Scale Frustrations

KyFriedCarnage
KyFriedCarnage Posts: 6 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hi everyone,

I'm feeling really low this morning. Despite the fact that I've been working out 7 days a week and am always in the negative according to my MFP food logs (I'm taking in about 1400 calories per day), the numbers on the scale are not going down. It's so frustrating! In the past 3-4 weeks, I've only had two or three *bad* days when I know I was more than a little over my calorie range for the day. Is that really enough to keep me from losing any weight at all? Three pounds in six weeks just doesn't seem like enough to me. Frankly, it makes me want to throw things.

I'm trying really hard to focus on the positive stuff - dropping my body fat percentage from 33.9% to 31.4%, pants fitting better, running for longer without stopping - but that number on the scale is still really getting me down. Does anyone have any advice? Words of wisdom? Is it possible that because my job is sedentary (I literally only move from my desk when I need to fill up my water or go to the bathroom) My Fitness Pal overestimated the amount of calories I should be getting per day? Is it not enough to work out a minimum of 45 min a day every day to make up for the sedentary job?

Thanks in advance for the support... I really need it this morning!

Replies

  • MzManiak
    MzManiak Posts: 1,361 Member
    Did you tell MFP that you were sedentary or lightly active? If you chose lightly active because you work out, and then you record your work-outs... you are counting them twice. Either don't log them, or choose sedentary, and log the exercise.

    If you're already doing that correctly, subtract 100 calories from your total for a couple weeks. See if the number goes down a bit more to your liking. And add in a walk some where in the day, if you can.

    Weight loss is not instant. You have to figure out what numbers work best for you, that's a process. You'll get there! Congrats on your body fat % loss! That's most important, in my opinion!
  • KyFriedCarnage
    KyFriedCarnage Posts: 6 Member
    I did choose "sedentary," but when I went back and looked at my settings it looks like I set my goal as losing 1 lb per week. I just upped it to 2, which dropped my calorie range down to 1200 per day.

    I honestly have a really hard time keeping it to 1400 a day right now, so I'm not sure how well 1200 is gonna go over. I guess I'm just so used to eating more that less than 1400 seems daunting. Sigh.
  • husseycd
    husseycd Posts: 814 Member
    What are your goals? How much do you need to lose? The less you have to lose, the slower it seems to go and the easier you seem to plateau.

    Do you do roller derby as suggested by your avatar? If so, you may need to eat a little, or a lot, more. I'm 5'5", weigh 132 lbs and do aerial stuff (silks, lyra, etc.). I've been losing weight eating about 1700-1800 calories, with several days over that amount. I was eating closer to 1400 and not losing weight. It wasn't until I bumped my calories up to 1700 that I started losing (started at 138lbs). I may bump them up even more.
  • KyFriedCarnage
    KyFriedCarnage Posts: 6 Member
    I currently weigh 170 lbs and I'm 5'6.5". I'd like to get down to about 150, eventually, and I think much lower than that would actually leave me a little too thin for my tastes (my sport tends to favor skaters with more weight, so long as you're still agile). I'm very muscular, so most of that weight isn't jiggle.

    Yes, I do roller derby - usually 3-4 days a week over the summer. The rest of the year it's more like 4-5 days a week. Our practices are two hours long, but I find that there's a lot of standing in between drills or sitting on the bench between jams during scrimmage. When I put in my exercise for the day, I usually only give myself credit for 45 min of skating. Do you really think I'm not eating enough? Why would that be?
  • kitka82
    kitka82 Posts: 350 Member
    I currently weigh 170 lbs and I'm 5'6.5". I'd like to get down to about 150, eventually, and I think much lower than that would actually leave me a little too thin for my tastes (my sport tends to favor skaters with more weight, so long as you're still agile). I'm very muscular, so most of that weight isn't jiggle.

    Yes, I do roller derby - usually 3-4 days a week over the summer. The rest of the year it's more like 4-5 days a week. Our practices are two hours long, but I find that there's a lot of standing in between drills or sitting on the bench between jams during scrimmage. When I put in my exercise for the day, I usually only give myself credit for 45 min of skating. Do you really think I'm not eating enough? Why would that be?

    Even if you're only doing 2 hours of roller derby 3-4x a week, that's moderate activity right there. I am 5'7" and 183#. My goal is also 150. I do yoga 3-4x a week, walk, and run. And I have MFP set to lightly active, which gives me 1640 at 1# a week, plus exercise calories.

    Eating less than your BMR (which you currently are) for too long can cause your weight to stall out. I stalled out at 172 for 2 years because I was lifting heavy and running a few times a week, and not eating enough. I gained weight intentionally by eating at maintenance for 8 weeks to give my body a break. Once I calmed down the activity and adjusted my calories, I started losing again. I've lost 2# in the past 2 weeks.

    You are only 20 pounds from your goal, which means it is probably more realistic to expect a pound of weight loss per week. Losing 2 per week is going to be more difficult. At any rate, you should at least be eating your BMR, but obviously less than maintenance. 15-20% less, to be exact.

    ETA: It's awesome that you do roller derby BTW.
  • MzManiak
    MzManiak Posts: 1,361 Member
    I honestly wouldn't do 1200... I'm only 5'1" and 109lbs... and I couldn't do it. I had to up it to 1350... I would suggest going to a TDEE calculator and manually setting your calories into MFP. (As I did with the 1350).
  • KyFriedCarnage
    KyFriedCarnage Posts: 6 Member
    [/quote]

    "Even if you're only doing 2 hours of roller derby 3-4x a week, that's moderate activity right there. I am 5'7" and 183#. My goal is also 150. I do yoga 3-4x a week, walk, and run. And I have MFP set to lightly active, which gives me 1640 at 1# a week, plus exercise calories."
    [/quote]

    [/quote]

    "Did you tell MFP that you were sedentary or lightly active? If you chose lightly active because you work out, and then you record your work-outs... you are counting them twice. Either don't log them, or choose sedentary, and log the exercise."
    [/quote]

    Okay, so here's where I'm getting confused. If I have MFP set to lightly active or moderately active, my calorie range will go up. But does that mean that I should not input my workouts? I'm currently set to sedentary, but I add in all of my workouts. Usually I'm still eating the 1400 recommended calories, so I end up being several hundred calories "negative' for the day, even though I'm eating as much as I'm supposed to. Does this mean that I should up my activity level *and* input my exercises, but still stick to the new number of recommended calories (aka not use up the calories I burned from exercising)?
  • Winston1717
    Winston1717 Posts: 184
    Hi, BTW cool name. Well it happens. Same going on with me this week. I can tell you this for what it's worth. Change....change up your food, calorie intake, change up your exercise and trick your body!. Our bodies tend to get used to the same diets and work outs if nothing changes....then.....the scale doesn't change either. Probably going to get ragged on for this but also....I have read that too much exercise can hinder your loss. I know because of a guy my age at the gym who works out like an animal...and complains when I see him that the scale hasn't moved etc.

    This happened to me as well working my *kitten* off for minimal results. I cut back to 5 days a week, and now change my workouts every 2-3 weeks along with my diet and it helped. No magic answer but just what I have experienced...hope this helps...good luck!
  • Yooperm35
    Yooperm35 Posts: 787 Member
    can't see your diary, but if you are always in the negative and working out 7 days a week and only eating 1400 calories a day, my guess is you aren't eating enough. I'm 5'2" and weight #130, work out 6 days a week and try to eat about 1500-1700/day

    ETA: I was also stuck on the scale for about 3 months. I gained and lost #3 for 12 weeks. I finally upped my calories by eating back my exercise calories and trying not to have a negative net and then weight started coming off again. I lost about #7 in about 3 weeks

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