not losing weight

I started last April at 325 lbs and now down to 195. I changed my eating habits and diet plans several times throughout the course of my diet, especially when I'd plateau and get frustrated. So I know the ins and outs and ups and downs LOL

After checking out your diary I do see a few things you can change. First thing ALWAYS double check the nutritional info for each entry. Don't trust what other users have entered. I've made that mistake many times and had to do a face palm! One thing that jumps out at me is the amount of bread you are eating. That is a lot of unnecessary carbs. The Tesco Granary rolls entries are only showing the calories. I did a quick Google search and see those have a great deal of carbs and other nutritional info missing from your recorded entries. Always take a second and check the packaging on your food to see if it matches the item you selected on MFP. I know entering your own stuff from scratch is a pain sometimes but isn't worth it if it means the difference in your weight loss? The recipe entry on MFP is great too!

Secondly, you may want to consider watching your sugar. Sugar and carbs go hand in hand, if your carbs are high the sugar usually is too. As most people know, the body breaks down carbs and turns them into sugar.

Lastly I would recommend you try to get a balanced diet. Focus on fresh foods. Try to limit your intake of carb-filled starchy foods like breads and potatoes and eat them in moderation. Aim for foods that don't have empty calories and are high in vitamins and nutrients that your body needs. Try incorporating fresh vegetables, fruit, lean meat and low fat dairy like yogurt and such. If you find it hard to enjoy those types of food try to introduce them gradually to your diet. I find I'm more full and satisfied from a nice healthy meal and makes me feel better too! Remember just because you are on a diet doesn't mean the food you eat has to taste bad or leave you hungry.

Best of luck to you. Don't get discouraged. If you slip up and have a cheat remember the whole day isn't blown and isn't an excuse to have a food free-for-all. Stay the course! I go weeks sometimes with no loses but I keep at it day after day and it pays off! It's great that you are exercising. I have slacked on that lately. Just remember most of your success will come from what you eat and the exercise will help burn a little extra and tone you up. It's much easier to eat a sensible diet and use exercise as a boost to your weight loss than to use exercise as a means to eat junk and work harder to try and burn it off.

EDIT: Oh, and when I first started I was only able to exercise in 15-20 min periods cuz it killed me! I slowly worked up to 30 mins and then a hour! So just the fact that you are trying is awesome! Trust me it will get easier!

i would give it a few more weeks on here. sometimes weighing and tracking your food on a program reveals that your estimating is off. second, if you aren't exercising your cals may actually be too low. what can happen in laymans terms is your body goes into shut down mode. it sees a drop in calories and starts to slow metabolism to keep your energy stores up. if you aren't getting exercise in, adjust your eight loss target to 1lb or less/wk for a bit.

also look into the glycemic index. carbs are fine, but if you aren't super active you need to know which ones are fine. eating low gi carbs will have less of an impact on your insulin levels and ultimately fat storage. they also tend to 'fill you up' better. try to spread out your meals - 5-6 a day eating every 2-3 hours. a good trick is to eat just enough so that you are beginning to get hungry at the next meal time. eating 3-4 300 cal 'meals' with 2-3 100-150cal 'snacks' should put you right where you need to be.

good luck.

I'm losing all my Zoloft/Trazodone weight (all 6 stone of it!!!) It's painfully slow and prior to antidepressants was never even overweight. i'm now still obese and fighting for every 0.5 pound. This week I got 0.2 pound lol. I've been off the antidepressant for over 3 months but the weight is not flying off. I exercise 5/6 x a week pretty intensive with a personal trainer some sessions and boot camp once this week and bar about 2 days in months I've been under my calorie goal every day.

I have no advice because unfortunately I'm fighting the same battle. But stick with it and don't compare your losses with those of others just see that every static or small loss at least is not a gain and eventually if we keep putting the effort in it will catch up. Interestingly I have measured and in 6 months have lost 19 inches so far but only 2 stone in weight so far. The lower carb thing does help for me I did lose over a pound last week, when I ate more carbs this week I got 0.2 pounds. I'm also trying the rest days as my muscles are incredibly sore, also increasing water and cals for a few days and will reset on monday.

Good luck with your battle - you will get there!!!!!

I'm losing all my Zoloft/Trazodone weight (all 6 stone of it!!!) It's painfully slow and prior to antidepressants was never even overweight. i'm now still obese and fighting for every 0.5 pound. This week I got 0.2 pound lol. I've been off the antidepressant for over 3 months but the weight is not flying off. I exercise 5/6 x a week pretty intensive with a personal trainer some sessions and boot camp once this week and bar about 2 days in months I've been under my calorie goal every day.

I have no advice because unfortunately I'm fighting the same battle. But stick with it and don't compare your losses with those of others just see that every static or small loss at least is not a gain and eventually if we keep putting the effort in it will catch up. Interestingly I have measured and in 6 months have lost 19 inches so far but only 2 stone in weight so far. The lower carb thing does help for me I did lose over a pound last week, when I ate more carbs this week I got 0.2 pounds. I'm also trying the rest days as my muscles are incredibly sore, also increasing water and cals for a few days and will reset on monday.

Good luck with your battle - you will get there!!!!!

Moneill, I have heard that it takes a comparable amount of time that you were on the drug for the weight to fully come off. So far, that's true for me, although it did drop off much quicker in the beginning.

you need to eat more to burn off calories faster. exercises: clean,walking and etc.. ever since i did this i lost 6 pounds in 4 days.

Hi - I sneaked a peek at your food diary, and it looks like you are eating around your kids and not for you. Adding more zero or very low calorie high fiber foods (vegetables) as soup or salad or snacks may keep things moving through your body. Have a few "go to" vegetable based foods that fill you up for not too many calories. I used to hate vegetables, but I learned to love split pea soup (no ham or bacon.) Pea soup is a great canvas for other flavors and other leftover vegetables. Another basic is tomato soup, but it doesn't have as much protein.
hang in there

There could be many reasons why you are not losing weight. Have you checked your BMR (Basal metabolic rate), this will give you the exact calories that you need to stay alive. So if you are consuming lesser than your BMR, your body does not lose weight. Secondly have you checked your thyroid levels? If you happen to have hypothyroidism (which I have) it is tougher to shed the excess pounds. Also do you get 8 hours of sleep? Do you drink more than 8 glasses of water everyday? MFP has a great app for keeping count of water. Also on MFP we tend to overestimate our exercise numbers and underestimate our eating habits. Take a look at various factors and you might just figure out what is holding you back. All the best!!!!

If you eat less than your BMR you will lose weight. This is a myth. Also, all the formulas are estimates and are NOT exact.

When you first started, you were undereating considerably. By doing so, you probably slowed your thyroid down quite a bit. I would encourage you to stay at a steady 1900-2000 calories a day regardless of whether you exercise or not, and have one spike day a week. On your low days increase your protein and decrease your carbs. Spike day eat 3500 calories, lots of carbs and do no exercise. This should get you losing.

There could be many reasons why you are not losing weight. Have you checked your BMR (Basal metabolic rate), this will give you the exact calories that you need to stay alive. So if you are consuming lesser than your BMR, your body does not lose weight. Secondly have you checked your thyroid levels? If you happen to have hypothyroidism (which I have) it is tougher to shed the excess pounds. Also do you get 8 hours of sleep? Do you drink more than 8 glasses of water everyday? MFP has a great app for keeping count of water. Also on MFP we tend to overestimate our exercise numbers and underestimate our eating habits. Take a look at various factors and you might just figure out what is holding you back. All the best!!!!

If you eat less than your BMR you will lose weight. This is a myth. Also, all the formulas are estimates and are NOT exact.

Are you sure you're not confusing BMR with TDEE? I don't think this point is a 'myth' at all. Most successful 'losers' on here eat at least their BMR...

Or was it hypothyroidism you were suggesting was a myth Or the water issue? (Hydration is obviously important, rather than water per se.) I'm not sure which bit you're taking issue with, from your post.

The issue was the comment that if you eat below your BMR you will not lose weight... this is simply inaccurate. There are a lot of ways your body responds to a low calorie diet and eating significantly below BMR has it's effects, Including increasing the % of loss that will come from Muscle, lowering of BMR (but not enough to totally compensate for lower calorie intake), energy level drop, etc...but one of them is NOT that your body magically and stubbornly stores fat and draws energy magically from the air... calories in Vs out... your body will drop calories burned certainly, but not enough to fully compensate for the low intake...

I'm not suggesting anyone eat below their BMR, but around or near is fine and a bit below is also likely ok for those with more weight to lose as it seems individuals with excessive weight can sustain a significant calorie deficit better than those closer to ideal weight...

Yes, best advice for most people is still eat above your BMR and below your TDEE...


to the OP...Meerkat has it to a T... great advice there...

My recommendation would be to move to a low carb food strategy as soon as possible. Run that diet for about 4 weeks then review results and evaluate. Here is a good resource that explains the low carb diet:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/#axzz23vBEMcyK

Good luck!

THIS
Mark's Daily Apple is a brilliant site.