What the heck am I doing wrong?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

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24

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  • andreanicole686
    andreanicole686 Posts: 406 Member
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    Do you notice the trend here? Everyone who is having a hard time losing is eating too few calories. Figure out your BMR and your TDEE. Make sure you NET somewhere in the middle.

    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/bmr-calculator.html

    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    I agree. Eat more. Your body isn't losing anything because it doesn't have enough fuel. Talk to your doctor about switching it up a bit.
  • shirleycooke35
    shirleycooke35 Posts: 26
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    Hi - are you weighing yourself everyday? If so stop! Weigh in once (or maybe twice) a week. You could be building muscle from all your gym work - which weighs much heavier that fat. Good luck xx
  • annmarielenaz
    annmarielenaz Posts: 1
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    Well, At least I know I am not alone! Weeks have gone by without losing anything! I watch and record EVERYTHING I eat. I walk, I exercize! Still very uneventfull weigh ins!
  • mathjulz
    mathjulz Posts: 5,514 Member
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    I would suggest seeing a registered dietician. Like another poster said, doctors are human too. And most only have a rudimentary experience with diet and weight loss - that's why there are dieticias, they have specialized in nutrition (I don't mean a nutritionist, which requires only a small amount of education and passing a test, but a registered dietician, which has a lot more training and maybe an MD).

    Also, to everybody who's posted about being stuck with exercise - have you been doing measurements? Do your clothes fit differently? The number on the scale doesn't always tell the full story (in fact, it tells a very limited part of it). Maybe you are tightening up/losing inches even if you aren't dropping pounds. And that is still progress!!
  • nadz6012
    nadz6012 Posts: 126 Member
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    I understand that your calories are low, and that should be fine, but have you noticed that you're consistently over your sugar limit? Simple and complex carbs both cause water retention, but simple carbs cause greater spikes in insulin production, which causes the body to retain sodium. More sodium= more water retention. If you're losing a pound a week I certainly think that it could be masked by water retention. Maybe cut back on the fruit just a bit, or stick to ones that have a lower glycemic index, like cherries and grapefruit.
  • Denise_Valentine
    Denise_Valentine Posts: 93 Member
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    i think everyone is right about eating too little and gaining muscle mass. the same thing happened to me. try seeing is theresa change in your inches
  • dovetail22uk
    dovetail22uk Posts: 339 Member
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    Sounds like a diet "doctor" to me

    Very sound advice on eating between BMR and TDEE. Do that.
  • skylark94
    skylark94 Posts: 2,036 Member
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    It's this diet doctor that my friends have all gone to...and they've all successfully lost TONS of weight! One lost 80, one lost 50, and I'm not sure about the other...

    To be fair, I have less to lose than they did. I'm down to needing to lose between 20 and 40 pounds (20 will get me into the healthy range...40 will put me closer to the bottom of my healthy range...)

    For the first month, I wasn't allowed to eat anything except fish/meat, non-starchy vegetables and 2 servings of fruit per day. I lost 18 1/2 pounds that first month. Since then I keep losing and gaining another 2 pounds and I seem to be stuck around 20 pounds of weight loss. (The rest on my ticker was from before I started this diet).

    Now that I'm past that first month, I'm allowed to eat a few more things, but I also had the food sensitivity testing done which took away a lot of my options...I can't have anything dairy, I can't have eggs, etc. I'm allowed more fruits now (in moderation) and I'm allowed a little more starch (again in moderation...like a serving of carrots once a week...stuff like that). And I was finally told yesterday that I can add in some more of the good carbs (again in moderation...a small serving of brown rice once a week...half a sweet potato...)

    I have about as much respect for diet doctors as I do for docs who prescribe oxy to addicts. They're in it for the money. They have to prescribe drastic measures to yield drastic results or people won't come back.

    Please take the advice you are being given here to heart. Learn to reach your goals the safe and healthy way. You CAN do it, but you need to reset your thinking, habits, and metabolism.
  • Stringy1121
    Stringy1121 Posts: 22 Member
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    I also experienced the same thing. I worked out 6 days a week and burned more calories than I was eating and NOTHING. I was told to up my calories so I did and tada guess who started losing the weight?! I dont eat ALL my calories back but I do go over my 1200 calories a day when I am working out.
  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
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    For the past few weeks, I've been going to the gym EVERY DAY and sometimes even TWICE a day! And, honestly, the exercise seems to be what stopped the weight loss....which doesn't make ANY sense!

    And yet the scale isn't budging! It moves half a pound down, and then a pound back up...I think I've literally lost 1 pound in the last 2-3 weeks.

    Starting or changing an exercise regimen will cause the muscles to retain more water to heal themselves. The weight of the extra water can easily mask part or all of the weight lost in fat. It's temporary, so drink a bunch of water a be patient.

    Also, be careful of over-training. You would probably benefit from a rest day once a week.

    Also, ask your doctor if you should still be eating so low when you are exercising that much. Even if you have some sort of metabolic disorder, like hypothyroidism, that justifies so few calories, you may need to eat the exercise calories back. And don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion.
  • NatalieHassett
    NatalieHassett Posts: 26 Member
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    I agree that you are likely to be consuming too few calories. If there is a valid reason that your doctor instructed you to stay at that level then so be it. When I first joined MFP at the start of the year, I was consuming 1200 calories per day and finding it easy to stay under that limit. I found that I'd lose a pound and then gain two, then drop back to my original weight...

    After much frustration, I asked for some advice from other MFP and was told to check my BMR and TDEE. I calculated that I should be eating around 1500 calories per day but rather than jump from 1200 to 1500, I increased my daily intake to 1430. I have found that I have had slow and steady weight loss week on week.
  • gayatrik
    gayatrik Posts: 173
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    I'm not going to give up, but I'm hoping these tears that want to come out actually weigh something! :sad:

    Oh baby... jus keep them there and let they come out as happy tears when u see great progress in the long run...wish u luck!!
  • iAMsmiling
    iAMsmiling Posts: 2,394 Member
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    It's this diet doctor that my friends have all gone to...and they've all successfully lost TONS of weight! One lost 80, one lost 50, and I'm not sure about the other...

    To be fair, I have less to lose than they did. I'm down to needing to lose between 20 and 40 pounds (20 will get me into the healthy range...40 will put me closer to the bottom of my healthy range...)

    For the first month, I wasn't allowed to eat anything except fish/meat, non-starchy vegetables and 2 servings of fruit per day. I lost 18 1/2 pounds that first month. Since then I keep losing and gaining another 2 pounds and I seem to be stuck around 20 pounds of weight loss. (The rest on my ticker was from before I started this diet).

    Now that I'm past that first month, I'm allowed to eat a few more things, but I also had the food sensitivity testing done which took away a lot of my options...I can't have anything dairy, I can't have eggs, etc. I'm allowed more fruits now (in moderation) and I'm allowed a little more starch (again in moderation...like a serving of carrots once a week...stuff like that). And I was finally told yesterday that I can add in some more of the good carbs (again in moderation...a small serving of brown rice once a week...half a sweet potato...)

    Oh, this is a "diet" doctor. I thought maybe you were going to an actual doctor who was addressing medical issues beyond weight loss.

    Dump the chump.

    How would you ever sustain a restrictive plan like that over your lifetime? What happens after you've starved (not literally) yourself down to your goal weight and you don't have the tools to make a healthy life for yourself?

    Medically supervised yo-yo'ing is in no way better than doing it on your own.
  • chellebublz
    chellebublz Posts: 568 Member
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    You just have to keep at it. People will tell you you are consuming too little but I have involuntarily been consuming too little. (Due to an upper denture I got 2 weeks ago that is STILL hard for me to eat properly with) and I am consistently losing too. So if you have a moderate amount of weight to lose, it's not going to hurt your weight loss. I do encourage you to be sure you are eating your TDEE -20 if you don't want to lose muscle mass along the way. I will be doing this once my eating can be normal again. But if you are happy with your calorie intake, exercising and don't seem to be losing. Just hang in there, and keep at it. The scale DOES NOT reflect the amount of work you are putting in and doesn't mean you are doing anything wrong.
  • Vain_Witch
    Vain_Witch Posts: 476 Member
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    I haven't taken any new measurements, but I don't really feel like the fit of my clothing is changing all that much either...

    I AM extremely guilty of weighing every day...sometimes multiple times a day...lol

    I don't really understand the whole BMR/TDEE thing...Can anyone explain it to me. I just ran the numbers from those links you gave me and this is what I came up with:

    BMR = 1,464 (I guess this is why MFP put me at 1,200 calories a day...)
    TDEE - 2,525 calories per day.

    That's a really big difference! And I assume that's what you want to stay at to maintain, not lose? So, what should I actually be doing?
  • rawremzilly
    rawremzilly Posts: 31
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    Something dieticians always say is to eat a range of things i.e not stick to the same foods all the time. Try varying your diet such as instead of always eating just veg, try making a low fat casserole, pasta salads or soups. You need to basically mix up the amounts of fat, salt, carbs etc every day or your body gets used to one level and maintains itself at that which is not helpful for losing weight.

    Also, don't be afraid to treat yourself after a hard week. Reward yourself for being good but be sensible about it. Like every Sunday you get to eat a dessert after your main meal for sticking to your diet the rest of the week.

    Trust me, mixing things up will really help. You can remain within your calorie limits still and have a varied diet. That is probably what the problem is c:
  • fourpairs
    fourpairs Posts: 14
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    I went to the DR on Dec 26 weighed in - went back on Jan 26 1 month later I weight exactly the same amount. I had been weighing and measuring every byte of food I ate and working out 45 minutes to 1 hour every other day. I am now down 9 lbs. still doing the same things I was doing last month. It will happen just done lose hope.
  • chellebublz
    chellebublz Posts: 568 Member
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    Just read that you only have 20-40 to lose, definitely look into TDEE-20 and eat more calories.
  • hubtech
    hubtech Posts: 43 Member
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    Do you notice the trend here? Everyone who is having a hard time losing is eating too few calories. Figure out your BMR and your TDEE. Make sure you NET somewhere in the middle.

    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/bmr-calculator.html

    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    Do this^^^. You didn't mention your height or weight or goals so most advice as to whether you're eating too much or too little isn't considering your own real situation. Figure out your calorie needs with those calculators yourself and make sure you're getting enough. Underestimate or disregard exercise in the calculations if you're planning on eating those extra calories burned later on.
  • 5stringjeff
    5stringjeff Posts: 790 Member
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    I haven't taken any new measurements, but I don't really feel like the fit of my clothing is changing all that much either...

    I AM extremely guilty of weighing every day...sometimes multiple times a day...lol

    I don't really understand the whole BMR/TDEE thing...Can anyone explain it to me. I just ran the numbers from those links you gave me and this is what I came up with:

    BMR = 1,464 (I guess this is why MFP put me at 1,200 calories a day...)
    TDEE - 2,525 calories per day.

    That's a really big difference! And I assume that's what you want to stay at to maintain, not lose? So, what should I actually be doing?

    If your BMR is 1,464 a day, don't eat less than 1,464 a day. That's what your body needs just to function.

    The basic math: one pound is roughly 3,500 calories. So to lose one pound a week, shave 3,500 calories a week (500 a day) off your TDEE. That works out to 2,025 calories a day.

    Some people say TDEE - 10%, others say TDEE - 20%. I've had good success with TDEE - 3500 calories/week. Your mileage may vary.

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