Getting nowhere fast!!!!

Aaron_K123

Either you have an undiagnosed medical condition which is depressing your metabolism or you are logging food and activity wrong somewhere along the way.

Ones metabolism can only be "depressed" so much even in the worst of conditions. A "depressed" metabolism is not going to explain no weight loss at 1400 caloric intake and regular exercise. I'm sorry OP but these are the two options:

1) You are not correctly monitoring your caloric intake
2) You are truly unique in the population, no one else is like you. You have the ability to create energy from nothing.

Whether the answer is #1 or the answer is #2 there really is no way to advise you based on the numbers you are providing.

mkmfrog

OP, I suggest you read this thread. It may offer some insights and suggestions you may not have considered.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1268958-over-40-fitness

SLLRunner

I don't know why you are being such an *kitten*!!!!!!! I got here to see if there were any other people on this board that had a hard time losing weight while exercising and eating right.

Stop now.

Either you have a medical condition that is affecting your weight

Or

Your calorie intake is not at a deficit due to underestimating calories eaten and/or calories burned

Or

You are creating water like crazy due to medications, over exercise, or something else.

The most common reason for weight gain is no. 2. It's nothing to be ashamed of, it just takes some research to make sure we have the correct entries.

Also, I advise using a food scale if you just measure. The differences in measurements and weight can be astounding. It all adds up.

SLLRunner

Wow!! this string just makes me not want to communicate with anyone here!! Yikes!!!

Seriously? And this is your first post.

sassyjae21

Either you have a hidden medical condition or you're NOT eating 1400 calories a day.

Put out more energy than you put in = weight loss
Put in more energy than you put out = weight gain

Put in same amount of energy as you put out = maintenance.

You're going wrong, somewhere

HikeCyclist

What did your dr test you for, exactly? I'm sure there are rare medical conditions that aren't tested for with a simple, run of the mill, physical with blood work.

Also, maybe you should keep a food diary on mfp instead, for at least a couple of weeks, then come back here for support. People can't help you much with limited info and evidence. What's your height/weight? Where'd you get the idea to eat 1400 calories from?

Nice2BFitAgain

If the 1400 cals + numerous hours of exercise aren't working, the only other thing you can do is go to 1300 cals and stick to that for 3 weeks. If that isn't it then move it to 1200 cals. until you find the deficit that works.

Without seeing your food diary then no one can say for sure what you need to do.

martinel2099

@OP

The community is only here to help you and nobody is out to be a bully. What we won't stand for is helping to fool you further into believing that you are doing nothing wrong. If you were doing everything correctly then you wouldn't be in this situation excluding some weird medical situation you might have.

Here's what I believe you to be doing wrong-

Food- I guarantee that you are either not measuring/weighing your food/portions properly and may be fooling yourself into thinking your doing fine when you're really not. If I were you, I'd re-evaluate all the sources of information that you are currently basing your calories on. If you are claiming a dish from Olive Garden is xxx amount of calories before, forget that number and look it up again. If you are using a food scale, consider buying a new one.

A real example, i once heard that "clear" dressings often meant they were better for you, so I would always get the mustard vinaigrette from outback steakhouse and would often get extra. Once I started recording my food reality settled in and I found out it was worse than the buttermilk ranch, no wonder I was gaining weight with items like these in my diet.

Exercise- It's very possible that you are not measuring your intensity level properly and recording more calories burnt that you are really burning. Do you use a heart rate monitor? I would start if you aren't already, and I suspect that you aren't. 2 hours at the gym is great if you are honestly working your butt off the entire time. If that 2 hours is made up of time hanging out in the locker room, showering, Suana and hanging out for extended periods of time between machines then that does nothing to help you. If you were booking in a solid 2 hours of moderate to intense exercise you would be looking at amazing results, assuming that's a pace you can actually keep up with.

I'm 250 lbs currently (down from 270) and to keep up to 70-80% of my max heart rate for an hour on the elliptical which totally kicks my *kitten*. I then squeeze in a 20-30 minute weights/resistance workout and call it a day. That roughly burns 850 for elliptical and another 170 calories for a 30min weight workout. I usually spend 110 to 170 calories on my protein shake too so the weights almost dont even count towards my burnt calories (I do weights for physical fitness and building muscle mass alone not just to burn calories). at the end of this I'm spent, 2 hours at that intensity would kick my butt, is that how you feel after your 2 hour workout?

Consider this advise and that of the many people on these boards. Nobody is looking to set you up for failure and if you keep on your current path that's all you're in for.

yungibear

I feel like I am returning a few too many times but OP, if you do choose to follow the advice here on MFP, I found a popular blog post from today talking about this exact problem.

Perhaps anyone else who is hitting this roadblock would find it helpful:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/californiagirl2012/view/-but-i-am-eating-less-and-it-s-not-working-656913

This person mentions that she has the medical issues people usually blame for their lack of weight-loss. She, however, was able to reach her goals despite them. So if we, the people who are still in the process, do not sound convincing, perhaps her story might be of help to you?

Jestinia

I don't know why you are being such an *kitten*!!!!!!! I got here to see if there were any other people on this board that had a hard time losing weight while exercising and eating right.

Stop now.

Either you have a medical condition that is affecting your weight

Or

Your calorie intake is not at a deficit due to underestimating calories eaten and/or calories burned

Or

You are creating water like crazy due to medications, over exercise, or something else.

The most common reason for weight gain is no. 2. It's nothing to be ashamed of, it just takes some research to make sure we have the correct entries.

Also, I advise using a food scale if you just measure. The differences in measurements and weight can be astounding. It all adds up.

:drinker: All possible options not so far-fetched as to include amnesiac force feeding under alien abduction have now been covered!

Well, except sleep eating. Are you taking Ambien and waking up with crumbs on your chin, OP? Seriously, some people do sleep eat though.

AllOutof_Bubblegum

I eat around 1400 calories per day. I just don't get it. They say it take 1 hr a day just to maintain, I am doing at least 2 hrs a day and still gaining.

Cut so much cardio and lift weights instead.

+1,000,000

clairejoknee

My suggestion would be to eat more if you eat at 1400 before exercise, perhaps eat some exercise calories? Good luck.

lindsayk324

Keeping a text diary (like My Fitness Pal) is one way to track what you eat, but maybe you could also try a visual diary! Take a picture of your food before you eat it -- everything that goes in your mouth gets a picture beforehand.

When I was starting out, this was a great way for me to stop and think before I ate. It prevented me from grazing, especially at work (ooh, so-and-so brought in M&Ms, I could grab a handful and.. oh, wait, no, don't feel like taking a picture of that). It also helped me make good choices for meals, because cooking myself something wholesome and yummy made such a better picture than a gross microwaved HealthyChoice frozen dinner.

Now I take a great amount of pride in cooking for myself and dressing up my plate prettily. I'm definitely a visual learner, so having a visual log was great! You could make a tumblr account just for your food diary, and use the app to snap a quick picture whenever you sit down to eat!

SLLRunner

Keeping a text diary (like My Fitness Pal) is one way to track what you eat, but maybe you could also try a visual diary! Take a picture of your food before you eat it -- everything that goes in your mouth gets a picture beforehand.

When I was starting out, this was a great way for me to stop and think before I ate. It prevented me from grazing, especially at work (ooh, so-and-so brought in M&Ms, I could grab a handful and.. oh, wait, no, don't feel like taking a picture of that). It also helped me make good choices for meals, because cooking myself something wholesome and yummy made such a better picture than a gross microwaved HealthyChoice frozen dinner.

Now I take a great amount of pride in cooking for myself and dressing up my plate prettily. I'm definitely a visual learner, so having a visual log was great! You could make a tumblr account just for your food diary, and use the app to snap a quick picture whenever you sit down to eat!

I actually have heard of that and think it's a great idea. It's important to change our relationship with food.

PennyVonDread

Calorie counts on processed food packaging (even diet food) can and usually are off by 10-20% total calories. It's an even higher margin of error if you trust restaurant calorie guides because not all cooks at every restaurant are carefully measuring food during a rush the same way they did in the lab setting that gave the nutritional info for the websites.

Your body is not breaking laws of thermodynamics. Even if you are measuring, your calorie counts could very likely still be wrong. There is no way we can help you without an open diary, so maybe you should be asking your doctor.

DivineChoices

If you're netting 1400 calories, I wonder if you're over-estimating calories burned in exercise.

As much as it is frustrating, the calories-in-calories-out does work. Sometimes it takes a larger deficit to achieve your results. Some times your body will respond better to different foods (like people who do low-carb or paleo, etc).

My opinion is to try a different deficit. Figure out HOW much your TDEE is, cut it by 10-15% (there are better calculators than me to estimate how much you can consume to lose x amount of weight a week), log obsessively for 6 weeks, including weight/measurements (arms, chest, hips, thighs, etc). Re-evaluate your plan at the end of the 6 weeks.

There are some great threads that can help you pinpoint your TDEE through personal trial and error. I think the equation is something like total calories consumed / (weight lost/time period) or something like that. I'm not sure.

Once you get an accurate picture of your TDEE, it'll be easier to fiddle with your deficit until you find one that gets results.