Not losing ANY weight!

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LoudLH
LoudLH Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
After completing my masters program at the beginning of August I finally had the time to get back into the gym and change my eating habits. I have since drastically reduced my caloric intake as well increasing (read doing) exercise. I believe I am eating better foods now but still see no results. It's frustrating to put all this effort into changing my lifestyle, not just dieting, and get absolutely no results - not pounds, inches or energy.

Any suggestions as to things I could do - bearing in mind that I have 3 kids and work full time :happy:
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Replies

  • km202
    km202 Posts: 112
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    I would give it some more time. Depending on what your eating/exercise habits were before, your body may still be trying to adjust. I would not give up.
  • cominupmilhouse
    cominupmilhouse Posts: 257 Member
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    Just glanced at a few days in your diary and noticed a couple of fast food stops... is this the norm? You're doing really well with your calorie goals, and I did also notice lots of healthy snacks and meals like almonds and salads but really, fast food is TERRIBLE if you're trying to lose weight! Once a week should be an absolute max, but if you can I would stop altogether.

    Also, are you logging every last morsel? And measuring to make sure it's accurate? You would be very surprised at how many calories can sneak into your day when you're not looking!

    Maybe try a new approach, because I was where you are 3 months ago. I was trying the low cal thing, 1200-1400 cals with exercise and not getting anywhere, feeling SUPER discouraged. Then out of desperation I went low-carb, which I had always been very skeptical about. Well I wish I had jumped on the bandwagon when it was first popular like 10 years ago because I started losing weight immediately (5 lbs in the first week!) And the motivation I felt from that was enough to keep me going and I'm still losing!

    If you've been something for 3 weeks and don't see ANY results, I think it may be time to consider other options.
  • wftiger
    wftiger Posts: 1,283 Member
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    Don't worry about the fast food. I do at least once a week and it hasn't hurt me. Your protein is way too low. Eat more protein. You should be 75+ per day and I see some days you are half that. If not enough calories for protein then lose carbs to add the protein.

    Only two macros are needed by your body: Protein and fats. Carbs are and always will be the one that is optional.

    If you do not get enough protein and fats you lose muscle. That in turn lowers your BMR. Then you get to eat less food which sucks.

    Also, for exercise do you cardio or strength? If you cardio stop. Do strength. If you only have elliptical or treadmill up the incline and resistance and make sure you are working your legs hard. Again, muscle is good. The more muscle the higher your BMR.
  • ggcat
    ggcat Posts: 313 Member
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    Don't worry about the fast food. I do at least once a week and it hasn't hurt me. Your protein is way too low. Eat more protein. You should be 75+ per day and I see some days you are half that. If not enough calories for protein then lose carbs to add the protein.

    Only two macros are needed by your body: Protein and fats. Carbs are and always will be the one that is optional.

    If you do not get enough protein and fats you lose muscle. That in turn lowers your BMR. Then you get to eat less food which sucks.

    Also, for exercise do you cardio or strength? If you cardio stop. Do strength. If you only have elliptical or treadmill up the incline and resistance and make sure you are working your legs hard. Again, muscle is good. The more muscle the higher your BMR.

    Yes, Yes, Yes!
  • SARgirl
    SARgirl Posts: 572 Member
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    I would also give it some more time. I don't know what you set your weight loss amount for but with only 14 pounds to lose, if it's not set at 1 pound or even 1/2 pound loss a week I would suggest that. I know a lot of people set it at 2 pounds a week and then aren't eating enough which stalls their weight loss. Your diary looks a lot like mine and I've had great success using MFP. I still eat fast food and sweets are my vice!
  • triciab79
    triciab79 Posts: 1,713 Member
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    Are you weighing your food or just guestimating? If you aren't weighing then start there. Also the fast food and pizza has to go regardless of calorie count. Even when it is within the calories it just doesn't digest the same as real food.
  • FitRican
    FitRican Posts: 98 Member
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    Follow this 3 basic guides for building muscle and loosing fat:

    1. Eat 1 gram of protein daily per pound of desired weight. eat carbohydrates and about 20% of your calories should be from fat.
    2. DO number while maintaining a daily 500 caloric deficit, in other words eat 500 calories less than your daily nutritional needs.
    3. Work out with weights 3 times a week and do all cardio you want.

    Secondary guides
    Eat 4-6 times a day
    Meal timing body does not know what time it is
  • bobie1978
    bobie1978 Posts: 204 Member
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    I hate when I see people give advice about stopping cardio?? lol A perfect balance of strength and cardio is FINE!
  • cominupmilhouse
    cominupmilhouse Posts: 257 Member
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    This post is Potentially helpful to you, however, it's worded as though it's the absolute truth for everyone and it's just not that simple! Keep in mind different things work/don't work for different people. They may be able to eat fast food and lose but not everyone can. And I don't know about stopping cardio, but definitely what they say about strength training raising your BMR is true. What the other post said about whole foods is good advice too
    Don't worry about the fast food. I do at least once a week and it hasn't hurt me. Your protein is way too low. Eat more protein. You should be 75+ per day and I see some days you are half that. If not enough calories for protein then lose carbs to add the protein.

    Only two macros are needed by your body: Protein and fats. Carbs are and always will be the one that is optional.

    If you do not get enough protein and fats you lose muscle. That in turn lowers your BMR. Then you get to eat less food which sucks.

    Also, for exercise do you cardio or strength? If you cardio stop. Do strength. If you only have elliptical or treadmill up the incline and resistance and make sure you are working your legs hard. Again, muscle is good. The more muscle the higher your BMR.

    Yes, Yes, Yes!
  • jonielena
    jonielena Posts: 29
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    I was in the same boat for a few months! Better diet, more exercise, and zero weight loss/body changes.

    How hard do you push yourself during your workouts? I don't know your habits, but I remember that I used to go to the gym for an hour, do 30-min of light elliptical plus a few sets on a weight machine, and call it a day. I started really losing weight when I realized that just putting in 40-60min of exercise/day isn't enough. You need to make your workouts count! As a personal trainer friend explained to me: even if you can only exercise for 30min every day, you should work so hard during those 30min that by the time you finish you feel like you ran a marathon. If your clothes aren't completely soaked in sweat 10-min into your workout, kick it up a notch.

    I also fully agree with other posters... up your protein intake and definitely add strength training to your routine... or interval training. I personally prefer interval training, plyometrics, etc. If you exercise at home and don't have a lot of time, check out the workouts on this website: http://www.bodyrock.tv. Great workouts (I know a fitness model who swears by them), and all of the routines are around 12-min long, so they are totally doable with your busy schedule :)

    If you're still in the same place a month from now, consider booking a session with a personal trainer (or, if you have a very active friend, ask them for a favour). Explain that you aren't seeing the results that you'd like to see, and that you'd like to know how your workouts can be improved.

    The most important thing is to not give up! You will start to see results if you put the work in! It took me a few months of eating healthy and exercising to get started, but now I'm losing about 1.5lb/week. Good luck!!!
  • tamtamzz
    tamtamzz Posts: 142
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    It's not about having fast food or sweets here and there. There is so much that goes into the equation when it comes to weight loss. I would also recommend that you take a before picture and measure your body. If I hadn't had that I would have given up a long time ago. Your body will look different before you lose a significant amount of weight on the scale.

    Most importantly, give it some time because it will take time. Judging by your picture, you don't have much to lose. When your close to your healthy weight, weight loss is much slower than someone with a lot to lose. When I was heavier, I was able to play fast and loose with the calories because it was easy for me to create a deficit, and my body wasn't affected too adversely with a larger deficit. As I get closer to my goal weight, I really, really have to watch it. A cookie here, a sip of soda there, and I'm at maintenance. If I create too large of a deficit, I'm tapping into my muscle mass. So before you go increasing your calories (because that advice will be coming down the pike shortly), invest in a scale and weigh your food. Also do some reading regarding BMR, TDEE, RMR, what it means, and what it means for you.

    Eat enough protein to maintain your muscle mass. Do some strength training to let your body know you need those muscles. Muscle is active, fat is not. Your body will get rid of what is taking up energy first. Less muscle means more fat, which means a lower BMR, which means you can't eat as much you thought, and that means stalled weight loss, or no weight loss.

    Oh, and weight loss is not predictable! Every Friday afternoon at 4:00 the scale isn't going to match up to your MFP weekly weight loss goal. But if you're diligent and you work hard you will get there.
  • TheRealParisLove
    TheRealParisLove Posts: 1,907 Member
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    I took a quick peek at your diary, and it looks like you eat a lot of processed foods. Try avoiding anything that comes in a box or a bag. I was at a stand still until I was able to get all the processed foods out of my diet, too. Once I started eating primarily whole foods and eliminated bread, cereal, pasta, crackers and other pre-made foods, I began to make some real progress.
  • LoudLH
    LoudLH Posts: 2 Member
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    Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Going to try some of the things you all have mentioned. I"m putting my diary back to private now so that I don't get bogged down with too much advice. Again, thanks for all the info.
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
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    Try eating more fresh, whole foods and tons of protein. Even if I stayed within my calorie goal, I would gain weight if I had pizza or burger king.

    You could gain from bloating due to sodium intake. You aren't going to gain actual tissue eating at a deficit regardless of food source.
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
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    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/you-are-not-different.html
  • jillebean60
    jillebean60 Posts: 78 Member
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    WIthout seeing your food diary or knowing how much you're working out, it's hard to say. When I first started on here a few weeks ago I had 20 lbs to lose and honestly it felt like it's taken a HUGE effort to lose 6 lbs. BUT- when I think of the fact that if I hadn't used the tools here and extensively educated myself through the message boards, I would still have 20 to lose instead of 14. Remember also you have less fat to lose so it will take longer to lose (expecting .5 lbs/week is reasonable).

    One other important thing that I learned the hard way: People tend to underestimate how much they're actually eating so weigh, plan and measure very carefully. I found out that when I was whining about not losing that I had actually been underestimating my cal intake by sometimes 600-800 cals per day!!!!!!!!!!! That's HUGE when you're trying to keep your DCI somewhere between BMR and TDEE!

    Best to you!!! Don't get discouraged- dig in and learn. Knowledge is power!


    jill
  • 1SlimShaylee
    1SlimShaylee Posts: 204
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    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/you-are-not-different.html


    always trust what sidesteal says! he absolutely knows everything!
  • jimgatewood
    jimgatewood Posts: 86 Member
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    Can't help if you food diary is not open. Sorry.
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
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    I'll stop after this link but this is really a good piece of research with commentary. It specifically deals with comparing a fast food meal to a whole meal.

    I'm not advocating people eat fast food willy-nilly. There's plenty of reasons to limit your consumption -- I'm just posting this so people don't read some of the stuff in this thread and develop an irrational fear that under equal macro conditions, fast food will somehow make them fat:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/hormonal-responses-to-a-fast-food-meal-compared-with-nutritionally-comparable-meals-of-different-composition-research-review.html
  • KGraham97
    KGraham97 Posts: 12 Member
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    Are you drinking lots water?? Water seems to be the key for me, 8 glasses of water a day at least.

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