My mom can't lose wait

erinnconwayy
erinnconwayy Posts: 5 Member
edited February 19 in Health and Weight Loss
So this is basically from my mom point of view, I convinced her to join the gym and finally lose the weight she always wanted to lose but over 3 months she lose half a pound. Please help if u know anything she can do
Hi I've been going to the gym and got a personal trainer for three months know and have only lost .5 pounds. I am 54 and app 190 pounds at the height of 5"6'. I've been overweight for about 16 years and I've had twins and other child almost 21 years ago and the weight wasn't this hard to lose,( I never fully lost all of the body weight but definitely lost most of it) I use the lose it app to count all my calories. I am now eating about 1650-1680, and the goal was 1683. I drink only alkaline water and detox my body wit alkaline foot soak.
Also when I first went to my personal trainer he said I was eating too little and my body was holding fat. I went to my doctor to check to see if my thyroid was OK and at first it came back as over active but got it check again and came back normal.
I'm starting to give up on ever losing weight. I just don't understand when I have so much weight to lose how I'm not losing anything.

Replies

  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    If your mom is eating 1650 or so calories per day, and this is an appropriate level to create a healthy deficit, then the weight should come off with time. But how is she measuring her calories in? Using a food scale? Or estimating portions? A food scale can help to make sure the calorie count is right. Does she log all her food/drink or just some of it?
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    Also - since she has been working out with a trainer for 3 months - has she noticed other victories? Clothes fitting better, more energy, better endurance? These are good things also. :)
  • erinnconwayy
    erinnconwayy Posts: 5 Member
    If she is eating fruit or veggies she weigh them and we checked the scale twice . If she is eating package food she used the nutritional info and measures all other foods
  • erinnconwayy
    erinnconwayy Posts: 5 Member
    Everything fits the same, she did have more pen ergo but she is is getting down so she lost that too
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    calories are too high.

    Her BMR is ~1500 calories/day and her TDEE is ~1800. Considering that most people have a decent amount of estimation error (myself included and I am damn near obsessive about it) I'd say that she just needs to drop another 2-300 calories per day and she will see results and still be healthy.

    Before everyone barks at me about suggesting she go below her BMR, I am saying that due to estimation error, she will still be in the ballpark of it and as long as she gets enough protein, I suspect that she will be just fine.

    It is more important to adjust your numbers (actions) to yield the results you expect, than to trust a number that spits out of a calculator based on statistical info.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    That could be part of the problem. Packages will often say something like: serving size approximately 1 package, 1.77 ounce when the food is actually 2 ounces.

    And by measuring all other foods, do you mean using cups and tablespoons and such for solid food? Cups & tablespoons and such are really only good for liquids. A 1/2 cup of chicken breast will vary in amount depending on how its cut. It could be more or less than you think. Often more. Solid food will have nutritional information in cups followed by grams or ounces. Always use the weight in terms of grams or ounces. Since you have a good scale, test it out.

    Here is how. Take your tablespoon and put it on the scale. Hit the tare button, so the weight reads 0 with the spoon. Get what you think is a tablespoon of peanut butter - weigh it. Compare to the grams on the serving size. Are you high? How much. Same for other items. Put whatever cup or other item you use to measure by on the scale, tare to get 0 weight. Then put your 'serving' in the cup and check the weight.

    The truth is you cannot honestly track your calories in unless you weigh solids and measure liquids. Likely most of her portions are bigger, more calorie dense than she realizes and she's not eating at a deficit as a result.
  • erinnconwayy
    erinnconwayy Posts: 5 Member
    The calorie amount is wat the app came up wit she should eat less even thou she was eating way too little before her trainer corrected it
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    Its hard for anyone here to give an accurate recommendation of calories to eat because we don't know how active she is. How much she is working out with the trainer, how active she is on her own. If she does a 30 minute session with a trainer and sits on the couch the rest of the day would not be the same as working out aggressively for 1-2 hours 4-5 days a week and being generally active in the rest of the day as well. More than likely she is somewhere in the middle in terms of activity level.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    The calorie amount is wat the app came up wit she should eat less even thou she was eating way too little before her trainer corrected it

    If she isn't seeing the results she expects, then she needs to change her actions.

    The calculators just give you a starting point. They are just estimates. They are not personalized to your mom, they just take her height, age, and weight and say "statistically, she should eat about this much". THey don't take into accound a huge number of variables that matter, but they get you in the ballpark. Also, your food logging is an estimate too. Even if you measure EVERYTHING, there is variability in the number of calories you eat, but you can get close. Also, there is bodyweight measurement error - you can get in the ballpark, but you aren't sure of the exact number due to a bunch of other things. Get the idea?

    The numbers are all estimates, so you have to use a little sanity and step back and take a look at your results versus what you expected to happen. If the results you expected didn't materialize, then you need to change what you are doing. The easiest thing to try in this case is drop a little more calories and see if your weight loss increases. I bet it will!
  • erinnconwayy
    erinnconwayy Posts: 5 Member
    She does 20 mins of cardio before her one hour session wit the trainer once a week the rest of the week she swims for 1.5 hours with one or twice a week and does yoga twice a week for two hours and once or twice does strength training wit me wit a little cardio
  • jennk5309
    jennk5309 Posts: 206 Member
    I'll bet she feels great with all that exercise :)
    Not a helpful answer, I know, but maybe knowing that she is doing something good for herself will cheer her up.
  • asciiqwerty
    asciiqwerty Posts: 565 Member
    is she double counting her excercise?
    did she include her excercise when she set up the app and then logs excercise seperately

    i've seen people do this before when they already know they weill be doing so many hours of excersise a day
This discussion has been closed.

Categories