Can't seem to lose weight

amynpowers

I have been logging my diet for 2 weeks and working out a few times a week. I am 5'4, 135 lbs and want to lose 12-15 lbs. Any tips on speeding up the weight loss, trying to lose 1 lb./week and have gained 2 lbs.?? I logged almost everyday the past 2 weeks minus last Saturday and Sunday.

foodie899

Don't worry! During the weight loss process you will always gain (this will range from any where from a few days to a few weeks - for me it was 1.5 weeks) before you will drop. I went from 138 to 142lbs before starting to drop weight. Good luck!

SecretDuck

Do you use a food scale to measure everything? Because it seems from your diary that you don't.

Branstin

You don't seem to be eating enough.

Is your activity level set to sedentary?

leeannsandon

I m with you on this as im in the same boat and I tend to be under my calories and I exercise alot with a combination of jogging on my trampette with knees above hip level then I do squats, lunges and use an 8kg kettlebell only for about ten minutes because it is heavy im 5ft 3 and currently 130lbs and feel really deflated when I get on the scales I want to ditch my spanx pants any advice would be great, add me if you want

amynpowers

I do not use a food scale to measure everything, that is good advice. I should get one to be sure of portions. I usually measure by cups. I eat close to 1200 calories a day, days I workout I usually do not eat the calories back.

_lyndseybrooke_

Took a peek at your diary and this is what I've come up with.

1. With only 12-15 lbs to lose, you should be shooting for .5 lb/week max. 1 lb per week is find for those with more weight to lose, but you are close to goal, so .5 is plenty.

2. Your 1200 calorie limit is not enough. And on top of that, you're eating less than that AND not eating back exercise calories, which MFP is designed for you to do. There were a couple days where you only ate 800-900 calories. That's simply not enough. Be kind to your body and feed it the nutrients it needs.

3. It doesn't look like you weigh your food. Get a $20 kitchen scale from Walmart and start weighing all of your food in grams or ounces. Measuring cups are fine for liquid, but solids should be weighed. For all you know, you could be eating a lot more than you're logging.

4. As you said, you didn't log last weekend. In order to ensure you're eating at a deficit, you need to be consistent. Log EVERYTHING, even on weekends, and try to stay within your weekly (if not daily) calorie and macro goals. Consistency, honesty, and accuracy is what it's all about.

5. You've only been at this for two weeks. You didn't put the weight on in two weeks and it's not going to come off in two weeks. Be more patient

MY ADVICE: Calculate your BMR and TDEE. Take your TDEE - 15%, and manually change your daily goal to that number. This way, you don't need to log exercise calories or eat them back. If you insist on using MFP's recommendations, switch your goal to .5 lb/week loss and eat back at least half of your exercise calories. Eat them all back if you're using a heart rate monitor. Be patient, drink lots of water, and log every single thing that goes in your mouth as accurately as possible.

amynpowers

Great tips, I figure I am guesstimating too much on intake since I am not measuring. I may be eating a good bit more calories than I think. Thanks for the advice, I will definitely try it out and be more patient.

Iknowsaur

You should be eating your calories back.
Also, where did you get 1,200 from? A lot of people seem to think that's the magical number, and it is absolutely not.
With only a few pounds to lose, you should be aiming for .5 pounds a week and could be eating a lot more.
When you don't eat enough, you lose muscle as well as fat, and while you may have a lower number on the scale, your body isn't going to look as good as it will with slow and steady weight loss.

bajoyba

First, don't worry too much about not seeing a change within the first couple of weeks. You don't have a lot to lose, so it's going to come off slowly. If you've added exercise, you could also be retaining water, which would explain the extra two pounds you're seeing on the scale. Stick with it, and things should head in the direction you want them to.

I do have a few suggestions though. The first thing I notice about your diary is that you use a lot of homemade and generic food entries. Are these personal recipes that you have added to your MFP account, or are they random entries from the database? If they're random entries from the database, there's really no way to tell if the caloric and nutritional info is in any way similar to what you're actually eating, and the calories in homemade meals can vary greatly depending on what the serving size is and what ingredients were used.

For instance, I noticed one day where you logged "sauteed onions and yellow squash in olive oil". Unless this is a recipe that you entered yourself, it's probably not a good idea to use this to account for your food. Olive oil is very calorie dense (about 120 calories per tablespoon) and should be measured and logged separately from the vegetables. The same goes for any other topping or food item that isn't already accounted for as part of a recipe you entered yourself (butter on toast, cream cheese on a bagel, etc).

Second, it doesn't appear that you weigh your food, and especially if you are only 12-15 lbs from your goal, a food scale makes a big difference. Volume measurements (measuring cups and spoons) are not nearly as accurate as weight measurements. Food scales are very affordable (around $20 or less) and very easy to use.

Once you've gotten logging down and are confident that your food entries are accurate and consistent, you should really strive to MEET your calorie goal every day. If you add exercise to your normal daily routine, you should also eat at least some of those burned calories back. Most days you've logged are around 1000 calories or less, which is really not a good idea. Once you start dipping below 1200 calories, it becomes difficult to meet your body's nutritional needs and fuel yourself properly, so you really want to come as close to your goal as you can.

VonnieKicks97

I've been running into the same problem. I noticed that no matter what you weigh, your height and age everyone seems to get a caloric intake of 1200 calories. When I did Weight Watchers years back after, they gave everyone different calories. Lost about 2 lbs. a week. So thought about this program a little and why I wasn't losing weight. I measured every bit of food I would put in my mouth. I did a little research and found on WebMD that they have a calorie calculator. I ran the numbers for what I wanted to lose each week, my current weight, height and age and it gave me an Check it out and good luck!

November_Fire

Don't trust the database - it's crowdsourced and the entry you select might have been entered by someone not very bright. Look at today - I doubt your Starbucks smoothie had 0 calories, 0 sugar, 0 protein...

You won't lose weight for long 'on a diet', you just need to make permanent changes to how you eat and view food. So no more days where breakfast is a sort of bar and lunch is a shrimp on a potato. Eat!

If you make something homemade, use the recipe feature to enter the recipe. Don't just select any old random 'kale soup', because for all you know theirs is practically water and you make yours with double cream, or vice versa. Be accurate.

1200 is about the bare minimum people need to net to live comfortably. That's for people who need to lose a lot of weight for health reaons - 1-2lb a week or more. You don't. You aren't even netting that - you eat 800 and likely burn more than that just by being alive. You only have a small amount to lose. Calculate your burn estimate (mine, for example, as a lightly active person, is 1700 cals a day burned) and eat less than it (I eat 1400-1500.) Aim for half a pound a week, and don't stress if it's slow. Slow is good.

Eat more protein. It makes you feel full and might prevent later snacking. I also find a large breakfast and lunch mean I can have a small dinner and I'm not at all hungry. I need the energy during the day more than the evening, so if you're very active in the day, eat more then and save the light meals for dinner.

jkwolly

Took a peek at your diary and this is what I've come up with.

1. With only 12-15 lbs to lose, you should be shooting for .5 lb/week max. 1 lb per week is find for those with more weight to lose, but you are close to goal, so .5 is plenty.

2. Your 1200 calorie limit is not enough. And on top of that, you're eating less than that AND not eating back exercise calories, which MFP is designed for you to do. There were a couple days where you only ate 800-900 calories. That's simply not enough. Be kind to your body and feed it the nutrients it needs.

3. It doesn't look like you weigh your food. Get a $20 kitchen scale from Walmart and start weighing all of your food in grams or ounces. Measuring cups are fine for liquid, but solids should be weighed. For all you know, you could be eating a lot more than you're logging.

4. As you said, you didn't log last weekend. In order to ensure you're eating at a deficit, you need to be consistent. Log EVERYTHING, even on weekends, and try to stay within your weekly (if not daily) calorie and macro goals. Consistency, honesty, and accuracy is what it's all about.

5. You've only been at this for two weeks. You didn't put the weight on in two weeks and it's not going to come off in two weeks. Be more patient

MY ADVICE: Calculate your BMR and TDEE. Take your TDEE - 15%, and manually change your daily goal to that number. This way, you don't need to log exercise calories or eat them back. If you insist on using MFP's recommendations, switch your goal to .5 lb/week loss and eat back at least half of your exercise calories. Eat them all back if you're using a heart rate monitor. Be patient, drink lots of water, and log every single thing that goes in your mouth as accurately as possible.

This!!!

mschicagocubs

Food scale -- get one!

Aiming for 1200, which you should not need to eat so little, and not using a food scale would be hard to over guesstimate that bad that you are gaining fat.

I assume your body is just adjusting and the lbs will come off.

Start taking measurements, they are better!

So get a food scale, calculate your TDEE and do a less aggressive weight loss ... it will happen

amynpowers

Food Scale seems to be the answer. Also, the 1200 calories was calculated for me by MFP. Maybe I don't eat enough calories so I should up it a bit with nutritionally dense foods. Whatever I'm doing doesn't seem to be cutting it. I may be watching what I eat too much and it is hindering me. Thank for all of the feedback!