Stalled before I've started

weeblex

For as long as I can remember I've weighed between 242lbs and 248lbs. I should weigh in at about 200 (although the government says that should be 180 ).

I just can't seem to get my body to start losing weight though. After not eating much for a few days, drinking gallons of water and exercising like crazy and I still weigh in at 244, I can have a weekend with beer, burgers and other bad things, and kick back watching the football, 246lbs.

What am I missing to get this weight loss kick started. I've been told the first 10 lbs is the easiest to lose, but I can't even get the first one to shift.

According to MFP I should be eating 1820 calories a day (BMR is 2042) to lose 2lbs a week. I've been at it for 4 weeks, averaging about 1600-1700 calories, 2 hours on my feet at work, then 20 minutes on the treadmill 5 or 6 evenings a week and guess what, I still weighed 243 this morning!!

This is very frustrating. Does anyone have any ideas?

Christi6604

- Try starting with what MFP says you need to do - so just eat the 1820. Don't try to adapt it by trimming it more yet.

- Make absolutely sure you are counting everything correctly. Are you counting the portion sizes correctly? 3 oz of meat in a portion, etc. Are you counting calories in your drinks? Logging everything? butter, etc.

- Does the 4 weeks include many "bad weekends"? If you have a really bad weekend, you can undo all the work you spent during the week. Your body doesn't care if it was a weekday or a weekend. Don't deprive yourself of everything, but "bad weekend" sounds like "off the wagon" a bit to me.

- If that doesn't work, maybe a consultation with a doctor. There are a whole host of issues that could make it harder and they could check.

jlb1191

does sound like your logging something wrong maybe....add me and we will help each other!

ElizabethRoad

Unless you were counting calories before you joined MFP, you haven't been doing it for 4 weeks. Maybe you just need to give it some time?

weeblex

To Clarify

The losing a few extra calories over MFP is not a deliberate action it is simply what I ate during the day, if I'm not hungry, then I don't eat. Would seem silly to grab a snack at 8pm just to top off the days calories.

As for calorie counting, my wife is doing a very great job with this since she is working on it too. Right down to the fact we have programmed my standard lunch sandwich in as a meal, including the marg, low fat mayo portion and she makes this the same way every day *thanks dear*

BEST feature of MFP on a mobile device is the bar-code scanner. If I'm out and have to grab something it is so easy to scan it and go

The bad weekends I was mentioning where pre-MFP, it was just general observations about my eating habits and my weighing habits, the idea of MFP is for me to try and get more detailed and I haven't had a bad weekend since I've been doing it

I think my problem might lay more in the exercise than the caloric intake, I think my body is used to keeping this weight regardless of what I eat, that the only way to lose weight is to work it off.

ElizabethRoad

that the only way to lose weight is to work it off.

That's not true. The only way to lose weight is to eat less than you burn.

korinastern

It seems like you are eating a little fast food everyday, even the healthy fast food is loaded with more salt than you think, try to make and bring your own low sodium foods to work.

auroranflash

Patience, kemosabe

yarwell

eat the 1800, forget the treadmill. If same weight after 4 weeks eat 1400.

DavPul

You sound similar to me. I started at 270+, on my way to 225, which is a great weight for me even tho the stupid BMI charts say I'm supposed to be 175 or so.

There's no reason for you to be discouraged. You can't have stalled because you haven't even started yet. "A few days" of eating better isn't going to make a dent for either one of us. A few weeks is what we need to make the scale start. If you're accurately counting your weekend calories, I'd bet the 2000 or so calories you don't eat during the week get eaten right back on the weekend. That's not going to do it.

I think you're right about your body wanting to hold onto the weight. Mine seemed to do that for the first several weeks and then it finally got with the program. Here's a few tips that helped me.

1. Don't count *anything* you do at work. Unless you work as a professional Olympic sprinter, your body has adapted already and it doesn't raise your metabolism anymore. The stuff we at work the last several didn't prevent us from gaining weight, so it's not going to help us lose it either. Make sure your activity level is set to Sedentary.

2. If you want to eat fast food on the weekends (or all the time!) I'm not going to tell you to stop. But you can change what you order. I eat at least a one huge 1 pound hamburger a week, but I gave up fries and soda. I order at least one pizza a week, but switching to thin crust saves me 70 calories per slice. Taco Bell has the Fresco menu that lets me get full by only eating 450 calories at lunchtime. I'm not recommending that you eat this way, I'm just saying if you feel the need to "binge", you can easily do it, have a good time with your buddies/family, and not break your diet. (blah blah blah it's not healthy blah blah, but whatever, this isn't a post about eating healthy, it's about losing weight. The healthy eating with come with time.)

3. If you're only going to use the treadmill for 20 mins, you better have it set to some sprint intervals or something. 20 or so mins is about what I do, but it's very intense HIIT. You don't have to exercise at all to lose weight, but if you're going to do it, make it count.

4. Be patient. It's WAAAAAY too early to be getting frustrated. You only have 20-30 pounds to lose, so even if you set MFP to 1 pound loss per week, what's a few extra weeks when you have the rest of your lift to be thinner and healthier. Either way, give your body a chance to get with the program. Once mine got finally got started, I began losing 2 pounds every week, just like clockwork.

Good luck!

Christi6604

To Clarify

The losing a few extra calories over MFP is not a deliberate action it is simply what I ate during the day, if I'm not hungry, then I don't eat. Would seem silly to grab a snack at 8pm just to top off the days calories.

As for calorie counting, my wife is doing a very great job with this since she is working on it too. Right down to the fact we have programmed my standard lunch sandwich in as a meal, including the marg, low fat mayo portion and she makes this the same way every day *thanks dear*

BEST feature of MFP on a mobile device is the bar-code scanner. If I'm out and have to grab something it is so easy to scan it and go

The bad weekends I was mentioning where pre-MFP, it was just general observations about my eating habits and my weighing habits, the idea of MFP is for me to try and get more detailed and I haven't had a bad weekend since I've been doing it

I think my problem might lay more in the exercise than the caloric intake, I think my body is used to keeping this weight regardless of what I eat, that the only way to lose weight is to work it off.

Thanks for the clarifying...and I didn't even know about the bar code scanner! Umm...where IS the bar code scanner? :blushing:

weeblex

On my iPhone if I select My Diary, Add, Snack (For example), there is a little button to the right of the search box for a bar-code, hit that, point at your bar code, and up it pops most of the time.

I like it for normal groceries too, just scan the package of rice, at it will put the info in for you. Some of the local grocery store stuff isn't in there but most everything else is,

Christi6604

On my iPhone if I select My Diary, Add, Snack (For example), there is a little button to the right of the search box for a bar-code, hit that, point at your bar code, and up it pops most of the time.

I like it for normal groceries too, just scan the package of rice, at it will put the info in for you. Some of the local grocery store stuff isn't in there but most everything else is,

Cool! Thank you!
I hardly ever log on my phone, so I never noticed. Good luck...and remember to update us when you figure it out!

gregpack

I'd weigh your food for at least a week. I read somewhere most people underestimate portion size by about 50%.

But if you weigh 240 and can't lose on a month of verified 1800 calories per day, I'd have my thyroid checked and some other bloodwork...