Cannot lose weight

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  • jadethief
    jadethief Posts: 266 Member
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    So the 1200 that MFP is giving me, that is already all calculated in there?
    Call me stupid, but I just dont get it!
    If I have to burn more than I ate per day, which would be 1200?

    Sorry for hijacking your thread, but I guess we are trying to understand the same thing.

    No, you need to eat 1200 per day. Your deficit is already accounted for, so if you exercise you should eat at least some of those calories burned back so that your deficit is not too large.
  • thesupremeforce
    thesupremeforce Posts: 1,207 Member
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    On another note, if you've been working out since August and your body "looks the same" as it did before you started working out, there's something seriously lacking/wrong with your workout program. Even if you hadn't lost a single pound, working out for eight months should have resulted in SOME change.
  • samajaco729
    samajaco729 Posts: 1
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    I don't get why people end up getting hostile on these forums, it's because it's anonymous people don't have to be held accountable for being jerks. Anyway, I've heard good things about paleo too, I tried it and hated it because I had to care so much about everything that went into my body, but it works for lots of people.

    I would just like to say, nice work for staying motivated this long! Many many people would have given up a long time ago. I just started trying to lose some weight so I don't have any advise really, but just remember that weight loss is not the only benefit that comes from regular exercise: http://youtu.be/aUaInS6HIGo

    Good luck and keep at it!
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,583 Member
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    OP. If you're not losing weight, you're not at a caloric deficit.
    If you aren't weighing absolutely everything that you consume, and logging it accurately.. then you don't know exactly how much you're eating.
    If you do this, religiously.. make it your existence for 6 weeks. At least. Weigh yourself at the beginning of the six weeks, count EVERYTHING you eat for 6 weeks. Weigh yourself at the end.

    If you haven't lost weight, you're not at a deficit. If you didn't gain, then you're likely at maintenance and can simply cut the amount of what you eat in order to lose. If you DID gain, well, you're likely eating at a surplus.

    You can lose weight, you just have to make the conscious decision to listen to the answers you've been given when you ask questions.

    That girl that lost 15 lbs on paleo? That's awesome! I lost 10 times that amount eating whatever I want to.

    Long story short, it doesn't matter. You don't HAVE to cut anything out. If you aren't losing, focus on the AMOUNT that you're eating. Look at the calories. Adjust accordingly.
    So the 1200 that MFP is giving me, that is already all calculated in there?
    Call me stupid, but I just dont get it!
    If I have to burn more than I ate per day, which would be 1200?

    Sorry for hijacking your thread, but I guess we are trying to understand the same thing.
    I told you in the other thread to change it.
    I gave you a direct link on HOW to change it.
  • sargessexyone
    sargessexyone Posts: 494 Member
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    FYI OP deactivated
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,583 Member
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    FYI OP deactivated
    it's probably better that way.
  • K8Fit
    K8Fit Posts: 31 Member
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    If you can - follow up with the endocrinologist, in a year of watching your diet - you should not have gained. Also, while working out will help you maintain a higher muscle to fat ratio - I don't think it does much for your weight in the long run. I once worked out with a personal trainer for about 4 months, sticking to a fairly low carb diet and did not lose any weight. However, I felt like I made progress on gaining muscle and losing fat. IMO People who try to balance diet with cardio may lose at first (especially if they are 20 years old) but as the years go by they end up gaining.

    You can of obviously try to tighten up on your diet as suggested by others. However, sometimes it doesn't work for women around 40 and the reasons can be varied.

    Some people have found that adding hard workouts to a stressful life messes up your hormones - if this is the case then increasing sleep and cutting way back on cardio may help.

    Others have blood sugar that is high but not yet pre-diabetic. This may cause you to get excessively hungry an hour or two after meals. Obviously, even if you are trying to control your eating - hunger will get you over time.

    Some women have other hormonal difficulties such as PCOS - which they say should respond to the lower carb diet you mention.
    Paleo proponents point to dairy or wheat sensitivity as causing a host of difficulties including weight gain.

    I am reading a book that seems like it might be helpful, it is called, Diet 101: The Truth about Low Carb diets. I also read the ME diet book - which talks some about hormonal issues with women losing weight.

    I'm a unicorn too and a big fan of the ME book. I had to dial down stress not calories.
  • leseratte2222
    leseratte2222 Posts: 9 Member
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    I am not quite sure if it is allowed, but I recommend it anyway.

    I just finished reading a book called: The Diet Fix by Yoni Freedhoff, MD.
    Quote: To Lose on Pound a week through exercise would require most people to endure seven hours of weekly brow bursting exercise etc.......Have you ever eaten anything "because you exercised"..... it is far easier to lose weight in your kitchen than to it is to lose weight in your gym.....

    So measure your food, use a journal keep in eye on the Calorie-intake....
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,583 Member
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    FYI OP deactivated
    the "YOU MUST DO PALEO" girl deactivated too. Maybe they ran off together for hijinks!
  • steph6467
    steph6467 Posts: 54 Member
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    It is really important to understand your TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure. Even if you work out really hard at the gym and burn 500 calories, if you have a sedentary job and don't move around much the other 23 hours a day, even a very hard workout will not "earn" you much in the way of overall calorie deficit.

    Go play with this fun little tool: http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced

    Turn the dials for your weight, height, and gender. Don't overestimate your activity.. even what feels like a really vigorous workout on the elliptical is only "moderate exercise" and don't include your warm-up/cool-down minutes. You probably sit more then you think you do (most of us do.. really, try standing for an hour! You'll be surprised that it's not "natural").

    I can't remember your height (if you posted it), but I put in 5' 5" along with female, 38, 178 lbs. I put in 20 mins of moderate exercise a day (remember, that's only the time your heart rate is really elevated and you're sweating buckets.. anything less has to go into the light exercise dial), 8 hours of sleep, and 40 mins of standing. That puts your TDEE at 2300 kcal a day. If you think you are eating about 1900, it would be SUPER easy to "miss" 400 cals a day on your tracker by not weighing/measuring, not counting licking the p-butter spoon, eating a cup and half of cereal instead of a cup, forgetting to enter the handful of jelly beans, etc. If all of the above is correct, you could easily workout 6 days a week for a year and maintain your weight or even gain a little. Unfortunately, if you are struggling to lose, it becomes all about precision, precision, precision (which is admittedly, kind of a pain in the butt.) Good luck!
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
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    FYI OP deactivated
    the "YOU MUST DO PALEO" girl deactivated too. Maybe they ran off together for hijinks!

    Bummer, I was just starting to have fun...
  • majomi1579
    majomi1579 Posts: 20
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    I am diabetic with a hypo thyroid and I do very little exercise. I am losing an average of 2 lbs/week. I watch my calories (and of course my carbs). It can be done. My doctor has me measuring, weighing, eating 6 times a day and doing a little cardio 3 times a week. Three weeks - 10 lbs. It can be done but it ain't easy!! If A doesn't work - try B...
  • Gingergal12
    Gingergal12 Posts: 64 Member
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    You may be insulin resistant and approaching menapause. Please have your doctor look at your fasting blood results. These factors make losing difficult when they are not corrected. That being said, measuring and weighing your food as well as accounting for everything that goes into your mouth is crucial. Also, although it seems like your working your butt off, you may be overestimating your burn. This is a response to OP, but also to myself since I've stalled in my journey. I've been a bit complacent and need to dig back in and get back to business.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    Thank you all for the info so far. I think my biggest concern is that I work out, and not in a sloppy manner. I have a very strict workout plan designed by a trainer, leave the gym feeling fully worked out, sweaty and tired, so I know I got a good workout in, yet I still have the same body I had last August. What could I be missing. I eat only whole foods, little to no fruit, with the exception of berries here and there, so I'm not eating those hidden sugars, in fruits. Also, I hardly eat any carbs.


    you cannot out work out/exercise a bad diet…if you were being trained by a world class body build but still ate at or over maintenance you would not lose a pound.

    Get a food scale and weight/log/measure everything…

    more than likely you are under estimating calories….and eating more than you think
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    How is it propaganda?
    It's a healthy way to lose weight and works? I can personally vouch for it lol...

    it has nothing to do with weight loss..

    you lost weight because you restricted certain food groups which lead to a calorie deficit, which lead to weight loss ...
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,583 Member
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    This is what we are doing: We never go over 500 calories for the entire day and only allow 20 or less fat calories, we walk...

    I just..

    I.

    I can't understand why you think that this is going to be something that lasts? Why do you hate your bodies enough to jump into a ridiculously low calorie "diet" ? This is awful, positively horrible advice to give to ANYONE and you should really understand WHY that is before you keep giving that advice out.
  • valpclady
    valpclady Posts: 6
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    I would have to agree with the weigh lost with the deficit of calories. I have changed my lifestyle completely. For the past month I have not eaten anything except veggies and fruit (raspberries, blue berries and strawberries with spinach (smoothies) twice a day and I have lost over 20 pounds. And yes, I measure everything. I drink water just because. I have snacks and I work out on most days for 90 mins to include working and light weights. Not saying that this will work for everyone but for me eliminating all meat (except eggs) has been very beneficial.
  • Fullsterkur_woman
    Fullsterkur_woman Posts: 2,712 Member
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    I would have to agree with the weigh lost with the deficit of calories. I have changed my lifestyle completely. For the past month I have not eaten anything except veggies and fruit (raspberries, blue berries and strawberries with spinach (smoothies) twice a day and I have lost over 20 pounds. And yes, I measure everything. I drink water just because. I have snacks and I work out on most days for 90 mins to include working and light weights. Not saying that this will work for everyone but for me eliminating all meat (except eggs) has been very beneficial.
    SWEET!! You'll be dropping all that pesky muscle weight in NO time.
  • DeliriumCanBeFun
    DeliriumCanBeFun Posts: 313 Member
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    Thank you all for the info so far. I think my biggest concern is that I work out, and not in a sloppy manner. I have a very strict workout plan designed by a trainer, leave the gym feeling fully worked out, sweaty and tired, so I know I got a good workout in, yet I still have the same body I had last August. What could I be missing. I eat only whole foods, little to no fruit, with the exception of berries here and there, so I'm not eating those hidden sugars, in fruits. Also, I hardly eat any carbs.
    Fruit and carbs are not bad for you. In fact fruit is amazing for you. I eat fruit a few times a day, and it does not trigger me to want to over indulge the way that processed sweet things do sometimes. If you're getting a good workout regularly, it would seem you would get some results. But you will never out train a bad diet. I'm not saying you have a bad diet. But if you think you're eating 1700-1900 calories a day but you're not weighing and measuring, I can pretty much guarantee you're eating way more calories than that. I'm 38, my calorie goal is 1400 and I eat back all my exercise calories and I've been losing around a pound per week. I also weigh and measure everything I possibly can. Diary is open.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    I would have to agree with the weigh lost with the deficit of calories. I have changed my lifestyle completely. For the past month I have not eaten anything except veggies and fruit (raspberries, blue berries and strawberries with spinach (smoothies) twice a day and I have lost over 20 pounds. And yes, I measure everything. I drink water just because. I have snacks and I work out on most days for 90 mins to include working and light weights. Not saying that this will work for everyone but for me eliminating all meat (except eggs) has been very beneficial.

    Are you concerned at all about the health effects of cutting so much necessary fat and protein from your diet?

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