Very Frustrated

jericho60
jericho60 Posts: 10
in Health and Weight Loss
Soooo here's where I'm at. I'm 53 years old, 5' 11" and 260, with a target weight of 215 to 220.

I started off my diet with a 5 day cleanse, then got on My Fitness Pal. I ride the exercise bike for 45-60 minutes on off days, which comes in at 500-600 calories. The days that I don't ride the bike, I'm at the gym doing 30 minutes of cardio, 30 minutes strength training, 30 minutes of cardio again.

My calorie goal is 1850/day, I've been very diligent about the diary and staying away from sugar and carbs and have not been drinking at all for 5 weeks (exc. one day when I had a few beers). I'm coming in way under the 1850 number every day. I am right now one month into MFPal after the cleanse

So far, my weight loss is ZERO. Nothing. Nada. I'm in really good shape, strong, good endurance, but I really need to lose this weight for the sake of my joints. With my build, you wouldn't look at me and say "wow, that guy needs to lose some pounds," I am not carrying a big ol belly around...but I got a spare tire and I want to lose a couple of pants sizes and actually see some taper from my chest and shoulders down to my hips.
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Replies

  • hilts1969
    hilts1969 Posts: 465 Member
    Soooo here's where I'm at. I'm 53 years old, 5' 11" and 260, with a target weight of 215 to 220.

    I started off my diet with a 5 day cleanse, then got on My Fitness Pal. I ride the exercise bike for 45-60 minutes on off days, which comes in at 500-600 calories. The days that I don't ride the bike, I'm at the gym doing 30 minutes of cardio, 30 minutes strength training, 30 minutes of cardio again.

    My calorie goal is 1850/day, I've been very diligent about the diary and staying away from sugar and carbs and have not been drinking at all for 5 weeks (exc. one day when I had a few beers). I'm coming in way under the 1850 number every day. I am right now one month into MFPal after the cleanse

    So far, my weight loss is ZERO. Nothing. Nada. I'm in really good shape, strong, good endurance, but I really need to lose this weight for the sake of my joints. With my build, you wouldn't look at me and say "wow, that guy needs to lose some pounds," I am not carrying a big ol belly around...but I got a spare tire and I want to lose a couple of pants sizes and actually see some taper from my chest and shoulders down to my hips.

    Tough one these posts, the answer is if your calorie count is accurate you should be losing weight and quite a bit as well, i started off at about 210 pounds and averaged about 1500 cals a day and lost 40 pounds in 3 months, unless you have a medical condition it shoulld be working, i am not a fan of telling people to eat less than is healthy but i would try for one week to eat say 1300 -1400 calories a day and see what you lose and how you feel
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
    You don't need to do cleanses, only thing they clean out are your wallet. You don't need to stay away from carbs, sugars or any other food. You need to eat at a calorie deficit, accurately log your intake. Your diary isn't open so can't see how your logging is, but if you aren't losing anything in 4 weeks you aren't in a deficit.
  • hilts1969
    hilts1969 Posts: 465 Member
    You don't need to do cleanses, only thing they clean out are your wallet. You don't need to stay away from carbs, sugars or any other food. You need to eat at a calorie deficit, accurately log your intake. Your diary isn't open so can't see how your logging is, but if you aren't losing anything in 4 weeks you aren't in a deficit.

    mainly nonsense
  • nomeejerome
    nomeejerome Posts: 2,616 Member
    1. Your body cleanses itself everyday, which is why we poop and pee. (for future reference)
    2. Sugar is a carb and unless you have a medical condition, there is no reason to stay away from it.
    3. Calorie deficit for weight loss and exercise for fitness. If you are not losing weight, there is a miscalculation somewhere along the way. (most of the time it is inaccurate logging)

    eta:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1159755-looking-for-a-detox-cleanse

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think
  • debr1126
    debr1126 Posts: 28 Member
    Also don't rely on gym equipment to tell you how many calories you've burned from exercise, then eat them all back. Gym machines are notoriously generous when calculating calories burned!
  • TinaBaily
    TinaBaily Posts: 792 Member
    In logging your food, how are you measuring it before logging? Are you weighing, using measuring cups and spoons, or just "eyeballing it?" When I first started using MFP, I was diligent about logging once I got the hang of it, but I was guesstimating and using measuring cups for things that weren't easy to measure, such as cereals. Casseroles were merely a guess. So, if you aren't already, my suggestion would be to start measuring and weighing your food prior to logging it. There are many entries in the MFP food archives that are incorrect, so be careful about that. Compare the data shown for an item to the container you have on hand, so you know you are logging accurately. To get the most accurate fresh food data, look for entries that do not have an asterisk beside them, as those are comparable to the USDA's data base and were input by MFP, I believe.

    Another possibility for your lack of loss so far may be that you are eating foods that are too high in sodium. That could cause you to retain fluid while all along you are, in fact, losing weight. Some of us are super sensitive to high sodium foods. I am one of them. I can gain 10lbs from fluid retention just from a few meals that are high in sodium. It takes me half a week to drop it back off.

    Best of luck to you!
  • lemonsnowdrop
    lemonsnowdrop Posts: 1,298 Member
    You don't need to do cleanses, only thing they clean out are your wallet. You don't need to stay away from carbs, sugars or any other food. You need to eat at a calorie deficit, accurately log your intake. Your diary isn't open so can't see how your logging is, but if you aren't losing anything in 4 weeks you aren't in a deficit.

    mainly nonsense

    No, mainly accurate.
  • hilts1969
    hilts1969 Posts: 465 Member
    You don't need to do cleanses, only thing they clean out are your wallet. You don't need to stay away from carbs, sugars or any other food. You need to eat at a calorie deficit, accurately log your intake. Your diary isn't open so can't see how your logging is, but if you aren't losing anything in 4 weeks you aren't in a deficit.

    mainly nonsense

    No, mainly accurate.

    no mainly nonsense
  • sodakat
    sodakat Posts: 1,126 Member
    Hilts, why do you say this is nonsense?? This is exactly what my slow/no loss problem was: not weighing every food item that can be weighed and not logging accurately. It is an easy mistake. A simple way to find out if this is the problem is to buy a food scale and do it for a week. Easy peasy.
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
    You don't need to do cleanses, only thing they clean out are your wallet. You don't need to stay away from carbs, sugars or any other food. You need to eat at a calorie deficit, accurately log your intake. Your diary isn't open so can't see how your logging is, but if you aren't losing anything in 4 weeks you aren't in a deficit.

    mainly nonsense

    Well this mainly nonsense helped me to lose 104 lbs so if that's nonsense I'm okay with that
  • ValerieMartini2Olives
    ValerieMartini2Olives Posts: 3,024 Member
    Unless you are going super hardcore RAWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR on the exercise bike, you are probably not burning 600 calories (for serious) it is probably more like 200 and that is being generous.
  • jericho60
    jericho60 Posts: 10


    Tough one these posts, the answer is if your calorie count is accurate you should be losing weight and quite a bit as well, i started off at about 210 pounds and averaged about 1500 cals a day and lost 40 pounds in 3 months, unless you have a medical condition it shoulld be working, i am not a fan of telling people to eat less than is healthy but i would try for one week to eat say 1300 -1400 calories a day and see what you lose and how you feel

    So are you talking about 1300-1400 calories/day net, after exercise?
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    You don't need to do cleanses, only thing they clean out are your wallet. You don't need to stay away from carbs, sugars or any other food. You need to eat at a calorie deficit, accurately log your intake. Your diary isn't open so can't see how your logging is, but if you aren't losing anything in 4 weeks you aren't in a deficit.

    mainly nonsense

    What on earth are you on about? There is nothing nonsensical in that response.
    If anything, your own response was the real piece of nonsense. Jeez.
  • beautifulwarrior18
    beautifulwarrior18 Posts: 914 Member
    I would recommend ditching the extensive cardio you've been doing and start lifting. Not to say you shouldn't do endurance exercise, because you should, but you'll notice a much bigger difference if you start lifting, especially with the strength of your joints.
  • beautifulwarrior18
    beautifulwarrior18 Posts: 914 Member


    Tough one these posts, the answer is if your calorie count is accurate you should be losing weight and quite a bit as well, i started off at about 210 pounds and averaged about 1500 cals a day and lost 40 pounds in 3 months, unless you have a medical condition it shoulld be working, i am not a fan of telling people to eat less than is healthy but i would try for one week to eat say 1300 -1400 calories a day and see what you lose and how you feel

    So are you talking about 1300-1400 calories/day net, after exercise?

    No way! That's way too low for an adult male! There is a lot more to health than being at a deficit.
  • ohiowhthse
    ohiowhthse Posts: 38
    Your over all calorie target should be 1800 calories. Not including your reduction due to exercise. Once you hit that 1800 you should be done. You want those net calories! It doesn't make sense to have a (for example my goal 1250) calorie limit to eat 1250, go to the gym and burn 5-6 hundred, then eat those 5-6 hundred again in the same day. You're not losing that way you're maintaining. Also, no carb/sugar really depends on how your body works best. I'd done that before my loss, but stalled out when my body got into better burning ability. I had to boost my metabolism and change over to high protein and just low carb. What ever you do, don't give up. Mix it up for sure, your body adjusts to consistent exercise so confuse it with changing what you do. Last bit, if you truly want to know how many calories YOUR body is burning I suggest a heart rate monitor, that way you know exactly how many calories you're burning. It will surprise you ????
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,178 Member
    If you are not losing you are either overestimating what you burn, or underestimating what you eat.
    If you are not using a scale and measuring everything, start doing so.
    If you eat all your exercise calories back, start eating only half.
    Or try for a couple of weeks to cut on average 200-300 calories per day and see what happens.
  • Jewlz280
    Jewlz280 Posts: 547 Member
    Your over all calorie target should be 1800 calories. Not including your reduction due to exercise. Once you hit that 1800 you should be done. You want those net calories! It doesn't make sense to have a (for example my goal 1250) calorie limit to eat 1250, go to the gym and burn 5-6 hundred, then eat those 5-6 hundred again in the same day. You're not losing that way you're maintaining. Also, no carb/sugar really depends on how your body works best. I'd done that before my loss, but stalled out when my body got into better burning ability. I had to boost my metabolism and change over to high protein and just low carb. What ever you do, don't give up. Mix it up for sure, your body adjusts to consistent exercise so confuse it with changing what you do. Last bit, if you truly want to know how many calories YOUR body is burning I suggest a heart rate monitor, that way you know exactly how many calories you're burning. It will surprise you ????

    Uhhh.... NO. Incorrect. That 1800 that he is given is ALREADY AT A DEFICIT. A man at his size and age would need to eat around 2600 to maintain. So at 1800, he would already have a deficit of 800 per day! 1800 is pushing it since he is already under his BMR, but meh. And that is if he is somewhat sedentary! So, NO. If he's truly burning 600, that would net him 1200. That's not a good amount for most women much less a man!

    OP, more than likely what is going on is there is some miscalculation somewhere. Get a food scale, weigh and measure it all. And then with the exercise, either get an HRM to get a more accurate reading, or take the readings you get and only eat back half or so. But I would try to get as close to the 1800 as possible. Even at 2000, you would have a good deficit if everything goes as it should. I know that weighing and measuring can be a huge pain at times, but in the end you can really learn a lot about food. Now, it takes me no time to figure it out and move along. Good luck!!!
  • cbeevs
    cbeevs Posts: 41
    Maybe you are on the wrong diet and or exercise program for you. here is something from one of MY Fitness friends:

    Fast forward to early April,... and I “happened” to catch a presentation on PBS entitled “Eat, Fast and Live Longer” https://player.vimeo.com/video/54089463 by Dr. Michael Mosley.
    It made me stop, think and watch it again…Fasting for two nonconsecutive days each week, while eating what I normally ate on the other five?
    “You can do anything for 24 hours,” I reasoned.

    It is a 40 minute video, listen to it to the end. It might be something that you would like better and that would help you .
  • jericho60
    jericho60 Posts: 10
    Lots of conflicting advice here, which is what I was afraid of.

    I am trying to work in more strength training along with the cardio (although it seems to me that calories are calories regardless of how they're burned). Lots of weights and medicine ball stuff. Lots of core stuff.

    I've also had people tell me I'm not netting ENOUGH calories at the end of the day and that my system "thinks' it's in starvation mode and is trying to slow down to make the most of the calories I'm taking in. I guess I'll see if there's a heart rate monitor app I can d/l for my Android phone, but I can tell ya that when I'm on the stationary bike or stairstepper or whatever at the gym, I am exerting myself hard enough to be a sweaty mess.

    The one thing I"m not going to do is give up, although it seems pretty evident I'm going to have to change up what I'm doing...
  • jericho60
    jericho60 Posts: 10
    I should also clarify that I didn't exactly do a "cleanse" to start this thing, it was five days worth of the lemonade/cayenne fast, where I dropped ten pounds pronto. I may try going back to something like 600 calories/day a couple days a week and see if that brings any results...like maybe a couple of hardboiled eggs, some V8 juice and a salad or a can of tuna or something, that should all add up to 600
  • UandI1985
    UandI1985 Posts: 55 Member
    please don't do that...just don't.
  • nomeejerome
    nomeejerome Posts: 2,616 Member
    OP:
    Read the links provided for you up thread ^^^^^

    Also, read this link and all of the links in it:

    (it will take quite a bit of time, but it is worth it)

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?page=1#posts-16625920
  • nikosneeko1
    nikosneeko1 Posts: 20 Member
    I've heard a lot about the starvation mode stuff and you have to be under 1200 calories for awhile before that kicks in. Don't eat back exercise calories. Also, make sure you are measuring everything....I feel you on the not losing though. I lost 8 pounds one month, then nothing the past two months, doing the exact same thing... then bam I lost 2 pounds the last 2 days. However, I did lose in inches the months I didn't lose weight. Are you measuring? You may be converting fat weight to muscle weight. Don't give up like you said!
  • millerll
    millerll Posts: 873 Member
    I should also clarify that I didn't exactly do a "cleanse" to start this thing, it was five days worth of the lemonade/cayenne fast, where I dropped ten pounds pronto. I may try going back to something like 600 calories/day a couple days a week and see if that brings any results...like maybe a couple of hardboiled eggs, some V8 juice and a salad or a can of tuna or something, that should all add up to 600

    No. No no no. You dropped a quick ten pounds of water - that's all. And 600 cals a day isn't at all healthy. You'll just lose more water weight (which is temporary) and a crap-load of muscle.

    Caveat: Intermittent fasting might work for you. Or the 5:2 method, where you eat low calorie 2 days a week and higher calorie the other 5. I'm not experienced in either, but many folks have good results. Look them up here with the Search function, or search out a Forum Group. Those two methods are the only way I'd condone such low calorie eating.

    I really think you're over-estimating your calorie intake and/or exercise burns. The readouts on cardio machines and the database numbers here on MFP are notoriously generous. A heart rate monitor is much more accurate, but useless for weight training. Start with being completely accurate with you intake - get a food scale and use it. In your case, working out your BMR and TDEE and eating about 20% below your TDEE might be easier to stick to. There are online calculators for TDEE - just Google it and you'll find several. Take an average. Try this for 3-4 weeks and see how you do.

    If you're being completely accurate with your calorie logging and still not losing weight after a month, it might be time for a doctor's visit to see if there's something else going on. Best of luck!
  • rieann84
    rieann84 Posts: 511 Member
    Lots of conflicting advice indeed. Unfortunately, sometimes you need to just pick something out and try it to see if it works for you. Please don't go back to the master cleanse..I also did it, for the 10 days. And yes, my weight loss was great, but it came right back and it was definitely not good for my metabolism.
  • airangel59
    airangel59 Posts: 1,887 Member
    You diary is closed so hard to say where the problem lies.
    But...
    You say you are eating 1850 and working out so....
    1-Are you eating back what you think you burn and if so, all of it, half of it?
    2-Are you trusting the machines/MFP values or do you have a HRM?
    3-Are you accurately weighing & measuring your food with a good food scale?
  • thesupremeforce
    thesupremeforce Posts: 1,206 Member
    Your math is off somewhere. I would wager that you're underestimating how many calories you're eating, and I'm positive that you're overestimating your calories burned via exercise (which only matters if you're eating them back). If you're eating back all of your logged exercise calories, that's likely your main issue, and I'd suggest eating half of what it tells you (due to overestimation of calories). Otherwise, your intake is off somewhere. If you're eyeballing, estimating, or using spoons, measuring cups, etc instead of a scale, I would advise switching to the latter.

    Going stupidly low calorie is an awful idea. You'll feel like crap, and while you MAY drop weight in the short term, it will all come back once you return to eating "normally," so what's the point?
  • johnboy1229
    johnboy1229 Posts: 10
    I think that you are doing a great job. Just be careful and don't burn out. As far as the weight, it's simple, your workouts are causing you to gain muscle mass while losing body fat. Go to the gym or MD and get a body fat measurement done. The muscle is heavier than fat so your scale isn't seeing the losses. You know that you're doing all the right things so just keep it up. Then see the body fat measurements show you the TRUE results.
  • ask4itall
    ask4itall Posts: 37
    Trust the process. It works. I know that's easy to say but it's true. You're in your 50's which makes it much more difficult than if you were in your 20's or 30's. Good luck friend!!

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