If I am at a deficit, why am I not losing weight?

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  • lindam4
    lindam4 Posts: 10
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    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!
  • ChrisM8971
    ChrisM8971 Posts: 1,067 Member
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    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 you
  • slouw10
    slouw10 Posts: 82 Member
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    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!:smile:
  • ChrisM8971
    ChrisM8971 Posts: 1,067 Member
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    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?
  • Odinalove
    Odinalove Posts: 18
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    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.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    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.
  • Odinalove
    Odinalove Posts: 18
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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.
  • asdowe13
    asdowe13 Posts: 1,951 Member
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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?
  • asdowe13
    asdowe13 Posts: 1,951 Member
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    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 Ketosis
  • Yoshirio
    Yoshirio Posts: 242 Member
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    I think I gained weight just reading your diary. There is no way you are in a deficit. :)
  • Odinalove
    Odinalove Posts: 18
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    it's a wonder people don't agree that some junk food can hinder weight loss. The truth is from personal experience eating 1200 calories of white flour and chocolate was very very hard and the calorie density made it easy to underestimate ( an extra bite might add close to 30-50 calories).. but with the protein and veggies , i stayed well under my goal. Apart from that, on the white stuff i was tired and needed many cheat days. I mean like 3 in a week. I noticed that egg help control my appetite, I can't prove this scientifically just by my feeling. oats on the other hand makes me crave something more
  • asdowe13
    asdowe13 Posts: 1,951 Member
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    Here's a suggestion for one of your workout days.
    Your cardio workouts must be high intensity in order to lose fat.

    Try this:

    8 Second sprints
    12 Second moderate pace (rest)
    Repeat 2 more times.
    So, 8+12 = seconds
    20 x 3 = 60 seconds (1min)

    Now do that do for 20minutes straight.
    It won't be easy and you will die.

    Have fun..

    :huh:
  • Yoshirio
    Yoshirio Posts: 242 Member
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    BTW I am very sorry for your loss.:flowerforyou:
  • carfanman
    carfanman Posts: 271 Member
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    Are you sure you are accurately capturing your calories? Guesstimates can be dangerous!
  • Prahasaurus
    Prahasaurus Posts: 1,381 Member
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    Haven't gone through all 4 pages of advice, but I did look at your diary, and you seem to be eating fast food a lot. Like, a whole lot... And while it's certainly possible to lose weight eating pizza, fries and double cheese burgers, I'm not sure that's the best way to develop long term, sustainable, healthy eating habits, regardless of caloric intake...

    If you have little time during the work week, you need to prepare your food in bulk, refrigerate/freeze, and heat up as needed. Chicken stir fry is great for this, you can combine with different veggies, and different sauces, to keep it interesting. Opening up a can of tuna occasionally to combine with a salad and take to work is also an option. Or cook a bit more for dinner (baked fish?), then use the leftovers with rice or on a salad the next day, etc., etc. Snack on a whole red pepper or carrot if you get hungry during the day. I would drink only water, as well, avoid all other beverages if possible.

    Many people say they are swamped for time, but it's just an excuse, and not a good one. There is always time to prepare food in advance, and I'm sure you can google thousands of options that are healthy and can be prepared in bulk.

    From my experience, fast food is addictive. People say they have little time, and of course it's true to an extent. But the reality is they crave fast food. And then because they can eat at McDonald's under their caloric limit, they believe it's an effective way to diet. And it can certainly work in the short term. If you're really interested in long term health, you need to find another way.

    Good luck.
  • lamps1303
    lamps1303 Posts: 432 Member
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    If you're struggling to cook healthy balanced meals, why not make healthy balanced meals that don't require cooking? Not sure what it's like where you live, but in the UK you can walk into any supermarket and buy a whole cooked chicken. Or cooked chicken breast/slices, etc. Add to that brown rice you can quick cook (either on the stove or microwave), a few fresh veggies (spinach, carrots, etc), and there's a health meal that requires little/no effort or time. You can also make salads or wack a tub of soup in the micowave for 2 mins with some bread. I can't believe you're so busy at work you don't have 5mins to eat something - surely you have time for the toilet?! Take small bags of nuts, fruit, granola bar, etc. to work with you - things you can basically pick on throughout the day, which also require little/no preparation. Make the time - if you go out to the loo/get a drink, take some food with you and munch it before returning to your work.

    There are loads of people on here who have very busy lives and still find the time to cook and exercise. If you're really determined you will find a way.
  • a_stronger_me13
    a_stronger_me13 Posts: 812 Member
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    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.

    Dietary fat does not equal body fat.

    The actual biggest concern about not eating hardly any meals prepped by you personally is the inaccuracy of the portions prepared vs. the portions use in the nutritional information provided by a restaurant.
  • RobPA1
    RobPA1 Posts: 48 Member
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    For the past three weeks I was stuck at 226lbs - despite at least a 900 cal deficit per day. I bumped my cals up to 1600 from 1300 and did nothing else different (same workouts, etc) and this week I have lost 2 lbs.

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