Please help! Not losing weight!!

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MadeLyndoNolan
MadeLyndoNolan Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I had posted before about low calories and I went ahead and upped my calories to 1400. I'm also doing some kind of exericise, from cardio to ab exercises every day. I don't always log that but it's not like I'm running a marathon, so I doubt I'm going over 300 a day in exercise. Well, at first I wasn't losing weight at all and today I gained a pound! I'm not eating anything bad and exercising, what is the deal? I'm watching my salt intake too, any ideas? This is so strange because, even after my 2nd child, I lowered calories and I would lose weight very easily. After my 3rd, it is really tough and I'm at a loss at what I'm doing wrong!

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  • DarrelBirkett
    DarrelBirkett Posts: 221 Member
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    Any fat loss is down to calories in v calories out. So, if you are not losing any weight at all over a long trend, then typically Id expect that you were not eating in a deficit.

    Maybe recheck your BMR / TDEE. Then accurately check your food over say a week. I say accurately as it is so easy to "think" you are eating X grams of X food but unless you weigh, who knows. Also watch out for hidden calories. Rule of thumb, if you eat/drink it, log it.
  • micheleb15
    micheleb15 Posts: 1,418 Member
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    You may have upped your calories on the site, but it doesn't look like you are consuming them according to your diary. The past week has been as low as 700 a day. You're not eating the 1400, plus not logging your workouts. You aren't doing yourself any favors by eating an average of 1000 calories plus working out.

    Working out will cause water retention, which will show up on the scale. Weight loss is about consistency and is unfortunately not linear. Actually eat 1400 calories, log your workouts and give it time.
  • nomeejerome
    nomeejerome Posts: 2,616 Member
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    So I had posted before about low calories and I went ahead and upped my calories to 1400. I'm also doing some kind of exericise, from cardio to ab exercises every day. I don't always log that but it's not like I'm running a marathon, so I doubt I'm going over 300 a day in exercise. Well, at first I wasn't losing weight at all and today I gained a pound! I'm not eating anything bad and exercising, what is the deal? I'm watching my salt intake too, any ideas? This is so strange because, even after my 2nd child, I lowered calories and I would lose weight very easily. After my 3rd, it is really tough and I'm at a loss at what I'm doing wrong!

    See the bold. Start logging accurately, start weighing everything, set realistic goals and be patient. Calorie deficit for weight loss and exercise for fitness. that is all. (It may be a good idea to stop labeling foods, such as good, bad, etc.)
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    What micheleb15 said!

    Two other things I noticed...

    1) quick added calories. If you're just being lazy and don't want to look something up but know for sure it's 50 calories, that's fine but it'd be better to either find something similar and tweak the serving to come up with the same calories or add a new listing to the food database. That way you can go back into your food diary history and know exactly what you ate. Plus, knowing the other macros may help you. Maybe that food is high in sodium or fat and is throwing your macro balance off.

    2) make sure you're weighing and measuring your foods. I get wanting to just guesstimate - that's what I do a lot too. But if you're having trouble losing, it can really help to weigh and measure things for a while so you can confirm that what you're logging is correct.

    And take body measurements too. Sometimes the scale doesn't show losses but the measuring tape will.
  • Docpremie
    Docpremie Posts: 228 Member
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    Although you upped your calories on paper, you're not eating them. You are also really low on protein intake, which doesn't help you maintain your lean body mass (i.e. muscle).

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet?hl=roadmap+short+and+sweet&page=1%23posts-14891590

    Read the first post of this thread, as it explains the TDEE-20% method of weight loss. Trust me, it really works!!! It will give you more calories to eat & makes sure you get adequate protein. If your protein intake is high enough & you add in some resistance training, you'll burn fat without burning a lot of muscle. I've lost 57 pounds & only 10% of that weight loss has been lean muscle mass. Your protein intake should be AT LEAST 1 gm/pound of lean body mass or alternatively 0.8 gm/pound of weight. For most women that is 100-125 grams of protein/day as a MINIMUM. I'm now 160 pound & 5-8 and eat at least 135 grams of protein/day. In fact, on Sunday I ate 205 grams of protein! If you start burning through your muscle mass, you will slow your calorie burn (TDEE), as muscle burns more calories than fat. When all you're left with is fat, everything slows done. Hence the need to conserve muscle!

    Once you figure out your calorie requirement, DO NOT eat under that goal & expect to lose weight. Eating below you BMR (basal metabolic rate) is always wrong, as your BMR only accounts for basic body functions for survival. Your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is what you burn in a day. If you eat at TDEE, you should maintain your weight. If you eat at a deficit to your TDEE, you will lose weight, hence the idea of TDEE-20%. As you get closer to your goal, your deficit should get smaller. Eating at a deficit of >20% should ONLY be done under the guidance of a physician! And as a physician myself, I will add that most physician do not have adequate training in nutrition & weight loss. You need to be under the care of a physician who specializes in weight loss, such as a bariatric physician in conjunction with a well trained dietician.

    One other point, a weight loss rate of 1 pound/week is ideal & sustainable. In the very beginning you may lose more due to water loss, but pushing for greater weight loss (unless you are morbidly obese & under a doctor's care) is not advisable or sustainable.
  • bill_i_am
    bill_i_am Posts: 180 Member
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    It really is this simple, believe me, I have been all over the place...and I read this and it just makes sense. Down 8 lbs since adjusting. http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/
  • Mia_RagazzaTosta
    Mia_RagazzaTosta Posts: 4,885 Member
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    So I had posted before about low calories and I went ahead and upped my calories to 1400. I'm also doing some kind of exericise, from cardio to ab exercises every day. I don't always log that but it's not like I'm running a marathon, so I doubt I'm going over 300 a day in exercise. Well, at first I wasn't losing weight at all and today I gained a pound! I'm not eating anything bad and exercising, what is the deal? I'm watching my salt intake too, any ideas? This is so strange because, even after my 2nd child, I lowered calories and I would lose weight very easily. After my 3rd, it is really tough and I'm at a loss at what I'm doing wrong!

    See the bold. Start logging accurately, start weighing everything, set realistic goals and be patient. Calorie deficit for weight loss and exercise for fitness. that is all. (It may be a good idea to stop labeling foods, such as good, bad, etc.)

    This.

    You don't know your actual intake if you don't weigh and measure everything.
  • LavaDoll
    LavaDoll Posts: 595 Member
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    how frustrating!

    have the doctor check your thyroid, sometimes after having children things go a bit off with the metabolism, and the thyroid needs attention.

    and maybe consider it is not how much you eat, but what you eat.

    for me, it is carbs and sugar that negate my efforts - i went low-carb atkins, and am seeing incredible results.

    and i do not eat mammals, just poultry and fish.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    After looking at your diary,my guess is you are not logging accurately and are consuming more calories than you think. For example, I saw quite a few "quick add" calories," which are generally our own estimations because we have perhaps forgotten all we've eaten or we don't have time to look up the calories and log it in.

    I also see a day where you didn't fully log your meals. I'll bet you were pretty busy that day. Perhaps you ate more that day then you thought.

    I say the above because:

    When you burn more calories than you eat, you lose weight.

    When you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight.

    When you eat around the same calories that you burn, you maintain.

    I would suggest making sure you log everything in accurately, including your exercise, This will help you to analyze when you go over calories, under, and to have complete control over your eating habits.
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
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    The only change I see in your diary is that you upped the goal number. But you aren't actually eating any more food, and you're still using the "quick calorie" function multiple times most days. Either you are vastly underestimating what you eat or you are netting 500-800 calories a day. Neither is a good plan for weight loss. Try really paying attention and accurately logging every single thing you eat, and try to hit your calorie goal every day.
  • MadeLyndoNolan
    MadeLyndoNolan Posts: 6 Member
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    I will start logging everything, but the exercise part is hard because I don't always know how much I burned. I really know that I'm not going over 1400, probably under but I will log it all. I do quick calories, when I don't have time to scan, like those cheese triangles I know are 25 and then I usually do the quick calories for my coffee creamer. I drink the only low cal one I can find, 20 calories per tablespoon. I normally just up it, just in case.

    I'm going to log everything and see what is going on. I'll check everyone's link that sent me one too. I'm baffled! I've done the same thing the last two pregnancies and it was flying off, I don't get why it's hard right now. My friend said to calculate my weekly calorie goal and make it fluctuate daily. Then she read to eat watermelon and add dairy? I'm wiling to try anything. The worse thing I have is the occasional ice cream at the end of the day, and that's onlly 60 calories - fruit bar. Sometimes I don't log towards the end too, because I see I definitely have more than 60. I will stop doing that and see if I notice anything. Thanks for all of your advice!

    My husband also said for me to stop checking my weight daily and wait for 2 weeks. I might try that too. I'm at work and I'm about to go to the 11th floor and plan on taking the stairs. I'm trying to get in exercise any way I can. If I weigh myself in 2 weeks and I haven't lost weight, I'm going to trash the scale and go eat a double western cheeseburger, fries and rasberry tea and just forget this whole thing! lol :wink:
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
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    Are you tracking your inches? You should start, if you haven't already. In addition to all the other suggestions people are giving. Weight is only one indicator of whether our efforts are succeeding.

    And yeah, hidden calories are everywhere. Estimate NOTHING.
  • MadeLyndoNolan
    MadeLyndoNolan Posts: 6 Member
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    It really is this simple, believe me, I have been all over the place...and I read this and it just makes sense. Down 8 lbs since adjusting. http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/

    I thought that was pretty good and funny, because the whole time I was saying I know I'm not going over my calories. If anything, I try to log more than what I ate for the calories. I gained a pound, so I guess something is messed up. The only thing that I really eat for lunch is my rice, bean and chicken mixture. Wonder if that is a lot more calories than I think. I only eat less than a cup every day. I may just switch to tuna and salad for a week and see what happens. Thanks for sharing.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
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    sometimes weight will go up and down because of natural reasons and not because you are on a diet or exercising :)
  • insaneteabag
    insaneteabag Posts: 34 Member
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    bill_i_am wrote: »
    It really is this simple, believe me, I have been all over the place...and I read this and it just makes sense. Down 8 lbs since adjusting. http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/

    Some good info here, and like people have said, you need to weigh and log EVERYTHING you are eating.

    However... Having said that, are you measuring yourself too?
    I didn't lose a single pound for the first 4 months that I started on my fitness quest and to date (it's been almost a year) I've only lost FOUR POUNDS. Granted I didn't have too much to lose anyway (my initial goal was to shift 1 stone) but I have lost so much body fat and inches so I'm obviously doing something right! I have been doing a lot of HITT and weights and can notice my muscles shining through in certain areas now - I believe this is why my weight hasn't changed too much.

    Another thing that I've started doing is taking weekly underwear photos to compare my body. It really helps on those days where I get so frustrated looking at the scales and feel like screaming "why won't you go down?!" And when I'm having a bad day I like to compare an old photo with a recent one to remind myself how far I've come. It can be so disheartening when the scales don't show the results you want but keep at it and once you've got your diet under control (weigh, log, weigh, log) you'll be laughing. Good luck :)
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Thread is a year and a half old.

  • donjtomasco
    donjtomasco Posts: 790 Member
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    This may be a record for past post retrieval.

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