Why am I not losing weight??

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Lorisara75
Lorisara75 Posts: 11
in Motivation and Support
Hi,
I started using MFP about a month ago. Before MFP I had horrible eating habits. One day I'd eat everything and the next day I'd eat nothing to "balance" things out. I'd lose two pounds and gain two pounds like every other day it was horrible. MFP has been great since I've been eating like a normal person meaning eating consistently thrughout the day and not punishing myself for eating foods like pizza or chocolate because I have been staying within my daily calories more or less. If I've gone over it's been by maybe 100 calories at most. I've only lost like half a pound though and it's been one month. I'm sure I haven't been eating enough vegetables and not drinking enough water. Could that be why? I'm also pretty active I workout 3 times a week and have dogs that I am constantly walking. Any thoughts anyone?
Thanks
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Replies

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Hi,
    I started using MFP about a month ago. Before MFP I had horrible eating habits. One day I'd eat everything and the next day I'd eat nothing to "balance" things out. I'd lose two pounds and gain two pounds like every other day it was horrible. MFP has been great since I've been eating like a normal person meaning eating consistently thrughout the day and not punishing myself for eating foods like pizza or chocolate because I have been staying within my daily calories more or less. If I've gone over it's been by maybe 100 calories at most. I've only lost like half a pound though and it's been one month. I'm sure I haven't been eating enough vegetables and not drinking enough water. Could that be why? I'm also pretty active I workout 3 times a week and have dogs that I am constantly walking. Any thoughts anyone?
    Thanks

    So you were not exercising before, but now you are.
    Exercise is asking the body to make improvements that may not include weight loss, actually gain.

    So that's one way to be losing fat but not scale weight.

    The other reason is you are not correct on amount of calories being eaten.

    I'm guessing you've selected 2lb weekly loss, so deficit of 1000 daily.

    So that would have to be some terrible estimation of food eaten to miss 1000 calories, but it is possible.

    If you are correctly eating back the true workout calories, those could be overestimated too, so eating back more. But again - huge gap to overcome in in accuracy.

    Slight combo.

    Combined with, many have a metabolic slowdown because of the shock to your body going from one extreme to the other.

    Did you select activity level of Lightly Active, since you walk the dogs daily. You should, then don't log dog walking. Only true workouts. And eat those back correctly so you have the original deficit of 1000 still in place.
  • mingosgrl40
    mingosgrl40 Posts: 2 Member
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    Hi there,

    I had somewhat of the same problem. It is great that you are doing something that will benefit you in the long run with great eating habits and good health. But I know how it is to look at the scale and nothing is happening....or so it seems. I do zumba about 4 times a w week and I had cut back on food and stopped eating junk food and take out, but nothing was happening. I had to realize a few things. 1st, it will not happen overnight or in a month, our bodies are repairing themselves and it takes time. 2nd that muscle is heavier than fat and by excerising i was gaining muscle, which is a good thing. 3rd, that i wasn't eating enough and i was straving myself and didn't know it...until I joined MFP and started tracking my calories.

    You are doing a great job. I would suggest more veggies...i juice and I love it! And drink more water, it helps to fluch the fat and hydrates the boby, water is a very needed things. Increase your water and veggies and keep up the great work and you will see the weight fall off. I started MFP last week and i dropped 2 pounds, when i had been doing zumba for 7 wks and lost inches but nothing else. Eating the right amount of calories helped me.... Good luck and remember that you can do it and you are doing it. Stay encouraged!!!
  • msacurrie
    msacurrie Posts: 144 Member
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    I would suggest opening your food diary to your friends and asking for some advice :)
  • Lorisara75
    Lorisara75 Posts: 11
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    Thanks so much for your reply. I haven't been counting the dog walks as a workout only when I actually workout do I count it. The first two weeks I was eating my calories back but wasn't losing so I decided to stop eating my calories back thinking that would make a difference but I'm still not losing :-/
    Perhaps my body is in shock because I've never eaten this consistently or this much so many days in a row. Like I said I would eat for a few days and then stop eating for a few days. Horrible I know. But I'll definitely stick with this because eating is definitely a good thing and I've been eating like a normal person and NOT GAINING so I'm at least happy about that. And yes I haven't worked out consistentlyl as I am now for years so perhaps my body is adjusting to that as well. But I know I'm not counting my calories incorrectly because I'm measuring and weighing almost everything I eat.
    To be continued....
  • msacurrie
    msacurrie Posts: 144 Member
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    Also try using measurements of your hips, waist, chest, etc. and see if they change. :)
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
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    Are you using a food scale and measuring tools to correctly assess your total food intake?
  • Redtango76
    Redtango76 Posts: 144
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    I'm interested in seeing all the responses ...I'm having this problem too and was suspecting it was due to increased muscle mass . I try to weigh only every two weeks .
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Thanks so much for your reply. I haven't been counting the dog walks as a workout only when I actually workout do I count it. The first two weeks I was eating my calories back but wasn't losing so I decided to stop eating my calories back thinking that would make a difference but I'm still not losing :-/
    Perhaps my body is in shock because I've never eaten this consistently or this much so many days in a row. Like I said I would eat for a few days and then stop eating for a few days. Horrible I know. But I'll definitely stick with this because eating is definitely a good thing and I've been eating like a normal person and NOT GAINING so I'm at least happy about that. And yes I haven't worked out consistentlyl as I am now for years so perhaps my body is adjusting to that as well. But I know I'm not counting my calories incorrectly because I'm measuring and weighing almost everything I eat.
    To be continued....

    So making the deficit bigger than 1000 by not eating back exercise calories didn't have a positive effect - I'd suggest don't do it or you are likely to have a negative effect.
    And you really don't want to go down the route of eating less, and less, and less again, start eating back the real workout calories.

    You literally only need to eat less than what you used to eat.
    Actually, you literally could eat what you used to eat, and you are moving more now, you will lose weight.

    But diet is for fat loss.
    Exercise is for heart health and body improvement.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I'm interested in seeing all the responses ...I'm having this problem too and was suspecting it was due to increased muscle mass . I try to weigh only every two weeks .

    If you are eating at a big deficit, and not doing heavy lifting at least 3 x a week and not eating enough protein, you haven't gained any muscle mass, you have lost it.

    You may have gained glucose stores for doing lots of cardio, 500 cal's worth of glucose/water weigh 1 lb. But you can only pack away about 3-4 lbs of that, it doesn't keep increasing unless you train correctly.

    But besides burning away muscle (most studies show 25% with big deficit diet and no lifting/increase in protein), you may also have slowed your metabolism down beyond what less muscle would cause.
  • meeka472
    meeka472 Posts: 283 Member
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    Are you using a food scale and measuring tools to correctly assess your total food intake?

    ^^This! I didn't realize until I started measuring my food that I was underestimating my calorie intake. As soon as I started to measure, it made a huge difference.
  • LisaDunn01
    LisaDunn01 Posts: 173 Member
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    We can eat the healthiest of foods but if our bodies have a sensitivity to it, then you WON'T lose weight. Some of the biggest offenders: wheat/grains, corn (technically a grain and not a vegetable), soy, milk.

    The body needs protein to heal and repair, and it needs good fats. You need to make sure you are getting plenty of these. Then, lots of fruits and veggies. The more whole foods you eat, the better it would be for you (and everyone else for that matter).

    Also, if one has a lot of toxins in the body that can affect weight loss. You may want to start out by doing some sort of cleanse or fast (but under the guidance of a nutrition practitioner).
  • Redtango76
    Redtango76 Posts: 144
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    I'm interested in seeing all the responses ...I'm having this problem too and was suspecting it was due to increased muscle mass . I try to weigh only every two weeks .

    If you are eating at a big deficit, and not doing heavy lifting at least 3 x a week and not eating enough protein, you haven't gained any muscle mass, you have lost it.

    You may have gained glucose stores for doing lots of cardio, 500 cal's worth of glucose/water weigh 1 lb. But you can only pack away about 3-4 lbs of that, it doesn't keep increasing unless you train correctly.

    But besides burning away muscle (most studies show 25% with big deficit diet and no lifting/increase in protein), you may also have slowed your metabolism down beyond what less muscle would cause.

    I work out with a trainer 2x a week and the majority of our focus is lifting . I also have work conditioning 3x per week focus is strength training . I do 30- 60 min of cardio on the days I'm not with my trainer. I've been watching my protein intake to make sure I'm consuming enough and I only eat back about half my exercise calories when I do. I am only set to lose 1 lb a week not 2 lb. so I should have a huge deficit .
  • T34418l3angel
    T34418l3angel Posts: 474 Member
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    DRINK WATER!! Alot of it. And and have you checked what your bmr and tdee are? How are your macros set up, are they set to around 40-30-30% ? All these things have a role in your weight loss
  • ChristyRunStarr
    ChristyRunStarr Posts: 1,600 Member
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    WIthout seeing your food diary, I can only guess. But a food scale really helps
  • Redtango76
    Redtango76 Posts: 144
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    I'm interested in seeing all the responses ...I'm having this problem too and was suspecting it was due to increased muscle mass . I try to weigh only every two weeks .

    If you are eating at a big deficit, and not doing heavy lifting at least 3 x a week and not eating enough protein, you haven't gained any muscle mass, you have lost it.

    You may have gained glucose stores for doing lots of cardio, 500 cal's worth of glucose/water weigh 1 lb. But you can only pack away about 3-4 lbs of that, it doesn't keep increasing unless you train correctly.

    But besides burning away muscle (most studies show 25% with big deficit diet and no lifting/increase in protein), you may also have slowed your metabolism down beyond what less muscle would cause.

    I work out with a trainer 2x a week and the majority of our focus is lifting . I also have work conditioning 3x per week focus is strength training . I do 30- 60 min of cardio on the days I'm not with my trainer. I've been watching my protein intake to make sure I'm consuming enough and I only eat back about half my exercise calories when I do. I am only set to lose 1 lb a week not 2 lb. so I should have a huge deficit .

    Shouldn't not should
  • jackieatx
    jackieatx Posts: 578 Member
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    I'm interested in seeing all the responses ...I'm having this problem too and was suspecting it was due to increased muscle mass . I try to weigh only every two weeks .

    You wouldn't gain that much muscle that quickly. From what I read its possible to gain 10-12 pounds a year, but not more than that. So when you think its "water weight from muscle growing" its probably just plain old water weight because you're not hydrating enough. I know, it sucks :(

    To the OP, I can tell you what my experience was- I was tracking what I ate, but not well, and I was still eating crap.. and not being completely honest. So for three months I didn't lose a thing and yo yo'ed between 170 and 165. You've really got to log accurately and change how you eat. Becoming pescatarian did the trick for me.
  • Darlin
    Darlin Posts: 17 Member
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    We can eat the healthiest of foods but if our bodies have a sensitivity to it, then you WON'T lose weight. Some of the biggest offenders: wheat/grains, corn (technically a grain and not a vegetable), soy, milk.

    The body needs protein to heal and repair, and it needs good fats. You need to make sure you are getting plenty of these. Then, lots of fruits and veggies. The more whole foods you eat, the better it would be for you (and everyone else for that matter).

    Also, if one has a lot of toxins in the body that can affect weight loss. You may want to start out by doing some sort of cleanse or fast (but under the guidance of a nutrition practitioner).

    I agree with eating the right foods...but lots of fruits= lots of sugar, even if natural its too much..and veggie calories also count.
    Eat real foods, not fat free or low fat etc.. real foods. Good luck.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I work out with a trainer 2x a week and the majority of our focus is lifting . I also have work conditioning 3x per week focus is strength training . I do 30- 60 min of cardio on the days I'm not with my trainer. I've been watching my protein intake to make sure I'm consuming enough and I only eat back about half my exercise calories when I do. I am only set to lose 1 lb a week not 2 lb. so I should have a huge deficit .

    Shouldn't not should

    Excellent. May be able to gain about 1lb a month while losing fat and weight if really putting a heavy load on the muscles. Only way they get bigger. They can get stronger though even without getting bigger.

    The way to tell if you have a huge deficit though, is your daily goal less than your BMR? Read the definition there.
    MFP - Tools - BMR Calc

    If your body isn't left with the calories it would like to burn on just the basic functions of life, it won't have any extra to make muscle. In fact it could be hard pressed to take care of much else outside basic metabolic functions, so even good recovery might be iffy.
  • Redtango76
    Redtango76 Posts: 144
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    I work out with a trainer 2x a week and the majority of our focus is lifting . I also have work conditioning 3x per week focus is strength training . I do 30- 60 min of cardio on the days I'm not with my trainer. I've been watching my protein intake to make sure I'm consuming enough and I only eat back about half my exercise calories when I do. I am only set to lose 1 lb a week not 2 lb. so I should have a huge deficit .

    Shouldn't not should

    Excellent. May be able to gain about 1lb a month while losing fat and weight if really putting a heavy load on the muscles. Only way they get bigger. They can get stronger though even without getting bigger.

    The way to tell if you have a huge deficit though, is your daily goal less than your BMR? Read the definition there.
    MFP - Tools - BMR Calc

    If your body isn't left with the calories it would like to burn on just the basic functions of life, it won't have any extra to make muscle. In fact it could be hard pressed to take care of much else outside basic metabolic functions, so even good recovery might be iffy.


    My daily goal is set to for my BMR and light activity ( I'm an aircraft mechanic and have a active job) . I m very reluctant to go below my BMR . I think it's asking for trouble ...my primary goal isn't to lose weight . It's actually to reduce anxiety , however it would be nice to lose the excess lbs. I feel really good and I have lost some inches but not a significant amount and I'm have a lot of positive NSV's such as 95% reduction in my anxiety symptoms . I started this in the end of June .. And I'm ready to do some fine tuning in the food department . Thanks for your advice!
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
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    What kind of workouts are you doing?

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