Why isn't this working?

apathetastic

I'm 5'1.5", 29 years old, around 161 pounds. For months, my daily calorie goal was set at 1360, and I plateaued. I updated MFP and it gave me a new goal of 1200 with 2 workouts a week to lose 2 lbs per week. (I realize I probably won't actually lose 2 lbs per week.)

The first couple of weeks, it went great. I lost around 4 lbs. Now it's stopped again.

I'm a pescetarian and I don't eat very much processed food. Usually in the morning I have non-fat yogurt, berries and a little granola. Most lunches, I eat a homemade fruit smoothie. For dinner I often make fish and vegetables or something with beans or whole wheat pasta. I drink water, sugar free Kool-Aid, or unsweet tea or coffee, no soda. I usually end up with about 1150 calories at the end of the day. I measure everything out. I don't normally eat back exercise calories.

WHAT is going on? Why am I not losing, even if slowly?

I know people are going to say that I'm not eating enough, but I think that's BS. I'm quite short and mostly sedentary, as I have a desk job. I do go to the gym, usually 1-2 times per week (pretty much all cardio), and I take an outdoor walk at least once per week. I'm not in "starvation mode," and I don't go hungry.

Help!

rmberkey

You might think it's BS - but if you're not loosing AND not eating your calorie goal every day, then I would say there's you're answer. Being a little under your goal every day, like you are (1150 vs. 1200) is ok, but not on those days you work out if you're not eating back your calories burned. I know it seems counter-intuitive, but it really is the way to go. There's lots of scientific evidence to back it up.

I would also say that since this is your second plateau, maybe you need to increase how many times you work out each week. Try adding one or two extra workouts a week (total of 3-4 per week). Or try getting a step counter and pushing yourself to increase your steps every day, not just on workout days. It's a lot easier to do than you think. I choose parking spaces further away when I run errands, I walk my dogs an extra block or two, and when I go to the grocery store I walk up and down every aisle, even the ones I know I don't need anything from, just to add the extra steps.

Hope it helps and good luck!

VictoriaVamp

it helps me to lose sight of the scales and concentrate on fat loss and muscle definition (Don't be scared, you can't grow massive muscles unless you are working very very hard at it and you take supplements etc....).

Check out this picture, https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=people+that+weight+the+same+but+1+looks+toned+and+the+other+fat&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=quOmU4DnHYOc0QWGxIG4Ag&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=667#facrc=_&imgdii=Rl7DtMJucSU3oM:;ddTs6iAcSl7yfM;Rl7DtMJucSU3oM:&imgrc=Rl7DtMJucSU3oM%3A;WYR43O0fb4CixM;http%3A%2F%2Fimages.huffingtonpost.com%2F2014-02-19-tumblr_mbpxovG8cG1rd0tw8o1_1280.jpg;http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fsophia-herbst%2F1200-calories_b_4816597.html;826;536 (don't worry it's just a picture on google of 2 woman who 1 weighs less and the other weighs more, but the 1 who weighs more is more defined with a toned body.

I'm little like yourself so i know when I up my cals too much, I sometimes gain . Make sure your macros are on point (carbs - good carbs as in wholewheat pasta or sweet potatoes in smaller amounts. Protein - lots of protein, clean meats like chicken and fish, remove fats and try to grill or oven bake. fats - we need a small amount of fats to lose fat, like olive oil, oil from healthy fish like salmon or nuts. Lots of water and green tea and cut out as much sugar as possible.

Look into lifting weights, boxing or circuits - helped me lose 7 stone doll. Hope that helps and anything else, just message me. xx

MelodyandBarbells

Well you measure everything out but do you weigh everything out with a food scale? You could be over estimating your food. At 160 lbs I was able to lose on 1500+ net calories, even though it was just .5 lbs per week.

Check this out for food measurement accuracy: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1296011-calorie-counting-101

apathetastic

Yes, I do weigh with a food scale. I basically don't eat anything I can't quantify.

MelodyandBarbells

Yikes. Make your diary public here. Something's off

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

Keepcalmanddontblink

Do you use a heart rate monitor for accurate burns? If you are using MFP they usually over calculate.

apathetastic

I don't have a heart rate monitor. Usually when I go to the gym I look at what the machine says I burned, then look at what MFP says (it's always different) and just kind of meet them in the middle.

apathetastic

My diary is now public. Looking through it, it often says that I go way over my sugar intake, but that's almost all fruit sugar. If I can't eat fruit, well, then, I'm screwed.

MelodyandBarbells

My diary is now public. Looking through it, it often says that I go way over my sugar intake, but that's almost all fruit sugar. If I can't eat fruit, well, then, I'm screwed.

You can eat fruit

QuietBloom

I don't have a heart rate monitor. Usually when I go to the gym I look at what the machine says I burned, then look at what MFP says (it's always different) and just kind of meet them in the middle.

Both machine and MFP estimates are notoriously high. Try eating back half of what they say you burned.

apathetastic

As I said in the original post, I don't normally eat back any of my exercise calories.

ninerbuff

Trying to lose 2lbs. a week, your body may take up to a month to try to adjust to the intake. And seeing that in a weeks time your calorie allotment adds up to more than 1000 calories more in deficit than you need to be in, well truthfully you may have found your answer.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

MelodyandBarbells

If you're intentionally under eating despite lots of activity, you may wish to resolve that

That said, I saw a couple quick adds. Not many, but that can be an indication of inaccurate logging. There are features to load in meals, recipes, copy foods from one day to the other

So when you say you use a food scale, do you mean for everything, where the only items using cups or measurement spoons are freely pouring liquids such as milk? Items like peanut butter, mayonnaise, oil used in your vegetable sauté, oatmeal. All of these can be weighed rather than measured using cups or tablespoons. Some people even weigh bread and tortillas, which you can do for a minute until you figure out if it is or isn't a potential source of inaccuracy. I'm hoping you find something or a combination of things because we are hunting down the better part of 500 calories, here

When you weigh yourself, make sure you're doing so at the same time everyday, preferably in the morning after bathroom, just so you don't miss any small changes over time. Time as in from one month to the next or next two lol. The daily fluctuations can be crazy and no indication of your progress

apathetastic

Yesterday's quick adds are for homemade berry yogurt muffins that my fiance made. He counted all the calories up in the recipe. I just didn't feel like putting the whole thing in. I know I should have.

No, I don't weigh things like tortillas. I guess I never considered that. I weigh things like chips and pasta, when it says "2 oz" etc. is a serving to get an accurate reading. I just don't see how it could be that much of a difference to cause no weight loss!

Maybe I just need to wait longer, as ninerbuff suggested. How do I see my total calorie deficit for the week?

MelodyandBarbells

Your walking and elliptical calories are probably a bit high

Here's an equation for walking less than 4.5 miles per hour:

.3 X body weight (lbs) X distance (miles)

One of your logs was 38 minutes 212 calories. Assuming 3.5 mph that should actually be around 106 NET calories burned. The elliptical ones you're usually recording at 600 calories per hour. I don't use an elliptical but 550 calories in my one hour classes means I took all the high options, did plyometric jumps, took no breaks. Not only does the number seem high, even if you got a HRM you would then need to consider net vs gross calories (you burned 600 in this exercise but would have burned 60 doing nothing, etc). If the calorie measurement becomes a hassle you may wish to just eat a fixed amount everyday and adjust as necessary

Oh wait, I just figured out I'm wasting your time since you don't eat back exercise calories anyway. Grr! Well it's already typed so I'm posting it Off to get ready for the gym, good luck!

MelodyandBarbells

I use the app. Nutrition --> weekly. There's a nice bar graph showing net calories eaten everyday, average calories for the week, calories left, etc. I think you can do it on the website via the Reports link. I really should figure out how to do it that way since I promote the weekly deficit thing quite often

apathetastic

When I logged the 38 minutes at 212 calories, I had the treadmill's incline turned up, which I think burns more. I just logged what the treadmill said. I haven't seen a way to add that into MFP's system. It's probably there and I just didn't search right.

Anyway, thank you for trying to help! Have fun at the gym!

writergeek313

It's probably not realistic to try to lose two pounds of week when you have less than 75 pounds to lose. I just entered your stats into this calculator and chose that you do 1-3 hours of exercise a week: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ It says your BMR is 1501 calories. That's the number of calories you'd burn if you slept all day or were in a coma. Consistently eating below that is robbing your body of the fuel it needs to perform its basic functions. It recommends you should be eating 1652 calories to be eating at 20% deficit of your maintenance calories.

Changing your goal to a more realistic 1 pound a week and making sure you net enough calories each day to be eating above your BMR will probably help. That means eating back some of your exercise calories (I'd say try 3/4 of what you burned; if you don't start losing again, try half).

Weight loss is a fussy thing. The equation isn't always eat less = lose more.

pensierobello

Eat half your exercise calories back, and don't be so hard on yourself. You're 161lbs, you haven't got that far to go - stop trying to be so aggressive about the loss!

elsinora

2lbs a week loss is not aggressive for someone around 160lbs.

pensierobello

IYHO.

SLLRunner

Do you weigh ALL your food? Not all bananas, pears, broccoli, eggs, etc. are created equal.

Two bananas that appear to be the same size often are different weights-120 calories and 90 calories, and they were not that much different in size.

Weigh that cup of strawberries or watermelon and you will be surprised.

SLLRunner

2lbs a week loss is not aggressive for someone around 160lbs.

Yes it is, especially since her ticker says she wants to lose only about 25 pounds more.

apathetastic

I don't think so either, especially since an ideal weight for my height is often quoted at 115. (I'm hoping for 130, that would be fine with me.)

But I'm trying to lose a bit more because my wedding is coming in 3 months. As stated in the original post, I don't expect to lose 2 lbs per week.

apathetastic

No, I don't weigh it all. But I do pay attention to whether it says "large" or "medium" banana, for example. Perhaps I'll start weighing more of my food, you aren't the only one to suggest that.

caracrawford1

Ok, everybody in my family thinks I'm the exercise freak because I workout ALOT (I run marathons), currently working out two hours/day, generally. Im not going to even entertain the idea that you should do THAT, but I would say, aside from the food issues, working out only twice a week....not going to cut it to lose weight. I would gain weight if I only worked out twice a week.

SLLRunner

No, I don't weigh it all. But I do pay attention to whether it says "large" or "medium" banana, for example. Perhaps I'll start weighing more of my food, you aren't the only one to suggest that.

Food scales are cheap. Go get one and what you see will surprise you.

Small, medium, and large are all in the eye of the beholder.

SLLRunner

Ok, everybody in my family thinks I'm the exercise freak because I workout ALOT (I run marathons), currently working out two hours/day, generally. Im not going to even entertain the idea that you should do THAT, but I would say, aside from the food issues, working out only twice a week....not going to cut it to lose weight. I would gain weight if I only worked out twice a week.

Exercise is not necessary to lose weight. It's calories in/calories out.

apathetastic

No, I don't weigh it all. But I do pay attention to whether it says "large" or "medium" banana, for example. Perhaps I'll start weighing more of my food, you aren't the only one to suggest that.

Food scales are cheap. Go get one and what you see will surprise you.

Small, medium, and large are all in the eye of the beholder.

I have one, I just don't use it for everything. I use it when the serving size calls for it, like when pasta says that 2 oz is a serving.

caracrawford1

Ok, everybody in my family thinks I'm the exercise freak because I workout ALOT (I run marathons), currently working out two hours/day, generally. Im not going to even entertain the idea that you should do THAT, but I would say, aside from the food issues, working out only twice a week....not going to cut it to lose weight. I would gain weight if I only worked out twice a week.

Exercise is not necessary to lose weight. It's calories in/calories out.

No, its not, but relying on diet alone is not the way to a completely healthy and toned body, and it certainly helps with weight loss, no disputing that since it is CALORIES OUT (not in). If you would like to not exercise, that's your prerogative, me personally, I like to be active.