I cant lose weight!

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Replies

  • sazroy
    sazroy Posts: 262 Member
    @ op, maybe you're losing inches? are your clothes baggy? are you more toned and defined? how about changing your routine? try some yoga. or go to a class at your gym. get a work out dvd from the store.
    also, watch your sugar intake and sodium. I cut out a lot of salt and about 5 of my 11 lbs was water weight. If you're still in school, ask a gym teacher. If not, go to your old school and ask a gym teacher.

    ETA: My trainer made up a work out plan with me. cardio, lower body, upper body. try a day each of one thing. I was doing 65 minutes on the elliptical each night for months. sure, i'd burn a lot of calories but I wasn't seeing results. I still do cardio, but I mix it in with the stairmaster. cardio and lower body work out.

    @ genkiemi , there is such a thing as too much cardio and not all calories are created equal. a 4 oz piece of chicken breast may have the same amount of calories as a pop tart, but one has calories that give the body the needed energy. the other is known as an empty calorie. no nutritional value at all. When I was your age, and younger, I was taught this in high school. now that I'm older, speaking with doctors, dietitians, nutritionist, and personal trainers, I'm going to agree with the ones that are certified and have spent their lives researching weight loss.

    Thanks for understanding what I meant. It's about filling yourself with calories that fuel your body and nourish it. People are quick to jump on people who are saying "eat healthy"... too many people SEEM to want to find the answers through cruddy food and lack of exercise.
  • sazroy
    sazroy Posts: 262 Member
    Looking at your diary I have to say this, it's not just about how many calories you eat, it's about when you eat those calories and what is IN those calories. You could eat 1200 calories worth of peanut butter or 1200 calories worth of protein and vegetables.. I know which one of those will help you lose weight. Also, you seem to be eating breakfast everyday but only having lunch or dinner rather than both. If your target is 1500 calories, allocate yourself 400 for breakfast, 400 lunch, 400 dinner and then 300 snacks. On Friday you had no dinner but 889 calories in snacks? Is this right? And on Saturday you skipped lunch and had a 845 calorie dinner? Are you just not logging things in order or is this how you eat? You need to stabilise your metabolism, eat regularly, don't skip meals and make sure the calories you do eat are GOOD calories. Too many people stick to the 1200-1500 calories a day but the calories they eat are full of sugar or saturated fats. Friday you had 96g of sugar this is about 23 teaspoons of sugar. Try and reduce your sugar intake to 30g a day (this is roughly the recommended intake for adults males) play with this amount for a little while and assess how you feel.

    I have lost 18kgs and still have 11kgs to go. One thing I have learnt along the way is that you cannot trick yourself into thinking you're eating well because you're within your calorie goal, it's about what food you eat. 100 calories of vegetables is better then 100 calories of sugar.

    this is false. A study was done where the researcher himself ate 1200 cals a day in TWINKIES. no execise. And he steadily lost weight.

    Depends how long he did this for, you would lose weight from malnourishment and then you would plateau. I have been overweight my whole life and ate less than 1000-1200 calories a day. I actually joined MFP to make sure I started eating more. As soon as I ate more, and more good food, the weight fell off.
  • Didn't read any of the replies, but...are you taking measurements also? If you're strength training, you could be adding muscle and losing fat...so no change on scale, but perhaps in the way clothes fit/size?
  • sazroy
    sazroy Posts: 262 Member
    Looking at your diary I have to say this, it's not just about how many calories you eat, it's about when you eat those calories and what is IN those calories. You could eat 1200 calories worth of peanut butter or 1200 calories worth of protein and vegetables.. I know which one of those will help you lose weight. Also, you seem to be eating breakfast everyday but only having lunch or dinner rather than both. If your target is 1500 calories, allocate yourself 400 for breakfast, 400 lunch, 400 dinner and then 300 snacks. On Friday you had no dinner but 889 calories in snacks? Is this right? And on Saturday you skipped lunch and had a 845 calorie dinner? Are you just not logging things in order or is this how you eat? You need to stabilise your metabolism, eat regularly, don't skip meals and make sure the calories you do eat are GOOD calories. Too many people stick to the 1200-1500 calories a day but the calories they eat are full of sugar or saturated fats. Friday you had 96g of sugar this is about 23 teaspoons of sugar. Try and reduce your sugar intake to 30g a day (this is roughly the recommended intake for adults males) play with this amount for a little while and assess how you feel.

    I have lost 18kgs and still have 11kgs to go. One thing I have learnt along the way is that you cannot trick yourself into thinking you're eating well because you're within your calorie goal, it's about what food you eat. 100 calories of vegetables is better then 100 calories of sugar.

    So wrong it hurts, this whole the only way to loose is to eat clean is pure BS. Lets take your example 1200 cals of PB vs 1200 cals of protein and veg . Yes one gives you a more balanced diet, but they are still 1200 calories worth of energy for your system. Your body doesnt give a flying monkeys where it get its 1200 cals from as long as its getting its 1200 cals. You will find many people on here that eat dirty and love it, I for one am happily loosing with and guess what, I eat dirty, my diary is not all protein and veg, crossian every day, beer when im not working and its not stopped me one bit.

    Next to your point about meal timings, again more BS. Meal timings have no affect what so ever on your body, many people on here are doing IF where you have prolonged periods of not eat, and then consuming all their cals in a short window, suprise suprise they are loosing, even though going against your meal timing theory. Myself will often skip breakfast and have all my cals for lunch dinner and snakcs.

    So please when you are giving adivce don't say this is how you should be doing it, say this is how im doing it and its helping me, but there are others ways.

    Untrue. Your body notices if you eat say 1200 calories of chocolate. You will be getting much more sugar than say 1200 calories of vegetables. Bodies process things differently. Some people need more protein, some people need more carbs, ect. Not to mention that you're a male so it's easier for you most likely. If all you eat is say. ice cream, you're going to have a lot harder time getting healthier and gaining muscle and burning fat though, no matter what. Eating balanced is important otherwise, you won't or will have a very hard time being healthy as your body needs a proper balance of vitamins and minerals and all that jazz. Have you tried eating "clean" compared to eating "dirty"? If you haven't you can't argue as maybe you'd do even better if you ate clean, maybe not though. It also depends on what you think is "dirty". Eating clean doesn't mean you have to eat all veggies and protein 24/7 and never touch beer.

    Also, timing at night is important theoretically, as well as if you decide to eat right before an intense activity or after, and if you do it so that throughout the day you feel full and never feel the need to binge (hence why it is often suggested to have 5 small meals).


    Anyways, pleee, are you on any medications?


    THANK YOU! Clearly some people care more about weight loss than nutrition :/
  • Dauntlessness
    Dauntlessness Posts: 1,489 Member
    Get a good HRM with a chest strap to see how many calories your actually burning at the gym. I found that mfp and machines usually overestimate around 30-50%.

    Get a food scale if you don't already have one. Make sure you count every single thing and dont guess at portions.

    Eat more...find out what your tdee is and create a deficit from that. Believe me, eat to lose actually works. Saying that, it may be lower than the calculators numbers on the internet... Mine is around 2k but the calculators say 2600. I wouldn't be surprised with your height and weight it would be near 3k...so if I were you I would be eating at least 2k a day

    If all else fails, see a doctor because the numbers don't add up and maybe something is wrong.
  • Maybe your stuck in a routine? Keep doing the treadmill but try finding other cardio exercises that you like as well to mix it up a bit. Your body should respond better when you switch it up and keep it guessing. Jumping jacks can be very effective! Best of luck!
  • charleyreedto175
    charleyreedto175 Posts: 60 Member
    Hey: Look more to your food and what you eat. Try and eat at least three times a day. Spread things out. Eat real food and stay away from shakes and empty calories. Look at meals and not snacks as a food source. You can look at my log. I eat three meals a day. I work out with weights six days a week and do Carido for an hour to two hours daily. Sometimes I walk. Sometimes I run. Change things up. Find something you like and stick with it.
    I lose weight daily. I lose weight weekly, and I log and track everything. You can friend me if you want.
  • Ophidion
    Ophidion Posts: 2,065 Member
    To clear the debate a little bit I feel the need to clarify the definition of what a calorie really is.

    It is a measurement,the "food calorie", "large calorie" or kilocalorie (kcal or Cal), equal to 4.184 kilojoules. thus a 1 calorie= 1 calorie...equivalent units.

    Nutritional values are a completely separate set of measurements.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member

    This so this...

    As for anyone that tells you it depends on when you eat your calories pure bunk.
    Looking at your diary I have to say this, it's not just about how many calories you eat, it's about when you eat those calories and what is IN those calories. You could eat 1200 calories worth of peanut butter or 1200 calories worth of protein and vegetables.. I know which one of those will help you lose weight. Also, you seem to be eating breakfast everyday but only having lunch or dinner rather than both. If your target is 1500 calories, allocate yourself 400 for breakfast, 400 lunch, 400 dinner and then 300 snacks. On Friday you had no dinner but 889 calories in snacks? Is this right? And on Saturday you skipped lunch and had a 845 calorie dinner? Are you just not logging things in order or is this how you eat? You need to stabilise your metabolism, eat regularly, don't skip meals and make sure the calories you do eat are GOOD calories. Too many people stick to the 1200-1500 calories a day but the calories they eat are full of sugar or saturated fats. Friday you had 96g of sugar this is about 23 teaspoons of sugar. Try and reduce your sugar intake to 30g a day (this is roughly the recommended intake for adults males) play with this amount for a little while and assess how you feel.

    I have lost 18kgs and still have 11kgs to go. One thing I have learnt along the way is that you cannot trick yourself into thinking you're eating well because you're within your calorie goal, it's about what food you eat. 100 calories of vegetables is better then 100 calories of sugar.
    Bolded parts totally bogus information. Check my diary I skip meals, I typically eat over 30g of sugar a day (I eat that for breakfast) . What I do is eat what I want when I want (mind you I have a normal life and do just eat 3 meals a day but that's a choice rather then a prerequisate).

    As for the posts noted above all good reads esp for someone just starting down this road. Maintain a calorie deficet and you will loose weight. Make sure you are eating enough that you are sustaining your activity and don't worry about good foods and "bad" foods that just skews your relationship with food.

    I read every post sited here and after I did and followed what they said I started loosing more weight quicker...1lb a week and know that the information in these posts are much better then what you are going to get from most people.

    Find out what your TDEE is (you will find the calculation in one of those posts) and if you want to loose weight eat that minus 15-20%, continue your exercise if it makes you happy and you will see the weight come off...good luck.
  • lilolemeakared
    lilolemeakared Posts: 10 Member
    I am no expert and the advice I am giving works well for me so you can try it but honestly you are going to have to weed through the extreme, the biased, and the just plain crazy talk to find out what works for your body.

    What works for me is a 90% clean eating diet. So what does this mean? Calories are calories and no matter where you get them 1 calorie of a Big Mac equals the same 1 calorie if you were eating quinoa. The thing that makes them so different is how they satiate your hunger and the nutritional effects they provide your body with. So quinoa is a superfood. In my example I gave you a high fat, calorie laden example of a Big Mac. Which has offers little to no good nutrients. Then I gave you quinoa, which is known to be one of the top seven healthy foods which we should be consuming because of the nutrient dense calories.

    So for me, what do I crave? The Big Mac of course. Does the Big Mac satiate me? Yes and no, of course I want that sugary sweetness of a coke and the saltiness of the fries to go with it, right? Okay, say I am full but I have just blown my calorie count for the day and the weird thing is that I am going to be hungry again in just 3-4 hours. Lets go over to quinoa.

    I cup of quinoa is very fulling and has less calories than the Big Mac. The things you pair with quinoa is chickpeas, beans, onions, peppers, mangos, etc. you can make it as nutrient packed and flavorful as you want. It is really hard to overeat on fresh fruit and vegetables. However, too many fruits can mess with your sugar levels.


    But you are a young man and honestly, probably doesn't cook. So why am I telling you about Quinoa? So you will understand the difference. Today's fast food is almost as addictive to the average body as crack. This even true for today's processed foods. It is all of the chemicals, refined sugars and flours which put our digestive system on this crazy roller coaster ride. No, I am not saying to stop eating all processed foods and to stop eating out. But knowing and understanding your hunger is the goal here. So next time, if you have one of these items and you feel like you are on the roller coaster and need to eat, change it up. Go for something healthy. I go for foods that have only one but no more than three ingredients on the food label. Then drink a big glass of water. Substitutions here and there will shake up your metabolism and the more you explore and add fresh fruit and veggies into your diet the more you will crave them instead of the Big Mac.

    Just be smart. Crash diets do not work. Choose something that does not leave you neglected or deprived and stay away from programs which are too hard for you to sustain for a long period of time. I don't expect you to go as extreme as I did because you do not suffer from my ailments. Good luck.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    I feel sorry for you OP - this thread attracted all the weird and wonderful theories under the sun!

    It's really not complex:
    Be totally honest,consistent and accurate with your food logging.
    Eat at a small calorie deficit over a long period of time.
    Be patient - weight loss is rarely linear.
    Eat a balanced diet of foods you like, control your portion sizes.
    Do a mix of strength and cardio training for muscle retention and fitness.

    You don't need:
    To eat "special" foods.
    Supplements or "diet pills".
    Massive deficits.
  • arlenem1974
    arlenem1974 Posts: 437 Member
    the minimum calories for a women is 1200 but for a man its 1500. You should be eating at least that before exercising.
  • sazroy
    sazroy Posts: 262 Member
    I was just going to keep this between me and the OP but I wanted those of you who judged my opinion to know a bit more of my background. I am a 5 foot 1 inch female who was 30kgs overweight. I was huge. I hated food, I starved myself, my weight kept rising. Why? Because of what I ate, I ate very very little but what I did eat was all carbs and processed crap. Then I went on an eating plan that introduced more food into my diet, I went from 3 meals a day to 6 meals a day. I was stuffed, it was so hard for me to eat more. But I did it. In my first month I lost 6 kilos. My first week I lost 2.8kgs. It was falling off of me, and it was eating more food but eating more good food, I didn't cut out the bad food though, I had pasta, bread, even chocolate cake, but I also had whole grains, nuts, protein, vegetables. A few people on your forum understand what I mean but the others just seem to wanna argue. I just want to help you. You can download an ebook for free called Integrated Nutrition, it will explain what I mean by choosing your calories wisely. Still have you chocolate milk!! Just have less. People on there are arguing deficits are what make you lose weight, you cannot lose weight of you're not healthy, any doctor, trainer or nutritionist will tell you this, a healthy body works best. When you are healthy then the weight loss comes easy! You have to have your body functioning correctly. Nothing you eat is bad, so to the person who says I'm trying to make you have a bad relationship with food - they are wrong! I HAD a bad relationship with food, for my entire life. Now I love food, I eat heaps of food. I have chocolate, I have broccoli. I am healthy. That's what matters, there is no point being skinny if you aren't healthy, skinny people can be just as unhealthy and at just as much risk for cancer and heart attacks as overweight people. Be healthy and be happy in the choices you make. I believe it because I have been on diets since I was 11 years old. Can you imagine being 11 and attending weight watchers? Nothing worked until I changed my food. I read and I study and I learn, I choose to understand WHY eating my way works for me. Goodluck OP, you will get there.
  • jsuaccounting
    jsuaccounting Posts: 193 Member
    any Paleolithic humans who engaged in nutritionally motivated hunting would have done so in order to increase their food energy intake in order to maintain or gain weight, not in order to achieve weight loss… In view of this, the "Paleo diet" theory that overfed sedentary modern humans who need to lose excess adipose should regularly eat the fatty flesh and eggs found in supermarkets because active, underfed, extremely lean prehistoric people who struggled to meet their basic kcaloric needs ate lean game flesh or eggs whenever possible lacks basic credibility.

    Considering the evidence it is not surprising that many of the prominent proponents of Low-Carb and Paleo diets who have not partaken in caloric restriction have gained considerable amounts of weight while adhering to such diets.

    Do not eat more protein. The elephant is a large animal with large bones and fine tusks of ivory. It does not get fat but will not fit into the supermarket doorway. It eats grass leaves and thorns. You asked for advice - mine is consume starches like potatoes and rice and lots of green vegetables, oats and fruits.

    Log into J McDougall MD and follow his newsletter for a healthy heart. Keep your calories down to 1200 per day. Eat real foods and avoid processed foods. Do not consume any diet drinks nor anything with artificial sweeteners like asparteme because they can increase your weight due to interfering with your senses. Ask me any questions you like.
    Do not listen to this!

    You're a 5'8" 18 year old male. You need a lot more than 1200 calories.

    Totally agree with the above poster - get your full protein and stay well above 1200. If you are cutting calories cut from low nutrition carbs first. Trying to up protein may certainly help.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    I was just going to keep this between me and the OP but I wanted those of you who judged my opinion to know a bit more of my background. I am a 5 foot 1 inch female who was 30kgs overweight. I was huge. I hated food, I starved myself, my weight kept rising. Why? Because of what I ate, I ate very very little but what I did eat was all carbs and processed crap. Then I went on an eating plan that introduced more food into my diet, I went from 3 meals a day to 6 meals a day. I was stuffed, it was so hard for me to eat more. But I did it. In my first month I lost 6 kilos. My first week I lost 2.8kgs. It was falling off of me, and it was eating more food but eating more good food, I didn't cut out the bad food though, I had pasta, bread, even chocolate cake, but I also had whole grains, nuts, protein, vegetables. A few people on your forum understand what I mean but the others just seem to wanna argue. I just want to help you. You can download an ebook for free called Integrated Nutrition, it will explain what I mean by choosing your calories wisely. Still have you chocolate milk!! Just have less. People on there are arguing deficits are what make you lose weight, you cannot lose weight of you're not healthy, any doctor, trainer or nutritionist will tell you this, a healthy body works best. When you are healthy then the weight loss comes easy! You have to have your body functioning correctly. Nothing you eat is bad, so to the person who says I'm trying to make you have a bad relationship with food - they are wrong! I HAD a bad relationship with food, for my entire life. Now I love food, I eat heaps of food. I have chocolate, I have broccoli. I am healthy. That's what matters, there is no point being skinny if you aren't healthy, skinny people can be just as unhealthy and at just as much risk for cancer and heart attacks as overweight people. Be healthy and be happy in the choices you make. take a moment to actually ask me "why" why is this what I believe? I believe it because I have been on diets since I was 11 years old. Can you imagine being 11 and attending weight watchers? Nothing worked until I changed my food. I read and I study and I learn, I choose to understand WHY eating my way works for me Goodluck OP, you will get there.

    Those that are disagreeing with you know for a fact that in order to lose weight you have to eat in a calorie deficet. It doesn't matter what food you eat or when you eat it. That calorie deficet includes the exercise you do. Regardless of your background or your claims that you ate 1000-1200 and still gained still doesn't make what you say true. There are many people on this site who have years of education and/or personal real life experience to back up what they say where they have lost the weight years ago and have kept it off. You can say you have real life experience as well which is true but just because you have a certian perception doesn't make it so.

    As for not being able to lose weight if you aren't healthy Bogus....and there are real life situations that prove that too...


    There are somethings you say that are very true such as there is no bad food and no one is disagreeing with the fact that eating healthy is a good thing.

    Changing your food does not make you lose weight being a "true" calorie deficet does. They come here to help people when given albeit good intentioned bad advice.

    To the OP it is unfortunate your thread came to this but read the posts highlighted...go to the group Eat Train Progress, they know what they are talking about (I know from personal experience) and good luck and know that you can do it.
  • Ophidion
    Ophidion Posts: 2,065 Member
    Nothing worked until I changed my food. I read and I study and I learn, I choose to understand WHY eating my way works for me. Goodluck OP, you will get there.

    It is a public forum which means people are allowed to disagree with you or call you out on your reasoning or methods.
  • IroncladLuke
    IroncladLuke Posts: 21 Member
    like someone else just posted, log weigh, make things simple as you can