What am I doing wrong?

harleygirlT

I have been here for about 3 months. I see everyone losing weight and inches but I am having such a hard time. I am very careful to stay under caloires almost everyday and workout 6 days a week but I just don't lose! I lost a little bit at first then just nothing, I'm stuck! I see eveyones before, during and after pics, everyone looks great but I look the same. I change up my workouts, I eat lots of veggies, low fat protein, etc......what can be wrong? I am getting so frustrated, I don't even want to try anymore! If anyone has ideas for me please hepl!!!

jlnk

Sounds counterintuitive, but perhaps you aren't eating enough. When I lost weight the first time around (losing baby weight this time), I had to actually increase my caloric intake. Sometimes not eating enough causes your body to conserve energy and you don't burn calories like you should.

Just a thought...

jerzydevil007

how many calories are u supposed to eat? I found that you have to put your activity level in your profile ate sedentary and make sure you "eat" your excersize calories. If you are too far under your daily calorie intake, your body will hold onto the fat because it thinks you are starving and it will make it harder for you to lose. And are you losing any inches at least? Muscle weighs more than fat, so you may be losing inches and not weight. I'd suggest ditching the scale for a month and concentrate on a measuring tape....its a better indicator of your progress. Hope this helps!
P.S. Don't ever give up. Remember that the lifestyle change is more important that how quickly you can lose weight. If you give up, you're sure not to lose anything. I'm kind of in the same boat as you, I started a month ago and only lost 7 pounds so far because somehow, I gained 3 pounds last week and I'm not sure why. But I stay positive and know that I can't give up and the weight will come off if I just keep at it.

aaleigha1

you;ve lost 20lb in twelve weeks - I hope I am as successful as that - its a really good average per week just over 1.5lb

I think you are doing fantastically well

positivespin29

my first thought is that you're not eating enough which causes your body to go into starvation mode and works against you. Definitely don't give up, sometimes it takes a while but make a few adjustments and see if something changes. Don't eat less than 1200 cal a day. Work out in the mornings if you can - helps you burn calories longer thru the day. Drink 1/2 your body weight in water. Cut the salt, alcohol & refined sugars. No starchy carbs after 1 or 2pm each day helps and not eating after 8pm helps. Get 7-8 hours of sleep and engage others in your goals, find an accountability partner to help w/ hurdles. Good luck.

savage22hp

how many calories are u supposed to eat? I found that you have to put your activity level in your profile ate sedentary and make sure you "eat" your excersize calories. If you are too far under your daily calorie intake, your body will hold onto the fat because it thinks you are starving and it will make it harder for you to lose. And are you losing any inches at least? Muscle weighs more than fat, so you may be losing inches and not weight. I'd suggest ditching the scale for a month and concentrate on a measuring tape....its a better indicator of your progress. Hope this helps!
P.S. Don't ever give up. Remember that the lifestyle change is more important that how quickly you can lose weight. If you give up, you're sure not to lose anything. I'm kind of in the same boat as you, I started a month ago and only lost 7 pounds so far because somehow, I gained 3 pounds last week and I'm not sure why. But I stay positive and know that I can't give up and the weight will come off if I just keep at it.

. ( I AM NEW AT REPLYING TO SOMEONE ELSE'S POST.....please see my comment below )

JillyCornwall

Nothing is wrong..if you have lost 20lbs in 3 months you are right on target...an excellent slow weight loss that should stay off. Just keep to the programme of eat less..move more and let your weight take care of itself..patience...it took you a while to gain weight...it takes time to lose it.

jmjones66

Try adjusting your caloric intake. If you are exercising 6 days/week then maybe you need to increase your calories by eating back some of those calories that you obtained from exercising. I have found that I constantly need to adjust my calories so that my body can adjust to the change.

Good Luck in your journey. Don't quit, stay patient, and the scale will move!!

luvinlaurakate

you;ve lost 20lb in twelve weeks - I hope I am as successful as that - its a really good average per week just over 1.5lb

I think you are doing fantastically well

If this is the case, then you are right on track! I've been doing this for months and just now hit 20 pounds (only 12 since I started this site).

amyannie

i feel your pain.. i pretty much have lost anything (except the 3 pounds i gained) since may! i've tried EVERYTHING sooooo frustrating!!

savage22hp

Excellent advice ! Most of the people using MFP are trying to lose weight but that is a byproduct of healthy eating and lifestyle change. Don't lose heart , the weight will go and I bet you feel better with the better diet and exercise. Keep your goals in front of you and don't even think of quitting. You'll get there !

ashfuse

If I don't eat enough I don't lose. HOWEVER if have to eat GOOD NUTRITIOUS food, not junk, in order to lose. I eat lots of peanut butter, stay away from added sugar (I get no sugar added or sugar free when possible) avocados on sandwiches helps bump up calories, too. I eat a TON of cals. earlier in the day if I plan to workout in the afternoon--this gives me a great workout! and I am not left with too many calories to eat too late in the day. If I know I am gonna workout on a certain day, I eat a big, healthy breakfast with more carbs than a typical non workout day. You need a decent amount of protein. On workout days I eat between 100-160 grams. You also need a lot of healthy fat--peanut butter and avocados!! Also, salmon and other omega-3 fish is good to eat a few days a week!!! Good fat is GOOD..so eat it!

CaptainMFP

As a general rule, change is hard and takes time. Frankly, it sounds like you are trying to control too many things at once that you didn't do before. What could be the culprit? Lots of things. My best advice to you is to set reasonable behavioral goals and phase them in to develop the habits that you need to be successful. Here's how I got started.

April - May: My focus was on controlling total calories. I didn't worry about macros (fat/protein/carbs) because hitting caloric targets is hard, but hitting them with specific macros is harder. Get calories under control first.

May - June: Exercise. My full exercise focus in the first month? Wii tennis. No real workouts until the end of May. Exercising is extremely beneficial to increasing metabolism, but it isn't necessary to lose weight. Get diet under control before worrying about exercise too much. (Do it, but don't obsess over 6 day a week workouts at first.)

June - July: Sodium. I'm hypertensive and want to be off BP meds. Once I was in a good diet/exercise rhythm I focused on really lowering sodium.

August - Present: Macros and fitness. With my basics under control I've been focusing in recent months on hitting macro targets and improving my over-all fitness. I would NOT have been successful at the beginning if I had tried to do all these things at one time.

A few general bits of advice.
(1) Set a realistic calorie goal based on your weight. Do not anticipate more than 1 lb. of loss a week. I've lost an average of 1.8 lbs. per week...but my goal has never been set higher than 1 lb. That way I take in enough calories to fuel my metabolism.
(2) Log EVERYTHING and measure EVERYTHING. Get measuring spoons, a kitchen scale, etc. and be obsessive. Make sure you know what you're really consuming.
(3) Make sure to do some kind of strength/resistance training as well as cardio and don't over-do it. If you are starving yourself and working out excessively, you do run the risk of slowing metabolism (which greatly slows -- not halts -- weight loss) and injuring yourself. We are not different in this respect, no matter what many here in MFPland say. Too few calories with too much exercise is a universal recipe for risk in the human body.
(4) Avoid radical diets if you aren't under a doctor's supervision. Extremely low calorie diets, diets low in fat, diets low in carbs can work when used properly...and that means with medical advice only. My current macro targets are 45% carbs / 30% protein / 25% fat. These numbers are derived from non-specialized diet medical recommendations, and I've lost 55 lbs. in 7 months. Start with these (or similar) numbers and then tweak them if necessary...but don't slash away from any without medical input.
(5) Make sure your starting calories are right for your BMR. Websites like http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php can be used (along with MFP) to calculate your BMR or RMR, estimate your activity level, and determine the calories you need to function AND an appropriate deficit. There are many such resources on the web; shop around. I recommend this one because it does a lot of the calculating for you.
(6) If you are convinced that you are really doing everything right and you still don't see results, see a doctor. There are many medical conditions that affect metabolism and therefore weight loss. People with conditions like hypothyroidism cannot lose weight by following the same process as people without those conditions...but these things need to be medically diagnosed and not self-identified.

Finally, take all the advice here (including mine) with a grain of salt. But don't give up on yourself. This game we play of improving our health is only lost if we give up. This is not easy for anyone...if they say it is they are lying to themselves as much as to you. It is HARD. But the outcome is worth it as long as you keep at it. Best of luck to you, and I sincerely hope you keep your motivation. :flowerforyou:

campbellcjdm

Did you know that you can make your food log and exercise log public so we can see it? It is in the settings. If you want us to look at what you are eating, open it up and let us know. We'll see if that helps shed light on this mystery. My guess is you are doing fine, or not eating enough! Good Luck - and Don't Give Up !!
(Just for kicks, figure out when you were at your last 'happy' weight. Then figure out how long it took you to get THERE or how LONG you were at that weight. That will remind you that you did not gain the weight overnight, so it is going to take as long (or longer) to come off. Hang in there!!)

harleygirlT

Thanks for comments and support everyone!

SandyCurrier

Hi Harleygirl

Oh girl, dont give up! We are all different, and except for the basic math of it, we will all lose at different rates.
For me, I'm eating only whole foods, (you could say 'one ingredient' foods, I never ever eat anything processed, or
outside of my diabetic diet. A diabetic diet could benefit anyone, I think you will do great, 20 pounds is something I am starving to see!
Keep going and keep moving. Dont forget to get enough sleep too..Good Luck to you! You are going to do it, I have faith in you!!

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I'm going to tell you what I tell myself on days when I'm frustrated with the stall in progress: You've lost 20 lbs! Good job!