Im not new to this, so where am I going wrong?

Starting out a year ago losing weight was surprisingly easy!
Set sedentary settings to lose 1LB, ate back exercise calories, boom it melted off.

Now, Im about 4 - 8 LBS from goal, and I lowered my settings to lose 0.5LB and kept at sedentary.
Still eating back exercise calories. ( Two days a week, cardio in the gym )

Still measuring foods, still doing everything the same.
Still eating the same foods too ( Not very healthy, but hey -- diaries open )

I havent lost in about 4 months or so.
Other than going back and forth between the same weight.

Is somehow retained water masking my success?
Or am I doing something wrong, or not doing something I should.

5'2", Female, Age 21, 118LBS -- eating around 1320 calories ( more with exercise )

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, Id like to get the ball rolling again~
«13

Replies

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Have you made any changes to your workout recently? If not, then your body has probably adapted to it causing you to burn less calories than you did when you first started the routine.
  • Makoce
    Makoce Posts: 938 Member
    Have you made any changes to your workout recently? If not, then your body has probably adapted to it causing you to burn less calories than you did when you first started the routine.

    Nope I havent changed what I do, but Ive upped it a bit.
    I went from hiking 3 miles once a week to around 7.
    I went from doing 20 minutes on the elliptical to around 60.

    What Im confused about would probably be, if I eat back my calories anyway, whats the difference in how I burn them or how use my body is?

    I always underestimate the calorie amount by around 50 that the machine says to make sure Im not over eating them.
  • AllonsYtotheTardis
    AllonsYtotheTardis Posts: 16,947 Member
    You're already at a healthy weight, so your body isn't in a hurry to shed more. Water weight can mask losses (even just upping your workouts can do that - your body holds on to water for repair and recovery, more noticeable when you increase or change workouts - sounds like that's part of what you're seeing here).

    Are you weighing your foods, or just measuring? There can be a significant difference between the two, which has a bigger impact on your bottom line when you're so close to goal.
  • I always deduct at least 25% of what the calorie count on the machine says.
  • Makoce
    Makoce Posts: 938 Member
    You're already at a healthy weight, so your body isn't in a hurry to shed more. Water weight can mask losses (even just upping your workouts can do that - your body holds on to water for repair and recovery, more noticeable when you increase or change workouts - sounds like that's part of what you're seeing here).

    Are you weighing your foods, or just measuring? There can be a significant difference between the two, which has a bigger impact on your bottom line when you're so close to goal.

    Depends on what the food is.

    I do both measuring and weighing, but Im a lot more lax on the weighing.
    I only do it on meats or cheese, things like cereal I have always put into a measuring cup.

    But. Ive done it like that his whole time.
  • AllonsYtotheTardis
    AllonsYtotheTardis Posts: 16,947 Member
  • Makoce
    Makoce Posts: 938 Member


    Makes sense.
    Now if only eating so little was easier.
  • KyliAnne26
    KyliAnne26 Posts: 209 Member
    Your post in another thread about frequent binge eating:

    "Posting to keep track, I have the same problem!
    I over ate by 900 calories last night. I have serious self control issues.

    I make it to about 9PM as well, and tell myself the same excuses of restarting tomorrow or next week.

    I eat small meals low calorie during the day to have calories left over for night.....Im not sure if thats a good or bad thing.
    But its been helping a little. "

    - - could this be the problem? If this is happening often, It's easy to see how this could be sabotaging your weight loss. Also, your diary isn't open to the public, so we can't see what you're eating to help make suggestions.
  • Makoce
    Makoce Posts: 938 Member
    Your post in another thread about frequent binge eating:

    "Posting to keep track, I have the same problem!
    I over ate by 900 calories last night. I have serious self control issues.

    I make it to about 9PM as well, and tell myself the same excuses of restarting tomorrow or next week.

    I eat small meals low calorie during the day to have calories left over for night.....Im not sure if thats a good or bad thing.
    But its been helping a little. "



    - - could this be the problem? If this is happening often, It's easy to see how this could be sabotaging your weight loss. Also, your diary isn't open to the public, so we can't see what you're eating to help make suggestions.

    I exercised off those calories today at the gym. :B
    But yes, I have serious self control issues.
    I was over again tonight.....

    Im stuck in a loop of exercising off binges lately.

    It wasnt always like that.
    I never had this problem UNTIL I lowered my calories this low since Im close to goal.
    Even if I have my day planned out and have a great day, I shove food in my mouth.
    It makes me want to give up.

    But that persons post about there being less room for error when you get lower down definitely shows me it is the problem.
    Because I've been getting away with it until now.

    And oh, really?
    I could have sworn my diary was open. One second.

    EDIT: Whoops no, it was friends only. Public now.
  • Makoce
    Makoce Posts: 938 Member
    Would giving up be bad? Lol.
  • Phoenix_Warrior
    Phoenix_Warrior Posts: 1,633 Member
    Are you unhappy with the scale or mirror? If mirror maybe add strength training to help lower body fat %? Lift heavy! Look into New Rules if lifting for women or starting strength. :)

    edit to add- I mainly meant the number on the scale means very little. What you see is much more important.
  • Makoce
    Makoce Posts: 938 Member
    Are you unhappy with the scale or mirror? If mirror maybe add strength training to help lower body fat %? Lift heavy! Look into New Rules if lifting for women or starting strength. :)

    Both, haha.
    I still feel like I look so chunky and theres so much fat left on my body that you can not only see but grab handfuls of.
    Ive tried lifting but my gym membership expires soon and I cant renew it & weights are SO expensive.
  • Phoenix_Warrior
    Phoenix_Warrior Posts: 1,633 Member
    Are you unhappy with the scale or mirror? If mirror maybe add strength training to help lower body fat %? Lift heavy! Look into New Rules if lifting for women or starting strength. :)

    Both, haha.
    I still feel like I look so chunky and theres so much fat left on my body that you can not only see but grab handfuls of.
    Ive tried lifting but my gym membership expires soon and I cant renew it & weights are SO expensive.

    Maybe you could find a deal on a bench and weights on Craigslist? I've never looked myself but I know there's tons of deals on their on occasion. Maybe dumbell routines or body weight exercises too could help?
  • Makoce
    Makoce Posts: 938 Member
    Maybe. I'm starting to think weightloss isn't for me.
  • andysmom
    andysmom Posts: 61 Member
    Your ticker says you've lost 50 pounds. Now you're having trouble with the last 4 - 8 pounds so you think weight loss isn't for you? I'd say you've been very successful. Those last pounds may take a very long time and maybe never go away. The thing to focus on now is how to eat healthfully in a way that you can maintain. Eat for maintenance for a while, give your body a chance to adjust to the new lower weight, keep working out and if in two months, you're still not happy with where you are, try cutting calories a bit to see if you can get your body to drop some more. This may be your final weight - but strength training can still enhance your shape. Good luck. Don't give up! You've come a long ways.
  • Makoce
    Makoce Posts: 938 Member
    It's mostly in response to my sudden binging that is anywhere from 200-900 calories over a night.
    It makes me really discouraged and realize I may not be able to do this for the rest of my life. ( maintaining that is )
    I've come so far yes. But the feeling is so bittersweet.
  • Yes giving up would be bad. Especially if you have come so close to your goal weight. Ok. I took a look at your diary for today. All I see is some egg whites for breakfast, a lunch and all you did was snack the rest of your calories. Weight loss is more about food than exercise and it's the hardest thing to change. Heck, I'm still working on it myself. I don't know what you did in your day today but here is my advice (no judgment here. Just observations).

    1) eat a bigger breakfast. 46 calories for your first meal of the day is diddly squat. It should be near 200-300 calories. The higher the protein count the better. It will keep you fuller longer. I do see you usually eat cereal during the week though, not bad.

    2) Eat lunch and eat dinner too. You seem to skip lunch a lot and then snack snack snack.

    3) 2 (maybe 3) snacks a day at around 100 calories each. 800 calories (over half) of snacking. That could be spent on bigger meals and will likely keep you satisfied longer.

    4) 9.5 cups of popcorn has got to stop.

    5) stop eating your workouts. While in the beginning this was ok and some days you may need to eat a few more than the goal they give you, now that you are down to the last stubborn pounds you need the deficit.

    6) start strength training, like others have said. Find a good deal on craigslist. There are lots of workouts online on youtube. You can even find everyday people taping themselves doing P90X if you can't afford to buy the program yourself. Or find new cardio routines online.

    7) Consider working out more than just 2 days a week. Try putting it back up to losing 1 lb a week. it will still take you 8 weeks to lose those last 8 lbs. Nothing wrong with that.

    Sometimes if you keep doing what you always did the body just gets used to it and you plateau. Now it's time to revamp and rework what you were doing. Change it up. Good luck!
  • Makoce
    Makoce Posts: 938 Member
    Thanks. I definitely like how you listed that out.

    As far as why my meals are so small. I suppose it's because I'm trying to not go over at night when I binge. I'm basically trying to save the calories.

    Staying full doesn't matter as I shove food into myself even if I am full.

    It's really upsetting. But in going to lower my goal and try to stick it out.
    This way at least I can get it done faster and be able to up to maintenance.
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
    I think you should just go to maintenance at your goal weight now. Skip on ahead! You'll be great, and the lbs will slowly, slowly come off to fit that maintenance level. Go on and go off the diet :D Move on to the part you are waiting for and let your body catch up on its own time. It will.
  • sunsetzen
    sunsetzen Posts: 268 Member
    Just flipped through a bit of your diary and noticed that you eat basically nothing for meals (2 egg whites for bfast and thats it? Come on...). You are afraid to eat during the day because you know you will binge at night. But you're binging because you're hungry because you're starving yourself during the day. Perhaps if you actually ate meals, balanced with a variety of foods, you wouldnt feel the need to gorge at night and you could stick to one or two yummy snacks. So add some bread or potatoes (homemade hashbrown yum!) and bacon, ham or sausages to those eggs. Eat lunch AND dinner! And have a bowl of pudding or something else you like in the evening.

    I dont think its that weight loss isnt for you, its that you need to teach yourself how to eat properly. Losing the weight is only a bit of the battle. The rest is changing your mindset, facing your fears, and learning how to feed yourself for the rest of your life.

    It gets easier the more you practice.
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
    Spend a week at 1650+exercise then go back to your deficit.... ya do look thin, though
  • d3mon4ngel
    d3mon4ngel Posts: 242 Member
    You could try setting your goal to maintenance for a few months and see how it goes. What's the worst that could happen? You stay the same weight, but isn't that what's happening now anyway?

    You have nothing to lose (so to speak :tongue: )

    ETA: Bear in mind that you are in the lower range of healthy for your height, so maybe it's body composition that you should be aiming for rather than actual weight loss? Do you do much strength training? If nothing else, pushups and squats cost nothing and can be done at home with no equipment :smile:
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    When you binge, are you weighing and measuring that as well. Most people I know who binge are unaware of the volume of food they ate. It could likely be a combination of unaccounted calories during bingeing and increased water retention from increased activity recently.
  • jaz050465
    jaz050465 Posts: 3,508 Member
    You could do body weight exercises like 'Body by You' if you don't want to buy weights.
  • elyelyse
    elyelyse Posts: 1,454 Member
    As far as why my meals are so small. I suppose it's because I'm trying to not go over at night when I binge. I'm basically trying to save the calories.

    There's actually nothing wrong with eating very little during the day and saving your calories for night. Some people actually refrain from eating for a good part of the day and then eat most or all their calories in the evening! IF you can control what you eat at night, there's nothing wrong with that...it's only a problem if your hunger from the day causes you to lose control at night. You wanna eat 1000 calories for dinner and desert? Go for it. Just go easy during the day.
  • CharleePear
    CharleePear Posts: 1,948 Member
    Reading through this whole thread I am a little concerned. One thing for sure is weight loss does not come just by calorie intake and output, if that was the case I would be tiny by now. Another thing is, you are beautiful honey! Seriously! I would consider what you are telling yourself about yourself. The last little bit is not actually important and take it from me, your weight is not going determine how happy you are about yourself. I am the happiest I have ever been but I am also no where near the weight I would like to be (sounds like an oxymoron but believe me its not). I agree you are not eating enough during the day. Also what is your BMR? Keep an eye on your sodium levels, sodium makes you retain water. But all in all I think maybe trust that you are stunning the way you are and what the magazines, movies and even what others say about you is not what is important. What are you telling yourself? If you are really determined, I agree that body weight exercises are great for toning. Most of all believe that you are fabulous how you are and maintaining at this point wouldn't be the end of the world.
  • Makoce
    Makoce Posts: 938 Member
    Thanks guys! Your words help a lot.

    I think Im going to lower my goal just a bit so I have more wiggle room, and do more toning exercises like crunches or squats.
    Things that dont really need weighs.

    Im going to try to eat meals today and see the difference.
    ( Though a lot of you have said that I binge at night because Im hungry. I actually am not hungry when I binge/ and or am full but do it anyway. )

    Im going to try to weigh more things .. but how do you weigh a tablespoon of peanutbutter, or 30 grams of cereal?
    Do you weigh the cup first then put it in the cup and weigh that?
    Cause last time I put cereal on the scale it wasnt pretty LOOL.
  • elyelyse
    elyelyse Posts: 1,454 Member
    Im going to try to eat meals today and see the difference.
    ( Though a lot of you have said that I binge at night because Im hungry. I actually am not hungry when I binge/ and or am full but do it anyway. )

    While binging can certainly be an emotional issue...you may actually be hungry. You may not feel what we associate with hunger (rumbling belly, etc) but your body is craving nutrition.. I used to eat a TON of food that was low in nutritional value, so no matter how full my belly was, I was still hungry bc I need nutrients. BEFORE you feel the urge to binge...try to eat things that have lots of protein and some healthy fats. It really might be hunger...just not the kind your used to recognizing.
  • nikilis
    nikilis Posts: 2,305 Member
    Starting out a year ago losing weight

    you need to eat maintenance for a while and then go back to losing weight.

    ideally you should have a break every 3-6 months, so I'd say eat maintenance for a month or two and then get back on the deficit and up the workouts a bit.



    thats if you haven't been cheating somehow.....
  • Have you tried recalculating you TDEE? Maybe that could give you some better insight on how many calories you should be eating in order to continue losing. I do agree with arpiagape1, you are beautiful :) and I don't think you should give up now because you're having a problem with how much food your eating; isn't that how we all got started on MFP? You've lost 50 pounds, now is not the time to give up. Now is the time for determination to finish what you started.

    So, take some time today and figure out a new strategy because what you're doing isn't working for you.. You can do it and if you need support, it's not too far away :)