Thought it was going well!

bashiera

Wow. So, I really thought it was going really well for me, losing the weight. I'm getting stronger when I workout, I can see some muscles when I flex, I eat healthful foods, but I get on the scale (actually, two different scales at two different times) and I'm 203 pounds! WHAT GIVES, BODY. Y U NO LOSE THE FAT?! I can do more push-ups, more squats, workout longer, but the pounds aren't leaving my body! I set myself at 1700 calories a day, which is about 50 over my BMR and I don't eat my exercise calories back some days. Is that it? I get a little lenient on the weekends and eat somewhere around 2000, which is still about 400 below my TDE. I have a cheat meal once a week, about, but then watch my overall weekly calories and try to average about 1750 a day. Am I eating too little? I feel like such a loser. I understand TDE, BMR, all this stuff in theory, but when I apply it, it doesn't work. I'm obviously wrong in my math somewhere.

I've been actively trying to lose weight/maintain muscle for about 3 months now. I've had a tough time due to being in a full-time accelerated RN program, but the weight keeps fluctuating on and off and I feel like I'll never lose it. I've recently stopped taking hormonal birth control, could this be the culprit or playing a part? Maybe I need to lift heavier and workout harder? I've fallen behind on my tracking in MFP, but I keep a paper diary when I'm at nursing clinicals since I can't track there on a computer and I don't own a smartphone. Maybe I'm looking at this wrong because it's me. What can you guys point out that might be hurting me? I don't drink soda, I don't eat much wheat (it makes me feel yucky when I do, not exactly sure why, but I just tend to avoid it due to tummy trouble), I don't do simple sugars (unless it's a small cheat meal, and even then, I don't gorge and go crazy). I know I have a problem with late night snacks, but I don't go over 2,000 calories a day, still. I'm thinking it's my weekends when I get too lax about what I eat ruining my good weekday eating. I don't drink alcohol so no empty calories coming from that (not old enough to legally drink). I have one or two cups of coffee at home with a half cup of 2% milk and stevia in the raw, so it's not my beverages. So, I need some troubleshooting help.

Duck_Puddle

First, being stronger and feeling better are fantasic achievements-regardless of the number on the scale. Be proud of those improvements!

Second, are you measuring anything other than weight? If not-try adding body measurements (inches/cm) or body fat% or some other number beyond pounds as a way to measure progress. You can also gauge progress by how your clothes fit-but sometimes an actual number is nice to see.

Third, about the food. Are you logging every single thing you eat or drink? It sounds like you might be a little lax on the weekends and perhaps not logging your cheat days at all (that might not be true-but that's what it sounds like). We ALL guesstimate very low on the calories we are consuming when we wing it. If you are not logging everything you eat and drink (including cheat days)-try doing it for say two weeks. You may be surprised by what the real numbers are. If your weekends are "around" 2000 calories-they could easily be actually 2800-and you don't give a guesstimate for your cheat day-but if that's say another 1000 on top of that-you could be breaking even at your tdee for the week (which is why you aren't losing). Really track every edible thing that goes down your throat for two weeks and see what your net calories average after that. And when I started-my coffee alone was 600 calories a day-hence the reason you need to log everything (not that your coffee is going to be that much-but it seemed like "just coffee" to me and turned out to be a HUGE factor).

bashiera

Thank you so much! I was lying to myself about the weekend calories, but reality is real, and I ate that food even if I told myself it wasn't so bad! I'm definitely going to be more vigilant about tracking. Late night snacking is a problem with me, and it's because I'm bored or don't want to go to bed, so I'm gonna close the kitchen at 9 on non-clinical days (10:30 on clinical days because I get home at 9:30 on days I do have clinicals). I'll have my last meal/snack at 8:30 and close the kitchen after that, since I can eat well all day but then blow it with ice-cream at 10 o'clock at night. I really think that and my weekends are what's setting me back. I tried the moderation thing, but I'm the kind of person that goes all in or goes home, so I'm going to try the kitchen closed, no cheat meals as often as I've had them, and being more in control of my weekend eating.