Don't understand why I'm not losing weight

em9371

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.

did you have endoscopy or just blood test? its possible to have a false negative blood test so then they dont bother referring you for endoscopy!

Buddhasmiracle

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 :-)

I started late January on MFP. While I haven't lost much weight, I dropped my BF by 10% and I have gone down by nearly two trouser sizes. My BMR is 1200 (measured by a nutritionist) and I eat between 1300-1500 cals daily. Sometimes I eat some of my cals back, some days I don't, depending upon if I am truly hungry. I lift weights (following the NRforLiftingfor Women) and use the eliptical 3xs weekly. I am lightly active on non gym days, taking my pooch for long walks, or riding my bike. Be sure to take your measurements, and pay attention to your energy level.

Don't be discouraged. Sounds like you have a sensible plan. Give yourself time to adjust. Best wishes!

Pamwillis1969

i resently i stop lossing so changed my cardio do 15 on treadmill every 5 change resistance and 15 on elipitical burn 400 in 30 4 times a week which trick your body this help me i had lapband in nov 2009 i have lost 255 total so i know where your coming from

Lozze

Did you read the numbers ? what's the big difference between fruit and fruit juice ?

Unsweetened fruit juice. That's so rare as to be a moot point. What people 95% of the time drink is sweetened.

If you don't want to eat a healthy food, good for you. It's your loss not mine. But when you tell someone not to eat a perfectly healthy food item people will tell you that you're wrong.

huntindawg1962

If you don't want to eat a healthy food, good for you. It's your loss not mine. But when you tell someone not to eat a perfectly healthy food item people will tell you that you're wrong.

The problem is not cutting anything out - it is more what is your life plan for after you lose and meet your goals? If you intend to be eating that "cut out" item you are probably better to figure it out how it fits in to your day now IMO or you will likely just end up heading back where you started - weight wise. There is no problem with cutting anything out that you want. It is adding it back later. Low-carb people live their whole lives without the carbs provided they stick with their philosophy. Vegans do fine without meat - many for their whole lives.

suziecue66

If you don't want to eat a healthy food, good for you. It's your loss not mine. But when you tell someone not to eat a perfectly healthy food item people will tell you that you're wrong.

The problem is not cutting anything out - it is more what is your life plan for after you lose and meet your goals? If you intend to be eating that "cut out" item you are probably better to figure it out how it fits in to your day now IMO or you will likely just end up heading back where you started - weight wise. There is no problem with cutting anything out that you want. It is adding it back later. Low-carb people live their whole lives without the carbs provided they stick with their philosophy. Vegans do fine without meat - many for their whole lives.

You're right it has to be a life plan.

ladyace2078

Maybe this will help you...I don't use net calories, I use intake calories to make sure I'm eating at a deficit and here's how I think of it:

I want to lose 12 lbs, which at 3500 calories/lb I have 42,000 calories in storage that I want my body to use up and get rid of.

I use 1600 calories a day just pumping blood, breathing, organ function (BMR) and another 1000 calories a day in exercise and moving around (walking to my car, cooking dinner, etc), so I burn a total of 2600 calories (TDEE) a day.

If I want my body to use some of the calories from my storage of 42,000, I have to feed it less calories than I burn in a day. So when I eat about 2200 calories a day, then my body uses 400 calories a day from my storage to cover all of my activity of 2600 calories. That means my 'storage' or extra 12 lbs is being whittled away at 400 calories a day.

Hope that helps.

cazwillis99

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?

Hi, when I started on MFP I used my last slimming world weigh in as my start weigt because my scales at home were rubbish. That was an evening weigh in fully dressed and I was 166 lbs. I was on MFP for a week and in that week lost 3.8lbs but that weigh in was first thing in the morning and naked. Therefore allowing for a daily fluctuation becasue you are always lighter in the morning and an allowance for clothes I decided that 3 lbs of that were probably not "true" weight loss just a correction to differences between the two weigh ins - hope this makes sense :-)

yarwell

Unsweetened fruit juice

Those were the numbers I quoted. Unsweetened. Loads of it on sale here.

http://www.tropicana.com/#/trop_products/productsLanding.swf?TropicanaPurePremium/21 - 22grams of sugar in 240 ml. Similar to coca cola, unsweetened orange juice.

Fruit juice is made by squeezing the liquid out of fruits, what's left is a small quantity of mainly fibrous stuff that's used for animal feed. You could put the animal feed back in unsweetened fruit juice and it would have the same composition as the original fruit.

Look at the numbers. Repeated assertion is not an argument.

kristinL16

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 :-)

Your current weight is 161 but that is not your lean mass.

kristinL16

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.
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That extra protein and fiber is good for you and affects how your body handles the sugar.

jamesbelbin

I think if you are honest with yourself there are lots of areas where you can improve, and i mean that in a supportive way!

Cut out all those cofffees, coleslaws, ciabattas with butter/margerine, chocolate bars (low fat or not) as they are all densely calorific without providing you with any vitamins or helping you to feel full. Replace them with another small meal high in protein, say a chicken breast with salad or another lean meat and some brown rice or rice and peas. keep the portions small and you should find it will help you reduce those cravings for sweet products that you currently feel you need because you are hungry.

Calorie counting is great but i think your starving yourself and therefore the body retains its fat. If you could cut out those 400 extra calories from nutritionally poor products and replace the coffee for green tea, you should boost your metabolism and therefore lose some weight.

My cheat tips are:- Cottage cheese, oatcakes, scrambled eggs, avocados and if it has to be sweet, jaffa cakes and malt loaf as treats.

Give it a try for another month and see if it makes a difference.

jamesbelbin

I think if you are honest with yourself there are lots of areas where you can improve, and i mean that in a supportive way!

Cut out all those cofffees, coleslaws, ciabattas with butter/margerine, chocolate bars (low fat or not) as they are all densely calorific without providing you with any vitamins or helping you to feel full. Replace them with another small meal high in protein, say a chicken breast with salad or another lean meat and some brown rice or rice and peas. keep the portions small and you should find it will help you reduce those cravings for sweet products that you currently feel you need because you are hungry.

Calorie counting is great but i think your starving yourself and therefore the body retains its fat. If you could cut out those 400 extra calories from nutritionally poor products and replace the coffee for green tea, you should boost your metabolism and therefore lose some weight.

My cheat tips are:- Cottage cheese, oatcakes, scrambled eggs, avocados and if it has to be sweet, jaffa cakes and malt loaf as treats.

Give it a try for another month and see if it makes a difference.

pg1girl

Here's a few tips I've learned this week from my trainer- I am no expert and I have just now gotten serious about losing weight within the past few weeks, however, maybe my advice might work for you. I try not to eat my exercise calories back because I feel like I've burned those calories for a reason. Some people on MFP will tell you that you need to eat these exercise calories back but others will tell you not to. Whenever I eat my calories back I seem to feel guilty so I don't do it much. Also, I'm not sure how much you walk a day or how long you have been doing this, but I do know that your body can get used to doing the same exercises so it is good to change up your routine to avoid plateaus- it's called muscle confusion.
More about exercise, my trainer says the only way to lose numbers on the scale is to do cardio (which is what you're doing by doing the elliptical). I think that's a great thing to do to lose weight, but my trainer told me for this cardio to actually work, you need your heart rate to be around 160-190 for your work out to actually count. Just walking at a normal pace will take much longer to lose the weight you want to. Other than that, if you are interested in doing some work out videos I know that Jillian Michaels has a program called 30 Day Shred and it works wonders I've heard! You can look at before and after pictures on here- there are some amazing results, however, I've heard that it's a program geared more towards losing inches rather than weight. Also, Zumba and cycling are a great way to do cardio also.

Let me know if you ever need anything! You can add me on here and I will definitely be here to motivate you!

Ugh.....NO! You absolutely have to eat and nourish your body. This issue has been beaten to a pulp on here. If you are not eating your exercise calories back then you are consistently taking in way way way less than your BMR. Please figure out your BMR and TDEE and up your calories. Cardio is great but unless you are strength training you are not building muscle to help you burn more.
You have plateaued for a reson. Your body is trying to tell you something....think of it this way, if every time you plateau you cut more calories and up your cardio eventually your body will have nothing to live off of.

Look at some of the bodies on the "eat more to weigh less" group and you will understand what I mean. Your body needs fuel and less food and upping your cardio will not do this!

janeite1990

I'm 44 and the first two weeks I lost nothing. This has happened to before, and I got frustrated and gave up. This time I doubled down. I started doing more weights and two-a-days cardio whenever I could. The weight started coming off. Makes me wonder if age puts a stall button on weight loss that can be overcome, but it takes a little extra.

pg1girl

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....

Lowering your caloric intake will only cause your body to revolt further. I am 43 and upped my calories to my TDEE minus 15% in order to lose weight. Our bodies need fuel. We have to eat higher than our BMR to properly fuel.

pg1girl

I think if you are honest with yourself there are lots of areas where you can improve, and i mean that in a supportive way!

Cut out all those cofffees, coleslaws, ciabattas with butter/margerine, chocolate bars (low fat or not) as they are all densely calorific without providing you with any vitamins or helping you to feel full. Replace them with another small meal high in protein, say a chicken breast with salad or another lean meat and some brown rice or rice and peas. keep the portions small and you should find it will help you reduce those cravings for sweet products that you currently feel you need because you are hungry.

Calorie counting is great but i think your starving yourself and therefore the body retains its fat. If you could cut out those 400 extra calories from nutritionally poor products and replace the coffee for green tea, you should boost your metabolism and therefore lose some weight.

My cheat tips are:- Cottage cheese, oatcakes, scrambled eggs, avocados and if it has to be sweet, jaffa cakes and malt loaf as treats.

Give it a try for another month and see if it makes a difference.

I definitely agree on the starving the body part!

castlerobber

Way too much starch and sweets, too much processed food (even though gluten-free)--in short, too many carbohydrates--and not enough fat. Try more non-starchy vegetables instead of the rolls, gingerbread, crisps, chips, rice cakes, and bars. Small amounts of low-sugar fruit such as berries are fine, but really sweet fruit such as pineapple, watermelon, and bananas, should be left off for now. Caffeine causes some people problems--does that "stimulation drink" have caffeine?

pg1girl

Maybe this will help you...I don't use net calories, I use intake calories to make sure I'm eating at a deficit and here's how I think of it:

I want to lose 12 lbs, which at 3500 calories/lb I have 42,000 calories in storage that I want my body to use up and get rid of.

I use 1600 calories a day just pumping blood, breathing, organ function (BMR) and another 1000 calories a day in exercise and moving around (walking to my car, cooking dinner, etc), so I burn a total of 2600 calories (TDEE) a day.

If I want my body to use some of the calories from my storage of 42,000, I have to feed it less calories than I burn in a day. So when I eat about 2200 calories a day, then my body uses 400 calories a day from my storage to cover all of my activity of 2600 calories. That means my 'storage' or extra 12 lbs is being whittled away at 400 calories a day.

Hope that helps.

You are a rockstar! Awesome explanation!

Di3012

Your eating under your bmr, hence your body is storing everything = EAT MORE.

Take 20% from your TDEE & NET that at day end

Russ

Eat MORE?? Give over, did you see the total calories for the day??


All this eat more is ridiculous, if all we had to do was eat more, we would ALL be slim!

OP: Cut your calories down, you are on maintenance, eat more and you will put on weight, seriously, the myths on MFP are beginning to get ridiculous, if you want to eat loads and lose weight you will be waiting forever, because it would defy physics if that were to happen.

Up your protein, down your carbs, do cardio, do weights. Ensure you do not underestimate calories in food and drink - weigh absolutely EVERYTHING. Do not over-estimate the calories you burn during exercise if you tend to eat those back.

Seriously all this "eat more" when the OP is already on 2000 calories per day is now bordering on the ridiculous.

OP if you seriously wish to lose weight you need to consume less than you use up daily and I am sincere when I say that 2000 calories per day is maintenance, hence why you have no weightloss at the moment and worse still, weight going back on.