Why am I not losing

sudokumom

Based on a calorie deficit of more than 850/day, I should have lost 12 lbs. over the last 7 weeks. I've lost 6 lbs. It is so discouraging. My net calories average 1,025-1,050/day and I run a 5K on the elliptical 5-6 times/week with other, lighter exercise the other days. My protein and fiber intake are great. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. The math shouldn't be this off.

Mads1997

You are not eating your exercise calories back? if not then you should be as your deficit will be too large and be counter productive to your weight loss. If following MFP you should be netting at least 1200 which is the lowest amount MFP will give you.

lauramalott7

I would love to help you or give you an answer but I too am in the exact situation. I've been very careful and busting my but and nothing....I've actually put on 6lbs ?!?! So if you find the answer please let me know. Good luck at least you're on a downward path with your weight, I'd take that at this moment.

cookiealbright

Eat more calories a couple times a week and do weights (strength training) a couple times a week. Just changing it up a little always works for me.

lightdiva1

Unless your doctor has informed you otherwise, netting 1025-1050 a day is too few calories. You are likely not losing weight before you are not eating enough.

I weigh 280 pounds, and have roughly 145 pounds to lose. I eat about 1480 a day on rest days where I do nothing. On exercise days I eat my exercise calories back. So If I burn 500 calories I eat them back.

You don't want to put your body in starvation mode first off. Not eating enough will make your body hold onto everything it can. If you drink enough water and eat enough nutrient dense foods that meet your bodies needs to just do basic functions than you will lose weight. However if you are eating below your basic functioning needs, you will lose muscle and not body fat.

My advice is to figure out what your BMR is and your TDEE. There is a thread called "In place of a road map" on the forums that explains this all in greater detail.

taso42

Too big of a calorie deficit. Try a 20% deficit.

george29223

been there done that , best advice is dont give up and measure along with weighing you might be suprised by the tape measure

lyndabraczynski

How many grams of sugars are you eating....I was watching calories and fat and exericses fiercely got no where. I have started watching sugars and this week I have lost 4 pounds....Worth a try

sweebum

You're eating too little most days. Lessen the deficit a bit.

Pixi_Rex

My net calories average 1,025-1,050/day and I run a 5K on the elliptical 5-6 times/week with other, lighter exercise the other days.

You are netting far to little bump that up to 1200 - 1300 a day and I be you will see a difference... bump that up even more and you will probably see an even bigger difference.

cwolfman13

Deficit is too large and counterproductive.

kaa02c

You aren't eating enough!

fiferize

I agree with your first responder.
1. accept what you get (don't be discouraged)
2. I don't think you are getting enough calories. Sounds like your body is in starvation mode where it doesn't believe you are getting enough so it's holding on to what you have. You have to bump up your calories and it takes a regular bump not just a day or two to keep it burning. You body has to start to recognize that you are in fact getting enough to eat in order to let go of the stored fat! Best of luck to you!

cindiva65

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12 some reading on how to figure out just how much you should be eating, hope it helps

AliciaStinger

Too big of a calorie deficit. Try a 20% deficit.

20% of what? (I'd like to know, because I'm not losing weight either, except I'm eating right around 1400 calories a day.)

lika50

2 mistakes you're making.

1. Expectations: You can't tell your body how much to lose and by when. So let go of them. Discouragement is one of the biggest cause of failure. So don't get discouraged. Accept what you get.

2. You're not eating enough, if you don't eat enough you will stall out. So less calories isn't better.

Exactly this. ^^^^

And don't get discouraged. As the old saying goes, "This is a marathon, not a sprint." Once I started focusing on becoming healthy instead of dropping "quick" weight, the pounds started melting off. Make it a lifestyle change. Is 1000-ish calories something that you'll be able to maintain forever? Probably not. Forget the quick fix, cut yourself some slack, and enjoy the ride.

taso42

Too big of a calorie deficit. Try a 20% deficit.

20% of what? (I'd like to know, because I'm not losing weight either, except I'm eating right around 1400 calories a day.)

Find your TDEE, knock off 20% of it, and eat that amount.
TDEE calc here: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

More info here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

sarahszumba

Agree with everyone else - you aren't eating enough. Also, depending on your exercise, you may actually be trading out fat for muscle, which weighs more. I was doing a lot of cardio, following my plan and not losing, but my nutritionist said it was likely even the cardio exercises I was doing was trading fat for muscle. Also - don't measure just by the scale! How are you feeling with your routine? Are you taking measurements to track INCHES lost? I have gone months only losing 2lbs, but losing 12 inches! good luck!

Flowers4Julia

Definitely go back to square one and recalculate your BMR as well as TDEE. Eating below the BMR number will always cause a stall and slow metabolism. Eating at TDEE minus 10-20% is definitely a better bet for long term weight loss and feeling satisfied.

Best!

Llorraine11

I AGREE 100%

makieo

Not to say the exact same thing but too much or too little calories will cause the same outcome. To much calories cause a spike in insulin tell the body to store the calories and process them later. To little of calories cause the bodies blood sugar to drop causing the body to slow or stop your metabolism to again hang on to the remaining calories you have. If you feel weak and tired through out the day many times it you need more calories and your body is telling you to eat something.

vkw1

Agree with everyone else - you aren't eating enough. Also, depending on your exercise, you may actually be trading out fat for muscle, which weighs more. I was doing a lot of cardio, following my plan and not losing, but my nutritionist said it was likely even the cardio exercises I was doing was trading fat for muscle. Also - don't measure just by the scale! How are you feeling with your routine? Are you taking measurements to track INCHES lost? I have gone months only losing 2lbs, but losing 12 inches! good luck!

fat does NOT weigh more than muscle 1 kg of fat weighs the same as 1 kg of muscle.Its like the old kids joke what is heavier one ton of lead or 1 ton of feathers.Its the same.Muscle however, is leaner so that inches are lost

Energizer06

Your diary for last week wasn't that bad. 850 is a large calorie deficit but it seems you try to hit around 1400 each day. 6 lbs in 7 weeks is awesome...Just because a computer tells you 2 lbs will come off each week, don't believe it, your body is not an exact machine. Take measurements and go by BF%.

FYI, my wife has only lost 3-4 lbs in 5 weeks (not counting the stupid WW she was trying before), but her inches lost have totalled more than 9 inches.

Women..99% of the time...Inches and BF% come off first due to you less amount of Lean Body Muscle/Mass (LBM) you have. The scale catches up after you have already gone down 2 sizes. Just the way it works. This is why women get so mad at their hubbys, because we drop weight faster...at first.

BF% tells you how much
Measurements tell you where

Keep up the good work....No worries

Energizer06

Agree with everyone else - you aren't eating enough. Also, depending on your exercise, you may actually be trading out fat for muscle, which weighs more. I was doing a lot of cardio, following my plan and not losing, but my nutritionist said it was likely even the cardio exercises I was doing was trading fat for muscle. Also - don't measure just by the scale! How are you feeling with your routine? Are you taking measurements to track INCHES lost? I have gone months only losing 2lbs, but losing 12 inches! good luck!

fat does NOT weigh more than muscle 1 kg of fat weighs the same as 1 kg of muscle.Its like the old kids joke what is heavier one ton of lead or 1 ton of feathers.Its the same.Muscle however, is leaner so that inches are lost

Yep! Sceince 101 in 5th grade. Learned about density back then.....Why does the 500lb log float and the 500 lb rock sink. Actually my 2nd grader is learning now!! How times have changed. I didn't learn it until 5th grade. Ofcourse we still had record players growing up.

lightdiva1

To you all who know better than I, here's a newb question.

I looked at the goals section. My calories burned through normal activity is 2440. I multiplied that by .80 and got 1952. 1. How much weight will I lose a month eating this many calories? 2. When I eat healthy foods, I struggle to get in 1480 calories (which is what MFP is telling me to eat) Nutrient dense foods are filling!

Before starting this journey I would eat a bag of chips and 12 soda a day and that's kinda it. Maybe eat more but not often. I really did just drink my calories. (I know this is sad)

Now that I am learning to cook clean healthy foods (Ignore this past 2 weeks I had finals both kids were sick, now I am sick) I am literally never hungry. I force feed myself a meal replacement shake in the morning as eating at 630am just doesn't sound good. I normally don't eat again until noonish where I try ot have salad with chicken breast. Then I am I normally eat a protein bar around 3pm (I love them, secret new favorite food) and then force feed myself dinner which is normally chicken, brown rice or whole grain pasta with some type of herb. Than around 7pm I have a smoothie (Minus the milk and yogurt more like a bunch of fruit blended with ice and a little juice)

I am seriously never hungry. I eat now because I know I need to to fuel my body. I broke the habit of eating for emotional reasons so my food issue are gone. If I am supposed to be eating 1900+ calories, I may cry.,

sudokumom

Thanks a ton (pun intended) everyone. I was just going by my old HMR diet plan (1200 calories/day; 2000 calories of exercise/week). That took the initial 55 lbs off. I'm going to revamp my MFP plan and see if I can see some better progress.

Thanks again!

dollfin630

So should you base your calories off you BMR or TDEE? Or do the numbers come out to be about the same?

BaconMD

So should you base your calories off you BMR or TDEE? Or do the numbers come out to be about the same?

Do your calculations based off TDEE ignore BMR.

What if a 20% cut from one's TDEE results in a figure below their BMR?

weird_me2

Based on a calorie deficit of more than 850/day, I should have lost 12 lbs. over the last 7 weeks. I've lost 6 lbs. It is so discouraging. My net calories average 1,025-1,050/day and I run a 5K on the elliptical 5-6 times/week with other, lighter exercise the other days. My protein and fiber intake are great. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. The math shouldn't be this off.

My thoughts?

1) You are eating more calories than you think.

I looked at your diary for the last 2 weeks, and you are actually averaging about 1350-1450 on the days you've logged what I assume to be everything. There were a couple days that were lacking in logging. I'm assuming that you ate on those days and simply didn't log. If you don't log every single thing you are eating, then you can't really know how much you are eating even if you *think* you know. Just using the average of 1450 calories per day instead of 1050, you are already knocking out 400 calories x 7 weeks = 19600 calories = 5.6 lbs. That alone is pretty much enough too take you from the "expected" goal of 12 lbs in 7 weeks to 6 lbs in 7 weeks.

2) You aren't burning as many calories as you think.

I don't know your weight or body fat %, but if you've had significant losses in the past and then put weight back on, there's a good chance that you have a higher body fat % than is estimated for your height/weight/age. If you use a BMR calculator based on body fat % and weight, you might discover that your BMR is lower than expected, which makes TDEE lower than expected, which means losses are lower than expected.

Your calorie burns from exercise can also be off, especially if you are doing elliptical. One thing I've read about ellipticals is that they have forward momentum, so you don't have to work as hard, especially if resistance is not high enough. Have you ever noticed that when you are going all out on the elliptical and try to slow down or stop it takes you a few rotations of the legs? If so, then you likely are not working as hard as you would think because the machine is doing some of the movement for you. Even if calculating your calorie burns from a heart rate monitor it could be off if you are also moving your arms with your legs because movement of the upper body can increase the heart rate more even if you aren't necessarly doing all that much work load.


My solution?

Track every single food and beverage that you consume without fail and with as much accuracy as possible for the next 7 weeks. This means weighing EVERYTHING that can be weighed, including fruits and veggies and protein powder, etc. This also means that if you are having a prepared dish, you should try to enter each ingredient seperately or build it in the recipe builder. If you are eating out, look at various entries and choose the one that's most accurate for what you are eating. We got Indian food last weekend and there were tons of entries for chicken tikka masala that ranged from 200 calories to 700 calories. I looked at recipes and serving sizes and nutrition iformation online and chose a calorie count that seemed the most reasonable.

At the end of the 7 weeks, you should have a good idea of how many calories you are burning per day by doing some simple reverse math. You lost 6 more lbs? That means that you had a calorie deficit of about 425 calories per day. You consumed an average of 1450 calories per day? Then your TDEE is probably around 1875. You can up your TDEE by increasing your exercise intensity and duration.

deb3129

Too big of a calorie deficit. Try a 20% deficit.

20% of what? (I'd like to know, because I'm not losing weight either, except I'm eating right around 1400 calories a day.)

Find your TDEE, knock off 20% of it, and eat that amount.
TDEE calc here: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

More info here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

I second this. You are not eating enough, and believe it or not, it does stall weight loss. I am eating 1800 to 1900 calories most days, and still losing.