not losing, need some help

KiraFlint

Let me give you a bit of background. I am an irish dancer. I lost about 100lbs back in 2008. I got hurt back in July and had to stop all activity completely and had to have foot surgery back in December which left me totally non weight bearing for 10 weeks. people kept bringing me junk food to eat because I couldn't prepare my own food. I ate a lot of junk. It was the perfect storm. I gained 40lbs back and lost a lot of muscle mass too. I wasn't able to wear normal pants over the cast so I didn't realize how much I had gained, once I did I started tracking and dropped 10. thats where it stopped. That was 6 weeks ago Since then I have been cleared to start low impact exercise. Which I have been 6 days a week. Elliptical, water aerobics, light treadmill. I stick to around 1600-1800 calories. But I haven't lost ANY weight at all. I started at 1200 which I was told by multiple personal trainers at the gym was damaging to my metabolism, but I didn't lose anything with any of those either. Which I realize muscle weighs more than fat, I would think I would be seeing SOMETHING by now? When I lose the initial 100 it was medication assisted. So I cant really base this off that...


any advice?

bajoyba

Would you be willing to open your food diary?

We can probably give more specific advice that way.

KiraFlint

Ok. It's open. My totals look a bit wonky because I changed the calorie totals and it changed them across the board. I've had a few bad days but for the most part I plug in almost all my food for that day at once in the morning and then remove it after work so I know what I have left for dinner. I'm thinking I need to stop eating my calories back? I was told to do this but thinking I shouldn't now

wilsoje74

So is your calorie goal 2000? Seems a bit high to lose, and just looking back a couple days you had a day you were quite a bit over (pizza?)

cbhubbybubble

I'm too new to give much advice from long experience, but what I see is a lot of processed foods and a lot of sodium. Seems everyone has an opinion on eating "clean", but if what you're doing is not working, maybe try real foods and lower sodium for a while and see what happens. It has been working for me so far....not that I never eat fast or processed food, but I try to make it the exception rather than the rule.

And double check that you are actually in a deficit.

dmenchac

Let me give you a bit of background. I am an irish dancer. I lost about 100lbs back in 2008. I got hurt back in July and had to stop all activity completely and had to have foot surgery back in December which left me totally non weight bearing for 10 weeks. people kept bringing me junk food to eat because I couldn't prepare my own food. I ate a lot of junk. It was the perfect storm. I gained 40lbs back and lost a lot of muscle mass too. I wasn't able to wear normal pants over the cast so I didn't realize how much I had gained, once I did I started tracking and dropped 10. thats where it stopped. That was 6 weeks ago Since then I have been cleared to start low impact exercise. Which I have been 6 days a week. Elliptical, water aerobics, light treadmill. I stick to around 1600-1800 calories. But I haven't lost ANY weight at all. I started at 1200 which I was told by multiple personal trainers at the gym was damaging to my metabolism, but I didn't lose anything with any of those either. Which I realize muscle weighs more than fat, I would think I would be seeing SOMETHING by now? When I lose the initial 100 it was medication assisted. So I cant really base this off that...


any advice?

In which world does muscle weigh more than fat?

KiraFlint

Yeah I have a friend who is a personal trainer who thinks I need 2000. But I don't think so? So after a couple days I switched. I stopped actually tracking my exercise the last few days because the machines at the gym are inaccurate. The Pizza was a cheat day. A big one. I'm trying to find the sweet spot I guess. I keep being told no matter what my calorie intake is that I'm not eating enough.

KiraFlint

It's just what I always hear from docs and PTs and stuff when I lose inches instead of pounds. Not really sure where they get it from

dmenchac

It's just what I always hear from docs and PTs and stuff when I lose inches instead of pounds. Not really sure where they get it from

It just has less volume 5 lbs of fat weights the same as 5 lbs of muscle

wilsoje74

Yeah I have a friend who is a personal trainer who thinks I need 2000. But I don't think so? So after a couple days I switched. I stopped actually tracking my exercise the last few days because the machines at the gym are inaccurate. The Pizza was a cheat day. A big one. I'm trying to find the sweet spot I guess. I keep being told no matter what my calorie intake is that I'm not eating enough.

really? I would gain on 2000 for sure.

BigT555

Let me give you a bit of background. I am an irish dancer. I lost about 100lbs back in 2008. I got hurt back in July and had to stop all activity completely and had to have foot surgery back in December which left me totally non weight bearing for 10 weeks. people kept bringing me junk food to eat because I couldn't prepare my own food. I ate a lot of junk. It was the perfect storm. I gained 40lbs back and lost a lot of muscle mass too. I wasn't able to wear normal pants over the cast so I didn't realize how much I had gained, once I did I started tracking and dropped 10. thats where it stopped. That was 6 weeks ago Since then I have been cleared to start low impact exercise. Which I have been 6 days a week. Elliptical, water aerobics, light treadmill. I stick to around 1600-1800 calories. But I haven't lost ANY weight at all. I started at 1200 which I was told by multiple personal trainers at the gym was damaging to my metabolism, but I didn't lose anything with any of those either. Which I realize muscle weighs more than fat, I would think I would be seeing SOMETHING by now? When I lose the initial 100 it was medication assisted. So I cant really base this off that...


any advice?

In which world does muscle weigh more than fat?

the real world.

dmenchac

Let me give you a bit of background. I am an irish dancer. I lost about 100lbs back in 2008. I got hurt back in July and had to stop all activity completely and had to have foot surgery back in December which left me totally non weight bearing for 10 weeks. people kept bringing me junk food to eat because I couldn't prepare my own food. I ate a lot of junk. It was the perfect storm. I gained 40lbs back and lost a lot of muscle mass too. I wasn't able to wear normal pants over the cast so I didn't realize how much I had gained, once I did I started tracking and dropped 10. thats where it stopped. That was 6 weeks ago Since then I have been cleared to start low impact exercise. Which I have been 6 days a week. Elliptical, water aerobics, light treadmill. I stick to around 1600-1800 calories. But I haven't lost ANY weight at all. I started at 1200 which I was told by multiple personal trainers at the gym was damaging to my metabolism, but I didn't lose anything with any of those either. Which I realize muscle weighs more than fat, I would think I would be seeing SOMETHING by now? When I lose the initial 100 it was medication assisted. So I cant really base this off that...


any advice?

In which world does muscle weigh more than fat?

the real world.

which weighs more 5 lbs of fat or 5 lbs of muscle?

hill8570

Yeah, agree with others -- 2000 seems to be pretty high (I'm a big guy, exercise regularly, and my target is 1840 a day for a 1.5 pound / week loss rate). If you're not going to log exercise (which I consider a bad idea unless your exercise schedule is very predictable), then I'd suggest hitting a site like iifym.com and figure out your TDEE.

Oh yeah -- are you tracking your measurements? If your measurements are dropping, I personally wouldn't worry about the scale.

KiraFlint

Yeah I have a friend who is a personal trainer who thinks I need 2000. But I don't think so? So after a couple days I switched. I stopped actually tracking my exercise the last few days because the machines at the gym are inaccurate. The Pizza was a cheat day. A big one. I'm trying to find the sweet spot I guess. I keep being told no matter what my calorie intake is that I'm not eating enough.

really? I would gain on 2000 for sure.

But not eating back calories

BigT555

Let me give you a bit of background. I am an irish dancer. I lost about 100lbs back in 2008. I got hurt back in July and had to stop all activity completely and had to have foot surgery back in December which left me totally non weight bearing for 10 weeks. people kept bringing me junk food to eat because I couldn't prepare my own food. I ate a lot of junk. It was the perfect storm. I gained 40lbs back and lost a lot of muscle mass too. I wasn't able to wear normal pants over the cast so I didn't realize how much I had gained, once I did I started tracking and dropped 10. thats where it stopped. That was 6 weeks ago Since then I have been cleared to start low impact exercise. Which I have been 6 days a week. Elliptical, water aerobics, light treadmill. I stick to around 1600-1800 calories. But I haven't lost ANY weight at all. I started at 1200 which I was told by multiple personal trainers at the gym was damaging to my metabolism, but I didn't lose anything with any of those either. Which I realize muscle weighs more than fat, I would think I would be seeing SOMETHING by now? When I lose the initial 100 it was medication assisted. So I cant really base this off that...


any advice?

In which world does muscle weigh more than fat?

the real world.

which weighs more 5 lbs of fat or 5 lbs of muscle?

5 lbs of fat is way more, volume wise

SezxyStef

Yeah I have a friend who is a personal trainer who thinks I need 2000. But I don't think so? So after a couple days I switched. I stopped actually tracking my exercise the last few days because the machines at the gym are inaccurate. The Pizza was a cheat day. A big one. I'm trying to find the sweet spot I guess. I keep being told no matter what my calorie intake is that I'm not eating enough.

really? I would gain on 2000 for sure.

I wont...I am still in a deficet at 2000 calories...but random numbers are random.

Finding your deficet is fairly easy. You just input your data in MFP, set your reasonable weekly weight loss goal and it will give you a good esitmate. Follow that and see how it goes..but that means tracking exercise here and eating back 50-75% of your exercise calories.

As for the muscle weighing more than fat..eh logically no..it does take up less space.

Sinisterly

Let me give you a bit of background. I am an irish dancer. I lost about 100lbs back in 2008. I got hurt back in July and had to stop all activity completely and had to have foot surgery back in December which left me totally non weight bearing for 10 weeks. people kept bringing me junk food to eat because I couldn't prepare my own food. I ate a lot of junk. It was the perfect storm. I gained 40lbs back and lost a lot of muscle mass too. I wasn't able to wear normal pants over the cast so I didn't realize how much I had gained, once I did I started tracking and dropped 10. thats where it stopped. That was 6 weeks ago Since then I have been cleared to start low impact exercise. Which I have been 6 days a week. Elliptical, water aerobics, light treadmill. I stick to around 1600-1800 calories. But I haven't lost ANY weight at all. I started at 1200 which I was told by multiple personal trainers at the gym was damaging to my metabolism, but I didn't lose anything with any of those either. Which I realize muscle weighs more than fat, I would think I would be seeing SOMETHING by now? When I lose the initial 100 it was medication assisted. So I cant really base this off that...


any advice?

In which world does muscle weigh more than fat?

the real world.

which weighs more 5 lbs of fat or 5 lbs of muscle?

5 lbs of fat is way more, volume wise

Only in volume, not in weight. A ton of feathers still weighs a ton.

BigT555

thatsthejoke.jpeg

KiraFlint

I let MFP dictate the deficit number for over a month with no results. And I was pretty strict about sticking to it.


Guess I'll just keep plugging away! Thanks for the help!

AliceDark

Former Irish dancer here! :flowerforyou:

It's hard to tell what your calorie goal should be without knowing your current weight/height, but my first thought was that 1600-1800 isn't necessarily too high, depending on how much muscle mass you have. Especially since you want to keep the muscle you do have, going slow is going to be way better for you in the long term than dropping down to 1200. At 1200, you're going to be losing muscle along with fat.

I took a quick peek through your diary, and your totals are all over the place. Go to http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ and calculate your TDEE, then choose a modest deficit (maybe -10%?), then stick to that very consistently for a month. (This is assuming you don't eat back exercise calories). You need a good, solid baseline before you make any further changes. At that point, you can look at things like sodium, maybe adjusting your macro ratios, etc.

lindsey1979

It's just what I always hear from docs and PTs and stuff when I lose inches instead of pounds. Not really sure where they get it from

It just has less volume 5 lbs of fat weights the same as 5 lbs of muscle

Right, so the same volume of muscle will weight more. Geez. It's a comparison of the same volume, not weight.

ItzBubble

I'm going to chime in here because I was just going through the same thing. I dropped my calories down to 1200 in jan and lost nothing- literally 2 pounds in 3 months. But i was only eating processed stuff- cans of soup for lunch, oatmeal packets for breakfast. Things with minimal real nutrition.

So, similar to you, i was struggling with losing so 5 full weeks ago I increased to 1400-1500 calories and I went relatively low carb (goal is 100 per day) and dropped the grains, legumes, dairy and sugar from my diet - basically all the processed stuff - and its incredible how fast my body adjusted. It was hard the first two weeks or so to figure out what to eat but I've lost weight in the past 5 weeks - I've lost 6 pounds :laugh: :laugh: , I feel better, I'm not bloated, i dont always want to eat snacks and sugary stuff, I don't get that 2 pm sugar crash anymore.

It seems like you could easily cut out some of the refined/processed foods, especially from your lunches- just make extra dinner and pack it for lunch while you re cleaning up dinner :happy:

I Know I'm going to get some negativity on here about this approach, but it's what works for my body. That's whats key here. Trying things that work for your specific body. So the high calorie intake isnt working for you, drop it a bit. That doesnt work? Lower your PM carb intake.

wilsoje74

Yeah I have a friend who is a personal trainer who thinks I need 2000. But I don't think so? So after a couple days I switched. I stopped actually tracking my exercise the last few days because the machines at the gym are inaccurate. The Pizza was a cheat day. A big one. I'm trying to find the sweet spot I guess. I keep being told no matter what my calorie intake is that I'm not eating enough.

really? I would gain on 2000 for sure.

But not eating back calories

how many do you burn a day? Even on days I exercise I still eat less than 2000

dmenchac

It's just what I always hear from docs and PTs and stuff when I lose inches instead of pounds. Not really sure where they get it from

It just has less volume 5 lbs of fat weights the same as 5 lbs of muscle

Right, so the same volume of muscle will weight more. Geez. It's a comparison of the same volume, not weight.

Sharpen up on those reading skills!

"Which I realize muscle weighs more than fat,"

SnuggleSmacks

Let me give you a bit of background. I am an irish dancer. I lost about 100lbs back in 2008. I got hurt back in July and had to stop all activity completely and had to have foot surgery back in December which left me totally non weight bearing for 10 weeks. people kept bringing me junk food to eat because I couldn't prepare my own food. I ate a lot of junk. It was the perfect storm. I gained 40lbs back and lost a lot of muscle mass too. I wasn't able to wear normal pants over the cast so I didn't realize how much I had gained, once I did I started tracking and dropped 10. thats where it stopped. That was 6 weeks ago Since then I have been cleared to start low impact exercise. Which I have been 6 days a week. Elliptical, water aerobics, light treadmill. I stick to around 1600-1800 calories. But I haven't lost ANY weight at all. I started at 1200 which I was told by multiple personal trainers at the gym was damaging to my metabolism, but I didn't lose anything with any of those either. Which I realize muscle weighs more than fat, I would think I would be seeing SOMETHING by now? When I lose the initial 100 it was medication assisted. So I cant really base this off that...


any advice?

In which world does muscle weigh more than fat?

the real world.

which weighs more 5 lbs of fat or 5 lbs of muscle?

If you cut one cubic inch of muscle and of fat from your body, which do you think would weigh more?

wilsoje74

Let me give you a bit of background. I am an irish dancer. I lost about 100lbs back in 2008. I got hurt back in July and had to stop all activity completely and had to have foot surgery back in December which left me totally non weight bearing for 10 weeks. people kept bringing me junk food to eat because I couldn't prepare my own food. I ate a lot of junk. It was the perfect storm. I gained 40lbs back and lost a lot of muscle mass too. I wasn't able to wear normal pants over the cast so I didn't realize how much I had gained, once I did I started tracking and dropped 10. thats where it stopped. That was 6 weeks ago Since then I have been cleared to start low impact exercise. Which I have been 6 days a week. Elliptical, water aerobics, light treadmill. I stick to around 1600-1800 calories. But I haven't lost ANY weight at all. I started at 1200 which I was told by multiple personal trainers at the gym was damaging to my metabolism, but I didn't lose anything with any of those either. Which I realize muscle weighs more than fat, I would think I would be seeing SOMETHING by now? When I lose the initial 100 it was medication assisted. So I cant really base this off that...


any advice?

In which world does muscle weigh more than fat?

the real world.

which weighs more 5 lbs of fat or 5 lbs of muscle?

If you cut one cubic inch of muscle and of fat from your body, which do you think would weigh more?

i hate when people take over threads with this silly argument (guess I'm doing it too by replying!) but muscle is more dense but a pound equals a pound.

lindsey1979

Let me give you a bit of background. I am an irish dancer. I lost about 100lbs back in 2008. I got hurt back in July and had to stop all activity completely and had to have foot surgery back in December which left me totally non weight bearing for 10 weeks. people kept bringing me junk food to eat because I couldn't prepare my own food. I ate a lot of junk. It was the perfect storm. I gained 40lbs back and lost a lot of muscle mass too. I wasn't able to wear normal pants over the cast so I didn't realize how much I had gained, once I did I started tracking and dropped 10. thats where it stopped. That was 6 weeks ago Since then I have been cleared to start low impact exercise. Which I have been 6 days a week. Elliptical, water aerobics, light treadmill. I stick to around 1600-1800 calories. But I haven't lost ANY weight at all. I started at 1200 which I was told by multiple personal trainers at the gym was damaging to my metabolism, but I didn't lose anything with any of those either. Which I realize muscle weighs more than fat, I would think I would be seeing SOMETHING by now? When I lose the initial 100 it was medication assisted. So I cant really base this off that...


any advice?

In which world does muscle weigh more than fat?

the real world.

which weighs more 5 lbs of fat or 5 lbs of muscle?

If you cut one cubic inch of muscle and of fat from your body, which do you think would weigh more?

i hate when people take over threads with this silly argument (guess I'm doing it too by replying!) but muscle is more dense but a pound equals a pound.

Yes, but when people say muscle weighs more than fat, they don't mean that 1 lb of muscle weighs more than 1 lb of fat -- that's a totally useless comparison. 1 lb of anything weighs the same as 1 lb of anything else.

When they say muscle weighs more than fat, it's a comparison of volume -- 1 cubic inch of muscle (or any other volume measurement of choice) weighs more than 1 cubic inch of fat because muscle is more dense (mass/volume).

wilsoje74

Let me give you a bit of background. I am an irish dancer. I lost about 100lbs back in 2008. I got hurt back in July and had to stop all activity completely and had to have foot surgery back in December which left me totally non weight bearing for 10 weeks. people kept bringing me junk food to eat because I couldn't prepare my own food. I ate a lot of junk. It was the perfect storm. I gained 40lbs back and lost a lot of muscle mass too. I wasn't able to wear normal pants over the cast so I didn't realize how much I had gained, once I did I started tracking and dropped 10. thats where it stopped. That was 6 weeks ago Since then I have been cleared to start low impact exercise. Which I have been 6 days a week. Elliptical, water aerobics, light treadmill. I stick to around 1600-1800 calories. But I haven't lost ANY weight at all. I started at 1200 which I was told by multiple personal trainers at the gym was damaging to my metabolism, but I didn't lose anything with any of those either. Which I realize muscle weighs more than fat, I would think I would be seeing SOMETHING by now? When I lose the initial 100 it was medication assisted. So I cant really base this off that...


any advice?

In which world does muscle weigh more than fat?

the real world.

which weighs more 5 lbs of fat or 5 lbs of muscle?

If you cut one cubic inch of muscle and of fat from your body, which do you think would weigh more?

i hate when people take over threads with this silly argument (guess I'm doing it too by replying!) but muscle is more dense but a pound equals a pound.

Yes, but when people say muscle weighs more than fat, they don't mean that 1 lb of muscle weighs more than 1 lb of fat -- that's a totally useless comparison. 1 lb of anything weighs the same as 1 lb of anything else.

When they say muscle weighs more than fat, it's a comparison of volume -- 1 cubic inch of muscle (or any other volume measurement of choice) weighs more than 1 cubic inch of fat because muscle is more dense (mass/volume).

yes thats what I was saying above. Some people refuse to understand this concept and arguing with them is pointless

dmenchac

Let me give you a bit of background. I am an irish dancer. I lost about 100lbs back in 2008. I got hurt back in July and had to stop all activity completely and had to have foot surgery back in December which left me totally non weight bearing for 10 weeks. people kept bringing me junk food to eat because I couldn't prepare my own food. I ate a lot of junk. It was the perfect storm. I gained 40lbs back and lost a lot of muscle mass too. I wasn't able to wear normal pants over the cast so I didn't realize how much I had gained, once I did I started tracking and dropped 10. thats where it stopped. That was 6 weeks ago Since then I have been cleared to start low impact exercise. Which I have been 6 days a week. Elliptical, water aerobics, light treadmill. I stick to around 1600-1800 calories. But I haven't lost ANY weight at all. I started at 1200 which I was told by multiple personal trainers at the gym was damaging to my metabolism, but I didn't lose anything with any of those either. Which I realize muscle weighs more than fat, I would think I would be seeing SOMETHING by now? When I lose the initial 100 it was medication assisted. So I cant really base this off that...


any advice?

In which world does muscle weigh more than fat?

the real world.

which weighs more 5 lbs of fat or 5 lbs of muscle?

If you cut one cubic inch of muscle and of fat from your body, which do you think would weigh more?

i hate when people take over threads with this silly argument (guess I'm doing it too by replying!) but muscle is more dense but a pound equals a pound.

Yes, but when people say muscle weighs more than fat, they don't mean that 1 lb of muscle weighs more than 1 lb of fat -- that's a totally useless comparison. 1 lb of anything weighs the same as 1 lb of anything else.

When they say muscle weighs more than fat, it's a comparison of volume -- 1 cubic inch of muscle (or any other volume measurement of choice) weighs more than 1 cubic inch of fat because muscle is more dense (mass/volume).

When people say something weighs more than the other it HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH VOLUME. It is worded incorrectly and it is wrong.

Yes we all know what they mean but it is still incorrect.

dmenchac

Let me give you a bit of background. I am an irish dancer. I lost about 100lbs back in 2008. I got hurt back in July and had to stop all activity completely and had to have foot surgery back in December which left me totally non weight bearing for 10 weeks. people kept bringing me junk food to eat because I couldn't prepare my own food. I ate a lot of junk. It was the perfect storm. I gained 40lbs back and lost a lot of muscle mass too. I wasn't able to wear normal pants over the cast so I didn't realize how much I had gained, once I did I started tracking and dropped 10. thats where it stopped. That was 6 weeks ago Since then I have been cleared to start low impact exercise. Which I have been 6 days a week. Elliptical, water aerobics, light treadmill. I stick to around 1600-1800 calories. But I haven't lost ANY weight at all. I started at 1200 which I was told by multiple personal trainers at the gym was damaging to my metabolism, but I didn't lose anything with any of those either. Which I realize muscle weighs more than fat, I would think I would be seeing SOMETHING by now? When I lose the initial 100 it was medication assisted. So I cant really base this off that...


any advice?

In which world does muscle weigh more than fat?

the real world.

which weighs more 5 lbs of fat or 5 lbs of muscle?

If you cut one cubic inch of muscle and of fat from your body, which do you think would weigh more?

You are saying something completely different than the OP. You are saying it the correct way.

QuietBloom

Wow, that escalated quickly.

OP, are you weighing your food? You might have been eating more than you thought when you were on the 1200. Also, don't stress that you HAVE to exercise in order to lose weight. A calorie deficit is all that is required.