Not losing any weight for 6 weeks...help??

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purplecandle17
purplecandle17 Posts: 9
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, my name is Alex. I started tracking my calories 6 weeks ago and for the most part I stay at or under my 1650 calorie goal. I excersise at least 3 times a week, switching up doing yoga, walking, zumba, and strength training. My weight started at 204.6 and it hasn't moved AT ALL. Down to the ounce!! It's exactly the same! Not up, not down. What's going on??

I've swapped half my diet with fruit, veggies, meat, and whole grains. I only drink water, and always have. Ill be honest, I still have some unhealthy foods in my diet, but I've SIGNIFICANTLY cut down/out the crap I've been eating. No juice, no chips, no white bread, no candy, no sweets. I've never craved most of those either so I've never cheated with them!

I'm eating better than I have in my entire life! I used to eat a pizza every day, sometimes twice a day. I'm not exaggerating. And loads of pasta, lasagna, and bread. Now, whenever I do eat those things, I cut my portion size in half and stay under my calorie goal. I've even swapped pasta sauces to healthier alternatives and use lower carb, whole grain pasta. But the thingis, I don't even have pasta often anymore. I have it once or twice a week. So I don't know what's going on here...please help! I'm SO frustrated!!

Replies

  • astartig
    astartig Posts: 549 Member
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    it would help if you opened your diary for people.

    Do you have a food scale and weigh your food? congratulations on eating healthier. that's a good thing. are you eating back your exercise calories?

    estimating calories in a portion wrong, and overestimating calories burned are two ways in which you could seriously mess up your goals.
  • twinketta
    twinketta Posts: 2,130 Member
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    Hi, my name is Alex. I started tracking my calories 6 weeks ago and for the most part I stay at or under my 1650 calorie goal. I excersise at least 3 times a week, switching up doing yoga, walking, zumba, and strength training. My weight started at 204.6 and it hasn't moved AT ALL. Down to the ounce!! It's exactly the same! Not up, not down. What's going on??

    I've swapped half my diet with fruit, veggies, meat, and whole grains. I only drink water, and always have. Ill be honest, I still have some unhealthy foods in my diet, but I've SIGNIFICANTLY cut down/out the crap I've been eating. No juice, no chips, no white bread, no candy, no sweets. I've never craved most of those either so I've never cheated with them!

    I'm eating better than I have in my entire life! I used to eat a pizza every day, sometimes twice a day. I'm not exaggerating. And loads of pasta, lasagna, and bread. Now, whenever I do eat those things, I cut my portion size in half and stay under my calorie goal. I've even swapped pasta sauces to healthier alternatives and use lower carb, whole grain pasta. But the thingis, I don't even have pasta often anymore. I have it once or twice a week. So I don't know what's going on here...please help! I'm SO frustrated!!

    Alex, welcome, and as the other poster said unless you open your diary (scary stuff I know) then nobody can give you advice?

    Seriously though coming from somebody that used to over eat (I didn`t think I did) no matter how much you change your diet if you guess at food and do not log correctly then even changing from pizza to salad will not work.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    Do you have any medical issue such as PCOS or Hypothyroidism? Also, do you measure and weigh your food?
  • purplecandle17
    purplecandle17 Posts: 9
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    I do measure my food, and I got my thyroid tested and apparently mine is just above the borderline of normal and over active. So it's not under active. But it's not over active enough to take medication or anything. What is PCOS?
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
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    Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome, or something along those lines.

    Well, if you were a beginner to strength training, this would cause your body to start storing extra water and glycogen in your muscles, increasing your weight, but over 6 weeks I would have expected an overall downward trend.
  • purplecandle17
    purplecandle17 Posts: 9
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    Oh, I thought my diary was already open. How do I change it?

    And I log it in correctly most of the time except when I can't find the specific food. Then I log in the calories on the high end of the closest thing I find, just in case., I'm a freak about measuring haha. But you'll see in my diary once I open it that I do not have a 100% healthy diet by any means. What I've been doing is slowly making a lifestyle change I can sustain over time and hopefully for the rest of my life. All my meals used to come from either going out to eat, fast food, pasta, or pizza. I eat fruit, mostly berries a lot. I also love green beans and yogurt. I've swapped out most of my fast food with whole grain peanut butter sandwiches. And oopsie, I forgot to add that I do eat sun chips when I'm at work because they're easy to pack...but I measure that as well. And it's a heck of a lot better than what I used to eat at work (leftover pizza or Asian food).

    So even though I still eat some of that stuff, it's a huge improvement for me that I'm proud of :) I have a long way to go...but shouldn't changing my diet, staying at my goal calorie limit, and exercising make me lose at least a pound? It's literally been exactly the same the past 6 weeks. Which is good since I'm not gaining but....yeah :/
  • purplecandle17
    purplecandle17 Posts: 9
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    Oh, I don't think I have that.

    Yeah I thought so too. I'm probably doing something wrong...I think it might be my diet. But I've changed it from what I used to eat and added excersise so why wouldn't that work at least a little bit?
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
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    Well, the most important aspect to weight loss is eating at a caloric deficit. Your daily goal seems within reason, so that isn't an issue. The other issue is ensuring that you are not underestimating the amount of food you're actually eating, but you say that you weigh and log everything. How is your sodium intake?

    The fact that you eat foods that you consider "unhealthy" is not an issue at all. Many of us here do.

    I would give it another month.
  • faithnna
    faithnna Posts: 42
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    As everyone stated, can't really give any help without an open diary. But if you are truly eating that much a day, quality of food isn't a super huge factor as long as you aren't just eating crappy food. Make sure you hit your calories & macros daily (or as close as possible). I give myself whatever food I'm craving as long as I stay within my calorie goal & don't overdue any macro too much.
  • purplecandle17
    purplecandle17 Posts: 9
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    My diary is open now! Sorry! And I think it may be my diet...cuz I'm not eating super healthy, but it's super healthy compared with how I used to eat, so I would've thought I'd lose SOMETHING, ya know? I used to eat 2 pizzas or pizza rolls every day, I went out to eat every single day, never touched veggies, fruit, or limited my calories. I don't know. My sodium levels are still high...and I'll be working on that this week. Now that you can see what I've been eating, do you have advice?

    P.S. - I've been nannying for a family for a week and all they have is white bread or junk food....so I haven't been eating like usual. I do eat pretty much any fruit they say I can have though :/ For a better look, I'd go back a week in my diary.
  • purplecandle17
    purplecandle17 Posts: 9
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    My sodium intake is pretty bad, now that you mention it. I opened my diary so you can look at it. This past week has been pretty bad, going back to school and working full time plus working the fair. regardless, if you could point out some changes I can make to lose weight that'd be awesome :)
  • andiebaco
    andiebaco Posts: 211 Member
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    IMHO... I think you're eating too many carbs and not enough vegetables and fruits and protein... The only fruit that I see in some days is either at breakfast or at lunch!

    And I see zero vegetables!

    I'd start increasing veggies and fruits and protein (maybe a salad + grilled chicken for lunch or dinner, or a vegetable soup and some grilled fish?) and cut the pre - made food, not because they are bad, but because it'd be more filling for you (and they have more fiber and they help you *move* and that makes you weight less :flowerforyou: )

    Good luck!
  • purplecandle17
    purplecandle17 Posts: 9
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    You're right, I haven't been eating my veggies lately. I was eating steamed green beans a few days a week regularly, but I see now that I haven't do e that in a while...whoops!! Guess I wasn't eating as well as I thought. I never really look back on my diary after I finish it! And yes, I usually eat fruits for breakfast and lunch, for some reason I never want them at night. Ill work on cutting carbs, and sodium because that's wayyyy too high. Thank you!!
  • Gooddaytostart
    Gooddaytostart Posts: 22
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    AS I have noticed not too many people eat "real clean" all of the time. Just make sure you are measuring correctly and also some of the exercise calories are just not correct. There is no way I burned 415 doing 45 minutes of Zumba. I am thinking about getting a Zipfit because these people on here swear by it. Even then I might cut some off, because even technology isn't always right. You will find out what it is you are doing. Just keep a watch on the carbs! My doctor told me to cut to 150 gms and I did and the weight came off a lot faster. I know some people can eat what you do in carbs but my body can't. I hope you find the problem.
  • smn76237
    smn76237 Posts: 318 Member
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    When you say you measure your food, do you mean with cups or with a scale? Because measuring anything other than liquids with measuring cups is inaccurate. There are often huge discrepancies between scale weight and cup measurement (ie, 1 tbsp of peanut butter will almost undoubtedly have more calories than 16g of peanut butter).
    Weigh everything, even fruits. You often eat "1 small apple" and put it as 55ish calories, but I've yet to eat an apple that was under 90 calories.
    If you don't want to buy a scale, you might need to consider lowering your calorie goal.
  • purplecandle17
    purplecandle17 Posts: 9
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    I had no idea you couldn't measure dry food in cups! :( I may be way off in some of my measurements then...yikes. And as for the apples, I do buy pretty small apples, but I suppose it won't hurt to put them at 90 calories from now on. Thank you for the suggestion, and I will definitely invest in a scale! :)
  • purplecandle17
    purplecandle17 Posts: 9
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    Yes, I agree with the exercise suggestions! I usually use an estimate based off my heart rate, then add it in manually. I'm not very active usually, so when I exercise I'm sweating buckets! It's gotten better now and I can last a lot longer than usual on cardio and even walking/running.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    I would recommend a good food scale. They can be had for like $15. I suspect you are under estimating calories and that is why you are not losing. Also, drop some of the breads and pizza and pick up some protein. Start to pack lunches and snacks so you can more easily track calories.

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