Why no weight loss?

barbcouperus

probably not eating enough. period. Every time I've hit plateaus I've had to up my calories. try upping to 1600-1700 a day.

and don't eat starchy carbs in the evening.

thanks and WOW on your weight loss!!
I'm always hesitant to try eating more...it goes against years of being told to eat less to lose weight, but I've heard that a few times now...

DeniseB0711

You'l hear 999 reasons why are you aren't losing weight.....just hang in there at some point things will change.

sleepytexan

From one of my old posts from a similar topic:

OK. I'm gonna give this a shot. I am an avid lifelong athlete. I have never been overweight, however, I used to eat too few calories (without knowing it), and a couple years ago, I actually GAINED weight bc of having slowed my metabolism to the point that every little extra treat I ate caused a weight gain, even though overall my calories were too low. THIS DOES HAPPEN.

It is also the reason so many fat people stay fat. They restrict their calories so low, slow their metabolisms, binge (even a little), gain weight, restrict more . . . . and so on and so on. But they are still fat.

It is also the reason most people can't lose that last 10-20 lbs. For real.

1. MFP has a deficit built in. Let's say you're trying to lose 1 lb/ week. That is a 500/day deficit from your BMR (the amount of calories your body needs to complete basic functions.

2. You exercise and burn 500 calories. Now you are at a 1000 deficit. If you eat back those 500 exercise calories, you refuel your body and you still have a 500 deficit for that 1 lb loss. If you DON'T eat back those calories, you have too little fuel. This is bad. This is too much of a deficit for basic functions. If you do this for a long time, you will STOP LOSING WEIGHT. Why? bc your metabolism will slow down -- it's like a brownout--not quite enough electricity to make the whole city (your body) run, so it has to slow down some things. You will probably start being tired a lot, your skin and hair might start to look worse, and you might even gain weight. But you might NOT be hungry -- your body is getting used to fewer calories. That's bad.


That's when you start to gain weight. Let's say you're running along, eating 1200 calories a day, and exercising 400 calories a day, so net is 800. You're losing, you think this is great. You keep doing it, but after a while you stop losing. hmmmmm. One weekend you go out to a special event and have a slice of pizza and a beer. 1 slice of pizza and 1 beer. So you ate maybe 2000 calories that day and exercised off 400, so net 1600. BOOM! You gain 3 lbs! What?!

Next, you freak out and restrict yourself down to 1000 calories a day and work out extra hard, burning 500 calories. Great, netting 500 now. You don't lose any weight, but you sure feel tired. Better get some red bull.

Are you getting the picture?

EDIT: When you work out, you need fuel. Food is fuel. If you don't eat back those exercise calories, you will not only have a big calorie deficit, you will have an ENERGY deficit. Remember, the calorie deficit for weight loss is built in when you use MFP. Exercising basically earns you more calories because you must refuel.
--

There are many people who will tell you not to eat exercise calories. Before you take their advice, you might want to see whether they are at goal, have EVER been at goal, or have ever been able to maintain at goal. If anyone says to you 'THE LAST TIME I LOST WEIGHT", just stop listening right there.

Ask some athletes whether or not they replenish their bodies with food equal to the calories they burn. Ask people who are fit and have achieved and maintained a healthy weight for some years. Don't ask people who count walking across a parking lot as exercise.

Here's an interesting case study about how to stay fat while consuming only 700 calories a day. Take a moment, you'll be glad you did:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

blessings.

barbcouperus

There is so much different (and conflicting) advice on this thread I was almost reluctant to post.

All I would say is three things.

1). Always log. No matter how bad it is
2). Watch the carbs - too many figures in the red
3). Be careful of overestimating excercise calories unless you're using a HRM

Good luck :-)

Yeah, I always wonder about the calories they say I burn for things like the kickboxing classes...it seems really high. I often even put in that the class was only 45 minutes instead of the full hour because I don't believe the calories burnt is correct. I still don't eat over the baseline of calories that MFP gives me (1550)...

rodneyderrick

Quit drinking alcoholic beverages.
Just stop totally.
Let's see how that helps in 3 months.

Just drink plain water. I noticed that a lot of people like to slam down pitchers of that Crystal Light stuff, and that has like 5 calories a serving. Alcohol has 7 calories per gram, and then there's the sugar too. In addition, I've been doing MFP for two years, so it's not something to do for a little bit, and then quit. Weight Watchers is an excellent way to lose weight too, but you have to stick with it.

ammatzner

Hey... I've looked at your diary and it looks like you eat really healthy during the week. You probably should start logging your weekends because otherwise they get out of hand. I also noticed that you aren't logging on some Fridays. Eating healthy 4 out of 7 days might not be cutting it. Maybe just splurge on one or two meals on the weekends.

itsjustdawn

found the settings..it should be public now...

try changing the 1% milk to fat free.... thats all i can say lol

Negative. That isn't going to make or break your weight loss. Definitely track your weekends. You may find that you're consuming more than you thought. As for completely giving up anything, you really don't have to, but you should do the "bad" foods/beverages in moderation. Definitely drink your water. Make sure you're eating enough protein. But as another person wrote, and I am not quoting, 4 out of 7 days isn't enough. Also, calculate your TDEE and BMR to make sure your calorie intake isn't too low (this is why I said that changing your milk to FF wasn't going to make or break it).

fbichick

I've had the same issue as you. I was eating the stricter side of 1200 calories and hardly eating back any exercise calories or if I did, it wasn't very many. I stopped losing pounds and was losing only inches. I went into MFP and started reading what other ladies had put on the community board about the same struggle I was having. Utlimately, it all came down to I wasn't eating enough calories. My body was storing everything because it was in starvation mode from the calories I was expending on exercise and not eating enough to compensate. You DON'T have to give up your alcohol either! You can have A glass of wine or A beer but I wouldn't waste the calories on more than one drink - too many carbs and sugars to worry over. I learned a few things about Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) on the community board on MFP. I google searched on the internet "What is TDEE" and found several sites that will figure out what your BMR/TDEE is. This will tell you how many calories you should be eating for the fitness your are performing. I did mine and I went from eating only 1200 a day (which is what MFP suggested) to eating between 1700 and 2400 a day. I'm averaging about 1600-1800 a day and I'm back to losing weight. It's weird science because we are conditioned and told all of our lives that you eat less and move more, you'll lose weight. NOT TRUE! I'm no expert by any means but I'm in the same boat as you, I've struggle all my life, I'm a large girl and I've done very diet out there. This is the one program that has been a huge help for me and keeps me focused. I don't skip one day, NO MATTER HOW BAD, journaling my food/drink. It keeps me more accountable to me. The weekends are where I struggle the most so I have to track it or I'll blow it. If you are performing cardio 3-4 times a week and strength training 3-4 times a week, you're fine in the exercise area - adjust your food intake and the amount you consume and you should go back to losing. I hope this advice helps.

itsjustdawn

thanks everyone...
this is the consensus I get from all the comments:

1-eat less carbs
2-eat more protein
3-eat more of my exercise calories back
4-get an HR monitor
5-track the weekends too

I'll keep plugging away and try and get this thing right. :drinker:

It may take weeks of tweaking :-)

barbcouperus

From one of my old posts from a similar topic:

OK. I'm gonna give this a shot. I am an avid lifelong athlete. I have never been overweight, however, I used to eat too few calories (without knowing it), and a couple years ago, I actually GAINED weight bc of having slowed my metabolism to the point that every little extra treat I ate caused a weight gain, even though overall my calories were too low. THIS DOES HAPPEN.

It is also the reason so many fat people stay fat. They restrict their calories so low, slow their metabolisms, binge (even a little), gain weight, restrict more . . . . and so on and so on. But they are still fat.

It is also the reason most people can't lose that last 10-20 lbs. For real.

1. MFP has a deficit built in. Let's say you're trying to lose 1 lb/ week. That is a 500/day deficit from your BMR (the amount of calories your body needs to complete basic functions.

2. You exercise and burn 500 calories. Now you are at a 1000 deficit. If you eat back those 500 exercise calories, you refuel your body and you still have a 500 deficit for that 1 lb loss. If you DON'T eat back those calories, you have too little fuel. This is bad. This is too much of a deficit for basic functions. If you do this for a long time, you will STOP LOSING WEIGHT. Why? bc your metabolism will slow down -- it's like a brownout--not quite enough electricity to make the whole city (your body) run, so it has to slow down some things. You will probably start being tired a lot, your skin and hair might start to look worse, and you might even gain weight. But you might NOT be hungry -- your body is getting used to fewer calories. That's bad.


That's when you start to gain weight. Let's say you're running along, eating 1200 calories a day, and exercising 400 calories a day, so net is 800. You're losing, you think this is great. You keep doing it, but after a while you stop losing. hmmmmm. One weekend you go out to a special event and have a slice of pizza and a beer. 1 slice of pizza and 1 beer. So you ate maybe 2000 calories that day and exercised off 400, so net 1600. BOOM! You gain 3 lbs! What?!

Next, you freak out and restrict yourself down to 1000 calories a day and work out extra hard, burning 500 calories. Great, netting 500 now. You don't lose any weight, but you sure feel tired. Better get some red bull.

Are you getting the picture?

EDIT: When you work out, you need fuel. Food is fuel. If you don't eat back those exercise calories, you will not only have a big calorie deficit, you will have an ENERGY deficit. Remember, the calorie deficit for weight loss is built in when you use MFP. Exercising basically earns you more calories because you must refuel.
--

There are many people who will tell you not to eat exercise calories. Before you take their advice, you might want to see whether they are at goal, have EVER been at goal, or have ever been able to maintain at goal. If anyone says to you 'THE LAST TIME I LOST WEIGHT", just stop listening right there.

Ask some athletes whether or not they replenish their bodies with food equal to the calories they burn. Ask people who are fit and have achieved and maintained a healthy weight for some years. Don't ask people who count walking across a parking lot as exercise.

Here's an interesting case study about how to stay fat while consuming only 700 calories a day. Take a moment, you'll be glad you did:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

blessings.

thank you so much, I really, really appreciate it.

barbcouperus

I've had the same issue as you. I was eating the stricter side of 1200 calories and hardly eating back any exercise calories or if I did, it wasn't very many. I stopped losing pounds and was losing only inches. I went into MFP and started reading what other ladies had put on the community board about the same struggle I was having. Utlimately, it all came down to I wasn't eating enough calories. My body was storing everything because it was in starvation mode from the calories I was expending on exercise and not eating enough to compensate. You DON'T have to give up your alcohol either! You can have A glass of wine or A beer but I wouldn't waste the calories on more than one drink - too many carbs and sugars to worry over. I learned a few things about Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) on the community board on MFP. I google searched on the internet "What is TDEE" and found several sites that will figure out what your BMR/TDEE is. This will tell you how many calories you should be eating for the fitness your are performing. I did mine and I went from eating only 1200 a day (which is what MFP suggested) to eating between 1700 and 2400 a day. I'm averaging about 1600-1800 a day and I'm back to losing weight. It's weird science because we are conditioned and told all of our lives that you eat less and move more, you'll lose weight. NOT TRUE! I'm no expert by any means but I'm in the same boat as you, I've struggle all my life, I'm a large girl and I've done very diet out there. This is the one program that has been a huge help for me and keeps me focused. I don't skip one day, NO MATTER HOW BAD, journaling my food/drink. It keeps me more accountable to me. The weekends are where I struggle the most so I have to track it or I'll blow it. If you are performing cardio 3-4 times a week and strength training 3-4 times a week, you're fine in the exercise area - adjust your food intake and the amount you consume and you should go back to losing. I hope this advice helps.

thanks so much, I'm going to check out that TDEE thing...

barbcouperus

found the settings..it should be public now...

try changing the 1% milk to fat free.... thats all i can say lol

Negative. That isn't going to make or break your weight loss. Definitely track your weekends. You may find that you're consuming more than you thought. As for completely giving up anything, you really don't have to, but you should do the "bad" foods/beverages in moderation. Definitely drink your water. Make sure you're eating enough protein. But as another person wrote, and I am not quoting, 4 out of 7 days isn't enough. Also, calculate your TDEE and BMR to make sure your calorie intake isn't too low (this is why I said that changing your milk to FF wasn't going to make or break it).

thanks...I didn't think the 1% switch would make that much of a difference! I do drink a ton of water ( a pitcher a day at work, 2 glasses first thing in the morning, and at least 2 more glasses at night). I'm not of the mind that I should give up on a beverage or food group completely, it's just not realistic and it's not like I'm getting hammered every night on the weekend and eating nachos every day. I'll go back to tracking on the weekends, seems to be the best thing I can do.

thrld

Have you tried increasing your calories? Your body could be in starvation mode if your not eating your exercise calories.

This. On the days you track you look to be under eating 297-700 calories. Remember MFP has a built in deficit -- so you don't need to undereat! Try searhing "Eat to Lose" -- you are not the first to have this problem.

dvisser1

I. Try eating back your exercise calories, or at least the bigger part of them, MFP already substracts the necessary amount.

II. As suggested by the others, try getting a HRM. Kickboxing is an intense sport, but sometimes MFP's estimations are over the top.

III. Caffeine and alcohol might be problematic, although I don't know how much of that you take in every day exactly. Alcohol can be especially bad for the muscles, even if it's just one glass of vodka.

IV. As mentioned before: log the weekends.

V. Try fixing more on strength? I only saw push-ups and kick boxing in the entries I looked at, you might want to try lifting or something similar. Every pound of muscles burns addition calories.

VI. I read something about your doctor not knowing what the problem is, but did you get checked for allergies? Perhaps you don't react well to some of the things you eat....

That's all I can think of right now~

thanks for your comments...
re: lifting...I lift weights 2 x per week, but don't log them because they don't show calories burned, so I didn't think it was useful to do so? And the alcohol is never during the week, just a glass or two of wine or beer on Saturday nights. and coffee is only one a day...

There is a "strength training" entry under the cardio exercise to count the calories.

twinmom01

Had the same issue as you - once I changed what i eat and dropped my carbs to under 100 per day I saw big differences in the scale...

I know it may not work for everyone but I know that is what works for me...if i want to actively loose weight I have to keep my carbs below about 80 for a good chunk of time...to maintain I need to keep it below 125.

I spent a year a half stuck loseing the same 5-7 lbs (fluctuating between about 192-198) while doing the "standard" way of eating - low-fat, fancy "diet" food....and getting frustrated out the wazoo - espeically when I went to the Dr. and all my tests came out normal - but once I cleared out pretty much most processed food and cut out large carb sources like breads, pastas and increased my good fat intake (to keep me fuller longer) it has worked out much better for my body. Right now I will loose a lb or two and then stall for a bit then down a little more - it isn't a weekly thing...but it is better the constantly losing the same 5-7 lbs...

barbcouperus

[
There is a "strength training" entry under the cardio exercise to count the calories.
[/quote]

thanks!

Springer007

Wow, everyone is an expert.

At the end of the day its calories in vs calories burned. Dont buy in to this crap about "eating more." Fat people love to find reasons to eat more and they love to spread that propaganda to others so they can justify it. If you are not losing weight its simple, your are taking in more calories then you are burning. Cut it back or work out more. Sooner or later it HAS to come around. Its just basic science. You cant make something out of nothing. Its against physics.

Maybe drink more water.... but dont eat more.

Riles713

I feel your frustration. I've been doing alot of the same things as you, also with no success. I'm a 37 year old female, 5'7, 165 lbs. It's been about 1.5 months for me- doing the p90x program faithfully, keeping my caloric intake to about 1500 cal/ day (5- 300 calorie meals), drinking 80 oz of water daily....... and no weight loss. I bought a scale that measures weight and body fat, so that I could monitor any changes since I'm doing weight training. Not sure what elso to change. I just joined My Fitness Pal today.... hopefully this will help me keep a tighter monitor on my diet?

eyebex

. I give myself the weekends off for tracking, but I don't binge. I just let myself have a glass of wine or beer with my dinner, the rest of my food is within reason..

I recommend not giving yourself weekends off for tracking. Eat a bit more if you like but track. It's the only way you'll know your overall caloric intake.