filet, steamed carrots, steamed snap peas, and steamed acorn squash. 411 calories.

TOTAL: 1305 - 150 (from a small workout) = 1,155

you're eating very little. I guess you put in a very high goal of losing 2lbs per week, which is not achievable long term unless you are very obese. You should aim to lose about 1lb a week. Otherwise MFP has you at 1000 deficit, which is too much for someone who is not that overweight in the first place.

calculate your TDEE and deduct 500, you will see your body adjust in a few weeks and you will start losing again.

I'd also say get rid of measurements. Even though you are careful, the measuring cups are wildly inaccurate in a lot of cases. Just test it yourself and measure out and then weigh something, like peanut butter, ice cream, oil, anything really.

Cait_Sidhe

You're a 5'11 male with 6 pounds to lose who is only netting 1100 calories a day?

My god, eat something! Then read this.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

^^THIS.

You're a physician and don't know that already?

I am even more worried about the medical professionals now.

OMG this.