What Am I Doing Wrong????!!!!!

wwoelbel

I have found that MFP's exercise burn estimates are, for me, overly optimistic. If they are high for you and you are "eating" your exercise, then you are actually going over. My solution to this issue was to ignore MFP's exercise portion and use the food tracking alone. If I find that I am losing too quickly, I adjust my intake target up a bit (or down if progress fails). Of course, my solution is more long term. If you want immediate feedback, my method wont give you what you want.

thriftycupl

I would suggest you check out the Group here, Eat More to Weigh Less. There is a lot of great information on there. You have less to lose overall than I do, but everyone hits a plateau. Mine lasted for 8 weeks. Check out the group -- they provide a lot of information and feedback.

pinthin87

I know I might get some flack for this...but maybe you are someone who doesn't need to eat back their exercise cals. I don't always eat mine back and that usually helps the scale move. I am not saying to do that everyday, but maybe just a couple days a week try not eating them back.

grrrlface

You said you do 30DS everyday? Have you taken a break at all from your exercise?
Sometimes your body needs time to recover if it is not used to the exercise you're doing.

I aim for 5 days exercise and 2 days off. If I have a good week exercise wise, I see a drop of 1-2lbs per week after my 2 days rest.

hollymurphy4

The scale is unreliable as a form of feedback as far as your progress goes. You are only 23 days in. You will learn a lot about what works for you and what doesn't.

I'd take pics, measurments, and bodyfat%. These are great measures of your progress.

I understand your frustration, really I do. Just try to persevere and keep going.. tweaking things here and there to see what works for you.

You can do this.

Thank you! I took pictures and measurements when I started. Some people are saying I need to eat more calories, but I'm afraid that's not the correct solution and I will start gaining.

hollymurphy4

You said you do 30DS everyday? Have you taken a break at all from your exercise?
Sometimes your body needs time to recover if it is not used to the exercise you're doing.

I aim for 5 days exercise and 2 days off. If I have a good week exercise wise, I see a drop of 1-2lbs per week after my 2 days rest.

Yes, I do 30 DS everyday. I took one day off only because I wasn't home that entire day. I would feel like a failure if I didn't do it everyday. I felt so terrible the day I missed. (Strange, I know)

MB_Positif

The scale is unreliable as a form of feedback as far as your progress goes. You are only 23 days in. You will learn a lot about what works for you and what doesn't.

I'd take pics, measurments, and bodyfat%. These are great measures of your progress.

I understand your frustration, really I do. Just try to persevere and keep going.. tweaking things here and there to see what works for you.

You can do this.

Thank you! I took pictures and measurements when I started. Some people are saying I need to eat more calories, but I'm afraid that's not the correct solution and I will start gaining.

Don't be afraid! You might gain a tiny bit in the beginning, but eventually you'll be happy with the results!

jackieatx

I am on day 20 and I have only lost 5 pounds. I've lost an inch around my waist. I also have my activity level set to sedentary and am a sahm. I've noticed I weigh 1-3 pounds more in the morning, if you're not already weighing yourself at the same time everyday, do so, it gives you a more accurate reading, and if you're like me you'll have to wait about 2 hours after getting up and going to the bathroom to weigh yourself. I thought I was going nuts until out of curiosity and frustration I waited to weigh myself and there was almost a two pound difference. Maybe some of us just retain more water at night who knows. I started calorie cycling last week I'll let you know if it works in a week or two!

3dogsrunning

The scale is unreliable as a form of feedback as far as your progress goes. You are only 23 days in. You will learn a lot about what works for you and what doesn't.

I'd take pics, measurments, and bodyfat%. These are great measures of your progress.

I understand your frustration, really I do. Just try to persevere and keep going.. tweaking things here and there to see what works for you.

You can do this.

Thank you! I took pictures and measurements when I started. Some people are saying I need to eat more calories, but I'm afraid that's not the correct solution and I will start gaining.

IF you don't want to increase calories, stay where you are at for sometime. Please don't jump to eating less calories right away.

If you are thinking about increasing calories, do it slowly, like add 100 extra and see how it goes. You don't have to add a pile right away.

There are a lot of reasons why you aren't registering on the scale yet, it is far too soon to start cutting back your calories.

First step I would take is making sure everything is logged properly and making sure you reach your goals. If you see no progress after a couple of weeks of that, then start looking at changing things.

hollymurphy4

I would suggest you check out the Group here, Eat More to Weigh Less. There is a lot of great information on there. You have less to lose overall than I do, but everyone hits a plateau. Mine lasted for 8 weeks. Check out the group -- they provide a lot of information and feedback.

Thanks so much! Where do I find this group?

cygriff_42

I had similar issues at the beginning. For me the trick is to eat every three hours. My day starts about about 6:00 a.m. so I eat religiously at 6:30 9:30 12:30 etc and then I don't eat anything after my evening meal. I know it doesn't work for everyone but it helped me. Just a thought. Good luck!

I also plan out my entire food plan for the day. I change it up day to day and always stick to it. If it isn't on my plan for the day I don't eat it.

theartichoke

Hi! First, congratulations on your success so far, even though it's slow and frustrating, and for walking the road to better health!

With the amount if weight you want to lose 1200 calories is low. I got away with it for a little while before it turned on me too and my BF% has to be double what yours is. If your BMR is 1400 then I would recommend setting MFP to that and not netting below it. There's a group here, Eat More to Weigh Less. Please search for it and join. Even if you don't want to follow that path there is wonderful information there about what eating too little can do to your body.

I wish you the best on your journey!

ETA - Just noticed I was late on EM2WL. Under the Community tab select Groups and search Eat More to Weigh Less.

hollymurphy4

I had similar issues at the beginning. For me the trick is to eat every three hours. My day starts about about 6:00 a.m. so I eat religiously at 6:30 9:30 12:30 etc and then I don't eat anything after my evening meal. I know it doesn't work for everyone but it helped me. Just a thought. Good luck!

I also plan out my entire food plan for the day. I change it up day to day and always stick to it. If it isn't on my plan for the day I don't eat it.

Thanks so much for your tip!

jadedone

I have my lifestyle/activity set at sedentary then I log my daily exercise as circuit training for The 30 Day Shred DVD that I do everyday.

Every day? Are you taking rest days to recover?

jadedone

I looked at your diary, and it appears you are varying your calories drastically from day to day. 500 calories one day, 1500 the next, 1200 the day after that, etc. That's going to really affect your weight loss I'm guessing. 500 calories a day is NOT healthy, you should be trying to eat at LEAST your BMR.

MFP has a BMR calculator here > http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

Then once you know that, change your cals to your BMR and eat back your exercise calories here and there, and maybe even go a little longer with your workouts using the extra energy you're consuming.

Good luck!

I've only been very low on my calories one day due to an upset stomach. I just can't eat when I feel sick.

I've used the BMR calculator. It said around 1400 calories. But my daily calories is set at 1200 right now. My daily exercise (30 Day Shred) is 247 calories. So that bumps me up to 1447 calories daily.

Eat more. You need to eat those 1400 + the 247 from exercise. Remember, the BMR is the minimum you should eat.

hollymurphy4

Hi! First, congratulations on your success so far, even though it's slow and frustrating, and for walking the road to better health!

With the amount if weight you want to lose 1200 calories is low. I got away with it for a little while before it turned on me too and my BF% has to be double what yours is. If your BMR is 1400 then I would recommend setting MFP to that and not netting below it. There's a group here, Eat More to Weigh Less. Please search for it and join. Even if you don't want to follow that path there is wonderful information there about what eating too little can do to your body.

I wish you the best on your journey!

ETA - Just noticed I was late on EM2WL. Under the Community tab select Groups and search Eat More to Weigh Less.

Thanks so much. I will def. find the group. You're not the only person that has said I need to eat more. If I decide to do that, I hope it's the correct decision and I don't start gaining.

hollymurphy4

I looked at your diary, and it appears you are varying your calories drastically from day to day. 500 calories one day, 1500 the next, 1200 the day after that, etc. That's going to really affect your weight loss I'm guessing. 500 calories a day is NOT healthy, you should be trying to eat at LEAST your BMR.

MFP has a BMR calculator here > http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

Then once you know that, change your cals to your BMR and eat back your exercise calories here and there, and maybe even go a little longer with your workouts using the extra energy you're consuming.

Good luck!

I've only been very low on my calories one day due to an upset stomach. I just can't eat when I feel sick.

I've used the BMR calculator. It said around 1400 calories. But my daily calories is set at 1200 right now. My daily exercise (30 Day Shred) is 247 calories. So that bumps me up to 1447 calories daily.

Eat more. You need to eat those 1400 + the 247 from exercise. Remember, the BMR is the minimum you should eat.

Thank you, thank you so much for your help!!!

hollymurphy4

I have my lifestyle/activity set at sedentary then I log my daily exercise as circuit training for The 30 Day Shred DVD that I do everyday.

Every day? Are you taking rest days to recover?

No, I do it every day. I did take one day off because I wasn't home the entire day. I was very upset with myself for not getting it done that day. I guess I need to take a day off here and there?

britcurl

I looked at your diary, and it appears you are varying your calories drastically from day to day. 500 calories one day, 1500 the next, 1200 the day after that, etc. That's going to really affect your weight loss I'm guessing. 500 calories a day is NOT healthy, you should be trying to eat at LEAST your BMR.

MFP has a BMR calculator here > http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

Then once you know that, change your cals to your BMR and eat back your exercise calories here and there, and maybe even go a little longer with your workouts using the extra energy you're consuming.

Good luck!

I've only been very low on my calories one day due to an upset stomach. I just can't eat when I feel sick.

I've used the BMR calculator. It said around 1400 calories. But my daily calories is set at 1200 right now. My daily exercise (30 Day Shred) is 247 calories. So that bumps me up to 1447 calories daily.

You should set your Net goal to 1400 cals. For example Goal 1400-247 for exercise. Eat those 247 cals back for a total consumtion of 1427, but only a net of 1400.

AmberJslimsAWAY

I just wrote a blog. It's been 2 months since I've lost ANYTHING. Take pictures... they help!