Not losing ANY weight! Please Help!

Hi,

I've been really dedicated to my fitness regimen for the last 8wks or so (working out 5-7days/wk), but havent seen any weight loss in 3wks! I've gained FOUR POUNDS in the past 3wks, and it's really screwing with my ability to stay motivated...haven't lost inches either. I eat roughly 1500 calories per day, although I'm not always the best at tracking them in MFP. I just did a BMR calculation for the first time today, and it says it's 1781.2...if that helps.

Any advice is certainly appreciated!

Stats:
Female
28yr
220lbs
5'4"

Thanks in advance everyone :-)

Get better at it, and make sure you are weighing/measuring foods. Weight loss is a function of diet, not exercise.

Well, if you are gaining weight, you are consuming more calories then you are burning. You admit to not being a good tracking your calories. That is your problem. Please take that very seriously and you will see a difference.

Like the posters above noted, you need to weigh, measure & log all your food, drinks & snacks. Everything should be weighed on a scale, unless it is a liquid, then measure by volume. You need to be consistent to know your true calorie intake to make adjustments.

That said, if your BMR is really that high, then you're not eating enough (again, make sure of your actually calorie intake!) You are on the shorter side at 5-4, but with your weight, age & activity level, I suspect that BMR is fairly accurate. You should be eating between your BMR & TDEE. How did you set up your MFP account? You need to pick an accurate activity level. Too many folks pick "sedentary" when they are actually lightly active or even more. Also set your goal to lose no more than 1 pound/week to achieve a sustainable weight loss. Plateaus, inadequate intake & hunger are the biggest cause for people to quit. View this as a lifestyle change, not a diet. You need to find a happy medium between eating too much & dieting, so you can live with it for life! After finding your actually calorie goal, then eat back exercise calories. I'm not sure how you are measuring your exercise calories? If using MFP then most folks find their calories burns high & thus eat back 1/2-2/3 of the actual calorie burn. Other methods of measuring vary in accuracy depending on the device.

If you prefer a more constant daily calorie goal, then you can switch to the TDDE-deficit method. The following I just posted in another thread:

"If you let MFP set your calories, then yes, you eat back exercise calories. I decided to use the TDEE method mostly, because I didn't like the constantly changing calorie goal. ... If you want a more constant calorie goal, then I'd switch to the TDEE-deficit method & self-set your calorie & macro goals. For protein, ensure you are getting AT LEAST 1 gram/pound lean body mass--for most women that's 100-125 grams/day. Your fat should be set at 0.4 grams/pound of lean body mass. Carbs are whatever is left. Disconnect your FitBit from your MFP account, so it doesn't make adjustments to your calorie goal. Then meet your calorie goal most every day!!! If after 3-4 weeks, you're not losing then adjust your daily calorie goal by 100 calories & watch for another 3-4 weeks. You may need more calories or less calories, it can be a little trial & error from the TDEE-deficit calculation. If you need to lose >20 pounds, set your deficit at TDEE-20%. If your need to lose 10-20 pounds, then TDEE-10 to 15%, and once you're down to <10 pounds to lose, set your goal to TDEE-5-10%.

Meeting your macros, especially protein, is very important! You want to lose fat not muscle (lean body mass), so protein intake is very important. The more lean body mass you lose, the lower your BMR will be. That's where folks get lost in the "starvation mode" idea. It's not so much borderline/low calories cause "starvation," as it robs you of your lean body mass, and as the lean body mass drops, so does your BMR (i.e. daily basal calorie burn). Resistance training/heavy lifting is also essential for maintaining lean body mass/muscle as well. The combination really does work. Just look at my ticker! "

Hope this helps! Good luck!!!

Make sure you weigh food and log everythin. Electric scales are well worth it. Also, are you logging pasta accurately? I learnt that I was weighing dry pasta and logging cooked pasta. Making a 200 calorie lunch into a 450 calorie lunch :sad:
Good luck and hope you solve your problem soon

:flowerforyou:

Log everything you eat, no matter how small and no matter how tedious it can be. I'm pretty bad at this but getting better...I figure that if you're logging you need to do it right or you'll end up hurting your progress in the long run.

Also, invest in a food scale. After a good while you'll be able to measure more accurately without it (but not for a long while - you're not weight loss Jesus so just weigh whenever you can). And don't pay attention to anyone who laughs at you for doing it or thinks you're crazy.

Exercise honestly isn't that important to weight loss, but it's good for you and usually speeds up the process. You'll (hopefully) soon begin to enjoy it and you'll be that much healthier for it.

Lastly, don't get discouraged! Just remember, everything in moderation, setbacks are a part of life, winners never quit blah blah blah. All of these adages are true.