Why am I not losing weight?!?

kseixas

I am so frustrated!!! I was doing really well for about 6 weeks and them all of the sudden I just stopped losing weight.

MyFitnessPal gave me a calorie goal of 1610 calories a day - and it was working for a while but then I noticed I wasn't losing as much, so I dropped it to 1400.

For the last 3 weeks I have eaten an average of 1300 calories a day and the scale just keeps floating between these same 3 numbers and it's infuriating. I always weigh myself in the same conditions at the same time. The scale just won't move and I'm about to give up.

Female
Age: 31
Weight: 297
Height: 5'8"

I am being really strict and logging every damn bite I put in my mouth. I count and weigh everything before I eat it.

I do not do any regular exercise, but I plan to in the summer. Right now with work I literally do not have the time.

I eat healthy foods, fruits, lean meats, etc.

Please help. What am I doing wrong?!

nosebag1212

you're retaining water or not actually eating 1300 cals a day, pick one

kseixas

No I AM eating 1300 a day. I am METICULOUS about tracking and I count every damn bite I take. Telling me that I'm not eating what I say I'm eating isn't really helpful. I weigh and track EVERYTHING.

PDarrall

It can happen.

Lean mass might be rising (water in your case) and this can be considerably more than fat mass you are losing over a short period of time, or you are not eating 1,300 calories and miss tracking somewhere.

Don't panic. Just continue what you are doing if you are confident and the numbers will improve again.

nosebag1212

then you're retaining water, or have a thyroid issue, because no 300 lb person (without a thryoid issue) on the planet will maintain their weight on 1300 cals

MBrothers22

You're eating far too little. Your body is probably trying to hold on to all its fat because of it. If you are sedentary (desk job and no exercise what so ever) you need to eat around 1900 calories. If your job has a decent amount of walking or physical activity but you don't exercise you need to eat around 2200 calories. Just for an idea, your BMR which is what you would burn if you laid in bed for 24 hours is ~2120 calories. This is the lowest amount you should eat, period.

Edit: The 1900 calories is really your lowest end. Eating under your BMR of 2120 isn't a horrible thing of you are obese. I do it for now because I need to lose 120 ish more pounds on the 34 I already have. When I say 2120 is the lowest amount you should eat, I mean if you were to be exercising. On days I exercise, if I don't eat above my BMR, I get dizzy and it's just bad.
Shoot for at least 1900 right now since you were eating far less than that before but 2120 is really the number you should shoot for

weird_me2

You say you are weighing at the same time of day under the same conditions - is it first thing in the morning, after bathroom but before anything else? If not, you aren't getting the most accurate readings.

It does sound like you are retaining water. Have you changed your eating or sleeping habits lately? More carbs or sodium?

Even though you are weighing and tracking everything, are you making sure you are using the correct entries? Do you ever eat outside of the home? Do you ever binge or have "cheats"? Do you drink alcohol?

Also, why not go back to the 1600 calories - you were still losing then, even if it wasn't as quickly as you would like. How much have you lost and in what period of time?

Can you open your diary for other suggestions?

wilsoje74

Can you open your diary? You should def be losing, have you seen your doctor?

itsjustdawn

Honestly it doesn't sound like you're eating enough. I weigh 190 and lose weight at 1500-1600 a day (even without exercise).

3dogsrunning

Can you open your diary?

glenner

Weigh yourself once a month? I find I lose weight slowly- I can stay at same spot for a month then drop five at once.

itsjustdawn

You're eating far too little. Your body is probably trying to hold on to all its fat because of it. If you are sedentary (desk job and no exercise what so ever) you need to eat around 1900 calories. If your job has a decent amount of walking or physical activity but you don't exercise you need to eat around 2200 calories. Just for an idea, your BMR which is what you would burn if you laid in bed for 24 hours is ~2120 calories. This is the lowest amount you should eat, period.

Thank you

srubioperezz

You Need to Excerise.Period.You should be losing some weight because You have decreased your calorie intake but if you dont excercise it's not going to help tooo much.Also thats a small intake of calories and your body is probably thinking its being starved from such a significant decrease so its storing the calories it does take in as fat.

3dogsrunning

You Need to Excerise.Period.You should be losing some weight because You have decreased your calorie intake but if you dont excercise it's not going to help tooo much.Also thats a small intake of calories and your body is probably thinking its being starved from such a significant decrease so its storing the calories it does take in as fat.

Losing weight is about eating fewer calories than you burn. Exercise can play a role and has numerous other benefits but is not required for weight loss at all. You can lose weight just fine without exercise. You can exercise and not lose weight.

Vigilance88

The scale just won't move and I'm about to give up.

Female
Age: 31
Weight: 297
Height: 5'8"

You're giving up because you are making it more difficult for yourself. MFP gives you a moderate deficit depending on what you entered you wanted to lose (1 pound, 2 pounds per week?). It is very easy to eat 500 cals less and not be hungry at all.
When the scale stalls after a week or two you don;t just substract another 300 cals. You have to be patient and diet in a way you can sustain it for more than 6 weeks.

As for why it's not moving. It can be a lot of things. Hormones, new excercise, sodium. Thats why you have to be patient. Scales can stall for weeks, you'll have to deal with that. If you know you tracked food correctly, and you know how much you burn, you are losing fat.

Don't listen to starvation mode posts please.
Also you don't need to excercise to lose weight. Food and the calorie deficit are way more important. Excercise is just a tool to create a deficit (and increase fitness obviously). You were doing fine on 1600 cals.

Achrya

You Need to Excerise.Period.You should be losing some weight because You have decreased your calorie intake but if you dont excercise it's not going to help tooo much.Also thats a small intake of calories and your body is probably thinking its being starved from such a significant decrease so its storing the calories it does take in as fat.

Exercise, while lovely, isn't needed.

It's doubtful that at the OP's weight her body is under the impression it's being starved.

lukester19

Yes go and check a Doctor. Even if you were to make a mistake of 500 calories while estimating, you should lose something while being 300 pounds.

rosecanyon3

you may not know what is going on, but keep on going. you know you are doing what is best for you. just continue taking good care of yourself. your body may be adjusting to some changes, but you will lose the weight. don't give up...and... try to relax.

geebusuk

No I AM eating 1300 a day. I am METICULOUS about tracking and I count every damn bite I take. Telling me that I'm not eating what I say I'm eating isn't really helpful. I weigh and track EVERYTHING.

You diary isn't public, so we can't have a look to offer advice based on that.
You can not know you are eating 1300 calories precisely - you can make a good guess.
For instance, some TV program showed that many foods were 50% over the calories listed on the packet.

If you stay at this weight for an extended period, then what you have going in matches what you have going out.

If you only have 1300 going in and don't lose weight for an extended period, it's certainly worth discussing the situation with a medical professional.

It's common for initial weight loss to be higher due to losing food and water weight.

weird_me2

You're eating far too little. Your body is probably trying to hold on to all its fat because of it. If you are sedentary (desk job and no exercise what so ever) you need to eat around 1900 calories. If your job has a decent amount of walking or physical activity but you don't exercise you need to eat around 2200 calories. Just for an idea, your BMR which is what you would burn if you laid in bed for 24 hours is ~2120 calories. This is the lowest amount you should eat, period.

It's really hard to know that without knowing the accuracy of the tracking. Also, for people especially overweight, BMR calculators not based on body fat % can be way higher than expected. This is because most of these calculators base estimates on height/weight ratios (BMI) and the BMI for an especially overweight person can often be WAY different from the actual body fat %. I did the Katch-Mcardle formula on Scooby for OP based on age, weight, height and came up with a BMR of 1973 if she's only at 45% body fat (which is unlikely unless she is larger framed and muscular, too. Based on 55% body fat, OPs BMR would only be 1682 and if she's extremely inactive, then her TDEE would still only be around 2000. Unless you are making the conscious effort to move more, it's likely that reduced calories would mean reduced energy which would mean reduced movement. Factor in if OPs food entries are off by just 10% and you would have a very small deficit.

SanteMulberry

Are your clothes looser? Sometimes, you can add nearly as much fluid as the fat you are burning. There are herbal diuretics that can help. Try eating dandelion greens and parsley in your salads and/or snacking on celery. They are great for helping to dump excess fluid. Also, Epsom salts baths can raise serum magnesium levels and that combined with the potassium in the greens, parsley and celery will help shed the excess fluid. Also, it is important to keep your sodium levels to a dull roar (which is difficult to do if you are eating processed food). Try keeping your sodium down in the 2,000 to 2,500 mg. range and your potassium in the 4,000 mg. range. You can track your sodium and potassium on MFP. Unfortunately, a lot of the entries in the database don't have the potassium listed (and some of the listings are inaccurate anyway) but if you get a list of favorite potassium rich foods going it works, Most people eat about twice as much sodium as potassium and it should really be the reverse--about twice as much potassium as sodium. Exercise is essential to the process of fat-burning and building health. Obese folk need to understand that obese folk are sick. Health should be a higher priority than a number on a scale. Body composition (the percent of body fat) is WAY more important than the number on the scale.