6 months and no weight loss!
Replies
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I'm so miserable lately. Dieting is alI I think about. It consumes my day. I even listen to weight loss podcasts in the car on the ride to work. I've been actively dieting for 530 days now. I'm still not losing any weight. Am I just broken??? I cut out all bread, cereal, pasta, and starchy vegetables in january and upped my lean protein. every single meal except breakfast, i'm eating vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and green beans with 3-4oz of chicken or fish. I got protein shakes for the morning and am eating a special k breakfast sandwich. I'm barely eating fruit because of the carb content although I did have an apple last night. i try not to even eat greek yogurt because of the sugar. I don't even know what to eat anymore. i just look at my fridge and pantry and shrug. sometimes i eat 10 almonds for a snack. i'm still counting calories and now i'm tracking my water (since beginning of february). i have the fitbit on everyday and use my HRM during workouts so I know what activity I've been doing. I stopped counting it toward my calorie total because my nutritionist advised that might be why i'm not losing weight. i've been drinking green tea, which i hate because it's been recommended so many times. I have green tea supplements too because i don't like the taste. my dinner every night is a spinach salad with egg whites, 1oz cheese, 1tsp olive oil and 2tsp balsamic vinegar. Alcohol is pretty much gone except for the times where I feel like I'm going to go insane if I don't relax. I cut out chocolate completely. This is week 6 and nothing
. I'm down 2lbs total which can completely be attributed to water weight associated with cutting carbs. I'm still exercising too, weight training and interval runs 4x's per week. I even started exercising during my lunch breaks for 5 minutes doing crunches, squats, planks, whatever I can fit in in the last few minutes. I don't even know if I'm hungry anymore; I'm just resigned. I don't understand. It was only a couple years ago that I was 25 pounds lighter and now it's like I'm destined to be fat. I don't even know what I can do to work any harder. Even while I'm taking care of my kids, I'm doing resistance training and stretching on the floor, throwing them around, and doing dance parties with them. I don't even know if it's possible to work any harder. I devote hours a day as a full time working mom. My husband doesn't even want me to mention my weight or diet anymore. Last night he told me I need to accept being fat because it's not going to change. I have MFP set to 1800 calories and I'm mostly eating that, some days higher and some lower. I'm 5'3" and 175lbs. I weight everything on a digital scale. Any help?
step 1: de-complicate things. forget all that baloney about what you can and cannot eat.
step 2: get a medical checkup and make absolutely certain that there is no medical condition complicating all of this for you.
step 3: are you 100% certain you are logging all of your calories accurately? this is very important. log everything. make sure you are correct.
step 4: verify your BMR/TDEE. did you ever yo-yo diet in the past with VLCD diets? this can affect your BMR.
i compute 1873 as your TDEE without exercise. you're not going to burn alot of exercise calories doing strength training or short duration cardio. my initial reaction is that you are not losing weight because you are eating at your maintenance level. you are likely burning fewer calories with exercise than you think you are and this is frustrating you. add some easy cardio and perhaps eat at 1650 or 1700 calories for a few weeks and see what happens. an example of easy cardio is a 1 hour walk each day. that should add up to 300-350 of burned calories every time you do it. don't eat those calories back. do this for a few weeks and see if your weight loss starts again at a rate of about 1lb per week.
This. I started doing"just Dance" and it helped me/ I am much older then you so it should definitely help. You can also do it with your kids.0 -
I don't understand why you are cutting so much fruit and other good foods. It may help to expand your diet with other healthy foods.0
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Good that you saw dr. Altho my doc said thyroid normal for 2 years I couldn't lose either. Then had him test for anti thyroid antibodies and they were sky high. You might consider asking doc if he did all 4 tests for thyroid, since 1 test might not catch it. Anyway, that's what happened to me.0
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Cant believe I am saying this but I would cut my goal back to 1500. Do that three weeks and then up to 1600 if you are hungry.0
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Looking at your food diary, this is what I see:
1) It looks like you're consistently over by 1000-1400 mg of sodium. Limit processed foods - they're really high in sodium.
2) Try eating clean - fruits, veggies, lean protein.
3) Have your doctor check for any food intolerances - gluten, diary, etc.
Just my two cents.0 -
step 1: de-complicate things. forget all that baloney about what you can and cannot eat.
step 2: get a medical checkup and make absolutely certain that there is no medical condition complicating all of this for you.
step 3: are you 100% certain you are logging all of your calories accurately? this is very important. log everything. make sure you are correct.
step 4: verify your BMR/TDEE. did you ever yo-yo diet in the past with VLCD diets? this can affect your BMR.
i compute 1873 as your TDEE without exercise (i.e. sedentary/office worker). you're not going to burn alot of exercise calories doing strength training or short duration cardio. my initial reaction is that you are not losing weight because you are eating at your maintenance level. you are likely burning fewer calories with exercise than you think you are and this is frustrating you. add some easy cardio and perhaps eat at 1650 or 1700 calories for a few weeks and see what happens. an example of easy cardio is a 1 hour walk each day. that should add up to 300-350 of burned calories every time you do it. don't eat those calories back. do this for a few weeks and see if your weight loss starts again at a rate of about 1lb per week.
Please heed this response.0 -
Another vote for thyroid. I have hypothyroidism, being treated with levothyroxine, and weight comes off very, very slowly. I have been eating right (1200 calories/day), exercising like a mad woman since Jan 7th and have only lost 4lbs. Hang in there, get your thryoid checked, and go by measurements and how your clothes feel instead of the scale.0
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Maybe get checked for PCOS?
Also, mix it up! You said you eat the same thing every night for dinner? Put some time into adding some variety. Our bodies are masters of efficiency: if you're eating the same things every day, it will learn how to function on that amount of food.
And maybe you should set your base calorie line at 1200 (no fireballs at me, please!) but then eat ALL of them, plus ALL of the calories you earn from exercise. This will add variety to the amount you consume everyday, keeping your metabolism up.0 -
I have MFP set to 1800 calories and I'm mostly eating that, some days higher and some lower.
Your calories are set too high. My sister-in-law is almost identical to you and had hers set at 1,500. She lost 17 lbs in 3 months.
If you were at your goal weight, sure 1,800 would be fine. But you need to get into a calorie deficit consistently in order to lose.0 -
HI,
You just told my story! I didn't think anyone else had this problem I have been actively working on this for months. I eat less than 1200 cals per day, work out 4-5 times a week, drink water like a fish, watch everything that goes in my mouth, cut out breads and starches completely and an very Type A about my diet. No weight lost! Can't imagine what else we could be doing. I've even tried NutriSystem's metabolic program of vitamins and minerals that are supposed to stimulate a dead metabolism. Have followed it to the letter......nothing. If you get any replys that help I will follow this blog to see if there is anything else that is the key. It sounds like you and I have the same problem....I just wish I knew what could turn this around! Hang in there...at least we are not gaining!....Melanie0 -
Step 1: Make sure everything checks out with you medically. Have a good long discussion with your doctor. Tell him/her that you have been eating right and exercising, but you haven't gotten anywhere. Ask the doc if there are any medical reasons for this. He/she may recommend a few tests. Also, discuss all the medications you are on. A lot of meds have hidden side effects of weight gain, especially ones for treating depression and anxiety. (Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor, so don't listen to me. Listen to your doctor!)
Step 2: Reassess your diet. It sounds like you are completely off carbs. Carbs are not evil! You should incorporate complex carbs and whole fruits into your diet. Brown rice, oats, quinoa, whole wheat bread and pastas are good complex carbs. (Be careful with "whole wheat" and "whole grain" products though. These are used as marketing terms to make their products seem healthy. Check ingredients.) Eat about 1 or 2 pieces of fruit a day while eliminating other sources of sugar. Also, you should make sure you are getting enough calories, while still maintaining a healthy deficit.
Step 3: Make sure you are incorporating enough cardio into your exercise routine. Cardio will get the "calories out" part of the equation up by increasing your metabolic rate. Weight training is good as well, but dependent on your goals.0 -
I would double check your calorie calculations. Each body is different and TDEE calculations are estimates. Maybe yours is lower. Try a week or two lowering your cals to see if this works. I know it sucks. I THINK i'm good in my cal calculations, but have been thinking about testing a two week healthy choice frozen meal time frame. This way I know 100% my cals. I am not a fan of processed meals but maybe as a test phase, just to ease of stress of counting/ measuring and to be sure on cal count.0
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HI,
You just told my story! I didn't think anyone else had this problem I have been actively working on this for months. I eat less than 1200 cals per day, work out 4-5 times a week, drink water like a fish, watch everything that goes in my mouth, cut out breads and starches completely and an very Type A about my diet. No weight lost! Can't imagine what else we could be doing. I've even tried NutriSystem's metabolic program of vitamins and minerals that are supposed to stimulate a dead metabolism. Have followed it to the letter......nothing. If you get any replys that help I will follow this blog to see if there is anything else that is the key. It sounds like you and I have the same problem....I just wish I knew what could turn this around! Hang in there...at least we are not gaining!....Melanie
You my dear need to eat more than 1200 per day. Do not starve yourself of necessary fuel and nutrients in the name of weight loss. Try upping to 1350 at first and see what happens, I betcha lose some weight.0 -
I found I got into a rut when I wasn't calculating my calories correctly. I've been adding a lot more of my own recipes, double-checking the database items, and have been shocked at how inaccurate a lot of the member-added foods are. So, maybe you're eating more than you think you are and not realizing it!
Also, check to see if you have your activity level at the correct level. You might be eating at maintenance, to boot.
The important thing is don't beat yourself up or stress over this. If you're eating foods that are making your body feel better and you're more active, you're already in a better spot than you were 6 months ago.
All that said, it doesn't hurt to talk to your doc. You said you already had your thyroid checked, but tell them all you told us. That you've changed your diet and activity level and nothing is happening.
ETA- I am 5'8" and 190lbs. I eat anywhere from 1300 to 1900 calories a day depending on how much I move and most of my moving is running on the treadmill three times a week and heavy lifting. I also don't really track my macros save to make sure I'm getting all that I need. I don't worry about low carb, high protein, etc. I also haven't cut out any foods, the only exception is that I sweeten my tea with Splenda now.0 -
There's so many people saying your calories are too high; have any of you taken into account the amount of exercise she's doing?!
It sounds a lot to me like you are well over-complicating things.
1. Stop cutting out so many foods. Eat fruit (it's good for you!), eat chocolate, eat anything you like, just in moderation.
2. Stop sneaking in exercise at every availiable minute. Exercise is good, but it sounds like it's becoming an obsession. Set out half an hour, or whatever suits you most, during the day. Remember to have rest days - your body needs them.
3. Once you have a set routine for exercise and know exactly what you will be doing, look up your TDEE, then eat 20% below that.
4. Wait a month.If you don't lose weight, drop it by 100 cals a day a try again. Weight loss is different for everyone and no-one can give you a number of calories and say 'there, that will work for you.'0 -
HI,
You just told my story! I didn't think anyone else had this problem I have been actively working on this for months. I eat less than 1200 cals per day, work out 4-5 times a week, drink water like a fish, watch everything that goes in my mouth, cut out breads and starches completely and an very Type A about my diet. No weight lost! Can't imagine what else we could be doing. I've even tried NutriSystem's metabolic program of vitamins and minerals that are supposed to stimulate a dead metabolism. Have followed it to the letter......nothing. If you get any replys that help I will follow this blog to see if there is anything else that is the key. It sounds like you and I have the same problem....I just wish I knew what could turn this around! Hang in there...at least we are not gaining!....Melanie
Melanie - you definitely need to eat more. Up to 1500 to start and see where that takes you. Bet you lose!0 -
I too might suggest having your thyroid checked but there are other things that would go along with that besides just not losing weight. Have you felt depressed, lethargic, dry skin, thinning hair, brittle nails? There are many other things that will happen when the thyroid is out of whack. I no longer have a functioning thyroid and, for me, it is a surgery I wish I never had to have. Some people believe being on thyroid medication would be the greatest gift in the world for weight loss but it isn't.
Shake things up. Go for a couple of higher calorie days allowing yourself some of the foods you've retricted. Your body could just need a change to bounce it back into keto.0 -
Bump0
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I think of the law of attraction when i read your post. As your fear of not losing is coming true because you're obsessed with it. Like a self fulfilled prophecy. You are getting what you're focusing on..even though you kid yourself into thinking your focusing on weigh loss.. you are not. Your focus is on being stuck and never being able to lose and that is what you're getting.
I agree you need to see a Dr...but also relax..stop reading diet books and listening to diet podcasts. Trust yourself..your body.. treat it right. You will lose.0 -
Stopping calling it a diet for a start might help your attitude. If you think of it more that you are living healthier it might help you maintain a more positive outlook while you find other ways to make a difference.0
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I'll admit I didn't read all of the responses so sorry if this is a repeat, but aside from lower your calories and stuff, have you tried varying your food a little? You said dinner every night is a spinach salad, etc so maybe your body is just not getting the variety it wants to activate weight loss. I find that I get a little stuck if I eat the same thing for too long, and once I change it up I start to see a difference. Just a suggestion...0
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My first piece of advice is to go easier on yourself. If you're miserable with what you're doing, you're only doing yourself a disservice. It sounds to me like you're pretty stressed out over all of this dieting and exercising. You might benefit from taking some time for meditation or yoga -- something that slows down all of the thoughts racing through your mind so you're not constantly in stress-mode. I always feel lighter after taking a few moments just to do some deep breathing, straighten out my posture, stretch myself out, let my mind go someplace relaxing, and think positive thoughts.
My next piece of advice is to not limit the types of food you eat so much, but at the same time, limit the amount of calories by about 100 or more so you have a bit of a deficit. A balanced diet allows for you to get more nutrition into your body to help everything function well. Carbs and sugar are not your enemy, your body DOES need those things. Too much of anything is not good, but yogurt and fruit and whole grains will help your body function better, so don't dismiss them entirely. Even dark chocolate has health benefits, just limit yourself to a couple of pieces of chocolate a day and savor them, that may help you destress also!
I can't see your diary, but paying attention to sodium is good thing. I find that somewhere between 1,500-2,000 mg works better for me. I usually try to stick closer to 1,500. And make sure to drink lots of water - between 8 to 9 cups a day at least (not including tea).
And lastly, take your measurements from time to time to see if your body is changing despite the number on the scale not moving much. That may be a more encouraging way to see the changes in your body.
Good luck!0 -
What I have to say is probably not much different than everyone else, but the first thing that comes to mind is I would be miserable too eating the way you do. Fruit and greek yogurt are good for you. NO reason to cut these out. If you don’t like green tea, don’t drink it. Your dinner is bland and everyone needs chocolate! Carbs are not bad. Pick a time to exercise and do something you love. Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred is an awesome 20 minute workout a day! Add some heavy weights 3 x a week. I can feel how defeated you are by your post and I have to agree with the others…relax!!!
I have a Fitbit and an HRM as well. I’m 5’3 and 161 1bs. I was eating 1200 calories a day for a year and getting nowhere!! I started researching the ‘eat more to lose weight’ forum on here and learned so much about what I was doing to my body and my metabolism. I now eat at BMR (1380) plus 100 plus all my exercise calories. I typically eat 1700-1800 a day and burn 300-400 calories a day in exercise (this is a net of 1400-1500 a day). I work out daily with Jillian and walk to and from work and take stairs when I can. I also try to lift heavy a few times a week. I skate/ski with my kids or dance, like you. I eat what I like and love life. I lost 3.5 1bs in January .
You may or may not know about BMR/TDEE etc. A good calculator can be found here: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
I have my macros set to 40% protein, 30% carbs, 30% fat and try to hit this. I also try to keep my sodium to 2500 mg sodium a day (I have trouble with this) and I drink 10-16 cups of water daily. I don’t drink alcohol.
I know how frustrating it is to find the sweet spot. It’s my mission here to find my sweet spot and I believe I’m really starting too. I changed the way I eat in September, and have been honing in on what’s working, and January was my first successful month. Best of luck to you.0 -
I'm so miserable lately. Dieting is alI I think about. It consumes my day. I even listen to weight loss podcasts in the car on the ride to work. I've been actively dieting for 530 days now. I'm still not losing any weight. Am I just broken??? I cut out all bread, cereal, pasta, and starchy vegetables in january and upped my lean protein. every single meal except breakfast, i'm eating vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and green beans with 3-4oz of chicken or fish. I got protein shakes for the morning and am eating a special k breakfast sandwich. I'm barely eating fruit because of the carb content although I did have an apple last night. i try not to even eat greek yogurt because of the sugar. I don't even know what to eat anymore. i just look at my fridge and pantry and shrug. sometimes i eat 10 almonds for a snack. i'm still counting calories and now i'm tracking my water (since beginning of february). i have the fitbit on everyday and use my HRM during workouts so I know what activity I've been doing. I stopped counting it toward my calorie total because my nutritionist advised that might be why i'm not losing weight. i've been drinking green tea, which i hate because it's been recommended so many times. I have green tea supplements too because i don't like the taste. my dinner every night is a spinach salad with egg whites, 1oz cheese, 1tsp olive oil and 2tsp balsamic vinegar. Alcohol is pretty much gone except for the times where I feel like I'm going to go insane if I don't relax. I cut out chocolate completely. This is week 6 and nothing. I'm down 2lbs total which can completely be attributed to water weight associated with cutting carbs. I'm still exercising too, weight training and interval runs 4x's per week. I even started exercising during my lunch breaks for 5 minutes doing crunches, squats, planks, whatever I can fit in in the last few minutes. I don't even know if I'm hungry anymore; I'm just resigned. I don't understand. It was only a couple years ago that I was 25 pounds lighter and now it's like I'm destined to be fat. I don't even know what I can do to work any harder. Even while I'm taking care of my kids, I'm doing resistance training and stretching on the floor, throwing them around, and doing dance parties with them. I don't even know if it's possible to work any harder. I devote hours a day as a full time working mom. My husband doesn't even want me to mention my weight or diet anymore. Last night he told me I need to accept being fat because it's not going to change. I have MFP set to 1800 calories and I'm mostly eating that, some days higher and some lower. I'm 5'3" and 175lbs. I weight everything on a digital scale. Any help?
step 1: de-complicate things. forget all that baloney about what you can and cannot eat.
step 2: get a medical checkup and make absolutely certain that there is no medical condition complicating all of this for you.
step 3: are you 100% certain you are logging all of your calories accurately? this is very important. log everything. make sure you are correct.
step 4: verify your BMR/TDEE. did you ever yo-yo diet in the past with VLCD diets? this can affect your BMR.
i compute 1873 as your TDEE without exercise (i.e. sedentary/office worker). you're not going to burn alot of exercise calories doing strength training or short duration cardio. my initial reaction is that you are not losing weight because you are eating at your maintenance level. you are likely burning fewer calories with exercise than you think you are and this is frustrating you. add some easy cardio and perhaps eat at 1650 or 1700 calories for a few weeks and see what happens. an example of easy cardio is a 1 hour walk each day. that should add up to 300-350 of burned calories every time you do it. don't eat those calories back. do this for a few weeks and see if your weight loss starts again at a rate of about 1lb per week.
This.. If you lost two lbs in 6 weeks that's about right if you are eating 1800 calories and at one point eating your exercise calories back. And #1 is right on point. You're stressing yourself out, life isn't fun that way.0 -
Is it 6 weeks or 6 months with no loss? I only just started in January but WHENEVER I start doing anything new to my body (counting calories, exercise, even a walking regime) it totally freaks out and just has no idea what to do. Often times, that means I stay the same weightfor 4 to 6 weeks. But, by the 8 week mark I start losing and I start losing BIG. Like, for the first couple of losses I will average 3 to 4 lbs a week. I would add back in some fats. Your body needs fats and protein (and in my case a limited amount of carbs coming from non refined sources). You have totally changed your eating habits in a drastic way and like I said, anything drastic and my body just goes bezerk. Hang in there.
I hope this is what is going to happen for me! I'm 5'2" and I weigh 183, highest weight ever (except when i was pregnant!) I've always struggled with my weight, but when I quit smoking and turned 40, I added another 30 pounds to my 20 pounds that I've always played with! Now I'm 46! I got serious again in Janauary and it's been 5 weeks that I've been counting calories and exercising with cardio and weights. I have not lost one pound in 5 weeks, but I have noticed that my clothes are fitting better. I took a before picture and I do see a slight change in myself too and I measured myself and will re-measure at the 6 week mark. Thank god that I can see and feel a difference or I would be giving up by now. I've decided that this is not a diet but a lifestyle change and I need to learn to be patient. It's not easy, especially since my husband just stopped drinking Mountain Dew about a month ago and he's dropped 25 pounds! I'm happy for him but frustrated too!
Someone needs to find a way to bottle the metabolism of a man to be injected into a woman!0 -
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1800 sounds pretty high to me, i'm 5,6, 190lbs and mfp suggested i eat 1350 a day, on that i'm losing 1.5lb a week. I'm no angel and eat what i want, including carbs if that's what i fancy, i just stick very carefully to the calorie limits. If i were eating 1800/day my weight would be stable as this is pretty much what i was on before i started. maybe go back and check your figures and if you're feeling miserable lighten up on what you eat and just eat a little of what you fancy.
I was losing 2 pounds a week at 1750, so it just goes to show....
OP, an open diary would help. You've not given us much to go on.0 -
Is it 6 weeks or 6 months with no loss? I only just started in January but WHENEVER I start doing anything new to my body (counting calories, exercise, even a walking regime) it totally freaks out and just has no idea what to do. Often times, that means I stay the same weightfor 4 to 6 weeks. But, by the 8 week mark I start losing and I start losing BIG. Like, for the first couple of losses I will average 3 to 4 lbs a week. I would add back in some fats. Your body needs fats and protein (and in my case a limited amount of carbs coming from non refined sources). You have totally changed your eating habits in a drastic way and like I said, anything drastic and my body just goes bezerk. Hang in there.
I hope this is what is going to happen for me! I'm 5'2" and I weigh 183, highest weight ever (except when i was pregnant!) I've always struggled with my weight, but when I quit smoking and turned 40, I added another 30 pounds to my 20 pounds that I've always played with! Now I'm 46! I got serious again in Janauary and it's been 5 weeks that I've been counting calories and exercising with cardio and weights. I have not lost one pound in 5 weeks, but I have noticed that my clothes are fitting better. I took a before picture and I do see a slight change in myself too and I measured myself and will re-measure at the 6 week mark. Thank god that I can see and feel a difference or I would be giving up by now. I've decided that this is not a diet but a lifestyle change and I need to learn to be patient. It's not easy, especially since my husband just stopped drinking Mountain Dew about a month ago and he's dropped 25 pounds! I'm happy for him but frustrated too!
Someone needs to find a way to bottle the metabolism of a man to be injected into a woman!
OMG that is so not fair that your husband dropped 25 lbs by not drinking Mtn Dew. I stopped drinking soda and lost nothing. 0 -
There's no reason what so ever for you to cut out starchy vegetables and fruit. The sugar in fruit is naturally occurring so is good for you, unlike the sugars in breakfast cereals which aren't naturally occurring.
I don't believe in cutting out whole food groups - I work with the concept of everything in moderation. If I want chocolate I have it as long as it fits into my calorie allowance.
I think your calories are too high for loss and more like maintenance, but I'm willing to accept that I could be wrong.
I think you need to find a better balance between your expectations and what you are eating. If its making you miserable it's not good for you. Stress is also bad for weight loss. Cortisol is released when you are stressed which can inhibit weight loss.
Hope this helps!0 -
I agree! Especially about resistance training. It can do wonders to your body!0
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