Not losing much weight, need help!

Trewski

Help please, I've been religiously tracking my food intake on here for the last three weeks. I eat healthily anyway, but have been eating less than 1500 (net) calories a day and still only managing to lose a pound here and a pound there.

I've been exercising, only twice so far this week, though i plan to go again today and tomorrow. I've been running for 40 minutes, followed by 20 mins on the x trainer, or 30 minutes running with 30 minutes toning.

Can't understand why I'm not losing more. I'm 5'6 142lbs (10st 2) would like to be 133lb (9st 7).

Sometimes this tells me I'm eating too few calories, but I can't get to grips with the idea that i need to eat more, especially if I'mnot hungry.

Confused, so any advice appreciated. p.s. I don't do fads, I want to do it with a healthy balanced diet.

Thanks
Cher

neiceemary

Have you measured inches at all? Since you are working out you may be loosing fat and replacing with muscle :-)

Trewski

hey, thanks for replying. Yes, inches stayed the same?

DibsL

Hi
I'm the same I have been same weight for months yet I more or less eat 1500 to 1700 calories per day and tend to exercise 4 times a week. Have a very busy life too sometimes wonder if im eating enough too calories but im not hungry for more food. Do have the odd bad day but not too many! I'm not particularly fussed about the scales I can feel I have gotten smaller although don't bother with measuring inches can see in my clothes. I spoke to an instructor at the gym she said I do too much cardio exercise and need to do more strength work so have started mixing my exercise up more (tend to mostly run for anywhere from 35 to 50 mins). I have started a class called body pump weights and so forth. Apparently your body gets used to what you do and then it needs a new challenge so to speak, also muscle helps to burn fat so the weight training is good. Maybe our bodies are saying to us we don't need to lose more though! I'm now focused on toning and maintenance and if I can lose another couple of kilos great. Good luck!!!! There's lots on here about this sort of thing we are not alone!

shelleybelly35

Not sure. I'm around your height and your weight, and I'm losing. I eat 1250-1400 calories per day and work out 6 days a week. I eat healthy: tons of veggies, fruit, a little protein, and whole grains. I eat about 5-6 times a day, snacking constantly. When you eat lots of healthy food, you can have a large quantity of food for fewer calories and your body gets the necessary fuel for working out.
I work out HARD 6 days a week for about an hour a day, sometimes an hour and half. I run every other day for 30 min. and do Body Revolution (Jillian Michaels) 6 days a week. When I'm not doing those, I do stair elliptical, stair machine, sprints (HIIT), and so on. I have one splurge meal every week or two (2200 cal for the day).
I hope you find a pattern that works for you. It can be frustrating, but you are not overweight, which is why it will be harder to lose weight.
Personally, I think your net should be lower than 1500, but that depends on a ton of factors: your occupation, your age, your BMR (which is ALWAYS over-calculated by those BMR calculators online), and your muscle mass. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you will burn daily while at rest. I get a net of around 650-950 after exercise. Some people on here will tell you that is too low, but I disagree. You have to have a deficit, and if you eat healthy you will be eating a ton of food (with all the necessary vitamins and minerals to fuel your workouts) at a lower calorie range.

saw1969

I am finding my weightloss slow too! I've got 42lbs to loose and mfp has set me 1270cals per day and set me to loss 1588 calories through exercise I am achieving both goals (went over calories twice but never went over my bmr) but have only lost 1lb! I know I have not long started and dont want to give up but it is going to take forever at this rate!!!!

123Allyxox

Do you eat a lot of sodium? I had the same problem then I cut back my sodium, drank more water, and started taking dandelion supplements and I started losing again.

shivles

It's hard to say without seeing your food diary (its set to private) but like the pp said as you're not overweight it will be harder. How long have you been trying to loose? Sometimes it takes more time, sometimes something in your diet is to blame. For example white carbs make me stall in my weight loss and even gain sometimes.

Prahasaurus

Am I missing something? You've already lost "a pound here, a pound there," according to your post. You're not that heavy, anyway. And you only want to lose 9 pounds, apparently, which makes sense. So you are almost 25% to your goal after some weeks, and you make it sound like it's a problem??

Keep losing a pound here and a pound there, in three months you're done, right?

--P

shelleybelly35

What are you eating for those 1270 calories? What is your workout routine? How overweight are you? I have a ton of questions before I can give any advice.
I lost my first 60 pounds eating 1350-1400 calories a day and working out for an hour 6 days a week. I lost the last 50 pounds eating 1200-1300 calories a day and exercising 1-1/2 hours a day 6 days a week, but I had to completely change my diet to help fuel my workouts.

LottieLou13

Am I missing something? You've already lost "a pound here, a pound there," according to your post. You're not that heavy, anyway. And you only want to lose 9 pounds, apparently, which makes sense. So you are almost 25% to your goal after some weeks, and you make it sound like it's a problem??

Keep losing a pound here and a pound there, in three months you're done, right?

--P

Yeah this. You've been doing it for 3 weeks and are unhappy with a 2lb(?) loss? You are obviously doing something right as you are losing weight. Patience is the key. You didn't gain the weight in 3 weeks why expect to lose it within 3 weeks?

saw1969

I'm 5ft 3in - and for my 1270 am eating eggs and toast for breakfast most days, a salad with lean protien and yogurt for lunch and usually lean meat with veg/salad and potato or rice. My BMI is 30 and to get to a healthy range I need ti loose 33lbs. I workout 4 times a week and usually do 30mins on the crosstrainer, followed by the treadmill and bike with two day adding weights in the gym 3 x 12 reps on each peice of equipment. I'm not adding salt to anything and am drinking more water. Any advice would be gratefully received.

JosieRawr

I tend to see people having good progress when they have a circuit of workouts they do, mix it up. I tend to do my cardio via speed walking, swimming, dancing, or at the gym on a stair climber type thing, I don't have a set amount of time, other than I do something every day(even when I say I'm going to take a day off, I can't resist the pool..) though I've heard if it's not something you're really enjoying your body can register it as stress and cortisol's not great.. so it's better to enjoy it most of the time atleast or keep it intense but brief (like me on the stair climber..)

Other than cardio, strength training is great for weight loss because muscle tissue is very metabolic(using calories) even at rest, but it's best to mix it up too, like focus lower body one day upper body the next etc, or if you're doing a video that doesn't split it up try taking a day off n doing some body weight exercises every now n then. you want exercise to feel good, but not too good - need to keep challenging yourself and keep your body guessing!

There's alot of different opinions about kcal intake as well, what works for me is logging everything(including all exercise) and eating what it tells me to(i recently set it to maintain n i am trying to cut between 500-750, which would be a pound to a pound n a half of fat a week if i do it right) I decided when trying this i would give it a good 3 weeks before judging it too harshly(as it had me increase what I was eating by quite a bit) and the first six days it's proved itself to me, but that's what works for me, just be patient and find what works for you. Good luck n don't despair

Trewski

ha, when you put it like that it doesn't sound so bad It just feels very slow..

Trewski

I've changed so you can see my food intake. I'm not sure about sodium, i'll go and check.

Other than that, I'm going to add strength training (i actually love body pump, but haven't been for ages as it's on at a crap time at my gym) and try to be patient.

shelleybelly35

I'm 5ft 3in - and for my 1270 am eating eggs and toast for breakfast most days, a salad with lean protien and yogurt for lunch and usually lean meat with veg/salad and potato or rice. My BMI is 30 and to get to a healthy range I need ti loose 33lbs. I workout 4 times a week and usually do 30mins on the crosstrainer, followed by the treadmill and bike with two day adding weights in the gym 3 x 12 reps on each peice of equipment. I'm not adding salt to anything and am drinking more water. Any advice would be gratefully received.

If I were you, I would eat more often, smaller meals. I wouldn't mix too much meat and starches (like the potatoes). I always eat meat with just veggies, and have the starches or complex carbs (nothing white, except occasionally potatoes) separately after an hour or two as a snack. ((Example: I eat breakfast: oatmeal; snack: apple, watermelon, or another fruit with hummus and whole wheat crackers (1/2 portion); lunch: veggie wrap or veggie pita sandwich and a greek yogurt; snack: fruit and a homemade granola bar; dinner: veggies with lean protein; snack: fruit or veggies and hummus; late snack: air-popped popcorn or crackers and hummus.)) Believe it or not, the list I just gave you was 1250-1350 calories!!!
Also, a BMI of 30 is obese. You might need to up your calories to 1400-1500 until you lose 20 pounds or so, and then start to lower them.
I agree with the above post that you always need to switch up the workouts. Your body will become adjusted to certain workouts and they won't work as well. In addition, it is infinitely better to do shorter bursts of high intensity than longer spurts of low-moderate intensity. Try interval training on the machines, or do circuit training with your weight lifting.

ShaunMc1968

Hi,
Sodium (salt) intake seriously affects my weight loss. The first few weeks on here I had low sodium intake - not much exercise and lost a good 2lbs a week on 1950 cals a day. This last week or so I have been upping the exercise, keeping below calorie intake but sodium has been high. result no weight loss or low weight loss. Am reducing sodium intake again next week from Monday so hopefully will be back on track. Hope this helps,
S.

LisaJ2904

Bump...I am 5'6 , 139 lbs and want to be 132, It is soooooooo hard. I have started to listen to my body more. I sometimes feel so hungry I can eat 1800-2000 calories in a day, usually after I've exercised, Sometimes I am not hungry and can be full to bursting on 900 a day. I know that goes against all of the advice but the lower my intake on my less active days is great for me. When I workout I eat a lot more. It's taken me around two months to get under 140 (I was at 141 forever eating the minimum 1200) ! So I'm clearly not starving myself on my lower days. I have plenty of energy, my skin's fine because I drink my 8 glasses a day, my food consists of lots of fruit,& veggies, I have milk and dairy low fat, and fairly lowish carbs, ie, no bread, no potatoes, no pasta, but eat everything else, I also eat protein bars on workout days with keep me fuller for longer and help to repair my muscles. This has taken a good while to workout, it is what suits ME. I don't know if you will be the same. It takes patience, and trial and improvement. You have to let each 'try' have time to work. 1 lb every two to three weeks is fine for me. The main advice I can give you is don't starve yourself, feeling hungry and ready to eat is fine, but don't deliberatley deprive yourself, that's the worst thing and will lead to failure. Good luck x

Trewski

bmi is 22.9, so not too worried about that and only have another 9lbs to reach my target.

My usual day goes like this:

2 weetabix with semi skimmed milk
9am coffee white one sugar
10.30 apple
1pm tuna or chicken or prawn and lots of salad. Fruit salad of strawberries, blueberries, grapes, nectarine, raspberries
5pm banana if I'm going to the gym
7.30 dinner (see diary for how Ive been eating).

On reflection, i'm not doing badly, just being impatient. Checked the sodium, i'm way under the goal MFP sets

Trewski

backatcha ik290480, I'm sure we'll get there I have 10 weeks until my birthday, so if I keep going I'll reach my goal by the time I gain a year x

I'm glad I started posting, how do I add people on here?

LilacDreamer

I hear ya. My current status update:


Looking at my reports for the last few months...I have lost 7.8lbs since APRIL 24...some people lose that in 1month. There were a couple of months that I lost around 6-7lbs. I had hoped to be much further along. At this rate it will literally take me almost 2 years to get down to my goal (50 more pounds). Feeling super discouraged.

Eleanorjanethinner

Three pounds in three weeks for a not very overweight person is brilliant! You shouldn't expect 'Biggest loser' results a) at all and b) if you're not massively overweight and making a huge lifestyle change and working out 8 hours a day.

Keep up the good work and give yourself a big pat on the back!

PS 'Comparisons are the thief of joy'. Just don't do it!

SRH7

Just a thought... we are so programmed to believe that we should be shedding several pounds a week that anything less seems like a failure. Truth is, a pound a week is exactly what you should be aiming for. I eat 1500 calories a day (I weigh 177lbs) and I'm losing 1lb a week (I also exercise around four days a week and eat back about half my calories burned). To lose any more I would have to drop my calories to a scarily low amount, which would not be healthy and would be unlikely to stay off long term.

Sounds like you are doing great - keep doing what you are doing and those 'pounds here and pounds there' will continue to come off till you hit your target. Weight loss takes two things - consistency and patience.

jennkain97

Definitely add some strength training. Check out "The New Rules of Lifting For Women". I started a couple of weeks ago -- INCREASED my calories by 250/day, and I'm down 2lbs already!

saw1969

Shellybelly 3 - thanks for your comments

erin_leslee

I'm going through the same thing (weight hasn't been budging for at least a month), but I've stopped looking at the scale and looking at my body and how my clothes fit. I've found that I'm losing fat and it's becoming muscle (body fat percentage went from 30% down to 24% in 3 months) but my weight hasn't budged very much besides about 0.1-0.5kg or so.

But think about all the questions you need to ask to find out about why you've hit a plateau in terms of your weight.
- have you been doing the same exercise routine? do you switch up your cardiovascular exercises (ie. doing running one day, uphill walking another day, skipping rope another day, swimming another day, etc)
- are you getting your heart rate up to 65-80% of your maximum when you do cardio training?
- have you tried other types of training (examples: plyometrics, functional training, suspension/rip training, VIPR, bodyweight training)
- do you do any circuit or interval training?

Functional and suspension training exercises using Tabata protocol interval training is something I use during my workouts and I've found that it's been more than helpful for me in terms of building up and testing my personal strength as a lot of the moves rely on your own body weight.

I look at a few websites when I'm trying to come up with exercises to incorporate into my interval routines:
- www.bodyrock.tv (lots of moves to choose from, equipment-free alternatives are provided and some of the interval workouts actually come with beginner, intermediate and advanced routines; there's also information on food/diet and even emotional support and an online store to purchase some of the equipment and supplements that some of the video bodyrockers use in their routines)
- www.acefitness.org (large exercise library, with and without equipment)
- www.livestrong.com (so much helpful advice in one website, this has to be bookmarked)

Hope this helps.

shivles

Well having a look at your diary I'd say there's too much refined sugar (muller rice, sugar in coffee) porridge with honey is better for breakfast if you need the sweet fix, try to wean yourself off sugar in coffee (but don't switch to sweetener, that can make things worse) also by cutting out the white carbs you might notice more of a shift so only wholemeal bread and pasta but try to use other carbs instead like grains and pulses. Also your exercise is a little hit and miss, do something every day even if it's just a walk and alternate between cardio and strength training (don't be scared to lift some weights, it's good for fat burning!). Hope you see some results soon, but your weight loss isn't bad at all really!

Trewski

thanks Shiv, the Muller rice has really only been this week as i've been pushed for time with work, normally it's weetabix. I found porridge a bit bloating, but have bought some gluten free stuff, so will keep off the Muller rice. If i have coffee at home i do have sweetener, perhaps I'll go back to tea, I can drink that without sugar.

I only have brown everything at home ( eating out, I haven't seen wholemeal pasta on any menu) , rice, pasta, bread, not that I eat that much of it.

you're right too about the exercise being hit and miss, so next week will try porridge for breakfast, tea not coffee (if i have either, I'll try not too) exercise every day alternating cardio and strength and see how it goes. thanks all for the advice people x

mrsjay4life

I have read that the less weight you have to loss is the harder
It is then if you were bigger, but you will lose it!