Can't lose weight eating healthy?

VaporeonSugar

I've been trying hard to lose for about a year now and the healthier I eat, the more weight I put on. Even if I lowered my calorie intake. I recently said screw it two weeks ago and started eating nothing but what I'd eat when I got my first house, which is basically just fast food and junk. Lost a total of 5 pounds without really tracking what I eat and I've decided I'm done with healthy eating.

I still want to better my overall health, so I was wondering if anyone else has this issue? Any suggestions?

Alatariel75

What amount of calories were you eating then compared to how many you're eating now?

dbmata

I've been trying hard to lose for about a year now and the healthier I eat, the more weight I put on. Even if I lowered my calorie intake. I recently said screw it two weeks ago and started eating nothing but what I'd eat when I got my first house, which is basically just fast food and junk. Lost a total of 5 pounds without really tracking what I eat and I've decided I'm done with healthy eating.

I still want to better my overall health, so I was wondering if anyone else has this issue? Any suggestions?

It just means you weren't tracking correctly. Track better and you'll be able to lose eating anything, "good" or "bad".

desidieter

Do you weigh/measure everything you eat and then log accordingly? Chances are you're not tracking things correctly. Just because something's "healthy" doesn't mean it won't cause you to gain weight. If you're not eating at a deficit, it doesn't really matter what you eat; the weight gain will happen.

VaporeonSugar

What amount of calories were you eating then compared to how many you're eating now?

Then as in when I was eating healthy or when I ate whatever before?

Healthy I did 1600 - 1800 : dietary guidelines

Back when I got my first house, no idea. I'd eat fast food for almost all my meals because my then husband worked at McDonald's and Long John Silver's and would get me free food from Mc and brought all the leftovers home from the other. That and I was a sugar addict and loved soda with a passion, but everyone I knew agreed that was the skinniest they ever saw me. I also ate lots of chips, prepared food and pastries. I didn't own a scale, but I was probably around 120 because I was way smaller than in high school which I weighed 164 in and was the same height.

dbmata

User hasn't been logging completely, so she'll never know how much she was actually eating.

VaporeonSugar

Do you weigh/measure everything you eat and then log accordingly? Chances are you're not tracking things correctly. Just because something's "healthy" doesn't mean it won't cause you to gain weight. If you're not eating at a deficit, it doesn't really matter what you eat; the weight gain will happen.

I weighed anything that wasn't premade and jotted it down in my weight watchers journal I still have. Just put cals instead of points. I always kept track in a book or journal or would carry a piece of paper around with me if I misplaced those for any amount of time.

VaporeonSugar

User hasn't been logging completely, so she'll never know how much she was actually eating.

I said in my original post that I gave up tracking two weeks ago. Please read at least that before commenting. I do not own a computer anyways so I go on here to post or track very rarely. I only logged todays food online because I wanted to see if I've been eating more calories now that I eat whatever I want to and my mom is letting me use her laptop while I'm in her area.

dbmata

I said in my original post that I gave up tracking two weeks ago. Please read at least that before commenting.

That's why I looked back as far as June.

If you weren't tracking, you don't know what you were eating. You have no data from which to analyze performance, basal or otherwise.

desidieter

I weighed anything that wasn't premade and jotted it down in my weight watchers journal I still have. Just put cals instead of points. I always kept track in a book or journal or would carry a piece of paper around with me if I misplaced those for any amount of time.

I would encourage you to weigh/measure EVERYTHING - even the premade stuff, and log it here on MFP instead of paper. If you do that for a few weeks and continue to see zero movement on the scale, then maybe talk to your doctor or a nutritionist and find out if you have any sort of metabolic dysfunction. Although, what I've seen more often than not is that people are just inconsistent about their logging. There are always exceptions; some people have thyroid issues or what not, but most of the time, those people are in the rare minority. Most people on this site who don't see progress are experiencing those issues because they're not honest about how they're logging their food. Then when they get honest, they're shocked by how much they're actually consuming.

VaporeonSugar

I said in my original post that I gave up tracking two weeks ago. Please read at least that before commenting.

That's why I looked back as far as June.

If you weren't tracking, you don't know what you were eating. You have no data from which to analyze performance, basal or otherwise.

No computer. Track on paper.

Alatariel75

Really, it comes down to numbers.

Many "healthy" foods can be quite calorie dense, conversely, you may get satisfied on a smaller amount of "junk" food and so end up consuming less calories. Without an accurate count of what you ate when you were "healthy" and what you're eating now (and losing on) it's hard to say.

It won't be the fact that the food is "healthy" - it will be how many calories you're consuming. Nuts, for example, are widely regarded as "healthy" (and they are) but they are very calorie dense and a couple handfuls are a hell of a lot of calories.

The last few days my hubster has been in hospital and I've been home to sleep and that's it. I've been eating hospital cafe food, or popping down to McDonalds. You think it would have blown my calories out of the water, but instead I've been quite under every day.

GertrudeHorse

I said in my original post that I gave up tracking two weeks ago. Please read at least that before commenting.

That's why I looked back as far as June.

If you weren't tracking, you don't know what you were eating. You have no data from which to analyze performance, basal or otherwise.

No computer. Track on paper.

Without a computer where do you get your nutritional information and calorie counts from? Genuinely curious here, not getting you or anything. Do you have like a book with info? How accurate is that source...that's what I'm sort of asking here. Excuse my indirect rambling!

VaporeonSugar

I weighed anything that wasn't premade and jotted it down in my weight watchers journal I still have. Just put cals instead of points. I always kept track in a book or journal or would carry a piece of paper around with me if I misplaced those for any amount of time.

I would encourage you to weigh/measure EVERYTHING - even the premade stuff, and log it here on MFP instead of paper. If you do that for a few weeks and continue to see zero movement on the scale, then maybe talk to your doctor or a nutritionist and find out if you have any sort of metabolic dysfunction. Although, what I've seen more often than not is that people are just inconsistent about their logging. There are always exceptions; some people have thyroid issues or what not, but most of the time, those people are in the rare minority. Most people on this site who don't see progress are experiencing those issues because they're not honest about how they're logging their food. Then when they get honest, they're shocked by how much they're actually consuming.

I don't have a computer to log every day or I would, but I like journaling on paper best. I don't get what you mean by being honest. I don't leave out things. I'm the only one who reads it and it's not like I'd attempt to lie to myself to feel better about my diet. I always make sure to write down every lick, sip, nibble and taste. Besides, I don't think attempting to lie would really help me with anything.

VaporeonSugar

I said in my original post that I gave up tracking two weeks ago. Please read at least that before commenting.

That's why I looked back as far as June.

If you weren't tracking, you don't know what you were eating. You have no data from which to analyze performance, basal or otherwise.

No computer. Track on paper.

Without a computer where do you get your nutritional information and calorie counts from? Genuinely curious here, not getting you or anything. Do you have like a book with info? How accurate is that source...that's what I'm sort of asking here. Excuse my indirect rambling!

Oh no, it's cool. If I ate out, which was rare, I'd have my mom get the restaurant nutrition pdf and print it for me. Everything else I eat has a nutritional lable on it. Even lettuce is wrapped in plastic with the info on it and most of my veggies were frozen. Sprouts, the store I shop at, also has the info on all the bulk and deli items containets. And fast food has it on wrappers or the tray liner.

GertrudeHorse

I don't think the honesty comment meant you're being deceitful or anything, maybe just misled or inaccurate about calorie content. For example when I measure out a "handful" of nuts this can vary between 35g and 55g depending on how big my hand grasps. That difference looks small when on the bowl but in calorie difference is actually massive. Even weighing prepacked stuff you will be surprised to see how much variation and inconsistency there is.

ETA: What alatariel75 said is very accurate. My advice is be fastidious about weighing & logging everything that goes into your mouth, every scrape of oil and spices, every sliver of lettuce. Be really pedantic for a few weeks and you will have a baseline data set to inform future choices.

desidieter

I weighed anything that wasn't premade and jotted it down in my weight watchers journal I still have. Just put cals instead of points. I always kept track in a book or journal or would carry a piece of paper around with me if I misplaced those for any amount of time.

I would encourage you to weigh/measure EVERYTHING - even the premade stuff, and log it here on MFP instead of paper. If you do that for a few weeks and continue to see zero movement on the scale, then maybe talk to your doctor or a nutritionist and find out if you have any sort of metabolic dysfunction. Although, what I've seen more often than not is that people are just inconsistent about their logging. There are always exceptions; some people have thyroid issues or what not, but most of the time, those people are in the rare minority. Most people on this site who don't see progress are experiencing those issues because they're not honest about how they're logging their food. Then when they get honest, they're shocked by how much they're actually consuming.

I don't have a computer to log every day or I would, but I like journaling on paper best. I don't get what you mean by being honest. I don't leave out things. I'm the only one who reads it and it's not like I'd attempt to lie to myself to feel better about my diet. I always make sure to write down every lick, sip, nibble and taste. Besides, I don't think attempting to lie would really help me with anything.

I mean honest in terms of amounts. I'm not implying that you meant to be dishonest - it's just what happens when we guess what we're consuming.

If you prefer to keep track on paper, that's up to you...but it's probably going to take more work to track that way because you will have to do the math yourself. But if that's the method you prefer, then go for it. Just make sure you're actually writing and calculating everything accurately. Because, as someone already said, at the end of the day, it all comes down to numbers.

VaporeonSugar

I don't think the honesty comment meant you're being deceitful or anything, maybe just misled or inaccurate about calorie content. For example when I measure out a "handful" of nuts this can vary between 35g and 55g depending on how big my hand grasps. That difference looks small when on the bowl but in calorie difference is actually massive. Even weighing prepacked stuff you will be surprised to see how much variation and inconsistency there is.

I guess that makes sense... I have seemed to be jipped on tv dinners before, or maybe those were proper and the others were over stuffed. I've never really thought to weigh something if I eat the whole package or if it's a tv dinner, bottle, or packaged supermarket lunch.

VaporeonSugar

I weighed anything that wasn't premade and jotted it down in my weight watchers journal I still have. Just put cals instead of points. I always kept track in a book or journal or would carry a piece of paper around with me if I misplaced those for any amount of time.

I would encourage you to weigh/measure EVERYTHING - even the premade stuff, and log it here on MFP instead of paper. If you do that for a few weeks and continue to see zero movement on the scale, then maybe talk to your doctor or a nutritionist and find out if you have any sort of metabolic dysfunction. Although, what I've seen more often than not is that people are just inconsistent about their logging. There are always exceptions; some people have thyroid issues or what not, but most of the time, those people are in the rare minority. Most people on this site who don't see progress are experiencing those issues because they're not honest about how they're logging their food. Then when they get honest, they're shocked by how much they're actually consuming.

I don't have a computer to log every day or I would, but I like journaling on paper best. I don't get what you mean by being honest. I don't leave out things. I'm the only one who reads it and it's not like I'd attempt to lie to myself to feel better about my diet. I always make sure to write down every lick, sip, nibble and taste. Besides, I don't think attempting to lie would really help me with anything.

I mean honest in terms of amounts. I'm not implying that you meant to be dishonest - it's just what happens when we guess what we're consuming.

If you prefer to keep track on paper, that's up to you...but it's probably going to take more work to track that way because you will have to do the math yourself. But if that's the method you prefer, then go for it. Just make sure you're actually writing and calculating everything accurately. Because, as someone already said, at the end of the day, it all comes down to numbers.

Ditto to my comment I just made. I didn't think much about packaged food being inaccurate. I always thought that they weighed it at the factory or something...

Daphnerose86

There are tons of people here who eat less than healthy and still lose weight. There are several kinds of healthy foods that I can't eat because they give me heartburn or make me bloat or sick to my stomach. Whatever works best for you is great. I don't weigh my food and I still lose weight but I do eat healthier and smaller portions.(I've lost and kept off 30lbs for 3 years) Of course it's always better to feed your body quality food over sweets and super processed stuff. Maybe your body is craving more of a balance between the different types of foods. Maybe you are allergic to something you were eating or wasn't being processed correctly in your system. Lots of things can leave you stagnant. Congrats on the renewed weight loss and as long as it's working for you keep it up!

GertrudeHorse

Factory weights are averages and can be out by up to 20% which means if it says 100 cals it could be 80 cals or 120 in reality. That 40 cal difference adds up over time, even within the course of one day. Even machine sliced bread can vary. My current loaf days 83g for 2 slices but in reality it's almost always over 90g for 2 slices.