Don't understand why I'm not losing weight

24

Replies

  • em9371
    em9371 Posts: 1,047 Member
    That looks like a good plan :-)
    You don't need to cut the carbs down completely, just reduce, what I do when I'm having pasta or rice, I will have a half serving (50g dry) and make up the difference with veg.

    If you don't eat back exercise, make sure your net doesn't drop below bmr.
    Mfp cals are worked out net so expect you to eat back exercise.
    Bmr/tdee cals already include exercise so you don't need to log.

    Eta - also double check entries in database. Quite a lot are just plain wrong or only have calories entered, so you could be eating more or less than you think you are!
  • actresskat
    actresskat Posts: 120 Member
    Hi, I don't eat back my exercise calories unless I'm really hungry (I think this helps) though others will say you must eat them back. It's never harmed me so far and I'm above 1,200 calories anyway like you.

    Secondly, the calorie counter on gym equipment are usually way way off - it takes the average for a woman/man of average height and build and uses that so you'll need to check what you would burn.

    Agree, with above points that yes, when doing exercise you need to sweat and have a heart rate at your 70-80% MHR to get somewhere fast. Walking etc. is good and if that's all you can do then do that as it will get you there but you'll be walking for a long time compared to jogging or running for a shorter time and getting the additional benefits for your heart/circulation/skin etc by the higher exertion.

    Thirdly, do hit your protein goals each day as that's, I find, really helpful and keeps you fuller for longer than carbs.
  • actresskat
    actresskat Posts: 120 Member
    Oh, and one more cyclic dieting is a good idea too if you plateau for too long. Every now and then I have more calories than normal and it doesn't have a detrimental effect - in fact, a day or two after I'll drop a pound or two.
  • cazwillis99
    cazwillis99 Posts: 238 Member
    Hi, had bloods done quite recently and all came back clear so there is no underlying cause for me not loosing weight. I specifically had the bloods done because I wasn't losing weight & kept bloating up so much that I looke pregnant. I was tested for celiacs but came back negative which is why my doctor said it was an intolerence - cutting out gluten & wheat has made a massive difference - no bloating, no gas (which was majorly bad) no migraines since giving up gluten/wheat so I think that has helped.

    Most of my food is home prepared, but I do need to cut back on the snacks but I have a really sweet tooth :-/ Sometimes though I just need something quick and easy but I definitely don't eat processed foods as much as I used to.
  • I'm there with you. I think it's my age (45)... I was told to do at least 45 mins of cardio 4 times a week. Mostly I can only get in 3 days a week. I also do weights and have considerable weight when doing them.. I think I need to lower my calorie intake further. As well, I try not to eat anything white -- sugar, flour, bread, salt,.... lay off carbs. I try to increase the protein too but nothing seems to help. Gotta be age.... Never had this problem in my younger years....
  • terry_mtb
    terry_mtb Posts: 45
    Before mfp i had weighed 400lbs..I need inspiration for the rest. But what I do know as fact is that your protein should be a lot higher. There are gluten free ones out there and are great.( I am sorry, protein mixes) Try at least 2 a day. That will help.
  • ColleenRoss50
    ColleenRoss50 Posts: 199 Member
    I have been on MFP for nearly 60 days now and this week gained 1.5 lbs - leaving my total weight loss at 4.5 lbs (4 of which were the difference between my last SW weigh in dressed and in the evening and my first MFP weigh in naked and in the morning) so really I have lost a whole half pound in two months.

    If I am reading the above correctly you are saying that your FIRST weighin almost 60 days ago was naked in the morning and your LAST weighin was dressed in the evening. If that is correct you may have lost more than you think. As a matter of fact if I am reading what you meant correctly you may be doing a little better than your target of 1 lb. per week. Could you clarify this?
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    pasta is carbs in any scenario, I don't see a need for a woman to go over 100g of protein TBH unless you're on some sort of muscle building plan.

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHwk4JQQRmI
  • gooiyw
    gooiyw Posts: 114 Member
    Tweak your carb/protein ratio. Up your proteins and lower your carbs. Yes, plus lots of water and rest.
  • kaylz0106
    kaylz0106 Posts: 117 Member
    bump
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
    Thank you everybody for your comments and advice. here is my plan:

    Up my protein - based on advice I should be eating 161g protein a day - going to work on this
    Lower Carbs - will work on this - hopefully a few small changes will reduce my carbs, i.e. quinoa not rice or gluten free pasta
    Exercise - bought 30DS on Thursday - will start it next week and see if that makes a difference
    Calories eaten - will try to hit a minimum of my BMR each day after exercise - will go and reset my daily calories to 1600 (scary figure took me a moment to type that!)
    Weights - I have been doing a bit with weights, nothing I would consider major however so I will try to increase the level of weights I am doing.
    I already drink in excess of my 8 glasses of water each day so not much to change on that one
    Forgot to add that I am not going to eat back any exercise cals either for a little while now that I have upped my daily cals to 1600

    If anyone can see any glaring mistakes in my plan then please shout up and let me know.

    thank you again for stopping by and reading my post and giving me advice :-)

    It's not 1g protein per pound of total body weight BUT 1g protein per pound lean mass. You are 161 pounds, assuming you have 100 pounds lean mass (muscle) you would have 100g protein. You could have a bit more but 100g should be enough.
  • Princess_Sameen
    Princess_Sameen Posts: 284 Member
    Introduce weight training to your fitness schedule and also why are you eating back your exercise calories? I think this maybe why you gained, I have a dietitian and she has never suggested to eat my calories back.
  • velvetkat
    velvetkat Posts: 454 Member
    I also agree that you need to up your protein. I looked over your diary and I am by no means an expert or a nutritionist I just know what worked for me. I cut out processed foods which I see you dont have much at all of(Super job there!) I cut down on sodium and your diary shows you stay well under but some of you items you have no sodium count and I know cookies have sodium so be sure to pick the correct nutritional info when adding to your diary! You are drinking your water (great job there!!)
    I see you are counting Sat Fat instead of Fat grams. and if you are over you Sat fat I am thinking(I may be wrong here and Im sure someone will correct me) that then your fat grams may be over also. Ok on occasion for sure just not all the time!
    The carbs are high in my opinion. Some people( my sister is one) gains weight when her carbs are too high. Me Im the opposite and I tend to lose weight on my high carb days when I am doing carb cycling. maybe you are one that gains or doesnt lose when the carbs are high,. Not sure but I think carbs tend to hold water and if you are drinking all your water like you should then maybe one reason for lack of weight loss is the carbs and water BUT dont stop the water just reduce the carbs. slowly at first til you get to a more manageable level.

    Just putting this next item out there as I saw others post on this. Age is no excuse for the lack of weight loss. I am 54 years old and when I was 53 I lost 100lbs. Dont think it took me any longer than anyone else to lose that weight. Took me 10 months. At an older age we just have to have more determination as we dont have as much time left to get this lifestyle change done so we can enjoy it!

    Keep up the great job and slowly tweak your diet and you should get that weight off!!!
  • Hello, if you would like I could message you with my diet that worked in the past that I lost over 40 pounds with to see if that works for you.
  • huntindawg1962
    huntindawg1962 Posts: 277 Member
    I would concur with the couple posts that talk about adding in some resistance training to your workout - the 30DS will add some variety for you too. If you are doing 1 hr per day of the same activity - its great you are moving around - but vary it up a bit. Anything moving will help burn calories but an hour a day of the same (including swimming for the person that posted that) may be taking you from fat burn mode into "conditioning or training" mode whereby your body is getting used to the activity and starting to figure out how to expend LESS energy in the process, not more.
  • SuffolkSally
    SuffolkSally Posts: 964 Member
    Sorry if I've missed something - but if your activity level is set to lightly active, I would have thought that included your daily walk? So if you're adding it as excercise as well, then you're double counting and your calories calculation won't be right. I'm no expert as fairly new and still figuring it out, but I'd I've thought either set to sedentary (office job) and log excercise, or lightly active but then only log formal excercise such as gym work or hikes. Plus I only eat half my MFP excercise cals back simply because MFP way overestimates the burn. I wonder if this might be your stumbling block.

    Must be very frustrating when you are doing so well with your diet! (although I do agree with others about upping protein. And the trouble with processed stuff is all the sodium, which can make you retain water)
  • TinnedTuna
    TinnedTuna Posts: 208 Member
    You can have a perfectly balanced diet without fruit. What does Jenny say ?

    Sugars from fruit are sugars and carbohydrates just like any other.

    Society may have glorified some foods and demonised others, in doing so we got a massive obesity problem. Go figure.

    I don't think any of use are on here trying to lose weight because "we ate to much fruit"
  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
    You can have a perfectly balanced diet without fruit. What does Jenny say ?

    You can. But if you're cutting them out because of 'sugars' then you are being silly. Sugars are not the devil. Fat is not the devil. Carbs are not the devil. All can be eaten in moderation.

    I'm assuming you're refering to Jenny Craig? They tell me to eat them. I don't follow their advice 100% however and my main reason for using them is for the meals. It depends what consultant I have which determines the advice I get. And none of them have degrees (neither do I) It's all based on JC training. Which sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. (for example one consultant told me that there was no way I would lose weight eating a toastie a day for breakfast and really should look at eating their breakfast again. My response? Can you explain how I've lost 32kg eating a toastie a day?) They are there ultimately to sell a product.
  • geri1955
    geri1955 Posts: 106
    Are u eating enough? Sometimes u have to switch the exerise up,sounds like ur burning about 500 cals a day! I go from walking to strength training to many dvd workouts! I didnt see ur diary but sounds like your storing fat and not eating enough,try eating your exercise cals for a week and see if that helps and switch up ur exercises! I do biggest loser powerwalk and chris powell weight loss addition,along with leslie sansone and jillian michaels,switching back and forth! Dont give up just try different things! Have you had ur thyroid checked? If not do so cuz a sluggish thyroid will not let u lose either!!! Good luck on ur journey!
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    I don't think any of use are on here trying to lose weight because "we ate to much fruit"

    Me neither, but I wouldn't rule it out. Gallons of fruit juice are just gallons of sugar solution.

    Watch www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHwk4JQQRmI for example ;-)

    The lady in question has a high carb intake, just suggesting ways to reduce it. Fruit's out of season anyway.
  • snookumss
    snookumss Posts: 1,451 Member
    it may be sodium as well. You may also be gaining muscle... just relax :)
  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
    Me neither, but I wouldn't rule it out. Gallons of fruit juice are just gallons of sugar solution.

    If we're talking about fruit juice I agree with you. Any more than a glass a day is too much. But that's because they ADD sugar to fruit juice. You might as well be drinking a glass of Coke.

    Fruit juice doesn't equal fruit.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    But if you're cutting them out because of 'sugars' then you are being silly.

    I don't want an excess of carbs / sugars, I do eat berries which are much lower in these things, but for example one banana would be about half my daily carbs and as they have 93% of their calories from carbs they don't fit with the balance I'm looking for.

    Commercial diet companies do tend to have one focus, I suspect the consultants are on commission or making a markup on the products in many cases.
  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
    Commercial diet companies do tend to have one focus, I suspect the consultants are on commission or making a markup on the products in many cases.

    Yup, keeping you on their programs :) I'm starting to wind down my involvement with JC because I don't want to be on them for the rest of my life. So breakfast I'm fine with. Starting to incorporate my own lunches and dinners too.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Fruit juice without added sugar is still full of carbohydrates and sugars, maybe you have a blind spot.

    One large orange - 17g of sugar (184g fruit)

    Orange juice, unsweetened, canned - 1 cup - 22g of sugar (249g juice)

    so it's a bit more dilute in the fruit, but it's the same thing.
  • beckajw
    beckajw Posts: 1,728 Member
    your carbs o protein ratios aren't good

    your protein intake is ok for your size / gender but you are a carbohydrate addict :)

    Just another example of how the low fat eating and exercise mantra doesn't work, sadly.

    Change the low fat skinny versions of things to the full fat ones, eat less of them, lose the fruits (sugar in disguise) and avoid potato/pasta/crisps/chips/sweets/cake/chocolate.

    Do NOT lose the fruit. That is a ridiculous suggestion.
  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
    Fruit juice without added sugar is still full of carbohydrates and sugars, maybe you have a blind spot.

    One large orange - 17g of sugar (184g fruit)

    Orange juice, unsweetened, canned - 1 cup - 22g of sugar (249g juice)

    so it's a bit more dilute in the fruit, but it's the same thing.

    Fruit doesn't equal fruit juice. There is NOTHING wrong with eating fruit and it is part of a well balanced diet. If you want to cut out this important part of your diet that's your loss.But it is terrible advice.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    LOL at the sugar addicts and their fruit. Bit like talking to scientologists about depression.

    The facts :-

    Unsweetened orange juice, not from concentrate, 10.6 grams sugar per 100ml
    Coca cola regular, 10.6 grams sugar per 100ml
    Orange whole fruit 8.6 grams per 100g
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Fruit doesn't equal fruit juice

    There's a bit more fibre in the whole fruit, but most of the nutrition is in the juice.

    Did you read the numbers ? what's the big difference between fruit and fruit juice ?
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Let's try apples instead :-

    Whole apple, braeburn, 11.8g sugar per 100g. 15.7g per typical 133g apple.

    Unsweetened pressed apple juice, not from concentrate, 11.9g per 100 ml.

    Little bit more protein in the apple, and a couple of grams of fibre. The food value's in the juice and low and behold it comes out when you squeeze them.