So frustrated! Why am I not losing weight??

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  • looney9708
    looney9708 Posts: 174 Member
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    My question about logging exercise/movement instead of just listing yourself as active is how exact should I be?? I literally walk for 9 hours a day, that is a ton of calories. It feels wrong to me to put cleanIng toilets and chasing kids as exercise???
  • jcl1981
    jcl1981 Posts: 60 Member
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    i know it really sucks to do so much work and not lose a pound. Just today as i write i have broken an almost month long plateau where i was stuck at 207. I tried so many things and since i was only eating 1200 calories a day and exercising 5 days a week, i assumed that at least being male would help me but i wasnt losing. I also working in a nursing home where i lift people in an out of bed all day long and stay on my feet for 8 hours. Still nothing. I did some research, found out i wasnt getting enough calories, so i raised them to what MFB recommended which is 1550 and after a week, voila, dropped to 204 as of today! Its about being patient and realizing that losing pounds doesnt negate the fact that you are doing a great thing for your body. In the long run you are living a healthier life and it will eventually show, you just may have to wait for it for a while.
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
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    Logged exercise should be purposeful exercise. Ie: It should be done for fitness purposes. All other "exercise" should be included as part of your selected "activity level" of sedentary, lightly active, active, etc.
  • CraigIW
    CraigIW Posts: 176
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    Lose the sugar and fat from your diet as much as you can and the weight will drop off. Your body doesn't need to burn any fat stores if they are being replaced by more sugar and fat.
  • sweet4keeps22
    sweet4keeps22 Posts: 291 Member
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    My question about logging exercise/movement instead of just listing yourself as active is how exact should I be?? I literally walk for 9 hours a day, that is a ton of calories. It feels wrong to me to put cleanIng toilets and chasing kids as exercise???

    You've already indicated this movement when you set up your profile and marked whether your job was sedentary vs. active. So this movement is already calculated into the calorie goal calculated for you by MFP. You should, however, put in dedicated exercise time (even if you are moving all day) and log that exercise in your log.
  • lodro
    lodro Posts: 982 Member
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    I've very frustrated that after staying to a 1300 calorie a day diet, focused on a zone ratio, exercising 4 times a week, that I haven't lost weight! What am I doing wrong??? I'm an active stay at home mom, I nanny a couple kids during the week, and am always moving and cleaning and chasing young kids! I have changed my diet and eliminated sodas and junk/processed foods! All advice is very appreciated!

    What I see from the days I look at that you're always over on calories, occasionally substantially, sometimes a little. As most people underestimate serving sizes, now is the time to start weighing and measuring everything. I started doing this and I found out that sometimes I was underestimating by 300 cals. That, with the fact that you sometimes go over by 200, may well get you close to 1800 calories a day, instead of 1300.
  • lharrison0151
    lharrison0151 Posts: 1 Member
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    I just got weighed this morning , after religeously following 1300 cals a day, and guess what , put on a pound. Can't understand it
  • JillyCornwall
    JillyCornwall Posts: 376 Member
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    HI! I have been logging for 90 days and still have yet a pound to lose. I dunno..... I log all my calories, log my exercise and eat a healthy and vegan diet to begin with. I net about 1400-1600 a day, as I also do not have a sedentary job. I am actually fine with how I look now: 5'7" at a toned and fit 137, just wanted to lose 5 pounds, my goal is 132. I have no idea!!!! Some say more strength training, which I do, but still no change. Right now I am finding MFP useful to make sure I get enough nutrients like iron and calcium. Other than that, it is not helping me with weight loss.

    As you only have a few pounds to lose it will be more difficult for you to lose than someone like myself who is obese. You cannot expect to lose more than 1/2lb a week if that...and perhaps you might be better looking at your body fat ratio/inches & forget weight...as that might be misleading if you are toned & fit..because of the weight factor of muscle being more dense.
  • beenmb
    beenmb Posts: 4 Member
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    I'm trying to maintain the mind set that losing weight in a way so that I won't gain it back takes time. After all it took time some 30 years to gain what i gained. I haven't lost a whole lot yet BUT already I'm starting to feel better.
  • cbirdso
    cbirdso Posts: 465 Member
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    My question about logging exercise/movement instead of just listing yourself as active is how exact should I be?? I literally walk for 9 hours a day, that is a ton of calories. It feels wrong to me to put cleanIng toilets and chasing kids as exercise???

    Personally, I never log "activity" because it is accounted for in my base calories when I chose "lightly active". But I do try to get planned cardio and strength training in 6 days a week and I log those calories and make sure I eat them, too. I don't know how tall you are but I am 5'4" and I eat at least 1700 to 1900 calories each day (this includes what I ate back as exercise calories) and I have met my weight loss goals. Like many people have said, in order to burn fat, you need to fuel your body properly.
  • KCzing
    KCzing Posts: 10
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    Looking at your food journal as others said you definitely should cut back on the alcohol as they are liquid calories and wasted at that. Also you really could be making better food choices, just because something is only 100 calories doesn't really mean it's good for you. On the day you put you had a slice of Pizza Hut pizza and a chicken breast you could have skipped the pizza and in it's place put a serving or two of veggies. Red Robin even has healthy options you can do like the bunless burger. Keep in mind that just because you think something is a serving size doesn't mean it's always accurate and not every piece of food you get when you order out will have the exact nutritional value that the restaurant says it does. So even though you might think you're under for a day you might be over and alcohol has no good nutritional value, simple sugars are broken down too quick.

    Personally I focus on fiber a lot and aim to reach at least 20 grams a day. It has worked for me! I also try to have a fruit or veggie serving with every meal and especially at dinner I aim to fill up on the veggies first.
  • nyctraveler
    nyctraveler Posts: 305 Member
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    You need to eat clean. I'm not surprised you're not losing when you're eating a high carb, sugar and fat diet.

    Start tracking sugar. Limit carbs to 100g complex carbs only and up protein to 40% of your diet

    Stop drinking for 2 weeks then limit yourself to 2x a week. I know it's painful but you gotta do it :)
  • looney9708
    looney9708 Posts: 174 Member
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    I truly agree and besides a few meals this week that I truly cheated, I really do eat clean. I have cut complex carbs on a daily/meal to meal basis. I had the one slice of a personal pan pizza that my daughter didn't eat and some fries with my lettuce wrapped grilled chicken. Absolutely I understand I have to watch those things. What I am a bit confused by is that is it just because I did those things that the scale won't budge? I have decided that it must be and the wine. Oh, how I will miss my wine, but being skinny feels better than anything tastes:)).

    Thank you all for your responses on Mothers Day none the less! It truly has helped me get through my frustration this morning. All an educational process:))

    Happy Mothers Day!
  • janesmith1
    janesmith1 Posts: 1,511 Member
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    I'm late to the party here but I did not lose anything in April. Here's what I did.

    #1 - change your scale. I had a terrible scale and it wasn't showing any weight loss, it de-motivated me. One thing you SHOULD do is change the scale your scale. I can totally recommend the Soehnle scale as it is accurate & will show you in increments of .1 lbs...so if there any movement you will be able to see it.

    http://www.amazon.com/Soehnle-63530-Alpha-Digital-Scale/dp/B00008WTFN/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305054761&sr=8-1

    I also recommend that scale because it has paddles on the bottom, frequently scales get off center due to our floors not being even, the tiling on the floors etc. The paddles on the bottom keep it more accurate than just laying it straight on the floor.

    #2 - I would get a HRM to accurately count the calories of the things your doing even if you don't log in all of these things like housework, chasing children, etc. It will help count the cals of the exercises you actually do.

    I have a great HRM - you can get any brand out there, most people like Polar, but Nike, etc make them. I'm allergic to metal so I have this one, called the ePulse2. I love it.

    http://www.amazon.com/ePulse2-Strapless-Monitor-Calorie-Counter/dp/B003YDOO2K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305054956&sr=8-1

    #3 - doing those things will help you recommit to cal counting here at MFP, and I would also lower my daily cals by 50 or so. I had been at 1350, then I lowered it (following the steps I put out there above) to 1300 a day, and it's been working like a dream.

    I have been losing about .5 lbs a day following the steps above. Please feel free to send me a pm or you can write back here if you have any other questions.

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