Help please - Only Lost 1lb since starting this 40 days ago!
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Have you checked your thyroid? I was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism, it seriously impacts your metabolism and causes weight gain. I had tried everything, even Weight Watchers, working out religiously and the scale didn't budge. Might be worth a try, otherwise you could be spinning your wheels.
My thyroid went out and even though I was eating only 1000 calories a day and running two miles I still gained weight. Thank goodness my doctor knew me well and believed me when I told him about my calorie intake and exercise.0 -
I'm short too and it sucks. If we are off by 200- 400 calories it means no weight loss or worse a gain. I have to be very honest, with my counting or I gain.
My other tricks:
I do not exceed 1200 calories even if I exercise.
Sadly, I stopped counting calories burned because I needed a buffer on portions underestimated.
Use a scale to measure fruits- some items listed are 40 or less calories for apples when they could be over 120 calories for a big apple or large banana.
I am very careful of nuts, meat, cheese calories. I always weigh them.
Measure, measure, measure.. use a measuring cup for Cheerios, peas, carrots. There's a large difference between 2/3 and 1 full cup to make a large calorie swing.
Lastly, I try to minimize the number of items I eat... i.e. lines I log. For example If I have 20 entries and each are off by 20 calories, that's 400 calories!!
Good luck, seriously anyone can do this if they are careful.
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let the tape measure speak for you. Get of the scale get in the gym build some of the big muscle groups legs are the fastest to build because they are already holding you up daily. Get some curcuit training, get a coach, get some friends that will hold you acountable. Minimum 30 minutes of cardio 6 days a week. Keep your chin up literally and figuratively. You can only get what you give. Give ther work and get the result. No magic formula, just lots of work..0
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You have come this far - so don't give up. Look 6 months down the road0
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Be sure to get your 8 glasses of water a day and enough protein. Also remember that if your working out a lot muscle weighs more than fat, so you may not show weight loss right away. Try taking your measurements. Many times this is the best way to see how much you've accomplished. Be sure to track everything including vegetables since every food has calories.
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To measure my ingredients I have the 1/4 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, and 1 cup plastic scoops. Measuring in the pyrex measuring pitchers is TOO MUCH WORK. This will help you. Coach S0
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Girl, I am in exactly the same boat, so I am feeling your pain.
I am not dropping in clothing size either after 8 weeks of trying to lose weight.
I am going to the dr tomorrow to chat to him about it as I do have a thyroid problem (not under or over active, a multinodular goitre that can convert to either under or over active which can inhibit my ability to lose weight). I have lost weight in the past very sucessfully but this time I am at a standstill, despite doing more exercise weekly than I have ever done in my life.
I wish you luck!
Kellie
have you tried increasing your calories? what is your deficit and do you eat back your exercise calories?0 -
If you're doing a lot of strength training, then you may be building muscle weight. This is a good thing! It will take time for the slimming to happen. Please be patient, take pride in your growing strength! You'll get there
You can't build muscle on a calorie deficit, it is physically impossible. The best she can do is hope to lose fat and maintain lean muscle mass.No sugar, limit salt as much as posssible, limit fats, and carbs under 60 gms and keep moving you will lose. Stick to the green veggies (but peas are starchy) and get yourself a good calorie counter book. Get a diary or journal for 2012 and write everything you eat down and total it at the end of the day. MFP doesn't have everything in their lists. I also try to just eat when I'm actually hungry and not beacuse it's a meal time. Try eating half of what you're eating now for a week and see if you get any results. I'm only 5 feet tall and if I ate all the calories they tell me to in a day I'd probably Gain weight!! Good Luck. Chris
Why cut back on fats? Fat doesn't make you fat. In fact, it stimulates healthy organ and brain function.0 -
I'm short too and it sucks. If we are off by 200- 400 calories it means no weight loss or worse a gain. I have to be very honest, with my counting or I gain.
My other tricks:
I do not exceed 1200 calories even if I exercise.
Sadly, I stopped counting calories burned because I needed a buffer on portions underestimated.
Use a scale to measure fruits- some items listed are 40 or less calories for apples when they could be over 120 calories for a big apple or large banana.
I am very careful of nuts, meat, cheese calories. I always weigh them.
Measure, measure, measure.. use a measuring cup for Cheerios, peas, carrots. There's a large difference between 2/3 and 1 full cup to make a large calorie swing.
Lastly, I try to minimize the number of items I eat... i.e. lines I log. For example If I have 20 entries and each are off by 20 calories, that's 400 calories!!
Good luck, seriously anyone can do this if they are careful.
You were probably gaining from under eating. Your body tends to convert calorie quickly to fat stores if it isn't seeing adequate nutrition. The only thing you are doing by eating very low calories and exercising a lot is losing muscle mass and maintain body fat. Body fat is one of the quickest sources of energy, so as you approach a more acceptable level of body fat, your body fights harder to maintain it. This is also why it turns to muscles for energy as it can attack the amino acids to convert to energy.0 -
I have not taken the time to read this whole thread, but my suggestion is to forget the scale. I know the focus seems to be one weight, but you are obviously losing fat which is the real goal. You do not walk around with a sign on your forehead that says you weight such and such pounds. People don't know what you weigh, only what your body looks like. If the inches are coming off, you are succeeding at taking the fat off while maintaining or even, no matter how unlikely most will say it is, putting on muscle. That is good. It means you are maintaining your metabolic rate which is what you want to do since that will make keeping the fat off all that much easier. Keep measuring with a measuring tape. If the inches keep coming off, the weight will eventually follow because you are losing fat. Frankly losing inches and not weight is better than the alternative or losing weight but no change in measurements which I have seen people complain of here as well. You can do this, just don't get so focused on the scale because the scale is a liar.0
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A couple of things came to mind as I was reading through your post...
Your scale.... What kind do you have?? I have a scale that tells me my body fat weight, body fat %, water %.... If the main number is not moving your body fat number might be... you are doing a variety of classes including stregnth training so you are probably building muscle at the same time... I would highly recommend getting a scale that tells you more than just your main number.... Then you will be able to tell what is happening in your body...
Total Fat: I really focus on the total amount of fat something has per serving... I do NOT eat anything with more than 3 grams of fat per serving.... That really helps... Watching calories does NOT work for me....
Sodium: It amazes me how much sodium is in food... Be careful... Read labels...
The biggest meal of the day: For me it is lunch.... I do NOT eat heavy at Dinner time... I eat really light and I do NOT eat past 5:00... If you can find a good protein meal bar that is wonderful.... The protein will keep you full...
Water: I drink about a gallon a day if not more but that is easy for me as my body craves it... Ice Cold Water... Stay away from Soft drinks (Soda or Pop) depending on which part of the country you live in....
That is just a couple of suggestions that I know helped me the first time I lost 60 pounds kept it off for 3 years then lost a baby went into a deep, deep depression and gained 80 so I am working on getting that back off as well... I have lost almost 27 pounds since Oct. 2011....
Good luck on your journey... you will figure out what works for you.... Have a fantastic day...0 -
When I first started this the advice I got was that I wasn't eating enough and needed to eat my exercise calories so I have been doing this. I have read a lot of advice on the forum and tried different tactics like drinking more water etc etc. I work out about 4 or 5 times per week at the gym (mix of cardio, strength, classes and swimming) burning approx 400-500 cals a time. I don't have an HRM (and can't afford one at the moment) so take my cals burned from MFP or from the gym machines.
Gym machines especially are notorious for giving a large overestimate of calories burned. The MFP exercise burns are generally a bit high too. I usually estimate the real burn to be about 2/3 of what MFP tells me -- and that's on something easier to calculate, like running at a steady pace. Other activities are much more nebulous, especially things tracked as general aerobics, weightlifting, etc. because there are too many variables.
It sounds like everything else you're doing is great, so maybe try only eating back like 1/2 of your exercise calories and see what happens! Good luck. x
Darling, I mean this with the upmost respect but when you work out your body keeps burning calories long after you get done working out.... So the machine is designed to tell you what you will burn when your body is done burning calories not when you physically get done with the work out... So the machines are pretty accurate...0 -
Total Fat: I really focus on the total amount of fat something has per serving... I do NOT eat anything with more than 3 grams of fat per serving.... That really helps... Watching calories does NOT work for me....
First, I want to congradulate you on your success so far. I would like to point out that fat doesnt' make you fat and in fact, is very beneficial to life? Fats provide protection to your internal organs and are an essential nutrient. I posted some threads/articles below incase you or others want to do research. I will note, based on your summary, you probably can contribute the weight loss to your calories and cleanliness of your diet. I will say, many of us with low body fat have high amounts of fat into our diets. And the last benefit to not eating low fat; low fat substitutes tend to be high in sugar and refined.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/422002-the-no-bs-fat-loss-thread
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/398664-fats-101
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200304/the-risks-low-fat-diets0 -
When I first started this the advice I got was that I wasn't eating enough and needed to eat my exercise calories so I have been doing this. I have read a lot of advice on the forum and tried different tactics like drinking more water etc etc. I work out about 4 or 5 times per week at the gym (mix of cardio, strength, classes and swimming) burning approx 400-500 cals a time. I don't have an HRM (and can't afford one at the moment) so take my cals burned from MFP or from the gym machines.
Gym machines especially are notorious for giving a large overestimate of calories burned. The MFP exercise burns are generally a bit high too. I usually estimate the real burn to be about 2/3 of what MFP tells me -- and that's on something easier to calculate, like running at a steady pace. Other activities are much more nebulous, especially things tracked as general aerobics, weightlifting, etc. because there are too many variables.
It sounds like everything else you're doing is great, so maybe try only eating back like 1/2 of your exercise calories and see what happens! Good luck. x
Darling, I mean this with the upmost respect but when you work out your body keeps burning calories long after you get done working out.... So the machine is designed to tell you what you will burn when your body is done burning calories not when you physically get done with the work out... So the machines are pretty accurate...
If this were true, wouldn't the same logic apply to HRMs? And yet the gym machines consistently show more cals burned than my HRM. So yes, most gym machines overestimate. No wonder it was so much harder to lose before I got the HRM - because of the machines, I thought I was burning 400 when it was really more like 250.0 -
When I first started this the advice I got was that I wasn't eating enough and needed to eat my exercise calories so I have been doing this. I have read a lot of advice on the forum and tried different tactics like drinking more water etc etc. I work out about 4 or 5 times per week at the gym (mix of cardio, strength, classes and swimming) burning approx 400-500 cals a time. I don't have an HRM (and can't afford one at the moment) so take my cals burned from MFP or from the gym machines.
Gym machines especially are notorious for giving a large overestimate of calories burned. The MFP exercise burns are generally a bit high too. I usually estimate the real burn to be about 2/3 of what MFP tells me -- and that's on something easier to calculate, like running at a steady pace. Other activities are much more nebulous, especially things tracked as general aerobics, weightlifting, etc. because there are too many variables.
It sounds like everything else you're doing is great, so maybe try only eating back like 1/2 of your exercise calories and see what happens! Good luck. x
Darling, I mean this with the upmost respect but when you work out your body keeps burning calories long after you get done working out.... So the machine is designed to tell you what you will burn when your body is done burning calories not when you physically get done with the work out... So the machines are pretty accurate...
Actually, the other poster is right. There are many factors that can affect the results of the amount of calories burnt, such as lean muscle mass and hydration levels. They can be just as inaccurate or more as compared to other bio impadence machines. Below is an article for reference. I could find more, but don't have the time.
http://www.fitsugar.com/Cardio-Machines-Calorie-Counts-Accurate-15561350 -
I've been having the same problem in the same amount of time. I've been refraining from weighing myself very often and I plan on taking my tape measurements in about another week. Just keep at it. See where you can make improvements, even if they are small. And observe all your NSVs, such as being able to exercise longer before tiring, or lifting heavier weights. Or maybe it's easier to say no to unhealthier foods. I'd say those are sucesses, too.0
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When I first started this the advice I got was that I wasn't eating enough and needed to eat my exercise calories so I have been doing this. I have read a lot of advice on the forum and tried different tactics like drinking more water etc etc. I work out about 4 or 5 times per week at the gym (mix of cardio, strength, classes and swimming) burning approx 400-500 cals a time. I don't have an HRM (and can't afford one at the moment) so take my cals burned from MFP or from the gym machines.
Gym machines especially are notorious for giving a large overestimate of calories burned. The MFP exercise burns are generally a bit high too. I usually estimate the real burn to be about 2/3 of what MFP tells me -- and that's on something easier to calculate, like running at a steady pace. Other activities are much more nebulous, especially things tracked as general aerobics, weightlifting, etc. because there are too many variables.
It sounds like everything else you're doing is great, so maybe try only eating back like 1/2 of your exercise calories and see what happens! Good luck. x
Darling, I mean this with the upmost respect but when you work out your body keeps burning calories long after you get done working out.... So the machine is designed to tell you what you will burn when your body is done burning calories not when you physically get done with the work out... So the machines are pretty accurate...
That is not really true. That continued increased burn only happened in the case of certain exercise types. Straight cardio exercise has almost none. Once you stop exercising with cardio, your extra burn pretty much stops. Weight training has more, as do the various forms of Interval training.0 -
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