If I am at a deficit, why am I not losing weight?
Replies
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Really sorry to hear you had a miscarriage. You should've mentioned it in the beginning though as people will automatically check your most recent diary. I know I did.
I went back and looked from May 1st. You go over on carbs most days, so maybe cut back. There are also still quite a few KFC/Dominos/Red Rooster/McDonald's entries, so perhaps go for a healthier option, and save that for once a week.
You also skip meals a lot. I don't know what you do for a job, but there must be some way you can eat breakfast?0 -
Thanks Dawnie
I honestly have take away because by the time I get home after 10 hours, I really ceebs cooking, and my partner isn't always home before me to cook.Plus we share a house with 8 other people, so if they have the kitchen we cant cook if we wanted to, and so take out is easiest.
I used to be really healthy when I started, and as soon as I didn't see results soon enough, I have slipped pretty badly. its been almost three months now, 10 days off it, and honestly I am no where near as disciplined as I was.
I skip meals because I feel sick often. Its genetic. I can barely ever eat before 9am otherwise I will throw it up, and by 9am at work(I start at 7) , there is barely any time for me to eat.
I don't take my lunch breaks because I am too busy all the time, so I don't eat lunch. Since I am so busy I don't feel hungry.
I don't really pay attention to the macros besides trying to make sure the fat percentage isn't too high. I should probably work on that, thanks.
I know not everyone has been nice, but I also know I want honesty about what I should do and my options. Most people have jumped to assume I just don't do things right and that's why, but I was doing everything right at the start, tried everything, and because I didn't see results fast enough I kinda let go of the strictness on myself.
I know I need to shape up and just start doing things right, I suppose I just need some tips on how to make sure I make time for other meals besides in the evening.
I also don't know if 2kg in 2 months is too little. I feel it is but I might have my bar set too high.0 -
Very sorry to hear about the miscarriage
I have also been back a way through your diary and I would say that a lot of your entries still seem to be estimates
There are many items shown as "homemade" did you make them or chose something from the website that sounded close enough? This is a notoriously inaccurate way of logging
There are also a lot of non weight entries such as cakes measure by 0.5 of a slice, how large is the slice that the calorie values are based on and did you eat exactly half of a slice this size.
Before assuming that a calorie deficit doesn't work for you (you are far from alone in making that assumption) please start weighing everything and making completely sure that you are being accurate then you can reassess your progress0 -
Thanks
I know calorie deficits work, which is why I know I must be doing the wrong thing here if I am not losing enough, I am not debating that at all.
Also if it says homemade, its usually made by my mother in law or a friend, if I did it myself I would weigh them on my scales.
When I select like 1/5 of something, I am generally over estimating. like if it is a big square pie, and I have a 9th of it, I will say I had a 7th or 6th, just to be sure. I cut cakes and such very small to try make sure I am not unknowingly going over.
I know it isn't the most accurate, I just struggle to find the time to be able to make sure everything is accurate, especially since I don't eat at home often due to the availability of the kitchen and when I get home etc.0 -
MFP wisdom says ALWAYS eat above your BMR. Eating below it is dangerous to you health. You disagree?
Yep, I disagree. MFP puts anyone sedentary looking to lost 2 lbs/week on a calorie allowance below their BMR.
"Eating below your BMR" and "Net calories" are concepts not found elsewhere, generally speaking. The former is forum group think.0 -
Not being home is not an excuse to eat like this. It's been a long time since I read such an unhealthy diary! How are you supposed to lose weight and burn fat eating kfc and mc donalds almost every day? You can prepare your meals from home. I think that at least the 50% of fitnesspal members work 8-10 hours per day. How can we make it? And if you don't have time to prepare your meals, you have healthier options. Get a whole-wheat-turkey sandwich instead of burger, give up french fries and drink sparkling water instead of coke. On the other hand you have meals with only "Tea", or a mint. Your body is shocked and doesn't know what you are supposed to do with this. Losing weight? Gain? Get extra fat?0
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If you go to McDonalds, why not just have one burger? There's no excuse for having two. Or three. With nuggets on top.0
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Bump for later! 0
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Im sorry about the miscarriage and pretty sure that will have contributed to no loss? (As i gained weight early on when pregnant),
Can you take some healthy snacks to work? fruit? nuts? etc
Or cook on your day off and freeze for tea/supper for the week?0 -
Ok so you know my schedule and why it is so hard:
I wake up at 6, leave by 6:30, work somewhere with no access to food besides a jiffy van that only brings sausage rolls and pies, get home at about 6, so any healthy food options nearby have closed by 5:30 latest. Everyone else is cooking their dinner in the kitchen, the owner, and then the owners family, and then we are last, and no cooking after 9pm is the house rules. sometimes they don't finish til 8:45.
There is never room in our freezer for me to pre make and freeze meals, i have tried it. I got told off for taking up too much of the freezer, since there are literally 8 other people living with myself and my partner.
My options are limited. Due to time and the living conditions we are in. I am willing to look into any options that could work for me to become healthier as it is a huge goal of mine, I am just finding it incredibly hard to do so.
Also about the mcdonalds, my partner bought the family box as he is bulking to try gain. he couldn't eat it all, and over the course of about 5 hours, I picked away at the left over stuff. I actually should have only had the quarter pounder and small fries. Once again, i OVERestimated what I had eaten, I had 2 nuggets but I counted it as three and I only had a regular chips onto of my small chips, but i put it as large, and i only ha about half the big mac and logged it as a full one. I do the every time he buys that and theres stuff left over. I still logged it, i wasn't going to lie about it.
I have tried having tea, yoghurts, tuna, etc for breakfast. Usually makes me feel sick eating in the morning and by lunch I barely have time to breathe.
I find it hard to believe all of the people who ave had more success than me have the same problems, too.
I know I am not perfect and i have let myself slip quite a bit, but I am trying to get better.
Thank you to those with constructive criticism, and to those who are just being rude or negative, I am sorry someone hurt you or made you del like crap to the point you need to do the same.
If anyone has any advice as to how to fit nutritious eating into an extremely busy schedule, please let me know, I am very interested in becoming healthy and cutting out the bad food out of my life.0 -
Note all the people that say you are not in deficit - they are correct :-) MFP or whatever else we use estimate ins and outs - for you the estimation is wrong. I would just drop the calories manually by 500 a day below where you are and you should drop 1 lb per week :-) Good luck0
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500 calories below what i am is 900. I don't think that is safe.
I need to find a better way to have meals, rather than takeaway, and better options for how to have 3 meals a day instead of one with my schedule.0 -
I've hit the same problems by the way so I understand where you are coming from. For a busy life I plan as much as possible and leave my cash at home so I can't possibly go and buy more than I take to work :-) It shows the level of my will power but it works for me. I also swap a meal with a meal replacement shake sometimes. I don't do this to crash weight loss below what is sensible but if I like McDonalds with the kids sometimes and if I know I am having one of them for tea I'll have a shake for lunch. It has all the right stuff in but with fewer calories. Also try and increase your background calorie burn - if you work in an office use a toilet a bit further from you , try walking more all the time. I do this an I think I can burn a couple hundred extra calories a day for free as it were0
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If you are only on 900 please scrap my advice - you are right. I can't see how you can be on 900 and not lose though :-) I know our bodies become more economic when we constantly reduce weight but only by a couple hundred calories per day. your BMR must be over a thousand by itself and the extra calories burned by walking etc should put you well over what you are eating ?0
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500 calories below what i am is 900. I don't think that is safe.
I need to find a better way to have meals, rather than takeaway, and better options for how to have 3 meals a day instead of one with my schedule.
Can you do a big food prep session on a day off so that you have food for the week? When I'm on top of things, that is what I do. It makes things easier.0 -
I'm on 1400 now, but if i dropped 500 it would lave me at 900, is what i meant.
Yea i am going to try meal replacement shakes so at least I am getting something in me during the day, I only really have time to drink.
I do run around a lot at work, so I probably burn more in a day than I would think, but I don't count it.
I bring my wallet to work n case I need it for an emergency but I don't have anywhere near me to buy food anyway, I work in an industrial area.
I would love to pre prepare meals. my partner sometimes works weekends and it would be a great way to fill time till he came home too, all that cooking. But there wouldn't be anywhere for me to store it. We have a small fridge, and about 5 people share our fridge, and 5 share the other fridge in the house.
It's really hard, and I am not sure many other alternatives besides pre preparing, or eating out. The people we live with are very adamant about no noise between 10pm to 6am on weeknights, so waking up early to prepare isn't an option either as I would be getting up before 6am to do so, and the kitchen is right next door to the owners room, and his wife is a bit of a cow. The tiniest noise and she'll act like i was making a ruckus.0 -
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Wow, really sorry about your miscarriage.
Hormones have an impact on women's weight, with a woman's TOM often adding a couple of pounds (or more to ones weight).
I don't know about pregnancy, but I imagine that the hormones from getting pregnant and than losing it are likely to impact on the scale.
So my advice is to get back on track for 6 weeks and you should see a drop.0 -
It seems you like junk food. And if you keep on eating like this, don't expect to burn any fat cause all this junk food is full of processed and trans fat. Some of us are negative as you said, because the situation is negative itself. I advise you to find a food consultant to give you daily plans that fit on your schedule. In addition start reading health related articles in reliable websites and blogs. Finally, I believe that people who don't know how to eat healthy and have emotional hunger should not start with fitnesspall. You need to be educated first 0
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Sounds like a busy house. Im not sure what else to suggest. I think you just need to keep going as you are ( record everything you eat ) and try to add more healthy options and hopefully it will get you back on track.0
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I have had my cheat days, but even if I do I try to keep my week at the correct total, i.e I would eat less the next day or exercise it off, etc.
That's your problem right over there, it's not about week's total, it's about DAYS TOTAL, if you eat like a pig one day a week you've just wasted 7 days of dieting, unless you burn the calories.0 -
I agree with spalunker. When you start eating more green vegetables your body won't crave the fast food. Overeating is your body rampaging for nutrients.
Also check out Intermittent fasting at drsarasolomon.com , leangains.com , bradpilon.com . It sounds horrible but after the first fast you get accustomed to it and look forward to the weight loss. It got me over a two week plateau. Your body's best time to burn fat is 16 hours or more after your dinnerl. Narrow your food window to minimum 8 hours while watching carbs and cals. Eat up days are every 6 days and just an increase in calories, not unhealthy choices.Good luck!0 -
Can you eat while at work? If so pre prepared lunches and snacks might be the way to go and these could be done the night before and placed in the fridge until morning and wont take up a lot of space.
I would ignore the comments like "no wonder you can't lose weight with all the junk you eat" because you can lose weight eating whatever you want. The nutritional value and health impacts are another question entirely.
The only issue I would have with your diet is that a lot of your food choices would leave me feeling really hungry all the time and that is not an ideal way to lose weight in my opinion
At the end of the day if you really are unable to weigh and log everything accurately then perhaps calorie counting is not the way for you to lose weight, after all different methods of creating a deficit work for different people.
Other options may be intermittent fasting such as 5:2, also many who follow a low carb high fat diet say that the eating style itself keeps them satiated so they naturally eat less (not having tried either I cannot say whether or not they work personally).
I would recommend researching the options thoroughly though and I am sure you will find a method that works for you0 -
My 2 cents....
Try to have some fruit on hand - apples works magic.
Where you log just tea for lunch - then you can add a apple and not be as famished dinner time
I understand your fridge space is a problem - that is hard, try some protein bars - they are always handy, and satisfy cravings (for me anyway!)
The added sodium in take-away food does retain water in your body - this will stop you from loosing weight too.
Good luck! 0 -
I agree with spalunker. When you start eating more green vegetables your body won't crave the fast food. Overeating is your body rampaging for nutrients.
Also check out Intermittent fasting at drsarasolomon.com , leangains.com , bradpilon.com . It sounds horrible but after the first fast you get accustomed to it and look forward to the weight loss. It got me over a two week plateau. Your body's best time to burn fat is 16 hours or more after your dinnerl. Narrow your food window to minimum 8 hours while watching carbs and cals. Eat up days are every 6 days and just an increase in calories, not unhealthy choices.Good luck!
Sorry but I have to ask for studies to prove that your body knows which meal is your dinner and why the next 16 hours are the best time to burn fat. While your at it please can you add others to show why she needs to narrow her food window and watch carbs as well as calories?0 -
Just read your diary, at that rate you will lose the weight so slowly even your scale won't notice (not a bad thing). you need to fill your water logs too. and late at night eating slows weight loss. I know because i have tried it. I can't find it in the books but my late night food just sits there. try shaking your diet up for 2 days. obey the 1,200 rule and don't eat back your workouts. Just for 2 days. see what the scale says and then reset
i had this problem for weeks, I was losing but too slow to notice, it. Basically i like food. But i cut down both my food and exercise for a week *weekdays only) and lost 0.8 kg in 2 days. the diet i used is not sustainable so i won't share it. The point is sometimes you need a shake up. I will be using this low diet for three weeks and then stopping. Also the bitter truth is that cheat days are bad, you need a cheat meal. If those cheat days end up making up fro the other negative days you will stay at maintenance. a cheat meal however can be as satisfying and less of a risk.0 -
No, if you're not losing, you're not at a deficit. But give it time to accomodate for natural weight fluctuations. Your food choices are not important for weight loss, but for health, appetite and hence, adherence. Use a TDEE/BMR calculator to estimate how many calories you need. Do not rely on anything that tells you how many calories are expended on exerciise and daily activity. And be sure that you weigh everything you eat, every day, accurately and enter it using the correct data.0
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about your fridge, you may want to consider using soup storage zip lock bags to store your food portions. all you have to do is warm them in the bag and transfer to a plate or transfer to a plate and warm up. they stack in between spaces and on each other. I don's know if i'm allowed to post a link here. I get them at wilko or the 1 pound store.0
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DO you eat every 2 or so hours do you eat veggies and good fats and drink lots of water?
What does this have to do with anything?0 -
Your "cheat day" is the one where you had a Big Mac, Quarter Pounder With Cheese AND a 6pack of nuggets with fries and coke for dinner alone I assume? Aside from that issue, you don't have any water logged -only coke- and your carbs are the majority of your meals (unhealthy grains, not even good carbs from veggies). I don't mean to sound critical at all, sorry if it comes across that way. Try having your menu divided into 5%carbs, 70%fat, 25% protein to get into ketosis. Drink a quart of water, limit your processed foods (crumpets and boxed meals) and additives like sugar so you aren't wasting precious calories on something working against you. Once you lose what you need to, start upping your carbs a little. You have youth and it's metabolism on your side! You'll get there
Not everyone should or wants to be in Ketosis0 -
I think I gained weight just reading your diary. There is no way you are in a deficit. 0
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