not losing after 5 months

CherryOnionKiss

After 5 months i only lost 4 pounds. I gain and lose the same 2 pounds over again. Im 27, 5 feet 4 and 171 lbs.
If im not losing anything after that amount of time, should i up my calories per day or descrease it. Im currently at 1370 per day, set per MFPs automatic calculations.

CherryOnionKiss

Also my doctor took my pressure and did blood test. Everything came back fine.

MonicaT1972

Sorry to tell you this but after quickly looking at your food diary it's there in black and white. You will not lose weight on the amount of processed foods you consume in a day. Consider dropping the strabucks, the ice cream, the bagel etc for healthier alternatives. More protein less carbs. With some fine tuning you'll be on your way to successful weightloss in no time!

stephanie1133

I looked at your diary and I noticed a couple things. 1st that you either don't log every single day, or you are not eating every single day (you tell me!). I noticed there were several days you were well under 1000 calories as well.

Do you workout at all?

If the days you are not logging your food you are over eating that right there could be the issue.

It is hard to tell since not every single day has been accounted for.

LAWoman79

Hi! So, I looked at your food diary, and noticed you are not eating any vegetables. Definitely a lot of sugar, with the fruit, chocolate, and carmel machiatto's. I would cut down on the sweet stuff and get more veggies.

steinbok

Lose all the processed foods, especially the breads, pastas, and rice. (bagels, processed cereal) You do that, and get your carbs & sugars "naturally", you will lose. I'm not a big guy, and I lost 22# in the span of 2 months.

good luck!

Umeboshi

It looks like you're not logging every day. Maybe you should try logging consistently and see if that helps.

boggsmeister

It is possible that all the processed stuff is beating the crap out of your metabolism and you aren't burning as much as you should be. I dunno, not a nutritionist but it seems trying to eat more nutritious foods might help. Other than that I can't help but wonder what it is that you aren't logging. In order for calorie counting to work you have to be dead honest about it.

KaleidoscopeEyes1056

I agree with some of the other posts I read on here. An example of this: since October, I hadn't really been losing any weight, just gaining and losing the same 5 pounds. Last Saturday, I decided to go a week without soda and cutting down on sweets, while adding more fruits and veggies into my diet. Since then, I have lost almost 4 pounds. My diet isn't totally different, I just cut down on those two things. Maybe give that a try.

mangosabayon

Agree with the others, cut out the bagels! I do believe all women need dairy, but get that from cheese or milk or yogurt, low fat cottage cheese. Cream cheese is high in fat. It seems like it's possible you are underestimating some of your meals. Are you sure your bagel is only 240 calories with the cream cheese?

PLUMSGRL

You need to up your cals to at least eat your BMR...better food choices too.

Read this blog, it has a lot of good info and links:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/lillebanon/view/my-take-on-eating-more-to-weigh-less-254554

Good luck with your endeavors!

70davis

bump

bjohs

After 5 months i only lost 4 pounds. I gain and lose the same 2 pounds over again. Im 27, 5 feet 4 and 171 lbs.
If im not losing anything after that amount of time, should i up my calories per day or descrease it. Im currently at 1370 per day, set per MFPs automatic calculations.

Only based on what I was able to gather from your diary for the past two weeks, here are two suggestions...

1) Eat your veggies! There may be a vegetable here and there, but not enough servings per day. Cut out as much processed foods (anything from a can or box) and fast food as you can and replace it with lean meats, low-sugar fruits (like berries) and tons and tons of veggies. Make them your best friend.

2) You may be over-estimating the amount of calories you are burning with your exercise and under-estimating the calories you are eating. I see you eat most of your exercise calories back (personal choice for many). You could be eating back more than you are actually burning.

Hope those help and keep at it! Never give up. Good luck!

CaseRat

As the above say:
Cut out the processed foods, eat more protein, veggies, good fats (eggs, nuts etc)
Also, don't cheat yourself by not logging food correctly. It's easy to miscalculate especially when adding say 'homemade pie' that someone else made; where yours could be hundreds of calories more. People often underestimate calorie intake and overestimate calorie burn.

jackieatx

Check serving sizes on nutrition labels and also on MFP. There has to be something up with your logging. I also wholeheartedly agree that you should up your fruit and veg intake. It doesn't have to suck, either. Check out the happy herbavore, eat clean and recipe forums on this site for ideas and meal planning.

meshashesha2012

if you're not logging consistently then isnt it also possible that you're eating way more calories than you think?

i also agree with getting rid of some of the processed food.yes it's overall about calories, but if you're not giving your body the right kind of nutrients within those calories then your body is going to hang on to s much weight as it can. plus with all the sugar, you might have lots of water retention.

jenj1313

You've gotten a lot of good advice here. I'd start with keeping your calorie counts stable, but making the changes suggested...

cutting processed food, lower your carbs, up your protein (shoot for 1 g per goal body weight per day OR 30-35% of your daily calorie goal where 1 g protein = 4 calories) AND log every day.

Give that 4-6 weeks. If you're still not losing, I'd consider upping you calories. You're still pretty young and that's probably not really meeting your BMR.

A couple of helpful websites for upping calories, if that's what you choose to do:

www.fat2fitradio.com
http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
NOTE... if you eat the numbers you get from these sites, you do NOT eat back your exercise calories in add'n to your daily calorie allowance. The exercise calories are already included in your weekly activity level, so essentially it's similar, but you've got to be honest about your activity levels.

Good luck!
Jen

jenj1313

btw, is that a floating cat?

steinbok

Most bagels with cream cheese are going to run 5-600 calories, if not more. At least that's what is on the menu at Panera.

CherryOnionKiss

After 5 months i only lost 4 pounds. I gain and lose the same 2 pounds over again. Im 27, 5 feet 4 and 171 lbs.
If im not losing anything after that amount of time, should i up my calories per day or descrease it. Im currently at 1370 per day, set per MFPs automatic calculations.

Only based on what I was able to gather from your diary for the past two weeks, here are two suggestions...

1) Eat your veggies! There may be a vegetable here and there, but not enough servings per day. Cut out as much processed foods (anything from a can or box) and fast food as you can and replace it with lean meats, low-sugar fruits (like berries) and tons and tons of veggies. Make them your best friend.

2) You may be over-estimating the amount of calories you are burning with your exercise and under-estimating the calories you are eating. I see you eat most of your exercise calories back (personal choice for many). You could be eating back more than you are actually burning.

Hope those help and keep at it! Never give up. Good luck!

I have an HRM so impretty sure the calories i burn are accurate

fionarama

Sorry to tell you this but after quickly looking at your food diary it's there in black and white. You will not lose weight on the amount of processed foods you consume in a day. Consider dropping the strabucks, the ice cream, the bagel etc for healthier alternatives. More protein less carbs. With some fine tuning you'll be on your way to successful weightloss in no time!

Yup. You are not serious about losing weight if you eat that sort of food. Eat clean. google it. learn about it.
You are clearly not in a calorie deficit. You need to eat less and/or exercise more. Its too hard to just try to diet you need 40-60 minutes cardio a day. If you're a new mum thismight be an hours brisk walk with the stroller. Every day, good for baby good for you. do a home DVD (everyone gets results from JillianMichaels).
Get serious. Get with it. Do it!!!!

sherry9300

Definitely invest in a good HRM. I found I was burning about 60% less than what I was claiming (and I thought I was being conservative using the machine readings and NOT MFP bloated member numbers.

Also, a quick glance at your food...looks like maybe you are underclaiming calories on some of your meals? Things that look like they should be higher? Tortelini carbonara for under 200 calories? Are you measuring and logging exact and accurate amounts?

Everybody already commented on the food. Yes, you need lots of good clean food, but an ice cream here and there won't sabotage you. It's all about balance.

george29223

i aint got no room to talk but i just took the time out to look at every day you have logged on , its a clear pattern first you blow your diet by eating bad at breakfast then you arent telling the truth about what you are eating the rest of the day, first thing about this weight loss thing if your mind aint right to lose weight you got nooooooo chance

SRH7

With me portion size is my downfall. If you haven't already, get yourself a cheap set of kitchen scales and weigh and log everything that passes your lips, right down to the milk in your coffee. I find it very easy to guess that something is a particular size or weight so it can be quite an eye opener when you actually find out you are underestimating.

fionarama

Oh, and the biggest and most important point which you have clearly missed: measure your progress. weekly. If you see no improvement go over what you have done in the last week and think about why you aren't progressing. Don't wait four months before you start asking questions. If you don't get results in one week don't then do the same thing for 15 weeks before you start analysing where you are going wrong!!!!!

CherryOnionKiss

Definitely invest in a good HRM. I found I was burning about 60% less than what I was claiming (and I thought I was being conservative using the machine readings and NOT MFP bloated member numbers.

Also, a quick glance at your food...looks like maybe you are underclaiming calories on some of your meals? Things that look like they should be higher? Tortelini carbonara for under 200 calories? Are you measuring and logging exact and accurate amounts?

Everybody already commented on the food. Yes, you need lots of good clean food, but an ice cream here and there won't sabotage you. It's all about balance.

Like I just said I already have an HRM, a polar one at that. So my calorie burn is supposed to be accurate

CherryOnionKiss

Oh, and the biggest and most important point which you have clearly missed: measure your progress. weekly. If you see no improvement go over what you have done in the last week and think about why you aren't progressing. Don't wait four months before you start asking questions. If you don't get results in one week don't then do the same thing for 15 weeks before you start analysing where you are going wrong!!!!!

yeah and if after 1 week you dont get result, people say : but its only been a week. Stick to it!

CherryOnionKiss

lets recap:


1.I HAVE AN HRM! POLAR FT4 so my calorie burn is accurate
2.Im set to sedentary - desk job and eat my exercise calories back
3.I have a kitchen scale to measure portion
4.I walk to work and daycare everyday of the week

XXXMinnieXXX

I've got a polar too, they are great! I'd still only eat 75% back though to allow for any inaccuracies. You walk each day, that's good. You weigh out food, that's great.
Ideas:
. Hiit walking. Keep spiking your heart rate and lower it again on your walks. Search hiit! Switch it up a bit, shock your body!
. Definitely cut down on processed foods.
. Track sugar.
. Maybe try switching your macros around. Change protein to 25-30% and carbs to 40-45%. Setting, tools, change goals... This broke a 6 month plateau for me. I changed to 30%protein, 40%carbs, 30%fat...
. More fruits and veggies. The best fruits for sugar control are berries, grapes and melon.
. Log EVERY DAY, only way to get a good picture and to keep yourself accountable, no big deal if you blow one day, exercise more or just accept tomorrows a new day!

Hope this helps!

Zara. :-)

fionarama

lets recap:


1.I HAVE AN HRM! POLAR FT4 so my calorie burn is accurate
2.Im set to sedentary - desk job and eat my exercise calories back - try eating half back. Or reduce net to 1200 or even 1300 from 1390.
3.I have a kitchen scale to measure portion - yes but how big are the portions you can reduce them. And portions of what because it does matter!
4.I walk to work and daycare everyday of the week - how far is that, how long is that. If you've been doing it a long time your body is used to it and it won't burn many calories anymore, evenif it helped in the beginning.

Perfect. So you have to eat less. Try swapping those ice creams etc for a piece of fruit. And you have to exercise more. when baby is in daycare do something higher intensity than walking, go for a run, do a good DVD or join a gym and do 30 minutes cardio on a machine, or a spin class.

I find the best thing is to look at making one change in a week, focus on that and see if it helps. So you could focus on cutting portions only. Or focus on reducing down to 1200 calories. One thing. See if it works. The next week reassess. But it has to be making a calorie deficit , so either eating less or being more active.

ArroganceInStep

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/not-losing-fat-at-20-deficit-what-should-i-do-qa.html