Help? I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. :(

She seems really knowledgeable....

eveunderground

Joined Aug 2010

Posts: 97

If your food diary is accurate in regards to what you consume, then # one, I would say you are not eating enough calories. When I was eating only 1200 calories a day, I stalled. Once I bumped my calorie intake up to around 1400 I started losing again. Especially if you are working out!
#2 I notice that you only track calories and fat and based on what you are eating, would imagine you are taking in a lot of sodium.
Would recommend you recalculate what MFP says you should be consuming based on a .5 pound loss per week based on an active lifestyle. If MFP only recommends 1200 calories, I would customize it under goals to increase that amount somewhat and also log your carbs, protein, sugar and sodium intake. Hope this helps.

As the pervious posters said, up your calories a little. I also stalled when eating 1200, I upped it to 1450 and the weight started to come off again.
Good luck.:flowerforyou:

so I'm going to go over a couple of things here. These are all observational based on a very limited amount of information so take it for what it's worth, to give a bit of background, I lost about 55 lbs about three and a half years ago. I continued on my journey figuring out that I liked researching nutrition and health and loved helping people, so even though my path is pretty firmly set, I stay on MFP to mostly help others and offer any advice. About a year ago I certified as a personal trainer from American Council on Exercise, and I have a strong chemistry background which allows me to read and understand much of the research that is put out better than the average person could (I like to think).

I say all this just to let you know that I'm not just some joe that has random thoughts, I do my homework. I should make you aware that this is all just my opinion based on limited information, so take it for what it's worth.

Anyway, first thing I want you to know is, going from good shape to great shape is not easy, nor will it happen overnight. A strong commitment must be made. I will admit that you have an advantage of age, your body will be far easier to shape than someone say, in their 30's.
OK, that said, the last few lbs are what we in the biz like to call vanity weight. Because your body doesn't need to remove it to be healthy, and it won't make it easy to do so. That in mind, you need to be a little bit more diligent than someone who is trying to lose 40 or 50 lbs would need to be.
I checked out two weeks of your diet, and well, there's no nice way to put it, you need to quit the processed food, pizza's, breakfast bars, deli meats, all are going to hinder your process. They won't make it impossible, but they will make it difficult. To strip those last couple of pounds, clean eating is the best way to do it.
Also, you need to eat very close to (or at) maintenance and let the exercise create your deficit. AND you need to make sure that deficit remains relatively small (say 250 to 350 calories max). This means you'll probably need to up your calories (I don't know by how much as you didn't provide your stats, height, weight, activity level, exercise types, any medical information...etc.)

Lastly, you need to know that the last few lbs are a slow process, you won't drop them in 2 or 3 weeks. For me, working out about an hour to an hour and a half a day, it took me most of two months to drop the last 6 lbs, it might not take that long for you, but it will be close. The body just doesn't want to get rid of that little bit of fat.

That's the quick and dirty of it, there's more you should probably know, but this is the basics of the end game of fat loss. You can PM me if you'd like a more detailed description.

good luck,
-Banks

PS Also try to boost your fiber intake from veggies and legumes.

And sodium

As much as you work out , you need to up your calories, I bet.

I am by no means overweight; I am simply trying to lose that last little bit of pudge on my stomach area. I work out 4-5 times a week for 45 minutes, interval training, and do at least 3 miles in those 45 minutes. Along with that, I have been doing toning exercises. As for my diet, I have been intaking 1200-1500 calories a day (depending on my fitness activity for the day) and less than 35 grams a fat.

It has been 5 weeks and I have literally had NO results. I have not lost any weight, any inches, and have not gained any muscle. What could I be doing wrong? Any help would be nice because I'm getting really frustrated and sad about this.

Thank you.

You may need more fat in your diet. Specifically, omega-3 fats. They burn visceral fat. And also make sure you're getting complex carbs.

Other than that, if you're already at a healthy weight, you may just have to accept that this is your body type and short of pastic surgery, it's what you have to work with.

Thanks for this post and the replies to it ( ESP Banks, whose articles I have been pouring over). I will try to increase my calories a bit based on this since nothing else is working