Would welcome feedback-- Cannot properly lose weight

smuckers722

I hesitate to write this, because so many people tell me conflicting information on what I "absolutely must do." But, I am afraid my frustration at my lack of weight loss will cause me to give up entirely, and I do not want that. I will tell you what I do, and if you have a good suggestion, let me know. (Please don't just tell me I'm starving myself or should just accept what I weigh.)

I have been dieting and exercising consistently over three months, and I am only down about 4 pounds. I generally go weeks only maintaining, and then I may lose 2 pounds. However, if I have a week with even one "bad" day (high calories eating for special occasion), I can gain over 2 pounds. Thus, I continually seem to yo-yo within the same small weight range.

I am 5'2", 130 pounds, and a 28-year-old female. I would like to weigh 115 so then I can eventually maintain at about 120. I know this is possible as two years ago I weighed 120, and one year ago I weighed 125, but now, I can never get below 128. I eat between 1000-1600 calories. I know some will say 1,000 is too low, so I stopped doing anything close to 1,000 except for the days indicated when I was doing a caloric cycling program. (You can read about that here: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm). For the caloric cycling, I was eating a different amount of calorie goal per day/weekly, like 1,016, 1,016, 1225, 1500, 1200, 1,016, etc.

I work out several times a week. Usually at least twice a week I do some main cardio (one to one and a half hours on an elliptical or bike), and then light strength training a couple days a week. Also, many evenings I will burn maybe 100-200 calories on my mini standing elliptical I have at home, but that is really a lot less work than the actual full size elliptical. Light exercise, for sure.

I log everything I eat. I do not not junk food. I started eating breakfast (I don't like morning eating, but I do it). I try eating small snacks between meals. I try to drink more water. I'm sure I could still be drinking more water, but I do not drink ANY pop or alcohol, just water. I eat fruit. I eat oatmeal. I eat fiber. I make sure my protein/carbs/fats comes out close to the goal listed in MFP. My fat is almost never over, but sometimes my carbs is lower and my protein is higher.

SO, why can I not lose weight? So many weeks I can look in MFP and see on paper a "perfect" week and I will weigh, to the ounce, the exam same amount. I eat right; I don't starve; I work out. Sometimes I "eat back" my workout cals and sometimes I don't. I'm confused about why some people say you need to eat back all you workout cals. If you need to eat them all back, then why did you work out in the first place? I thought it was about creating a calorie deficit, so you would think if I eat 1200 instead of 1600 calories a day (what I supposedly burn a day with a sedentary life style at my desk job), that I would lose, but I do not.

If you have a suggestion for something I haven't tried or considered, let me know. Please no bashing, though!

vnovit

How many calories do you eat a day?

micneg01

I'm not sure what health insurance you have, but I recently met with a nutritionist and I have an appointment scheduled with a dietician and a personal trainer through my insurance. The nutritionist and dietician cost the price of my co-pay and the personal trainer is $20. I wasn't aware these options were available to me until last week. If your insurance offers this coverage, they may be able to assist you.

Good luck in your journey,

Michelle

jacksonpt

The only thing you HAVE to do is eat less than you burn. Everything else is the "finer details" to getting healthy and losing weight. But the only MUST DO is to maintain a healthy caloric deficit.

tcunbeliever

The scale does not give a very accurate picture of health. Have you been tracking measurements of body fat? You might see changes in body shape and size as your fitness improves long before you see numbers shift on a scale.

ThinVee

I can't tell from your photo but maybe with all of the workouts you are doing, you are actually closer to the body's set-weight. Although you may have weighed a few pounds less even a year ago, have your measurements changed? I know I've been at a lower weight on the scale but worn larger sizes - perhaps you are just firming up / more muscular than you were before?

If none of that makes sense I would also examine any new medications or lifestyle changes that have taken place.
Also try changing up your exercise routine to something you've never tried before.
Lastly, I second the other poster - check in with a nutritionist and doctor and make sure there are no other underlying conditions.

Best of luck!

msshiraz

You are 10 lbs away from your maintenance weight. That in itself is awesome! You may be pushing your body too hard. Why is 115-120 the magical # of success for you? I am sure you look fantastic, and if you are working out that much- you probably have more muscle definition that you did when you weighed in at these lower weigths before?

I think you may be seriously underestimating your caloric needs- and your body will stop everything if you stop feeding it. I am not a nutritionalist but I do work in the fitness industry. My advice is same as above- please go see a nutritionalist- sounds like you strive to be healthy in your eating, but possibly you are not getting enough of certain pecentages of foods based on your needs and workouts.

Be happy with how far you have come, and not so hard on yourself- you are almost there and that last 10 lbs is tough!

kristen6022

What calorie limit does MFP give you if you say you want to lose .5 lbs/week? I'm not gonna be that good at answering this since I'm way taller than you (5'11) and there in turn CAN and do eat more and still maintain.

My recommendation is to follow MFP's recommendation at .5lb a week and eat back 1/2 your exercise calories. So if you burn 300 in a work out eat what MFP says + 150.

The last 10 pounds are pain. I've been there - I had to really up my exercise to get it off and once I did it melted pretty quickly.

I believe in being as consistent as possible (so calorie cycling and intermittent fasting I've never gotten on the ball with). I'd try this for 4 weeks. Don't weight yourself in between, and in 4 weeks if you've lost 2 pounds, keep this up. Really what do you have to lose since nothing else has worked?

dwh77tx

Your body just might want to stay at that weight. I would focus on toning instead of the number. I have similar stats to you- I started at 134 and wanted to get down to 115 or so. I got down to 125 and my period went away. I have since been focusing on eating more and maintaining around 127-129 or so. Just be careful is all

shirleygirl910

I can't tell from your photo but maybe with all of the workouts you are doing, you are actually closer to the body's set-weight. Although you may have weighed a few pounds less even a year ago, have your measurements changed? I know I've been at a lower weight on the scale but worn larger sizes - perhaps you are just firming up / more muscular than you were before?

If none of that makes sense I would also examine any new medications or lifestyle changes that have taken place.
Also try changing up your exercise routine to something you've never tried before.
Lastly, I second the other poster - check in with a nutritionist and doctor and make sure there are no other underlying conditions.

Best of luck!

I was thinking the same thing. Don't get so hung up on the scale. First of all no one is going to know your weight but you and your Dr. A year ago I weighted 15 lbs less, but I am wearing the same size clothes and my pics show less around the middle. When you get so close to goal, start thinking of other ways you can measure your success other than the scale.

nellyett

I had the same trouble when I was eating 1200 cals per day. I completely stalled out for weeks!! I couldn't figure out why I wasn't losing weight if I was creating a large deficit.....turns out I wasn't eating enough and my body was holding on to whatever it could.

As soon as I upped my calories from 1200 per day to 1400 per day NET I started losing again. I started eating back ALL of my exercise calories which resulted in days between 1400 (rest day) to 1900 on a run day.

I've read that the less fat stores your body has to draw from, the smaller your calorie deficit should be. I've since moved over to the TDEE less 15%-20% method. I'm set for a steady 1750 cals per day and do NOT eat my exercise calories back. They are already built in for me.

However, with the holiday season upon us my daily calories are more or less near maintenance level on average at around 2100 cals per day for the past week or so....:)

darrensurrey

Well, your intake sounds fine (nowt wrong with cycling calories from what I understand) and you're lifting weights so you get a big tick there.

The only thing I can see that you're doing "wrong" is the amount of cardio-vascular work. More isn't always er... more. In theory, and as I've come to understand it, you are burning more but unless you seriously ramp up the CV work (eg run over 50 miles a week or cycle over 100 miles a week (numbers estimates but to give you an idea of just how much effort you need to put in), you will eventually hit a plateau as your body "gets used to it". And the increase in effort will lead to diminishing returns in the weight loss stakes.

They call this adaptive thermogenesis. In more detail, as you increase the work, your body is put under a lot of stress. This stress leads to an increase in cortisol. Guess what happens when cortisol levels rise?

PS What a cute doggy.

elorawood

Since you have so little weight to lose it could take a lot longer (so even just 1 lbs a month is not bad). It sounds to me that you should focus more on just being healthy (maybe shaping/toning your body with exercises) than to lose more weight.
Also, as was said before, having a body fat goal and/or taping is much better than just looking at the scale.

Oh, and the only ¨must do¨ there is: Feel good about yourself and what you are doing - you can follow tips from other people all month long, if you are tired, stressed out or in any way unhappy about it, maybe it´s just not for you and it would be better to try something else.

ZombieSlayer

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/246100-tom-experiment-preliminary-results?hl=baisleac

larsmac83

There are so many things that you could do, but one of the first...go see your doctor if you have halfway decent health insurance. I was having a similar problem with losing, and once I saw my doctor, I discovered it was a slow thyroid problem, and it was making it VERY difficult to lose weight. I also discovered that I am insulin resistant, so eating a lot of carbs will set me back pretty heftily, as well. All it was was getting simple blood work done. You never know what's going on in your body until you check in with it. Also, as I saw posted before, you can see what other kind of help you can get from a nutritionist, trainer, etc. Good luck! I wish you all the best!

beanerific518

Since you are trying to lose vanity pounds, this is considerably harder than losing 50-100 pounds. Get a fit bit (or other HRM) to accurately figure out what your exact calorie intake should be based on your activity level. Eat as clean as possible - lean protein, vegetables, some fruit, and good fats like nuts, coconut and avacados. I highly recommend heavy lifting / strength training along with metabolic HIIT (high intensity interval training) for maximum fat loss and muscle retention. You will not see the results you are looking for with 5 pound dumbbells. Going about on an elliptical for hours on end will not give you the results you are looking for. Take measurements each week (not just scale weight). Pictures are also helpful for tracking progress.

4_Lisa

I invested in a heart rate monitor, my trainer and I figured out just last night that my hear rate recovers REALLY fast. SO I have to do circuits even when I am on heavy lift days because just the time I am on the bench or one of the machines, my heart rate drops to a recovery level and thus not burning fat. So I have to do cardio durning my rest time (minute or 2) between lifts. If you do that much cardio, your heart will get used to it and not get into the burning level. Try doing some crossfit or some other type of circuit training to really keep your heart rate up and tone your body.

DawnieB1977

I think you're losing more slowly than you would like because you've only got a few lbs to lose. I'm 10 - 15lbs from where I'd like to be and I'm sure my weight loss will slow down now (and i've never lost more than 1lb a week anyway, at the beginning I'd only lose 2lbs a month after working my *kitten* off).

Also, make sure you take measurements from your waist, hips, thighs and chest and also arms if you're aiming to tone/build muscle. Body fat measurments are useful too, even if it's just calipers or something. They may not be 100% accurate, but at least you can see the numbers going down.

I'm 5'6"weigh 164lbs at the moment and i'm wearing clothes I wore 10 years ago at 147lbs, so try not to worry too much about what the scales say.

kpkeri

Don't worry, you're not alone. I have the EXACT same problem. I am 5'3'' 125 lbs and all I want to do is get to 110! But I have been tracking every little morsel I eat with MFP and work out 3-5 days a week. I usually run 15-20 miles a week (except its been especially cold lately and harder to do so). I have been using MFP consistently for 4 months and have lost 3 POUNDS! That's it! On paper everything looks great but I am just not losing. People say "don't eat less than 1200 calories" but I am small and I sit at a desk all day. I don't heave health insurance so, although going to a nutritionist sounds great, its out of the question. I am interested in the feedback people have to give on this issue.

Firefox7275

What are you eating, other than not junk food? Reduced fat dairy, oily fish, creamed coconut, nine servings of non starchy veggies and a little low sugar fruit in the full rainbow of colours, mineral rich foods (nuts, seeds, beans, lentils)? Are you eating enough total protein and fat, not just as a percentage of your calories? The MFP goal for protein is a minimum, it's not enough for someone exercising intensively.

Why are you doing light exercise and light weights? Your body adapts to that fast and becomes efficient (saves calories), you won't necessarily be burning the calories the machine says, you won't be getting any afterburn. Instead do your 10,000 steps every single day, then three to four times a week an intense workout - high intensity intervals on a cardio machine or heavy weights with great technique - consider a BodyPump class for safety. Work until you are gasping for air, muscles burning, cannot do another repetition.