Doing everything "right" so why no results?

petitenpudgie66

I have logged my food for 11 straight days, not missing one thing, measuring everything and drinking my water. I am a lifetime Weight watchers member but WW stopped working for me a while back, so I am actually tracking on their site AND this one. I eat fruit with every meal and get all my servings of vegetables and am always in the black with my numbers on this site. Only once have I gone over the 1200 calories allotted and that was not by much and I'm usually wit in 200 calories of the goal number. I walk for an hour 3 days a week and do aerobic classes (Zumba) for an hour 2 days a week. I eat some extra calories on the days I exercise but not all of them. I have lost only 1 lb. I am extremely frustrated. Any suggestions?

purpleipod

So basically you're only netting 1000 calories a day?

Edit: That's the way you made it sound but I looked over your diary and you seem to be netting more than that. You've got 14 pounds to lose, it's going to come off slowly. I don't think 1 pound in 11 days is that poor given the amount of weight you have to lose.

Royalsbatwench

You're eating too few calories.

quirkytizzy

11 days is not very long, though I know it seems an eternity when starting out. It takes time for our bodies to adjust and show losses. You are still 1 pound lighter than you were before and you will soon be another pound lighter. And then another. And so on and so forth. Patience and endurance.

foleyshirley

You need to eat more for the amount of workouts you do.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

AnvilHead

Also read this article (just posted the link in another thread, but it applies here as well):

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

beccarockslife

start tracking your sodium too. Looking at what you eat I'm guessing it'll be high and that will effect your loss.

SideSteel

I have logged my food for 11 straight days, not missing one thing, measuring everything and drinking my water. I am a lifetime Weight watchers member but WW stopped working for me a while back, so I am actually tracking on their site AND this one. I eat fruit with every meal and get all my servings of vegetables and am always in the black with my numbers on this site. Only once have I gone over the 1200 calories allotted and that was not by much and I'm usually wit in 200 calories of the goal number. I walk for an hour 3 days a week and do aerobic classes (Zumba) for an hour 2 days a week. I eat some extra calories on the days I exercise but not all of them. I have lost only 1 lb. I am extremely frustrated. Any suggestions?

With 14lbs to lose, 1lb loss in 11 days isn't too far off.

I wouldn't call that "no results". I would adjust your expectations.

Crankstr

I have logged my food for 11 straight days, not missing one thing, measuring everything and drinking my water. I am a lifetime Weight watchers member but WW stopped working for me a while back, so I am actually tracking on their site AND this one. I eat fruit with every meal and get all my servings of vegetables and am always in the black with my numbers on this site. Only once have I gone over the 1200 calories allotted and that was not by much and I'm usually wit in 200 calories of the goal number. I walk for an hour 3 days a week and do aerobic classes (Zumba) for an hour 2 days a week. I eat some extra calories on the days I exercise but not all of them. I have lost only 1 lb. I am extremely frustrated. Any suggestions?

With 14lbs to lose, 1lb loss in 11 days isn't too far off.

I wouldn't call that "no results". I would adjust your expectations.

yep

petitenpudgie66

I ate way more than my allotted calories today; will go back to being more on track tomorrow. I am in this for the long haul and know results don't happen in a day or a week. I will try eating all my calories and all my exercise calories this week and see if that give me any progress. Thanks.

TheRealParisLove

When you get this close to your goal weight, you have to eat at a much smaller deficit. I've been shooting for a 5-10% deficit since my last plateau.

Also, you have your carbs set way too high for the percentage of weight you'd like to lose. I recommend increasing fats a bit and decreasing carbs. Also, shoot for at least 30% of daily calories as protein. You body will utilize the protein to protect your lean body mass.

Try to keep your carbs limited to fruits and vegetables, including beans. Eliminate bread, sugar, cereal and other grain based foods as much as possible.

See if that doesn't make a difference for you.

shlevon

I have logged my food for 11 straight days, not missing one thing, measuring everything and drinking my water. I am a lifetime Weight watchers member but WW stopped working for me a while back, so I am actually tracking on their site AND this one. I eat fruit with every meal and get all my servings of vegetables and am always in the black with my numbers on this site. Only once have I gone over the 1200 calories allotted and that was not by much and I'm usually wit in 200 calories of the goal number. I walk for an hour 3 days a week and do aerobic classes (Zumba) for an hour 2 days a week. I eat some extra calories on the days I exercise but not all of them. I have lost only 1 lb. I am extremely frustrated. Any suggestions?

I'm looking at your totals for the day...

1,608 kcals, 211 grams of carbohydrate, 61 grams of fat, 59 grams of protein. You're also not weight training. Imo, your results are fairly typical with this sort of approach, which is relatively high carb, relatively low fat, and relatively low protein. I.e. you will be able to maintain a reasonably healthy weight, but may not be able to get quite as lean as you want.

My personal opinion on something that would almost certainly create a pretty strong effect would be to keep the calories about the same, but to restructure your diet so you get similar levels of protein and carbohydrate. This, of course, is not the only plausible approach that would work, but it is a good one. They don't have to be exact, of course, but a split that's something like 40/40/20 carbs/protein/fat or even 40/30/30 carbs/protein/fat would probably work pretty well. Note that you can set up these ratios in mfp pretty easily under custom settings.

Since both carbs and protein are ~4kcals per gram, using your totals above, this would mean ~135 grams of carbs, ~135 grams of protein, and ~60 grams of fat per day (just an example, these numbers don't need to be exact). The downside to this suggestion is that it might require fundamentally changing the pattern for how you're eating. I.e. you're going to have to eat significantly more protein per meal, and a bit less in carbs. The practical way to do this will probably require changing your food sources, i.e. you will be eating a lot more lean meats, vegetables, fruits, and non-sugary/refined things.

In addition to the above, I'd have you lift weights ~2-3 times weekly, focusing on progressive, compound type movements (squats variations, bench variations, pullup/pulldown variations, overhead press variations, row variations, deadlift variations). This would mean increases in working weights over time in the context of good form.

This combination, a relatively even split of protein/carbs and adding in a bit of resistance training, would almost certainly have a pretty strong impact on your body composition, in my humble opinion. I will reiterate this is not the only way to accomplish this, but it is, in both my experience and opinion, a good one.

Hinxx

I also read your diary and I saw that you consume a lot of sugar, especially in your snacks. Sugar is one of the worst enemies for the body. Try to get if from natural sources like fruit. Also, read the dark chocolate labels because, more often than not, they contain a lot of sugar. Carbs also covert into sugar, so watch out for that too.Try lowering your carb intake and try eating more fresh foods, if possible. Hope that helps! Good luck!

Firefox7275

I ate way more than my allotted calories today; will go back to being more on track tomorrow. I am in this for the long haul and know results don't happen in a day or a week. I will try eating all my calories and all my exercise calories this week and see if that give me any progress. Thanks.

Go back over your own diary and count portions and look at your macro splits, sorry but you are fooling yourself that you are doing everything right. I don't see all this fruit and veg, you should be having seven to nine full servings a day in the full rainbow of colours skewed towards veggies, I don't think you are even making five. There is an absolute ton of processed/ refined/ sugary/ junk food, that should be maximum 10% of daily calories.You are also missing out on dairy products, oily fish, protein, healthy fats, mineral and fibre rich foods.

For example on Wednesday you had less than a fifth of the recommended fat and about half the recommended protein, yet you hit your carbs and every meal or snack was laced with sugar. FIVE different chocolate flavoured things in a single day plus fruit, sweetened yoghurt, sweetened cereal. Not sure if you normally have a massive sugar habit or that is because you are undereating and need the energy, but try to make your meals real wholefoods that look exactly like they come off the animal or plant and savoury only.

bronnyd

I have logged my food for 11 straight days, not missing one thing, measuring everything and drinking my water. I am a lifetime Weight watchers member but WW stopped working for me a while back, so I am actually tracking on their site AND this one. I eat fruit with every meal and get all my servings of vegetables and am always in the black with my numbers on this site. Only once have I gone over the 1200 calories allotted and that was not by much and I'm usually wit in 200 calories of the goal number. I walk for an hour 3 days a week and do aerobic classes (Zumba) for an hour 2 days a week. I eat some extra calories on the days I exercise but not all of them. I have lost only 1 lb. I am extremely frustrated. Any suggestions?

With 14lbs to lose, 1lb loss in 11 days isn't too far off.

I wouldn't call that "no results". I would adjust your expectations.

yep

double yep.

anifani4

I ate way more than my allotted calories today; will go back to being more on track tomorrow. I am in this for the long haul and know results don't happen in a day or a week. I will try eating all my calories and all my exercise calories this week and see if that give me any progress. Thanks.

Go back over your own diary and count portions and look at your macro splits, sorry but you are fooling yourself that you are doing everything right. I don't see all this fruit and veg, you should be having seven to nine full servings a day in the full rainbow of colours skewed towards veggies, I don't think you are even making five. There is an absolute ton of processed/ refined/ sugary/ junk food, that should be maximum 10% of daily calories.You are also missing out on dairy products, oily fish, protein, healthy fats, mineral and fibre rich foods.

For example on Wednesday you had less than a fifth of the recommended fat and about half the recommended protein, yet you hit your carbs and every meal or snack was laced with sugar. FIVE different chocolate flavoured things in a single day plus fruit, sweetened yoghurt, sweetened cereal. Not sure if you normally have a massive sugar habit or that is because you are undereating and need the energy, but try to make your meals real wholefoods that look exactly like they come off the animal or plant and savoury only.

I looked at your diary and would say this ^^^^^^^ also. And be patient with yourself as you find your way.

cruzcrzyMarie

You may want to consider also tracking sugar and sodium. I do, and it is very helpful.



Marie

srcardinal10

My suggestion would be to add different/more cardio activities, more frequently, and some weight lifting 3 times a week.

stonel94

You need to eat more, if your amount is 1200 you need to eat all 1200 and eat back exercise. Check your BMR and your TDEE you should eat NET above your BMR (unless you are literally sitting and not moving all day long) and about 20% under your TDEE you've hit your plataue and usually the best thing to do is counterintuitive and eat more calories so you rev up your metabolism more.
Also maybe try adding more or different exercise and strength if you don't have that

LisaDunn01

In addition to the advice of "eat more" calories, I'd also "eat less" bad carbohydrates such as breads, pastas, grains, etc. Eat more whole foods such as proteins, good fats, fruits and vegetables. Try to get your daily carbohydrate total down under 100, and make those carbs come from fruits and veggies.

ramsfan84

bump

stonel94

Also, I am now looking just at today and yesterday.
Chocolate cereal, potato chips, reduced calorie bread (aka stripped of a lot of good things) reduced fat peanut butter (all the good fat taken out and replaced with sugar and bad things for taste), ice cream, chocolate, hot cocoa
more chocolate cereal, fat free cheese and fat free dressing (again stripped of GOOD fats too), proccessed soup with TONS od sodium, more chocolate, pretzels, and only eating a tiny bit above your BMR.
So basically you eat a lot of crap, just because you're under calorie (which in your case is bad, because you aren't giving your body enough calories) the calories you are eating aren't giving you proper nutrition, Diet foods are not good. fat free, reduced fat, that takes out the good fats of things and makes it more processed, just because something is low calorie (like the progresso soup) doesn't mean it's good for you, that has tons of sodium and will make you bloat a lot.
Also you're not logging water, you should drink a lot of water especially if you are going to eat all that salt. And I'm like you, I have my sweets every day, but you're having almost 500 calories of sweets and snacks (more than that including your chocolate breakfast cereal), which is like 1/2 of your overall calories. You gotta put good fuel into yourself to get results. You lost weight before because the calorie deficit at the beginning is most important, but now that you're only 10 lbs away from your weight you want to be it's all about what you're eating not as much how many calories. You should eat way more protein too, MFP sets protein levels low already so you should be going over that macro probably if you want to maintain muscle.

I would say pick and choose, you want your chocolate? have it for breakfast or dessert, and maybe 200 calories of it (ideally no more than 10% of your calories) and have the rest of your food be whole healthy foods. Full fat doesn't mean unhealthy, especially with things like peanut butter. You need more calories, and you need better calories.

Also, the closer to a healthy weight you get the harder it is to lose weight because your body doesn't really need to lose it any more, it will resist it. So you won't be losing a lb a week or a lb every 2 weeks maybe even if that's what your goals are set to. However, because you really have a terrible diet right now (sorry) just by changing it to be healthier and actually eating MORE you will probably shock your body into losing that weight much faster.

LittleMiss_WillLoseIt

Be patient. It will take more than 11 days to see better results.


Oh and you definitely should eat more IMO netting under 1200 is not a good thing.

CoachDuhamNC

I know that you don't want to hear this: However your problem is that you're not eating enough Calories. As you begin to get lean it takes more fuel to fuel those strong muscles. As an example: most athletes consume 2 to 3 times the calories the average person does in a day. Slowly increase and you will begin to see some results. We all know the last 10 to 15 pounds are the hardest to loose.



CoachDuhamNC

spaingirl2011

I haven't looked at your diary, but I do want to say this quickly: One pound a week is fantastic weight loss. In fact, it's what MFP recommends you lose a week. If you try to lose more than that a week while being close to a healthy weight, you'll put that weight back on just as quickly as you lost it. Under-eating is not going to help you lose faster-- it's going to help you gain faster when you finally start eating normally. You can do this! Lose one pound at a time and it will add up!

Aviva92

if you look under "my home" and then "goals" are you really set to lose more than 1 pound in 11 days? Like you, I wasn't overweight when I started trying to lose weight on here. I was 5'4" and 127 pounds or so. I'm pretty sure that 1200 calories only had me set to lose 0.6 pounds a week. Therefore, 1 pound in 11 days seems right on target to me.

onyxgirl17

You mean you did this for 11 straight days and only lost a pound?

Seriously though. Because of fluctuations of water weight you really should not watch the scale if its going to bother you so much. Give it more time. I haven't lost a pound in the past 23 days but weight loss is not linear. Some weeks ill lose 2-3 pounds. Some weeks nothing. As long as you have a calorie deficit it will come off eventually. You need more patience.

calibriintx

I ate way more than my allotted calories today; will go back to being more on track tomorrow. I am in this for the long haul and know results don't happen in a day or a week. I will try eating all my calories and all my exercise calories this week and see if that give me any progress. Thanks.

Go back over your own diary and count portions and look at your macro splits, sorry but you are fooling yourself that you are doing everything right. I don't see all this fruit and veg, you should be having seven to nine full servings a day in the full rainbow of colours skewed towards veggies, I don't think you are even making five. There is an absolute ton of processed/ refined/ sugary/ junk food, that should be maximum 10% of daily calories.You are also missing out on dairy products, oily fish, protein, healthy fats, mineral and fibre rich foods.

For example on Wednesday you had less than a fifth of the recommended fat and about half the recommended protein, yet you hit your carbs and every meal or snack was laced with sugar. FIVE different chocolate flavoured things in a single day plus fruit, sweetened yoghurt, sweetened cereal. Not sure if you normally have a massive sugar habit or that is because you are undereating and need the energy, but try to make your meals real wholefoods that look exactly like they come off the animal or plant and savoury only.

^^^This. I love chocolate too, but you might be overdoing it if you want to continue to lose weight. I would definitely start tracking sugar and sodium as well. I wholeheartedly believe in the saying "everything in moderation" but chocolate for breakfast and chocolate snacks throughout the day isn't moderate. You're also eating a lot of processed foods. Chips, crackers, cereal, canned soup - these should be occasional things, IMO. Find some recipes and make your own soup. Portion it out and freeze it if that helps as far as convenience. Good luck!

fionarama

I haven't read any of the responses already so apologise if its already been said.
1/ fruit is high sugar try cutting it out. Take a multi vitamin daily to make sure you still get your vit C.
2/ walking can have quite limited results once you are used to it, its not intense enough. Especially if you have a sedentary job. You need to do something that really gets your heart rate up to 140+, for at least 30 minutes, 5 times a week.
3/ how is your alcohol intake, if you are drinking cut it all out altogether for a month apart from reducing calories you will feel so together and focused and the extra energy you have you clan use for your workouts.
4/ eat more protein and reduce carbs, don't care what anyone says eating a lot of carbs does not help weight loss.

just some random ideas, hope it helps!