Working out, tracking, and no weight loss!! Why?!?!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Follow the instructions. I agree with others that you may not be eating the right amount of calories, especially for the amount of exercise you do.

Bumpin this. Because I feel the exact same way. Except I have been stuck at 156-160 for about 3 years. Tried upping cals for a few months, tried lowering cals. I work out for at least an hour 5-6 days a week too. Nothing, nada.

I've almost decided that this weight is just where my body wants to be, unfortunately.

Is it possible that you are underestimating the calories you are eating and overestimating the amount you burn through exercise? I know that MPF cardio database tends to grossly overestimate the amount of calories burned.

^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^ I know plenty who have eaten back based on highly exaggerated MFP values, by picking Intense over light effort. Then once the got a HRM and discovered they were only burning half that number. Then they got back on the right track.

I agree! MFP is notoriously bad when it comes to estimating calorie burn (besides we all burn calories at a different rate depending on what our weight is).

When I started I ate back every calorie estimated by MFP and didn't lose a pound. I bought an HRM and found the calorie burn was double what the HRM was saying (Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD being a classic example - if I log it as circuit training it says I've burned 400 calories when, in reality, I only burn 190 calories due to a lot of it being strength rather than cardio).

I bought an HRM, a set of cheap kitchen scales (I always log in weight rather than by spoon or cup size etc as it's more precise) and took up running as it's a great fat burner. Finally the scales are going in the right direction.

google "scoobys calculator" - enter in your info. You're very likely eating too few cals. I upped my cals to 2000, I eat more than that when I double up and have been losing.

Thank you for posting this. It is much better than the other calculators I've tried!

Measure yourself now. That way you can compare that. Because I don't know if you're doing any strength, but I know I'm doing shred and am mostly losing inches. But you look pretty thin in your pic, so your body may not be letting go of any weight, you may just be toning???

What everyone else says-- you are probably not eating enough calories. I have similar stats to you: age 26, weight 141, height 5'4" and I set my calorie goal to 1500 and I am losing about a half a pound a week, working out 5-6 days a week. It is definitely important to measure everything you are eating, getting a scale to weigh my food has helped. I try not to eat all of my workout calories back, but I usually go over 1500 by a little.

google "scoobys calculator" - enter in your info. You're very likely eating too few cals. I upped my cals to 2000, I eat more than that when I double up and have been losing.

Thank you for posting this. It is much better than the other calculators I've tried!

THAT is cool! Thanks for posting it.

its not 1200 calories each day. If i work out I eat those calories, If i dont work out i stay around 1200, I will try upping it but my mind tells me if i eat more its not going to help me lose. I have been at the same weight for probably 6 months. For 4 of those months i still worked out just not as often or as much. Its been in the last 2 months i have gone everyday atleast once. I keep thinking it takes time and i will notice a difference, which i have in my muscles just not in weight!!

A few points based on my own experience (and a lot of research):
1. If your profile pic is recent I am guessing you don't have much left to lose. The last few pounds are MUCH harder than when you are 50 lbs. overweight and start losing from there.
2. Like many others have said, too few calories can halt weight loss. There is a high probability that this is your issue.
3. Remember, if you are building muscle it weighs more than fat. Your plateau may be at least partly due to a change in body composition (losing fat and replacing it with muscle) and that is not a bad thing. As you get closer to your weight goals weight can be a poor indicator. Your measurements (e.g.has your waist gotten smaller in the last 6 months?) and using a body fat caliper can be better tools for determining progress.
4. Lifting weights (and I mean real weights, not cute little pink dumbbells) can absolutely trigger weight loss (or more accurately it can trigger desirable body re-composition). I believe it should be part of every person's weight loss program if possible. I actually believe that if you can only do one type of exercise, it should probably be weight lifting.

You aren't eating enough. I had this issue over the summer. After reading some articles and wearing a Body Media, I upped my calories and started losing and lost about 20lbs pretty quick.

2.) you are at too great a deficit and your metabolism has stalled. either the built in deficit is too great or you are creating too big a deficit with your activity and workouts and not properly fueling that activity.

In my opinion, I'm pretty sure you are not violating the laws of physics - there is no such thing as free energy, so the work your body is doing is coming from somewhere. If you aren't getting enough nutrition, odds are that your ability to improve you fat / muscle percentage is muted - thus further inhibiting your BMR.

I would be very aware that the affect of "metabolism slowdowns" is often overstated. As proven in several good studies, this isn't more than 30% or so in the most extreme cases over a long period of time. I would suggest investing in a HRM to get a more accurate (but nevertheless still prone to some error) idea of the calories you are burning throughout the day and during your workouts.

I think that what most often happens is dieters (including me) who don't eat enough - they don't have the energy to work out, stay active, and when they do work out, it is at a less intense level. This gives the "appearance" of a metabolism affect, when it's really just a lack of proper nutrition.

I also agree with the other user's who have suggested that you really look hard at exactly what your are eating, portion sizes, etc... to make sure that the number of calories your are recording is close to what your are actually ingesting.

Good luck!

I'm in a very similar situation to the OP and according to this Scooby's Workshop calculator I should be eating 150 to 300 cals more per day depending on how much I work out... interesting. It would explain why I'm going to bed hungry sometimes.

Also, with all that you are doing, you are probably adding a lot of muscle to your body which is a good thing. Muscle weighs more than fat, but it's lean mass.

no.

I AGREE!!!! with the comment that you are working out TO HARD with not enough calories coming in.