Still no weight loss!

ekaplan1020

I have been reaching my calorie goals for a month now and jogging and lifting as well. I am using a fitbit to keep an eye on my calories burned and going by the MFP 500 calorie deficit goal. I am getting very frustrated since I have hovered around the same weight each week and not having a difference in my body fat percentage. In fact, I tried upping my calories to my maintenance calories and it showed that I gained. Even though I had success in the past doing the high protein diets, I don't want to do one of the extreme diets because I have been a yo-yo dieter for fifteen years and want to lose it correctly so I can work on keeping it off. Not seeing any progress is not very motivating though. Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.

TavistockToad

Maybe try eating more fresh fruit & veg and making meals yourself instead of getting ready made processed stuff....? Sticking to your cals is important, but the nutritional content is important too!

JennetteMac

You and me sound like twins. I shall watch this thread with interest. Sorry I can't actually help though. :ohwell:

JennetteMac

Just checked out your diary. Definitely think some fresh fruit and veg would make a difference. Try it for a week and see if things "shift" !! :laugh:

mamaomefo

It took me 6 weeks to begin losing. Do not give up. We don't gain this weight in a month and it will take time and hard core dedication to lose it! This is a lifetime journey to being healthy not just losing weight. Log your calories exactly and exercise most days! You will see progress being made! Don't give up. You can do this!:flowerforyou:

Eerinelizz

Sometimes I wonder how accurate the MFP calculators are. If you are maintaining your weight now, but gaining weight at your "maintenance" calorie goal, then maybe MFP hasn't calculated your calorie goal correctly. I would say lower your calorie goal, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, and see if you make any progress.

nxd10

Prior yo yo dieting makes healthy weight loss harder. That may mean the MFP calorie model is overestimating your calorie use and you need to go lower. What did you set your activity level at?

Nothing beats a healthy diet with lots of veggies.

TheRealParisLove

Men seem to have really good luck using The 4 Hour Body diet or Paleolithic Diet. Maybe try one of those for a week or two and check your progress.

somedaysoon84

if youre eating a lot fo processed food, try drinking more water too.... i drink a big gulp (4 cups) right before bed, and have seen a huge difference in my loss. because i tend to be a bit high on my salt intake (i'm a sucker for veggie stir "fry".... and anything salty....and i drink diet sodas... GASP)

fresh fruits and veggies are a great addition.... and a lot cantain extra h20 too.

melclare10

i was doing this..then i just upped my eating..lost weight like crazy

j_wilson2012

A couple things I have learned lately about nutrition. Make sure to keep track of your sugar and sodium intake:
1. Sugar get stored as fat. It NEVER gets stored as muscle. Your body needs sugar each day, but only enough to function. According to livestrong.com, the body will use sugar immediately, and whatever it doesn't need it stores for later, not disposes. You dont want it storing a lot of sugar, which is what it does when you drink sodas with the guys during the game. Keep track of that, and also make sure that the sugar intake is from fruits mostly. The sugars in fruits are natural, but be careful. If you sit there and pound away the grapes all day, it will be counterproductive. Try munching on veggies (my fav is carrots). Be wary of juices. There are VERY FEW if any, as I am finding out, that will help with weight loss. I am going to try to stick to water only as much as possible, and see if that helps.
2. Sodium helps with water retention. Too much of it (as I have learned) is bad, as it will help your body keep water aboard, and therefore gain weight. It will cause you to not sweat out as much during your workouts. I have learned this this week, as my sodium intake skyrocketed, and I gained two pounds (that, and I had a late night raisin binge.....oy vey). So pay attention to sodium. Most sauces, as in soup or marinades, will have a large amount. check out the livestrong.com website, and search for specific topics about nutrition. There is a lot of useful information on there that I like.

Good luck, amigo. I wish you the best success, as I learn along with you.
P.S.- I am 3 weeks a non smoker today, so my battle with weight is uphill, pun intended.

wild_wild_life

So you are eating 500 cal less than your fitbit says you burned each day and have lost nothing? If you recently started exercising, it could be some muscle swelling/water retention but I wouldn't expect that to last a month. Do you think sodium could be masking any loss? Are you sure you are being accurate with your logging? Don't trust every entry in the MFP database, check a few of them or even check USDA or other websites to confirm you are logging accurately.

I don't have a fitbit but is there any way it could be overestimating your calories burned?

I don't know anything about you (current stats, diet, etc) but if it were me and I was sure I wasn't overestimating calories burned or underestimating intake I would probably drop to a 750 cal deficit for awhile and see if that helped. I know you don't want to yo-yo but a 750 cal deficit is stil pretty conservative unless you are on your last 10 lbs or so.

mermx

It is nice that you have your diary open :-)

I have only looked over maybe 3 days. One of the days you have gone over a little on your cals?

What helps me is tryng to make healthy choices. Which means cutting out cakes and stuff like that as you could change them for better foods that will fill you up such as proteins.

also, the quick add feature, this is giving you quick add cals but not the nutritional values of stuff. It only take a minute to look them up on the database and then they are in you food diary. This will give you a better idea of what/where you are heading with things.

Try to add all your foods using the database, add exercise, eat some/all your exercise calories back,

You have to be totally honest with stuff or it won`t work simple as!

LiliamG

I will be a week and I have lost not a pound ... is this normal?

4myhealth77

You dont have to do a crazy fad diet...but get rid of all those processed foods and replace them with REAL complex carbohydrates. Try quinoa, old fashioned oats, brown rice, etc. Add more veggies and more protein.

mermx

I will be a week and I have lost not a pound ... is this normal?

honey, you are way under eating! Your body will hold on to every bit until you up those cals a bit, we all want to lose it fast but, you need to eat a little more. PM or friend me if you like? I am not trying to shoot you down in any way but...well nuff said :-)))

DavidCHobby

My FitBit was overestimating the calories I was burning, and giving me the right to eat more calories I did not have the right to eat. Best suggestion: Calibrate your stride length rather than accepting what it gives you based on height. That brought things into line for me.

plipsurt

I'm quite new to all of this but looking at your diary, you seem to exceed your calories quite often. Also, should you really be 'eating' the extra calories that you earn through exercise? My understanding was that you should stick to the BMR calculation. Good luck in your quest!

monicalosesweight

You could try eating more meals during the day - let's say six and keep them under 500 calories each. I've heard that can help. Also, look at what you're eating and make sure it's a healthy variety.

tourettte

Be patient. It took my mom 2 months to start losing those pounds but she was persistent and sill is, she eats healthy, exercises (walks and swimming for her back) and loads of water, tomatoes and watermelons.

j_wilson2012

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...