Why can't I lose fat ????

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naylorka
naylorka Posts: 5
in Motivation and Support
Anyone help? I eat quite healthy. I have 1/2 hour ballroom & latin dancing on Mon & Fri nights. On Tuesdays, I do circuit training and I generally go for a small walk / run a couple of times a week, (about 8 sides of running track) or do about 30 mins on the running machine.
However, the scales are still showing as 10st 4lb and will not reduce. Have checked the scales and they're not broken. :laugh:

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  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    When you say you eat "healthy," do you mean the kind of food you eat or the amount? You can eat too many calories of healthy foods.
  • smilesalot1969
    smilesalot1969 Posts: 392
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    did you take measurements??
  • therealangd
    therealangd Posts: 1,861 Member
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    If you are asking for suggestions, you need to provide some information.

    Calories in vs calories out. To say that you eat quite healthy is irrelevant. You could eat 5000 calories a day of healthy food and still not lose weight.

    How many calories per day are you eating?

    How many calories per day should you be eating? If you don't know this number, then you don't have a place to start. What is your BMR? Other than the workouts you mentioned, what is your lifestyle like? What is your TDEE?

    Are you measuring your workouts with a HRM? How many calories do your workouts burn?
  • rlmadrid
    rlmadrid Posts: 694 Member
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    Sometimes MFP can overestimate calories burned by quite a bit, particularly with things like dancing and aerobics. I'd say just be extremely careful with logging what goes in and what goes out. You may have an hour long dance class, but you are standing still and listening to direction for 15 minutes, you really aren't working out for the whole hour.

    It could also be too much sodium in your diet, and a lot of water retention. Are you drinking enough?

    In addition, may I ask how long you have been in this routine? I notice you joined in January, but how long have you been logging religiously? Weight loss takes time and dedication.

    If you'd open up your diary, we can try to help more. Otherwise it's just general advice. You are also welcome to add me, building a network on here has been very beneficial for me.
  • hsh0927
    hsh0927 Posts: 259 Member
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    start taking measurments and throw out the scale! You might be gaining muscle and since muslce weighs more than fat, the scale won't move much. You can also get you body fat percentage measured (most gyms do it) and keep track of that.
  • naylorka
    naylorka Posts: 5
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    I would say that I eat quite healthy food, cereal or porridge for breakfast, sandwich or soup & small salad for lunch, and then tea, which is usally a home made chilli, stir fry or meat & veg. I've tried to cut right down on bread & potatoes.
    Maybe the portion sizes are too big... Maybe I should start weighing food.
  • naylorka
    naylorka Posts: 5
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    No, But my clothes aren't getting any slacker. :-(

    I can feel the muscles underneath are solid, but just got this layer of fat. Wondering if it's related to my thyroid.
  • naylorka
    naylorka Posts: 5
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    I usually eat about 1200 calories a day, very rarely more. Then if I've been to dancing, the gym or doing circuit, I generally reduce the time I enter to allow for the instruction time. At the last count, I think my BMI was quite high for my size, about 30+.
    Not sure what HMR is,???
  • naylorka
    naylorka Posts: 5
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    """"It could also be too much sodium in your diet, and a lot of water retention. Are you drinking enough? """""

    I have to watch the sodium intake as it sends my thyroid through the roof, which means the doc then reduces my tablets, which then has a detrimental affect on my well being.

    however, I've looked at the stats on my food, and most of the time the sodium is way under the 2500 allowed.

    I know that I don't drink enough water...... :-(
  • kolraw
    kolraw Posts: 42 Member
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    HRM= Heart Rate Monitor. Is 1200 after you factor out your workouts? If not, you need to make sure you are eating enough calories, much lower than 1200 will cause your body to think it is starving and that causes you to keep fat on.
  • rlmadrid
    rlmadrid Posts: 694 Member
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    Heart Rate Monitor. It will often give you a more accurate calorie reading than MFP as it knows how hard you are working.

    I do think you should measure food though. You may be grossly underestimating without knowing. Furthermore, You haven't logged in for 3 days! It's not blasphemous by any means, but why don't you try religiously logging for a week? It might help a lot. I started logging and found out that I was eating near 3000 calories a day with a sedentary lifestyle! I had no idea.

    Lastly, I plateaued hard eating 1200 calories a day. Now I eat 1700 + exercise calories and I've started losing again. I think you should try to increase your calories by 100 a day for one week. See how that is. Keep in mind that if you have more energy, your workout is better. You may be feeling drained and your workout suffering.

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