Watching my diet, but not losing...

Hi everyone!
Sorry to bother you with a stupid question.

I've started watching what I eat for more than a month now. I've been really using MFP for a week (before i'd log one day, forget the other day,... not consistent at all, but still being healthy).
What bothers me is that I've not dropped a pound... So I told myself: you workout 6 days out of the week, plus 3 of these day you cardio train to be ready for tennis... so maybe you lost inches... So i went on and took my measuring tape and... nada!
Ok my diet isn't the best one, someday i can't manage to get enough calories (for example: 2hours of tennis makes me burn 1000+ calories according to my heart rate monitor which is set to my height and weight) because I just can't. I know what you think: how are you overweight if you can't eat 2300 calories... Well simple: before I watched my diet, I'd eat very small quantities of food, but very bad food (junk food), so the calories were high as the sky, but the portions were ridiculous. I'm between 4'9" and 5', so calories make a difference quite rapidly. All I want is to drop at least 13 lbs to be at a normal BMI range.
It's so frustrating to watch what you eat, while people near you eat what they want without getting a pound, and still not seeing a difference. The only difference I see is now i can run longer than before, but that's all....

Has it happened to anyone? Any tips?

Thanks for reading guys (and sorry if i sound aggressive or something like that, don't mean to be really, just being so frustrated :cry: )

Replies

  • karmasays
    karmasays Posts: 82 Member
    Since you only have 13lbs to lose, aim for losing .5lbs a week (half a pound) as it's a more realistic goal. The less weight you have to lose, the slower it will come off.

    Keep weighing and logging all your food and try eating back only HALF of the calories you burn (even HRMs can overestimate burns).

    Be patient :)
  • sakura989
    sakura989 Posts: 10
    Since you only have 13lbs to lose, aim for losing .5lbs a week (half a pound) as it's a more realistic goal. The less weight you have to lose, the slower it will come off.

    Keep weighing and logging all your food and try eating back only HALF of the calories you burn (even HRMs can overestimate burns).

    Be patient :)

    Thanks for the support :)
    My total weight I've to lose is 22 pounds, not 13^^
    But something is bothering me: If i eat back only half of what i burn, maybe I won't be over 1200 calories, which isn't good right?
  • melissawith3sons
    melissawith3sons Posts: 20 Member
    I just made a similar comment on another thread, sorta similar to yours. I have been at this for 14 days and have lost nothing. I run 2 to 3 miles 2 days a week and run 7 miles on Saturday. I set to lose 2 pds a week with a calorie goal at 1200. Too low? I don't know! Eat back the calories you burned? Why would I want to do that? I am supposed to be creating a deficit correct? Lots of information I do not understand! Any one wanna share some insight? I am 38 and weigh 170 pds. Would love to lose 40 pds?
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    Watching what you eat means counting calories. You can be eating as healthy as can be, but still eating too much to see a drop in weight.

    1. Buy a food scale.
    2. Log religiously.

    See where you are in 2 weeks and adjust calories upward or downward as needed (from what MFP set for you to lose).
  • sakura989
    sakura989 Posts: 10
    Watching what you eat means counting calories. You can be eating as healthy as can be, but still eating too much to see a drop in weight.

    1. Buy a food scale.
    2. Log religiously.

    See where you are in 2 weeks and adjust calories upward or downward as needed (from what MFP set for you to lose).

    I already have a super good scale and i weight religiously my food, so religiously my boyfriend says I'm ridiculous lol.
    I never eat more than 1300 Cals NET (because 1200 was way too low for me)
  • TKhamvongsa
    TKhamvongsa Posts: 287
    Highfive!! We are the same height! Are you eating enough? My calories/macros right now are 1413/85Carbs/140Protein and 55 Fats

    I've been losing steadily on this IIFYM plan. I was on maintenance for a month then went on the plan for 3 weeks and dropped 7 lbs.

    I just changed my plan this week (basically decreased carbs to 85g)

    I workout 5 times per week - Weight liftingx4/HIITx1-2

    Definintely get a food scale and weight everything, log everything before you pop it into you mouth and you should be good to go.

    You know what? You and I have the same goal of losing a total of 25 lbs, we are the same height and 1 year apart - I'm sending you a friend request! =)
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    When you put in your stats and weight loss goal - MFP estimates your daily average burn not counting exercise and gives you a calorie amount to eat. Eating at that level has your deficit 'built in'. If you exercise, you're burning extra. Which also means your body needs more fuel, more energy. So you want to eat some of the extra calories.
    I just made a similar comment on another thread, sorta similar to yours. I have been at this for 14 days and have lost nothing. I run 2 to 3 miles 2 days a week and run 7 miles on Saturday. I set to lose 2 pds a week with a calorie goal at 1200. Too low? I don't know! Eat back the calories you burned? Why would I want to do that? I am supposed to be creating a deficit correct? Lots of information I do not understand! Any one wanna share some insight? I am 38 and weigh 170 pds. Would love to lose 40 pds?
  • sakura989
    sakura989 Posts: 10
    Highfive!! We are the same height! Are you eating enough? My calories/macros right now are 1413/85Carbs/140Protein and 55 Fats

    I've been losing steadily on this IIFYM plan. I was on maintenance for a month then went on the plan for 3 weeks and dropped 7 lbs.

    I just changed my plan this week (basically decreased carbs to 85g)

    I workout 5 times per week - Weight liftingx4/HIITx1-2

    Definintely get a food scale and weight everything, log everything before you pop it into you mouth and you should be good to go.

    You know what? You and I have the same goal of losing a total of 25 lbs, we are the same height and 1 year apart - I'm sending you a friend request! =)

    Hey,
    Here are my calories/macros Your Daily Goal 1,365cals 171g carbs 45g fat 68g proteins 2,300 sodium 45g sugar
    Maybe i should wut down the carbs like you did... The only thing I changed since i came here is i up the calories because 1200 cals was driving me crazy (always hungry, even thought i had reached my calories and macros goal)
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    I've posted this before on other threads so sorry for the spam but it seems to get the message across.

    This was my weight loss when I did a strict diet and exercise routinue 3 years ago.

    weight.png


    Looks pretty good right? Nice and linear, completely predictable and smooth weight loss. Here is the thing though, while doing it I didn't get that sense until I had been doing it for something like 4 months and a trend started to be established. If you look at my weight in that graph between any two months, like February to March or May to June you will notice that if you just look at that data it doesn't look like my weight was changing at all. That was my experience as well, on the time scale of weeks or even a month I never really saw the weight coming off...it was only from sticking with it long term that that trend emerged.

    My advice to you is to not fret the scale. If you are watching your calories and exercising when previously you were doing neither then you WILL make progress. Only trick is to stick with it long enough to see that progress manifest. That isn't to say you don't have to be consistent and honest with your diet, you do, but it can take a long time to see results and its best that you just come to accept that.

    Good luck.
  • Tagwild12345
    Tagwild12345 Posts: 19 Member
    I would say keep going. Mines come off very slow but I only wanted to lose a stone. I eat most of what I burn too. I see it as I've worked for it so I'm eating more. Found it easy when I excercise as haven't given up on foods I love. Just make sure your logging the calories right and it will come off x
  • FoxyLifter
    FoxyLifter Posts: 965 Member
    Buy a food scale and make sure you're using the best entries in your diary. The database is full of inaccurate, misleadinng and even mathematically impossible entries!
  • mycupyourcake
    mycupyourcake Posts: 279 Member
    1000 calories for 2 hours if tennis seems way too high. Try using a TDEE calculator and use the calories it gives you because you are clearly not in a real deficit now.
  • TKhamvongsa
    TKhamvongsa Posts: 287
    Highfive!! We are the same height! Are you eating enough? My calories/macros right now are 1413/85Carbs/140Protein and 55 Fats

    I've been losing steadily on this IIFYM plan. I was on maintenance for a month then went on the plan for 3 weeks and dropped 7 lbs.

    I just changed my plan this week (basically decreased carbs to 85g)

    I workout 5 times per week - Weight liftingx4/HIITx1-2

    Definintely get a food scale and weight everything, log everything before you pop it into you mouth and you should be good to go.

    You know what? You and I have the same goal of losing a total of 25 lbs, we are the same height and 1 year apart - I'm sending you a friend request! =)

    Hey,
    Here are my calories/macros Your Daily Goal 1,365cals 171g carbs 45g fat 68g proteins 2,300 sodium 45g sugar
    Maybe i should wut down the carbs like you did... The only thing I changed since i came here is i up the calories because 1200 cals was driving me crazy (always hungry, even thought i had reached my calories and macros goal)

    I'd lower your carbs to 110-120 and up your protein to 1lb per body weight - keep fat between 50-60. Id experiment with the carbs (decrease or increase - I was maintaining weight at 144 g of carbs and started losing around 110 g of carbs)

    LOL I feel like my one meal would be 1200+ - so it's a good thing that you upped your calories. As long as you're between 1300-1400 then you should be fine - also maybe invest in a heart rate monitor for those exercises. Hopefully that helps!!!
  • lizziebeth1028
    lizziebeth1028 Posts: 3,602 Member
    You're not going to see results after logging inconsistently for one week. Patience!!!!! I would suggest not just 'watching' what you eat but logging every bite consistently. Exercise is awesome...but I heard this phrase a lot before and it's so true, "you can't out train a bad diet".

    Eat healthy with in your calorie range, log everything and be patient!
  • sakura989
    sakura989 Posts: 10
    Highfive!! We are the same height! Are you eating enough? My calories/macros right now are 1413/85Carbs/140Protein and 55 Fats

    I've been losing steadily on this IIFYM plan. I was on maintenance for a month then went on the plan for 3 weeks and dropped 7 lbs.

    I just changed my plan this week (basically decreased carbs to 85g)

    I workout 5 times per week - Weight liftingx4/HIITx1-2

    Definintely get a food scale and weight everything, log everything before you pop it into you mouth and you should be good to go.

    You know what? You and I have the same goal of losing a total of 25 lbs, we are the same height and 1 year apart - I'm sending you a friend request! =)

    Hey,
    Here are my calories/macros Your Daily Goal 1,365cals 171g carbs 45g fat 68g proteins 2,300 sodium 45g sugar
    Maybe i should wut down the carbs like you did... The only thing I changed since i came here is i up the calories because 1200 cals was driving me crazy (always hungry, even thought i had reached my calories and macros goal)

    I'd lower your carbs to 110-120 and up your protein to 1lb per body weight - keep fat between 50-60. Id experiment with the carbs (decrease or increase - I was maintaining weight at 144 g of carbs and started losing around 110 g of carbs)

    LOL I feel like my one meal would be 1200+ - so it's a good thing that you upped your calories. As long as you're between 1300-1400 then you should be fine - also maybe invest in a heart rate monitor for those exercises. Hopefully that helps!!!
    Lol i've a HRM already. That´s how i can have my exercise calories. I prefer to know more accurately how much I burn rather than guessing it ^^
  • sakura989
    sakura989 Posts: 10
    You're not going to see results after logging inconsistently for one week. Patience!!!!! I would suggest not just 'watching' what you eat but logging every bite consistently. Exercise is awesome...but I heard this phrase a lot before and it's so true, "you can't out train a bad diet".

    Eat healthy with in your calorie range, log everything and be patient!
    I had another account on MFP from January to March, but I got sick and when I get sick I've binging problems. I don't know why, but when I've a cold or the flue I just binge... It depressed me so much to see how much I've been eating bad so I started a new account, some kind of start over I guess
  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
    Keep watching your diet. Set mini-goals: today I'm going to have 3 servings of vegetables, or tomorrow's run is going to be half a mile longer. Something like that to keep you motivated and keep improving and to stop you from getting frustrated over that calorie number which I think is the cause of most binge episodes around here.

    Be patient. I read an article recently about how weight loss is full of "stalls and whooshes." If you are truly eating at a deficit and not losing, keep at it, because you're probably going to drop weight suddenly in a few weeks.

    In addition to some patience and goal-setting, I want to give you a strong bit of weight loss advice: DRINK and LOG your water! You'd be amazed how rarely people get their 8 glasses a day without thinking. Water is great. It prevents bloating and water weight gain. It curbs hunger cravings and keeps your mouth busy when you're just bored and would otherwise eat. And being hydrated is just a really good feeling, gives you energy and stuff.
  • rosy_08
    rosy_08 Posts: 51 Member
    I've posted this before on other threads so sorry for the spam but it seems to get the message across.

    This was my weight loss when I did a strict diet and exercise routinue 3 years ago.

    weight.png


    Looks pretty good right? Nice and linear, completely predictable and smooth weight loss. Here is the thing though, while doing it I didn't get that sense until I had been doing it for something like 4 months and a trend started to be established. If you look at my weight in that graph between any two months, like February to March or May to June you will notice that if you just look at that data it doesn't look like my weight was changing at all. That was my experience as well, on the time scale of weeks or even a month I never really saw the weight coming off...it was only from sticking with it long term that that trend emerged.

    My advice to you is to not fret the scale. If you are watching your calories and exercising when previously you were doing neither then you WILL make progress. Only trick is to stick with it long enough to see that progress manifest. That isn't to say you don't have to be consistent and honest with your diet, you do, but it can take a long time to see results and its best that you just come to accept that.

    Good luck.

    Wow! It sure helps to see the data visually and helps prove your point. Thanks for sharing! :D
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Wow! It sure helps to see the data visually and helps prove your point. Thanks for sharing! :D

    Thanks and no problem. I ended up putting the weight back on unfortunately because I started focusing on career and neglected my health. I am currently in the process of diet and exercise to get back to where I was and I still have to remind myself of this fact, that your scale weight might not seem to change even over the period of a month but that does not mean you aren't making progress.