My weight loss is so slow - or is it??

Chinagirl1976

Hi there -

I have been struggling with my weight for most of my adult life but just recently it has been going up and up. I have always eaten healthily. I tend to stick to lots of fresh veg, a little fruit and fish and chicken with the odd bit of beef and pork.

For the last 2 months since joining this site, I have been eating approx. 1500 calories a day of mainly veg and protein (as above). So far I have lost 3 pounds. Should I have lost more at this stage? I am getting so frustrated with being such a blob!

Any advice would be much appreciated!!

Chinagirl :explode:

gr8birdie

You can't look at this as a diet!!! It is a lifestyle change. Are you doing any cardio or other kind of exercise? It will come just stay with it. Add me if you like!!!!

DiazD01

I am in your same boat... very slow weight loss. It is frustrating, but I keep trying different things and hope something will work with my "weight loss resistant body"! lol

Toots2012

I want piggy back off the last post. Although eating healthy is a great thing, which we all should be doing however, are you incorporating any kind of workout into you lifestyle. In order to see the pounds shed, you must burn some calories. You can even start with something as simple as walking at a steady pace for 20-30 minutes per day for maybe 30 minutes. Then you can increase your routine as time progresses. Also one thing to remember is to switch up your food intake and your workout routine.

em80

I tend to lose weight very slowly as well. I have lost quite a few inches though. I think measuring yourself is a good idea as it helps to keep you motivated when you're not losing on the scale.

Barelmy

One of the most common problems I've seen here is people not eating enough.

Are you exercising? Cardio, strength, or both? Are you eating back those exercise calories? If you're not, try it. If you are, try eating less, since MFP can overestimate calories.

What weightloss is your account set to? Unless you're obese, 2lbs is too much. If you don't have much to lose, 1/2 lb is fine.

Are you watching your macroes? Ie, percentage of proteins, fats, and carbs? Some people find changing these ratios helps, though lots are fine on the basic 55:15:30 ratio of carbs to protein to fats.

How are you weighing yourself? Best thing is first thing in the morning, after using the bathroom but before eating, completely naked. Are you measuring yourself? The scale doesn't tell the full story.

Method2Madness

First of all, I'd recommend checking out the BMR (basic metobolic rate...also referred to as RMR, resting metobolic rate). If it's above 1500 calories per day, you may be hindering progress by placing your body in starvation mode. Checking this number is a good place to start.

Next up, if your RMR and the number of calories you burn through daily activity are close together, weight loss just takes longer. For example, if your body burns 1500 calories at RMR, but your average calore burn in a day is only 1750...that's a very small margin. Anything over 1750 and your not losing weight. Anything below 1500 and your body starts starvation mode and lowers metabolism just a little bit (it's not necessarily this sudden hoarding of all calories just because you have a day at 1400).

Anyway, in that scenario you're at a net loss of 250 calories a day...and boom...it takes 12 days to lose a pound. Thus, you may actually be on track.

I've had this same problem for 2.5 months, complicated by muscle gain from working out. It makes the whole thing frustrating, but I think it's pretty common as this sort of topic is one of the most commong I've seen on this site.

If you're looking for good information references, I've found easy to undestand guidelines at letsmove.org, the national fitness initiative led by FLOTUS.

Hope this helps. Good luck and stick with it. You're not alone in this.

Lucy1Green

*Are you eating all of your calories? - Eating less than you need will make your body go into starvation mode and slow wt. loss.
*Are you doing as much exercise as you planned to do? - If not, MFP will allow to many calories and wt. loss will slow or cease.
*Are you recording your exercise on MFP and eating the extra calories tha you earn? - Eating less than you need will make your body go into starvation mode and slow wt. loss.
*Are your nutrittion ratios where they should be? - i.e. eating the correct amount of fats, proteins, carbs, no trans fats, etc. This makes a real differerence in burning calories.
*If you are doing all of these things and still struggling so much, you might like to see a doctor just to make sure you don't have any health issues such as hypo thyroidism.

Hope some of this helps! Stick to it! Spkeaking from personal exp., I can tell you that any of these can really impact your success! My dr. put me on here in addition to doing some blood testing to help determine what my hinderance was, and it turned out that I wasn't eating enough! I still struggle to eat enought cals some days, but matching cals to activity levels did the trick and I am dropping like crazy now!

Hang in there! Don't give up, and it will come with time, dedication, and persistance!

Chinagirl1976

Thanks everyone for getting back to me and for your support! I walk 20 minutes every day. I deliberately park this distance from work so I have no choice! However, I am very bad at doing exercise so think this must be my main problem! I must find some motivation!!!