Not Losing Weight

mag11389
mag11389 Posts: 11 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi. I know everyone is tired of these posts but I need help! I have logged in 130 days in a row and have only lost 5lbs! I've been consistently eating well, staying within my calories every week, working out 4-6 days a week for 30mins and the scale isn't budging even a little. My diary is public, please look at it and see if you can tell what is going on. I've been very stressed but I don't know if that's the problem or something else. I'm roughly 30 or 40lbs overweight so it's not vanity weight that is super hard to come off.

Thank you,
Maggie

Replies

  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
    Sorry, but I can't access your diary.
  • mag11389
    mag11389 Posts: 11 Member
    Sorry, now it's public. :)
  • mommy_hood
    mommy_hood Posts: 100 Member
    I haven't been on here very long so take this however you like but maybe you aren't eating enough I see most days that you net under 1200 so that could be a reason that your body is not letting some of the weight go.... Also something I have a problem with is sodium when I eat too much sodium the scale doesn't move even though I am losing weight it just does not show due to all the water retention.... so maybe that is the reason you aren't seeing any budging but I see you don't log your water so I don't know... I hope you start seeing some loss soon... maybe try eating low sodium for a few days to see if that shows some loss.... when I don't see any loss I try and stay under sodium goal and usually see my true loss of 2-3 pounds... :)
  • carolemorden9
    carolemorden9 Posts: 284 Member
    That's got to be tough. I generally eat about 2000 calories a day but net less because of exercise, so eating more to lose more is working for me. I try not to have too much "junk" food though.
  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
    Sodium can be a killer for water retention. Are you sure you're weighing and measuring everything accurately? If so my last suggestion would be to try to get as close to your daily goal as possible.

    Congratulations on your 5 lb loss though!
  • dree77
    dree77 Posts: 52
    Try measuring yourself once every couple of weeks. If you are strength training, you will be building muscle which weighs more than fat. Although if you are 30-40lbs over your ideal weight, you should be still losing weight even if you are building muscle...

    Speaking of strength training, are you doing that, or are you doing just cardio? Women seem to think that cardio is going to get them in wonderful shape. It will help you burn calories for sure, but the more lean muscle you have, the more overall calories you will burn. For instance, if you have no muscle tone and are overweight, and you do an hour of straight cardio, you're going to burn calories, but your body will stop burning them not long after your sweat session. Having lean muscle will help your body continue to burn more calories even at rest. Also as mommy_hood said, if you are not eating enough, your body will start to conserve energy - in the form of calories and fat. Eat small and eat often so that your body doesn't think it's gonna starve. I try to do 3 small meals and 2 snacks in between. Doing that will give you more energy too and will maybe help you walk an extra mile or do a few extra sit ups :)

    Good luck!!
  • shaybuggie
    shaybuggie Posts: 160 Member
    *Almost everything I'm about to tell you are things that I have to tell myself, because I'm not the greatest.*

    I just took a peak at your diary, and I agree with the two before me that said you aren't eating enough. It's the starvation mode you hear some people talk about-- your body is holding on to what it already has in it. If you eat enough, then your body has something to burn, but if you don't, your metabolism stands still, kind of like if you don't feed a fire any wood, it dies down.

    Also, you don't seem as though you're eating enough fruits and veggies.
    Something food-wise that has worked for me: try cutting out carbs in just one meal a day, two days in a row, each week. Eventually, you'll be able to do it more often.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
    The link above is a how-to type thing, sort of like the "Eat More 2 Weigh Less" thing I'm sure you've heard of before. It helps you figure out how much you should be eating a day. I follow it (to the best of my abilities) and it works. It sounds difficult, but it's really easy. Basically, go to the website it tells you, enter in the requested body measurements along with your weight and height, and it gives you your BF%. This, along with how active you are each week, tells you how many calories you should eat.
    I hope this helps. :-)

    *edited to add IPOARM information and link*
  • kiern18
    kiern18 Posts: 61
    I just took a glance at your diary. I can give you some tips that have helped me along the way.

    I eat fruit all the time (no not too much but a good amount each day). I think you should start adding fruit to your breakfast, maybe an apple, some grapefruit, or mixed berries.

    Make sure the peanut butter that you are using is natural peanut butter- a lot of regular brand peanut butters have very bad oils in them and tons of sugar. I was eating regular peanut butter for a while and once I switched over, I noticed that I was doing a lot better with my weight loss.

    Try to meet your protein intake every single day. I notice that on a lot of your entries, you go over on your sodium intake but you don't get enough protein. More lean meats will fix this (lean chicken/protein) and try greek yogurt or nonfat plain yogurt.

    Spinach is amazing. I eat it with almost every meal. Add more spinach in one week, see what happens. Snack on more veggies throughout the day (carrots, celery, sliced bell peppers with hummus).

    If you make a few changes here and there, especially with your protein, I think that you will start to see a change. It's not always about how many calories you eat, it's about the nutrients that you are feeding into your body. I think you are eating fine but a few more changes that I've suggested might help you out a little. And are you drinking enough water?
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
    Cut down on your carbs - most of your food is processed refined carbs....Up your protein, it is really low...
    Eat more fresh fruit and vegetables, and cut down on the sodium (which will happen if you eat more fresh food and less processed...
    Are you weighing and measuring everything?
    And eat a little more - more protein and good fats - you are bigger than I am, and eat a lot less.....
  • soonergirl03
    soonergirl03 Posts: 47 Member
    Maybe you need to increase your calories. I lost 50 pounds at 1200 calories a day and then stopped losing I haven't lost any weight at all in in 3 months I increased my calories to 1530 and still not losing. I took the last 2 weeks off (not by my choice) no calorie counting or nothing and guess what I have lost a little weight so I'm hoping this will kick start my loss back in
  • jadedone
    jadedone Posts: 2,446 Member
    My first thought when reading your diary was where is your fiber, and where is your produce?

    About your workout...do you do intervals? Switch up the intensity. Alternate bursts of hard with burst of moderate.

    I haven't cracked the code yet. My first 20 pound came off with 1600 calories + 100-200 on exercise days. The next 10 or 15 came off at 1700-1800 calories and intervals. The next few came off with "reduced" carbs and extra protein at 1800 calories. Basically I skipped them on one meal a day.

    All phases I packed in about 25 grams of fiber per day. And at least 5 (veggies and fruit servings) a day. More like 8-10 a day.

    And then I fell off track when my hormones and thyroid levels veered of course and regained 15. I am trying to break the code again.
  • mag11389
    mag11389 Posts: 11 Member
    Hi everyone! Thank you for all of your input! I really hadn't realized thatI was eating less fiber than I had. I used to meet or exceed my fiber each day and didn't realize I had stopped. Strength training wise I normally don't lift heavy weights but I do an allover toning program with light weights and a lot of ab work. I'll try to get closer to my calorie goal each day. I've been trying to eat at least 1200 calories but I haven't been factoring in my exercise. I'm also going to try to eat more well rounded meals.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Cut down on your carbs - most of your food is processed refined carbs....Up your protein, it is really low...
    Eat more fresh fruit and vegetables, and cut down on the sodium (which will happen if you eat more fresh food and less processed...
    Are you weighing and measuring everything?
    And eat a little more - more protein and good fats - you are bigger than I am, and eat a lot less.....

    This ^^

    I don't know that you have to eat much less carbs, but change the type of carbs. When choosing grain products look for a minimum of 1 to 10 ratio of fiber to total carbs.
  • alyhuggan
    alyhuggan Posts: 717 Member
    You are netting way lower than you are recommended too. Guarantee if you eat within 5% of your net calories every day for the next month you will lose faster than you have ever before:)

Categories