Not loosing weight, why?

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LighterLifestyle
LighterLifestyle Posts: 20 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Thought I was really working hard, going to exercise classes every day but one, and sticking to 1000cals with exercise allowance, otherwise net cals approx. 1400. Am 63 and mostly inactive otherwise. What am I doing wrong as not lost any weight at all. Over my protein on daily recommended but well within everything else........please, please help I am desperate.:sad:

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  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    You need to give more information to get good feed back and open your diary up so people can see it. What is your current weight/height and what it your calorie goal. From your OP I am not sure you understand what your net calories are. What is your exercise routine and when did you start your diet and exercise.
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    Thought I was really working hard, going to exercise classes every day but one, and sticking to 1000cals with exercise allowance, otherwise net cals approx. 1400. Am 63 and mostly inactive otherwise. What am I doing wrong as not lost any weight at all. Over my protein on daily recommended but well within everything else........please, please help I am desperate.:sad:

    Are you using a food scale to weigh all of your solid food? When using measuring cups for solid food, it's quite easy to be 50-100 calories over for just one food. Multiply that by every food, all day long, and you can see where you could be over by several hundred calories per day, and eating at a surplus when you thought you were eating at a deficit. There are some really good food scales on Amazon for $15-$20. I bought one myself and found that even my morning oatmeal with brown sugar was nearly 100 calories off. If your aren't losing weight, you aren't eating at a deficit.
  • imjolly
    imjolly Posts: 176 Member
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    It took about 6 weeks for me to start losing weight. Give it time. Once I got over the 6 week point I started losing weight and have no problem keeping it off. Also, you are building muscle when working out which weighs more than fat. Hang in there you will see results. Good luck!
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    It took about 6 weeks for me to start losing weight. Give it time. Once I got over the 6 week point I started losing weight and have no problem keeping it off. Also, you are building muscle when working out which weighs more than fat. Hang in there you will see results. Good luck!


    Erm, no. If eating at a deficit, you don't build muscle, you need to eat a surplus to do that. It does happen sometimes in the very obese that a small amount of muscle is built from burned fat, but the calorie deficit requires the body to burn fat stores, not to build muscle.
  • sunnshhiine
    sunnshhiine Posts: 727 Member
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    open your food diary. can't help much without being able to read it.

    "losing" is so much better than "loosing" anyways....
  • alecno
    alecno Posts: 27 Member
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    It took about 6 weeks for me to start losing weight. Give it time. Once I got over the 6 week point I started losing weight and have no problem keeping it off. Also, you are building muscle when working out which weighs more than fat. Hang in there you will see results. Good luck!


    Erm, no. If eating at a deficit, you don't build muscle, you need to eat a surplus to do that.

    This is false. If this was true you would wither away into a skeleton unless you were a bodybuilder. Your body (and you, with strength training) can build muscle anytime. However, while in calorie deficit, it is significantly slower. More of a maintain-baseline thing.
  • dejavuohlala
    dejavuohlala Posts: 1,821 Member
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    Yes you need to open your diary and then people can help you more, how tall are you how much do your weigh.

    Get some really supportive mutual friends on here and you will soon get to grips with the best way to lose
  • LighterLifestyle
    LighterLifestyle Posts: 20 Member
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    Thank you, how do I open up my food and exercise diary?
  • juliemouse83
    juliemouse83 Posts: 6,663 Member
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    Thank you, how do I open up my food and exercise diary?

    From "My Home" click "Settings," then select "Diary Settings," scroll down to the bottom and under, "Diary Sharing," click "Public" then save.
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    It took about 6 weeks for me to start losing weight. Give it time. Once I got over the 6 week point I started losing weight and have no problem keeping it off. Also, you are building muscle when working out which weighs more than fat. Hang in there you will see results. Good luck!


    Erm, no. If eating at a deficit, you don't build muscle, you need to eat a surplus to do that.

    This is false. If this was true you would wither away into a skeleton unless you were a bodybuilder. Your body (and you, with strength training) can build muscle anytime. However, while in calorie deficit, it is significantly slower. More of a maintain-baseline thing.

    You can either burn fat in a deficit, and maintain muscle strength with weight training and protein macro maintenance, or you can build muscle in a surplus.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    You are 63, and I assume that you are not working outside the home? If the only real activity you get is from your classes, and the rest of your day is fairly sedentary, then you may not really be getting much calorie increase overall from your classes. Don't get me wrong, it is definitely good that you are going to those classes, just that you probably don't need to be eating back the calories from the classes.

    I am 50, 5'6", and probably around the same activity level as you are. I maintain my weight around 1500-1600 calories total.
    Since you are 13 yrs older, and possibly shorter, your maintenance level might even be lower than mine.

    As someone else pointed out, miscalculations in measuring foods, or errors in food info in the database, can add up to 100 or more calories under reported. When your TDEE is so low to begin with, this can easily negate your deficit.

    So either you are eating more than you think you are, are burning less than you think you are, or simply need fewer calories than you think you do. A combination of these factors is resulting in you not having a calorie deficit.

    This is why it is so much harder to lose weight, the older you get, for the majority of us. Hormone changes also affect TDEE.
    But it isn't impossible. You just need to be even more careful and consistent. And have LOTS of patience. :flowerforyou:

    ETA- try eating 1200-1300 total calories a day, without adding any extra for exercise.
    Lower your carb intake and increase protein, (shoot for 60g or more a day), and get 30-40g of healthy fats in, (nuts, avocados, olive oil, etc)
    The protein will help retain muscle mass. Lifting moderate weights will help you as well.
    Healthy fats are essential for hormone balances and for keeping your body functioning well.
    Try to use as much of your carb allowance on veggies, fruits, and whole grains if you can tolerate grains.
    Also, just try to get as much movement thruout your day as you can.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    MFP sets your protein percentage at only 15%. This is too low for most people. 30% is a good level for most. You can manually change your macro percentages in your goals, or else just shoot for double the number that MFP gives you. Take the extra 15% off of your Carb total.

    I will send you a friend request.
  • cookiealbright
    cookiealbright Posts: 605 Member
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    Hello and Welcome! I looked at your diary and it looks good to me. Just make sure that you log everything & keep doing what you've been doing. I'm 57 and & don't come easy! Good luck to ya! :flowerforyou:
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    Did a quick look thru your diary and saw some entries that had incorrect info on them. Wheetabix cannot have zero carbs. That entry is incorrect, so look for another entry in the database. Most of the ones I saw showed between 29 and 60 grams of carbs.
    I also saw a sandwich entry that only had calories listed. The calorie total may be correct, but it throws off your macro totals for the day. If you don't have all the nutrition info for the sandwich, then try entering the ingredients separately, like 2 slices of bread, mayo, etc.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    Ok, guys, the OP is a 63 yr old sedentary woman. Please do not turn this thread into a debate over bulking, and whether or not you can build muscle in a deficit.
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    Ok, guys, the OP is a 63 yr old sedentary woman. Please do not turn this thread into a debate over bulking, and whether or not you can build muscle in a deficit.

    Here's my original response, you'll see nothing about bulking or building muscle in it:
    Are you using a food scale to weigh all of your solid food? When using measuring cups for solid food, it's quite easy to be 50-100 calories over for just one food. Multiply that by every food, all day long, and you can see where you could be over by several hundred calories per day, and eating at a surplus when you thought you were eating at a deficit. There are some really good food scales on Amazon for $15-$20. I bought one myself and found that even my morning oatmeal with brown sugar was nearly 100 calories off. If your aren't losing weight, you aren't eating at a deficit.
  • LighterLifestyle
    LighterLifestyle Posts: 20 Member
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    Thanking all who replied to my post and members who have offered to befriend me, I feel welcome on this site and my lonely life a bit richer for this experience. :flowerforyou:

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