Why am I not losing weight? Please help.

I am a girl who is 5'6, I have been seriously trying to lose weight for about three months now, but I am not losing ANTHING. I have not lost one pound since March of this year, and in fact I have gained a few pounds. I eat no more than 1200 calories a day. I find what I eat to be very healthy considering I eat a vegan meal at least once a week, no fried foods, and lots of vegetables. I have noticed that my sugar is over what the MFP suggests too. Could this be the reason? My water intake could be better (around 40oz a day) but I also exercise at the gym at least three days a week, my workouts consist of elliptical, some biking, and leg training. I burn between 300-600 calories when I am at the gym. I also take raspberry ketones. What am I doing wrong?

Replies

  • sarahstrezo
    sarahstrezo Posts: 568 Member
    Are you measuring and weighing all of your food all of the time?
    It's either 1 or 2 things...either you are way under estimating the amount of food you are eating or you are way over estimating your workouts.
  • sarahstrezo
    sarahstrezo Posts: 568 Member
    Also...it doesn't look like your diary is open, so there isn't a lot people will be able to help you with unless you open it.
  • TheSlorax
    TheSlorax Posts: 2,401 Member
    can you please open your diary? do you weigh all foods with a scale and measure any liquids with measuring cups?
  • L4gym
    L4gym Posts: 81 Member
    You need to net 1200 calories on the days you workout.
  • kimosabe1
    kimosabe1 Posts: 2,467 Member
    This happened to me also and I ate more and started losing again. I upped it to 1350 and I ate my exercise calories at the same time. I am 5'5.5"
  • Sounds like your under estimating your intake. If MFP set your goal to 1,200 it means NET 1,200 not just eat 1,200.
  • dianefisher47
    dianefisher47 Posts: 224 Member
    I would think you are not eating enough, you say you eat 1200 calories per day and you burn 300-600 calories per day...that means some days your net is only 600...no one should ever eat below 1200 net....I ate for long time like that and I messed up my metabolism and still trying to lose ...eating too little makes your body go to starvation mode therefore everything you eat your body stores into thinking you won't feed it again..get your TDEE checked go to '' scoobieworkshop.com'' take care:flowerforyou:
  • shayemimi
    shayemimi Posts: 203 Member
    Opening your diary will help us see what's up...but basically you must be consuming more calories than you burn. I found, for me, it was easier to know for sure how much I was eating when I started weighing everything I could on a food scale. It's SO easy to over estimate serving sizes. Using measuring cups doesn't work for some foods, at least not truly accurately. That's a good place to start. Also, the calories your burning at exercise might not be as high as you think, so don't eat all your exercise calories back. Also make sure you count every single bite, and every drink you have, including creamers, etc.

    It all boils down to math...Burn more than you consume. If that's not getting you anywhere, you should talk to your Dr.

    Just keep at it and keep working hard! :D
  • I measure the number of calories I burn by what the machine says. Could this number be wrong? Also I do eat 1100-1200 taking in consideration how much I've burned off too.
  • kaylingonzales
    kaylingonzales Posts: 37 Member
    I am a girl who is 5'6, I have been seriously trying to lose weight for about three months now, but I am not losing ANTHING. I have not lost one pound since March of this year, and in fact I have gained a few pounds. I eat no more than 1200 calories a day. I find what I eat to be very healthy considering I eat a vegan meal at least once a week, no fried foods, and lots of vegetables. My water intake could be better (around 40oz a day) but I also exercise at the gym at least three days a week, my workouts consist of elliptical, some biking, and leg training. I burn between 300-600 calories when I am at the gym. I also take raspberry ketones. What am I doing wrong?


    Since you don't provide much info here (weight, etc.) all I can tell you is that you are
    a.overestimating what you are eating
    b. under eating and overexercising
    c. or are right on track and the weight gain is due to increase in muscle mass (which would result in a possible higher weight but looser clothing.

    What I cannot recommend enough is to take a little bit of advice from bodybuilders. (bear with me for a moment)

    Your body needs protein to build and maintain your muscles and organs. You don't need to go crazy with protein and you don't need to start eating meat but try to include more protein in your diet from tofu, beans, ect. A good rule of thumb for how much protein a non-bodybuilder would need to build and maintain a "toned" figure is roughly 1gram of protein for every two pounds of body weight (so if you were 160 I would recommend 80 grams of protein) I would say just based on your height that a range of 60-100 grams would be safe.

    Also doing more resistance training will help you shed body fat. By upping protein and doing resistance training you will build some muscle (again you won't look like a bodybuilder without some serious training, you can just get 'toned') and that muscle that you build will raise your metabolism and you will start to burn body fat. Steady state cardio is great for endurance but your body will adapt and make each workout less effective than the previous. Lifting some heavy (you start low and work up) burns fewer calories initially than cardio does but has a longer term effect on your body because it build the muscle that raises your metabolism and helps burn fat.

    I know bodybuilding can seem like a crazy thing to take advice from simple because few women want to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but if you do a little research and look up the bikini category of bodybuilding competitions you can see a lot of women that follow a lot of the same methods as the bigger bodybuilders but have really nice 'toned' figures.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    I measure the number of calories I burn by what the machine says. Could this number be wrong? Also I do eat 1100-1200 taking in consideration how much I've burned off too.

    Welcome, Lucky.

    In general, you are probably underestimating your food and possibly overestimating exercise calories burned. If you open your diary, we would be able to help.

    If you are five six, you should be eating more calories than 1,100-1,200.I can't imagine that MFP had 1,200 set as your alloted calories due to your height, but I could be wrong. From your ticker, it looks like you have very little to lose. You should set your MFP goals to lose 1 pound per week only.

    In any event, you need to up those calories and you need to eat back a good portion of your exercise calories. I'm five four four and have my activity level set to active (lightly active was too low for me, even though I work at a desk job. I was losing more than .5 pounds a week so I upped my activity level to active) and I exercise each day (weight lifting and running three times a week, elliptical and stationary bike the other three days of the week, unless I choose to walk one day and also do the stationary bike), eat 1,700-2,000 calories a day, and I am losing weight.

    I find the numbers on the gym machines where I enter my age and weight to be way lower than MFP, so I use them. I've been losing weight so those are the numbers I am sticking with. I also use the number on my pedometer when running because my pedometer has my age, weight, gender, and height.
  • ThatSoundsHard
    ThatSoundsHard Posts: 475 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

    Go read. Learn about how much you should eat and why.
  • eazy_
    eazy_ Posts: 516 Member
    Lol starvation mode.
  • kaylingonzales
    kaylingonzales Posts: 37 Member
    Lol starvation mode.


    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • eazy_
    eazy_ Posts: 516 Member
    Doesnt look like you have been weighing and logging. Use a scale and log your intake for a few weeks.
  • More info would help but ill do my best.
    First of all weight loss can be affected by weight training ie. muscle mass=fat mass.
    This is the reason i dont use scales much, bodyfat tests are only true indicator of whats happening.

    Try this for a month see how you go.

    IN the morning drink 200mls of water, get dressed for a walk. then take 1/2 teaspoon of l-carnatine and some form of thermogenic.
    Hit the pavement for a brisk walk for 45-60 mins. Then have a glass of water whilst making breakfast.
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
    You aren't eating 1200 calories a day. There's something you're not accounting for. You have to track everything. What you eat isn't as important as that calorie total. And you have to give it some time, it doesn't happen overnight. It's taken me two and a half months to lose 15 pounds at 1200-1350 calories per day.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    You've apparently ignored the most important question that people have been asking you - are you weighing your food? If not, you're probably overeating.
  • jrobinson143
    jrobinson143 Posts: 24 Member
    What made the difference for me last year (mind you everyone is different). I started off the morning with carbs and by dinner would only eat protein and vegtables. Fruit and carbs and of course protein are for all meals up to and including lunch. Go to bed slightly hungry and drink lots of water. Stay away from drinking alcohol (beer and wine, all of it), not for good but for now if you do drink. make sure you are working out with weights and doing cardio. Heavy weight lifting def helps, i lift heavy 3x / week and am the tiniest i've every been. I DOES not bulk you up.
    Eat at least 5 small meals, this will keep your metobolism working hard for you. Add me and msg me with any questions. I think someone else mentioned it but open your diary so people can view and give you feed back.
  • Maybe try exercising half hour before eating breakfast then exercise an hour after breakfast. Lower carb intake.
  • escloflowneCHANGED
    escloflowneCHANGED Posts: 3,038 Member
    You're not logging correctly, buy a food scale and measure everything and also throw out the raspberry ketones....

    Maybe try exercising half hour before eating breakfast then exercise an hour after breakfast. Lower carb intake.

    Why?
  • Hey, it's not easy but don't give up. I think the tough part is changing your routine and habits. I'm having a tough time adding exercise. You could try to shift your calories away from one type, like carbs. Lots of people do that. Seemed to help me but now I'm stuck too, probably due to snacking after dinner and not enough exercise. But you'll get things going if you can try different things and stick to them. It will work. I've lost 50 pounds. It's not impossible, just difficult.
  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
    Maybe try exercising half hour before eating breakfast then exercise an hour after breakfast. Lower carb intake.

    What on earth for?

    OP - weigh and measure every bite you eat. Log every morsel. Fuel your workouts. Be consistent and have patience. good luck.
  • lynn1982
    lynn1982 Posts: 1,439 Member
    If you're eating at a calorie deficit and not losing weight, have you checked with your doctor that you do not have any medical issues? Certain conditions (such as an under active thyroid) will make it nearly impossible for you to lose weight.