Non-weight loss

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I am having trouble losing any weight. I log my exercise and food consumption on a regular basis and based on the program I should have lost 10 plus pounds by now.

I tried earlier this year to lose weight but again no weight loss and I was walking and riding my bike on a regular basis.

I know some people will think I am lying about either food or exercise or both but I am not.

I do not know if it is my age slowing my body metabolism or what.

Any ideas or thoughts?
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Replies

  • overcominglazy
    overcominglazy Posts: 19 Member
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    Does 'on a regular basis' mean every day without fail and accurately? Do you have a way of estimating your calorie burn from exercise correctly (or not eating back all your exercise calories to compensate)? It's not really a case of people thinking that you're lying but that you might be missing something. Do you weigh all your food using a scale? If not, your calories may be very inaccurate. What time of day do you weigh yourself? Water retention from sodium and exercise as well as weight from food can obfuscate weight changes. How long has it been? Trying for too much weight loss in a short period of time doesn't always work out, resultswise. The body doesn't necessarily work with 'should have's

    Age can have an effect on metabolism, but there are lots of older people who have lost weight successfully and kept it off.

    If you are doing everything correctly and are not losing any weight at all then you should see a doctor to see if there is anything wrong hormonally.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
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    Do you eat your exercise calories back?

    Opening your diary could be helpful here.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    If you're not losing, then you're not eating at a deficit. You're not necessarily a liar, though.

    1. Get a food scale. Weigh everything you eat. (If you really hate it, put an empty measuring cup or spoon on your scale. Zero out the scale. Measure a food. Weigh the full cup or spoon. From now on, you can measure that food but enter the previous weight. Repeat for all the foods.)

    2. Learn to find accurate database entries. When you scan barcodes, verify the listing against the label. When you search, look first for USDA values.

    3. Be honest. This took me months of logging to master. My diary was private, so I was only lying to myself. I'd get mad at myself for doing it, but it still took months to be 100% honest w/ myself.

    4. Don't eat back all your exercise calories. Try half. If you can afford it, get an activity tracker, like Fitbit or UP by Jawbone. I didn't lose much weight at all until I got one.

    5. Open your diary. There are people here who want to help you.
  • SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish
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    If you're not losing, then you're not eating at a deficit. You're not necessarily a liar, though.

    1. Get a food scale. Weigh everything you eat. (If you really hate it, put an empty measuring cup or spoon on your scale. Zero out the scale. Measure a food. Weigh the full cup or spoon. From now on, you can measure that food but enter the previous weight. Repeat for all the foods.)

    2. Learn to find accurate database entries. When you scan barcodes, verify the listing against the label. When you search, look first for USDA values.

    3. Be honest. This took me months of logging to master. My diary was private, so I was only lying to myself. I'd get mad at myself for doing it, but it still took months to be 100% honest w/ myself.

    4. Don't eat back all your exercise calories. Try half. If you can afford it, get an activity tracker, like Fitbit or UP by Jawbone. I didn't lose much weight at all until I got one.

    5. Open your diary. There are people here who want to help you.

    Exactly what she said above. And dont think of it as "lying", its normal human nature to mis-estimate, and food companies specialize in making you mis-estimate and think you have a lower calorie option by sneaking and reducing the portion size they are defining as a "serving". Its how they make more money and make you feel good about buying their product.

    I have no reason to "lie" but if I make myself stop and measure the portions it is always larger than I estimate, and by the end of the day I can usually remember SOMETHING I forgot to log here and there over the week, sometimes I even remember something days later that I forgot to log...its VERY easy to forget to log or under estimate.
  • afat12
    afat12 Posts: 178 Member
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    How long have you been on this program? Sometimes it takes several weeks for the weight loss to show. I'd also recommend taking log of every single thing you eat. If you don't, you'll forget and it really adds up. Best of luck to you. :smile:
  • stew71455
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    Thank you all for tour impute and suggestions. I do not weigh my food and do not try to eat back my calories. I use the program so far as a guide but when I go to a restaurant it is hard to gauge the portion size. The other area is proper calorie burn, I have my bike on a magnetic trainer but judging what is moderate versus light can be a problem. I am looking at the Fitbit so that may be a solution to track calorie burn but in short term I have been riding my bike 2 times per day a few days a week since the weigh in trying offset the food tracking that may be in correct. The diary is now open.

    Thanks
  • stew71455
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    I decided to start monitoring my heart rate during my exercise time to ensure I get my heart rate up to assist in my weight loss attempt.
  • oiseau17
    oiseau17 Posts: 142 Member
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    Thank you all for tour impute and suggestions. I do not weigh my food and do not try to eat back my calories. I use the program so far as a guide but when I go to a restaurant it is hard to gauge the portion size. The other area is proper calorie burn, I have my bike on a magnetic trainer but judging what is moderate versus light can be a problem. I am looking at the Fitbit so that may be a solution to track calorie burn but in short term I have been riding my bike 2 times per day a few days a week since the weigh in trying offset the food tracking that may be in correct. The diary is now open.

    Thanks

    Weighing your food is one of the biggest keys to successful calorie counting. You can pick up a food scale for less than $20 bucks and it'll make all the difference. You are most likely eating more than you think. As far as restaurant dining, check their website or ask your waiter for nutrition information. If it's not available of course you just have to log it as best you can. Once you're weighing everything you eat for several weeks, folks here will be able to critique your diary and help you fine tune your calorie goal if you're still struggling to lose. Much luck!
  • bekahlou75
    bekahlou75 Posts: 304 Member
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    From looking at your diary I would guess your goal is 2,000 calories per day? You have to make sure you are logging every thing and cut back on the sodium. It's in the red on several days. Alot of restaurants now have a "light" section to the menu. You could order from there or get vegetables for the sides. Any little bit helps. If the dinner plate is large, eat half and take the other half home for lunch the next day.
    I will say that if you have a higher calorie food day, then don't eat the exercise calories.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    weigh your food. It's that simple...

    Make sure you are choosing good options from the database....*generic* wouldn't be my first choice...I always go for the USDA versions or google it myself and add it to be sure.

    Weight loss is as simple as calories in vs calories out...

    and to show you why a food scale is important...

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think
    I didn't weigh my food either...logged it and lost 1/2lb a week when I should have been losing 1...
    Starting weighing it...bam 1lb a week with a woosh of 2 one week.
  • stew71455
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    You are right in that I am trying to be below 2,000 calories per day. I looked at the sodium intake and you are correct that I am above the sodium redline most days. My question would be if I increased my water intake would this off set the sodium levels? I plan to quit adding salt but my household eats outs at least4 to 5 times per day per week and sodium will be a problem.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    If you're consistently not losing, it's not water weight. You're not eating at a deficit. Weight loss takes a whole lot of trial & error to find what works for you.

    Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • jess135177
    jess135177 Posts: 186 Member
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    MFP overestimates calorie burn. Also don't use "generic" or "homemade" chili unless you added that recipe. There is a huge margin of error there.

    ETA: a fitbit would be a great investment. I have one and it really has helped me figure out my TDEE!!
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
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    When using MFP, or any other weight loss tool involving calorie counting, you need to check estimates against results. If you're not losing weight, then by definition you are eating your maintenance requirement, including exercise, so the way to lose weight is to eat fewer net calories. When I started with MFP, I set it to 1.5 lb./week loss, but I was really losing only about 1.1 lb./week. I'm not a freak of nature, so apparently I was underestimating my net calories by about 200/day. I was happy with that rate of loss, but it was sobering to realize that despite my best intentions, I was missing around 10-12% of my calories every day.

    It looks like you're overestimating exercise calories, at least on the bike. Your diary has entries such as 30 minutes of light stationary cycling for 352 calories (from Tuesday). That's nearly 12 calories a minute. To burn that many calories per minute, I need to be cycling around 18-20 mph, with an average heart rate of 155-160, and sweat pouring down my face. When I'm cycling at what I consider to be a light speed - a speed around 12-13 mph, where I can carry on conversations, daydream, etc., without concentrating on cycling - I burn more like 5-7 calories a minute. (At 10 mph, I burn about 4.5 calories a minute.)

    I would recommend using a heart rate monitor if you can afford one. For the greatest accuracy (short of calorimetry), check out those that use Firstbeat's proprietary algorithm, which is a lot more accurate than typical HRM estimates:
    http://www.firstbeat.com/consumers/heart-rate-monitors

    Whatever method you use to estimate exercise calories, you should use your results to tweak your goals appropriately.

    [ETA: clarification of one sentence.]
  • stew71455
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    Thanks for the insight on the bike. I was just adding ride time from the exercise section and do not know how to relate moderate or light exercise in this data base. I have a watch made by Sport Line that monitors heart rate, distance and calories burned which I have only used for walking to measure distance and would glance at calories burned.

    Since I ride on the mag trainer I typically read and listen to my iPod so the calorie burned is probably overestimate. When I record moderate riding I know for over half the ride time I have my heart rate above 115 to up to at least 125 ,which for my age is my target zone

    I have been leary of fitbit since a lot of reviews have been mixed but I will check outfirstbeat
  • MaryJane_8810002
    MaryJane_8810002 Posts: 2,082 Member
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    Have you talked to your doctor? There may be a medical reason.
  • stew71455
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    I have an annual physical planned for 1/21 and plan to discuss the weight loss issue with the Doctor then. The Doctor PA is the one who recommended I start using the Protein Shake and the GNC folks thought the
    Lean Shake would be better due to my age.

    I recently started trying the Green Tea concentrate pills on the recommendation of my local health food store well as the Garcinia Cambogia supplements my friend recommended I try. Not sure if there are any benefits to using these but plan to ask the Doctor her opinion tomorrow. My Doctor just started a weight loss group as a side line business so I am interested in what she may have to say
  • stew71455
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    I went to the LiveStrong website to review their information regrading calories burned on a stationary bike. The Livestrong information is very similar to what is in the myfitnesspal application
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    The calorie counts & burns are estimates. You can reduce the margin of error by eating back half your exercise calories. Also, weigh your food.