Why am I not losing weight?

kaitlinmre

I have been under my calories every day this week, and exercising and not eating all of the calories back. When I complete my diary, it says I should be 10 lbs lighter in 5 weeks--2 lbs a week like I want, but the scale isn't showing those results. Am I doing something wrong? Should I stick to cardio instead of the 30 day shred?

KPaden1221

you're already really small.. those pounds are not gonna come off that easy.. it's gonna be much harder for you to lose weight.. and i dont think you'll lose 2 lbs a week. you need to change it to like .5 a week and up your calories and then you will probably start losing again.

szczepj

You only have a few pounds left, trying to lose 2 lbs a week isn't going to work very well. Especially at this stage. You should probably switch to trying to lose .5 a pound a week and give your body some more food to jumpstart your metabolism.

Strive2BLean

Looking at your posted pic, it doesn't seem like you need to lose much weight and you have lost 6 lbs. so maybe your body is adjusting right now and trying to tell you all it's gonna give up is those 6 lbs for now. Anyway, don't panic. Eventually it will kick in. Just keep eating well.

angela828

I agree with everything above me but also this -

I did try the 30 day shred, twice. Back in like February/March I think. Before that I was losing 1-2 lbs a week consistently. Then when I did the 30 day shred, it decreased to nothing to 1lb a week. I quit it during level 3 and went back to losing 1-2lbs a week and then decided for summer I wanted to tone up so I starrted the shred again and again, my weight loss slowed to .5-1lb a week. I quit again during level 3 and now I am losing 1-2lbs a week again - which I prefer.

The 30 day shred is great but it is different for everyone. Also, you don't have much to lose and if you don't eat your exercise calories your body is probably holding on to your weight. Up your calories, eat some back, and you should be okay. Do you only do the shred and no other cardio??

Also don't take the "if you ate like this everyday you'd weigh ___________ in 5 weeks".. I've found from reading on here it is not accurate for a lot of people. I like seeing that low number but know it is not always realistic.

And try measuring yourself.... you could be losing inches.

KPaden1221

Also don't take the "if you ate like this everyday you'd weigh ___________ in 5 weeks".. I've found from reading on here it is not accurate for a lot of people. I like seeing that low number but know it is not always realistic.

i know this is right.. mine has never been right.. not even once!

kaitlinmre

Yeah, I understand that losing 2 lbs a week is unrealistic sometimes but look at this girl:
http://undressedskeleton.tumblr.com/beforeandafter
She ate between 1000-1200 calories a day, and did an hour of cardio every day and that's the results she got. I'm eating around 1200 and doing the 30 day shred, and I'm not losing weight at all.

change_happens

Hi. There could be a few contributing factors to your not losing weight. I am no expert, I just love to read :-) like the other ladies are saying, if you don't have that much weight to lose you won't see 2lb-a-week-results, more realistically. 1/2 pound or less a week seems more on target. Why? The larger you are the more weight your body will release in a short period of time.

For example, my husband was 245 and is only 5'7". He dropped his calories and did no exercise and I literally watched 20lbs fall of of him in a matter of a few weeks. Me, on the other hand, I have had to work my butt off! I have to actually focus on the cardio and make sure I am actually burning fat by staying within my tarhet heart range.

Just the other day I received an email from Jillian Michaels, a fitness newsletter. It was actually talking about the stress hormone, cortisol. She says that when you exercise for 2 hours or more in one session your body releases cortisol and your body decides that it is going to hold on to some of that fat you are trying hard to lose. I believe this to be true because there was a period of time where I watched every single thing that went into my mouth, worked out for long period of times, but did not see any drop on the scale.

Another bit of information I read is to stagger your calories. Say for instance you are consuming 1200 calories a day. Well if you multiply that by 7 days in a week you are going to get 8400 calories consumed over time. To keep your body from becoming accustomed to the 1200 calorie days, which can slow down weight loss, you should consume your calories for the week over an uneven caloric consumption throughout the week. For instance, Monday you may want to eat 800 calories. Tuesday you could make it a hig calorie day and eat 1200 for the day plus the remainder 400 from the previous and consume 1200 on wednesday... Does that make sense?

I just recently tried this, and I have read a few testimonials of others trying this and it has worked for them, as well as for me. You could also eat more calories for a week and then drop back down and that also tricks your body.

My son, to get his last few pounds off, and he is already slim and trim, but he is a body builder, his body doesn't get rid of pounds easily so on order to force off those last five or ten pounds he sprints in a weighted vest. I also read (me and my reading) that adding a few pounds a day will increase your calorie burn because the heavier you are the more you burn.

Like I said, I am no expert, just like to read. :-)

Just last week I wasn't seeing the scale move and I had a high calorie day where I consumed 2600 cals over the course of a period of time from 1 pm - 11 pm, and the next morning I was down 8 oz. Oddly, I have still been dropping weight after that eat-everything-day. I really believe that switching it up really helps keep our body guessing. I did continue to exercise, as well as trying new dvd's so my body wouldn't get used to any one particular set of exercises because that could hinder your ability to burn the maximum amount of calories your body burns.

Also, for me, Shred doesn't keep my heart rate up. So, I always do cardio even on those days that I do the 30 Day Shred.

:-)

sarah307

i only read your post, haven't read the replies so idk if this has already been repeated..
but since you are close to your goal... definitely, in my opinion, you should change your goals to only lose 0.5 lbs/week as the closer you get to your goal..the less you need to lose and the less lbs you will lose... increase your calorie intake most likely. when I hit a plateau.. i increased by calories by 200 and starting losing weight again.

i usually eat back at least most or some of my exercise calories

edit:
after reading a few more posts - definitely eat more. change your goals to lose less weight per week.

bcattoes

Cardio should burn more calories so adding that will probably help. If that is a current pic of you, you are probably going to need to do a lot of cardio and/or not eat much to lose 2 lbs a week. I'm sure you could do it but I'm also pretty sure you couldn't do it in a healthy manner.

KPaden1221

Yeah, I understand that losing 2 lbs a week is unrealistic sometimes but look at this girl:
http://undressedskeleton.tumblr.com/beforeandafter
She ate between 1000-1200 calories a day, and did an hour of cardio every day and that's the results she got. I'm eating around 1200 and doing the 30 day shred, and I'm not losing weight at all.

from your picture you're already smaller than this girl.. and she had about 50 lbs to lose.. and she worked hard and did it, i'm sure the last few lbs didn't come off of her easily either. please atleast try upping your calories and changing you weight loss to .5 lbs a week for like 2 weeks and see how you do.. you should always NET atleast 1200 calories. For example if you eat 1200 calories then exercise and burn 400, you're only gonna NET 800, doing this all the time can make your body slip into starvation mode and you wont lose weight, you might even gain, your body is gonna take whatever you have and hold on to it b'c it's not getting what it needs. So.. if you eat 1200 calories burn 400 calories eat those 400 calories back. It'll do ya some good in the lnog run..

psuLemon

Considering how you look, you need to change your goal to .5 lbs per week. You aren't eating enough. I hate to tell you, but the more you eat, the more you will lose. Also, if you don't eat enough, your body will take the protein from your muscle which in turns strinks your muscle and reduce the calories you burn. I have increased my caloric intake by 600 calories over a month and a half and each time I increase my intake, the more weight I lose. Also, keep in mind your body might be at it's low weight. You might be at a point where you can only change your body composition. Weight is kind of meaningless because there is such a thing as skinny fat (people who appear skinny have have high body fat. It's simple, Food is Fuel. If you don't fuel the machine, it shuts down.

tgh1914

I know you've heard it from me before, so I'm just gonna repeat what's been said already by me & others. You do need to give your body the fuel it needs so it doesn't hang on to that last stubborn fat. I definitely think you should change your goal to .5 loss per week and eat those extra calories.

I also really think you should re-consider what your goal is. Is it really the number on a scale? or a certain look? I guess I mean when people are really close to the goal, weight becomes so arbitrary; we need to become more concerned with body composition (how much body fat vs lean muscle we have). I'd switch to those kind of goals. Lifting weights then becomes much more important in order to get you the added muscle which will burn fat. And, contrary to popular belief, it will NOT cause bulking up on a woman.

I highly recommend reading through (& replying to) this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/211420-relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner?page=10#posts-3665213 This guy really knows his stuff and works with people a lot in your circumstance.

Good luck.

kaitlinmre

I know you've heard it from me before, so I'm just gonna repeat what's been said already by me & others. You do need to give your body the fuel it needs so it doesn't hang on to that last stubborn fat. I definitely think you should change your goal to .5 loss per week and eat those extra calories.

I also really think you should re-consider what your goal is. Is it really the number on a scale? or a certain look? I guess I mean when people are really close to the goal, weight becomes so arbitrary; we need to become more concerned with body composition (how much body fat vs lean muscle we have). I'd switch to those kind of goals. Lifting weights then becomes much more important in order to get you the added muscle which will burn fat. And, contrary to popular belief, it will NOT cause bulking up on a woman.

I highly recommend reading through (& replying to) this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/211420-relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner?page=10#posts-3665213 This guy really knows his stuff and works with people a lot in your circumstance.

Good luck.

I had my goal weight set to 130, but now I switched it to 135, because I realized that I do want to be more toned. My only "problem area" is my stomach, really, so I just need to lose the fat around my mid-section.

ladyhawk00

I know you've heard it from me before, so I'm just gonna repeat what's been said already by me & others. You do need to give your body the fuel it needs so it doesn't hang on to that last stubborn fat. I definitely think you should change your goal to .5 loss per week and eat those extra calories.

I also really think you should re-consider what your goal is. Is it really the number on a scale? or a certain look? I guess I mean when people are really close to the goal, weight becomes so arbitrary; we need to become more concerned with body composition (how much body fat vs lean muscle we have). I'd switch to those kind of goals. Lifting weights then becomes much more important in order to get you the added muscle which will burn fat. And, contrary to popular belief, it will NOT cause bulking up on a woman.

I highly recommend reading through (& replying to) this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/211420-relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner?page=10#posts-3665213 This guy really knows his stuff and works with people a lot in your circumstance.

Good luck.

This.

You CANNOT expect your body to access the tiny bit of body fat you have at the rate of 2 lbs per week. It will not happen. If you DO lose at that rate, what you will be losing is muscle, not fat.

The body, especially for females, prefers to have a cushion of fat. So you have to coax it to burn fat when you are at a lower BF%. When you are already lean, you need a very conservative deficit so the body KNOWS there is enough fuel coming in and it is safe to burn fat. Trying to beat it into submission will backfire. If you want to be lean AND strong, you have to give your body enough fuel to maintain the lean mass.

And do not try to compare yourself and your progress to others - you are not in the same situation as someone with more to lose and it's comparing apples to watermelons. Be patient and go slow - you'll see MUCH better results. :flowerforyou:

angela828

That girl has her bones sticking out in some of those pictures! And every person is different..... just because she lost 2 lbs a week eating those calories and doing an hour of cardio everyday doesn't mean the same will be said for anyone. Everyone is different...

Mindful_Trent

Read this - it was just posted today, and directly addresses your questions. You would fall into #1 on his list.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/283663-not-losing-weight-you-re-asking-the-wrong-questions

As others have said, you can NOT expect to lose 2 lbs per week. Heck, you'll be lucky to lose 1/2 a pound a week of fat. If you are losing much more than that, then you're probably losing muscle. Yes, it's frustrating, but it's just not possibly to quickly lose fat when you're down to those last few pounds.

sarah307

Yeah, I understand that losing 2 lbs a week is unrealistic sometimes but look at this girl:
http://undressedskeleton.tumblr.com/beforeandafter
She ate between 1000-1200 calories a day, and did an hour of cardio every day and that's the results she got. I'm eating around 1200 and doing the 30 day shred, and I'm not losing weight at all.

from your picture you're already smaller than this girl.. and she had about 50 lbs to lose.. and she worked hard and did it, i'm sure the last few lbs didn't come off of her easily either. please atleast try upping your calories and changing you weight loss to .5 lbs a week for like 2 weeks and see how you do.. you should always NET atleast 1200 calories. For example if you eat 1200 calories then exercise and burn 400, you're only gonna NET 800, doing this all the time can make your body slip into starvation mode and you wont lose weight, you might even gain, your body is gonna take whatever you have and hold on to it b'c it's not getting what it needs. So.. if you eat 1200 calories burn 400 calories eat those 400 calories back. It'll do ya some good in the lnog run..

YES

weeziews

If you are doing strength training then you are gaining muscle and this is a good thing. I agree with everyone to change your goal to .5 lbs per week and definitely rethink your goal. Toning requires strength training and you will gain muscle that will also show up as weight gain or no weight loss. Take measurements, because you will continue to lose inches. I have only lost 3 lbs but have lost several issues and I am wearing a size smaller. It isn't always about weight, you can have NSV too!! Keep up the great work you are doing! You will get there.

psuLemon

I know you've heard it from me before, so I'm just gonna repeat what's been said already by me & others. You do need to give your body the fuel it needs so it doesn't hang on to that last stubborn fat. I definitely think you should change your goal to .5 loss per week and eat those extra calories.

I also really think you should re-consider what your goal is. Is it really the number on a scale? or a certain look? I guess I mean when people are really close to the goal, weight becomes so arbitrary; we need to become more concerned with body composition (how much body fat vs lean muscle we have). I'd switch to those kind of goals. Lifting weights then becomes much more important in order to get you the added muscle which will burn fat. And, contrary to popular belief, it will NOT cause bulking up on a woman.

I highly recommend reading through (& replying to) this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/211420-relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner?page=10#posts-3665213 This guy really knows his stuff and works with people a lot in your circumstance.

Good luck.

I had my goal weight set to 130, but now I switched it to 135, because I realized that I do want to be more toned. My only "problem area" is my stomach, really, so I just need to lose the fat around my mid-section.

If you want abs, you need to strengthen your core and eat up! When you do eat, make sure you are eating enough calories (especially protein) to build muscle. You will probably gain weight but it shouldn't matter as you are buidling muscle. More muscle means more tone. I would suggest doing a custom setup (40% carbs, 40% protein, 20% fat). You to decrease your overall body fat and increase muscle mass. At this point, stop worrying about weight. Body composition is more important.

i_love_vinegar

Yeah, I understand that losing 2 lbs a week is unrealistic sometimes but look at this girl:
http://undressedskeleton.tumblr.com/beforeandafter
She ate between 1000-1200 calories a day, and did an hour of cardio every day and that's the results she got. I'm eating around 1200 and doing the 30 day shred, and I'm not losing weight at all.

it looks like she was in high school through this entire thing...maybe a freshman in college...

im guessing she had to take gym during school, and obviously walk around...how tall is she? how tall are you? it could also be that you are taller than her and need more calories than she does -- or less!

ps: I think her body looks sortta unhealthy. I can't quite pinpoint it, but there is something odd looking to her arms and shoulders. You look rather thin from your avatar pic (although I can't see your entire body)...maybe you are at your healthy weight already, but just need to do more exercises to get toned Good luck!!!

psuLemon

ps: I think her body looks sortta unhealthy. I can't quite pinpoint it, but there is something odd looking to her arms and shoulders. You look rather thin from your avatar pic (although I can't see your entire body)...maybe you are at your healthy weight already, but just need to do more exercises to get toned Good luck!!!

It's because she has almost zero muscle. She is what you would call skinny fat. I bet if you ran her bf%, you will notice it's really high. that is what happens when all you do is control your eating and not adding weight lifting. It's why many people on weight watchers lose a lot of weight but have stuff like excess skin or look like twigs. I think it's a good program (hell my friends dad lost 65 lbs) but he looks like he could use some weight lifting.

cheesesandwich

ps: I think her body looks sortta unhealthy. I can't quite pinpoint it, but there is something odd looking to her arms and shoulders. You look rather thin from your avatar pic (although I can't see your entire body)...maybe you are at your healthy weight already, but just need to do more exercises to get toned Good luck!!!

It's because she has almost zero muscle. She is what you would call skinny fat. I bet if you ran her bf%, you will notice it's really high. that is what happens when all you do is control your eating and not adding weight lifting. It's why many people on weight watchers lose a lot of weight but have stuff like excess skin or look like twigs. I think it's a good program (hell my friends dad lost 65 lbs) but he looks like he could use some weight lifting.

Can we not do this? You cannot judge her health, or anyone else's, by the way her body looks. Calling her unhealthy because of the "odd" look of her shoulders being skinny is no different than calling a larger person unhealthy because you can't see their collar bone. We can be healthy at all sizes, kids. Let's not body shame here.
And I'd hardly call her skinny fat. She's very thin and doesn't have large muscles bulging out, but there is some obvious tone there if you scroll through her later pictures, especially in her legs.

Having said that, to the OP: Girl. The Tumblr "fitness" community will drive you crazy, don't judge yourself by the standards of people you don't even know! I know scrolling through all that inspiration and before/afters gets overwhelming, but you really need to focus on what's best for your body, not what someone else did to lose weight quickly.

kaitlinmre

So how does one become skinny fat? Maybe my perceptions are warped, but I'd rather look like that girl than Jillian Michaels.

dancam1

I don't know if any of the others that have replied to your post have looked at the web site you provided but in a few of those pictures she looks sick. Good luck to her if she can keep it off but she looks unhealthy.

ladyhawk00

So how does one become skinny fat? Maybe my perceptions are warped, but I'd rather look like that girl than Jillian Michaels.

By losing lots of lean mass (muscle), and being thin but having a high percentage of body fat (not healthy, as it places lots of stress on heart/circulation and bones).

That's going from one extreme to another. You don't have to get "big" muscles like JM, or be too thin/flabby - there is a middle ground. Eat healthy, do some exercise and you'll find the middle ground.

chevy88grl

Also don't take the "if you ate like this everyday you'd weigh ___________ in 5 weeks".. I've found from reading on here it is not accurate for a lot of people. I like seeing that low number but know it is not always realistic.

This is NEVER right for me. NEVER. I've stopped paying any attention to it when I was 250 calories UNDER my calorie goal, under on sodium, so-so on sugar, great on carbs and protein. It tells me ... if everyday was like today.. you'd weigh 152lbs in 5 weeks"

WHAT? How does THAT make ANY sense? I'm 143-145lbs now -- I did what I was supposed to do and if I did that everyday for 5 weeks I'd be almost 10lbs heavier?

Uh. Okay.

chevy88grl

So how does one become skinny fat? Maybe my perceptions are warped, but I'd rather look like that girl than Jillian Michaels.

By losing lots of lean mass (muscle), and being thin but having a high percentage of body fat (not healthy, as it places lots of stress on heart/circulation and bones).

That's going from one extreme to another. You don't have to get "big" muscles like JM, or be too thin/flabby - there is a middle ground. Eat healthy, do some exercise and you'll find the middle ground.

I want to be in the "middle". I want to have muscle definition but I don't want to look ripped like Jillian. I don't want to lose all my lean muscle and look flabby and saggy either though.

chevy88grl

Yeah, I understand that losing 2 lbs a week is unrealistic sometimes but look at this girl:
http://undressedskeleton.tumblr.com/beforeandafter
She ate between 1000-1200 calories a day, and did an hour of cardio every day and that's the results she got. I'm eating around 1200 and doing the 30 day shred, and I'm not losing weight at all.

Eating 1000 calories a day and doing an hour of cardio isn't the right way to go about losing weight. You're starving yourself by doing that and while you WILL lose weight... eventually it will stop completely. Your body NEEDS food (fuel) to feel comfortable enough to lose weight. Starving it to death isn't what you want to do for long term weight loss success. Eat. Eat. Eat. That is the key to losing weight. Keeping your body fueled makes it happy - like a car with a tune up. Sure, cars will run when things aren't maintained but the gas mileage suffers, it doesn't have a lot of pick and go, etc. Once you do what you're supposed to do for it -- it runs efficiently and like it is supposed to run.

Same with our bodies. Starving them, forcing them to work out without enough food and such makes them NOT run very efficiently.

You want long term weight loss success - NOT short term lower numbers on the scale.

Oishii

So how does one become skinny fat? Maybe my perceptions are warped, but I'd rather look like that girl than Jillian Michaels.

By losing lots of lean mass (muscle), and being thin but having a high percentage of body fat (not healthy, as it places lots of stress on heart/circulation and bones).

That's going from one extreme to another. You don't have to get "big" muscles like JM, or be too thin/flabby - there is a middle ground. Eat healthy, do some exercise and you'll find the middle ground.

Personally, I want to look like me, a me I'd like to be. When I first reached goal weight I had underarms like caves, and when I started the 30DS my own arms looked so bony that I grossed myself out every time I did a push up :laugh:

After the 30DS that was no longer the case. I was heavier but liked the way I looked more, and then lost that little weight again without going back to having skeletal arms.

We all have our own preferences and our own body types. I lost too easily on 1200 and just my normal everyday routine (over 2 lb a week) but have since discovered that my maintenance calories are way off mfp's scale (around 2250, I think).

So aim to be you. That girl on tumblr

Oishii

Ooops... iPhone playing up...

That girl on tumblr is gorgeous, fat or thin, because she always looks vibrant and happy. Jillian is gorgeous because she looks proud and strong (just let me swoon a moment :laugh:). Be your gorgeous... not theirs!