No weight/inches lost after 3+ months

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I am new to posting on MFP. I have struggled with weight for most of my life. I am 5'2" and weigh 150 pounds, and I am really trying to lose 20 pounds, to improve my health and energy. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I exercise and watch my food intake, but I should have lost a pound or an inch after 3 months!! Are there any dietitians or nutritionists that can help me understand how my body will lose weight? The only time I lost weight/inches was when I went on the Ideal Protein Alternative plan, but as soon as I stopped, the weight immediately came back. I am too short to hold onto this weight (I have been winded walking upstairs). I am 38 years old, and I know 40 will be even harder. Anyone with suggestions-- please write back!! My food diary is public, and I typically eat about the same everyday. I really need guidance!!
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Replies

  • gizmo_2014
    gizmo_2014 Posts: 37
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    What do you eat? How much do you eat? What amount of calories do you consume? Do you eat your workout calories back? Do you use measuring cups for liquids, a scale for all food? Or do you eyeball portions?
  • I3righti3lue24
    I3righti3lue24 Posts: 40 Member
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    Have you been checked over medically to make sure its not a thyroid issue? or something underlining....

    Counting calories? May need to change to weighting your food if your not...
  • honeycrisp75
    honeycrisp75 Posts: 8 Member
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    I can pretty much eyeball my portions because I have done it for so long, so I think I am ok with that. I'm confused on how MFP counts your calories...I don't want to eat my exercise calories back. I have been tested for a thyroid issue, but it came back negative. My body is so stubborn!! I tried eating 1200 calories and I have tried eating 1500 calories and have not seen any difference.
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
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    I can pretty much eyeball my portions because I have done it for so long, so I think I am ok with that. I'm confused on how MFP counts your calories...I don't want to eat my exercise calories back. I have been tested for a thyroid issue, but it came back negative. My body is so stubborn!! I tried eating 1200 calories and I have tried eating 1500 calories and have not seen any difference.

    I would definitely recommend against eyeballing portions. Buy a food scale and use it religiously. Log absolutely everything you eat and drink.

    MFP calculates your calorie goal to have a built-in deficit without any exercise. The program wants you to maintain a consistent calorie deficit, which is why it tells you to eat your exercise calories. Most of the exercise calorie estimates are too high though, so maybe try eating back half your exercise calories instead of all of them.
  • ercarroll311
    ercarroll311 Posts: 295 Member
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    I'm the same height and weight, and in the same boat. What do you for exercise?
  • lavaughan69
    lavaughan69 Posts: 459 Member
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    Please don't rely on eyeballing! I've been on MFP for 16 months now and the only time I really stalled out is when I got lazy about weighing my food and started the eyeball approach. When you start guessing about things then you have a tendency to under estimate the true amount of food you're eating. Also, be very careful about picking generic foods/qty amounts from the MFP database. There are so many inaccurate listings. You need to carefully measure and then search for the food listing that lists by weight to determine which one to choose. If you haven't lost a pound or an inch in three months then odds are you're not creating a calorie deficit.
  • missdanicajones
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    Have you checked for hormonal imbalances beyond just thyroid problems? I had PCOS and was having trouble losing until I got on a med for that.
  • missdanicajones
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    Agree. It's definitely best to weigh out portions and measure as accurately as possible.
  • honeycrisp75
    honeycrisp75 Posts: 8 Member
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    I walk in the morning briskly for an hour, and I also do walk/run intervals for at least 45 minutes in the evening. I also incorporate reistance band training each day. I am not sure if I should raise my calories, maybe I'm not eating enough? But, I'm not hungry and I hate to just keep eating. Again, this is really not making any sense to me. I cannot be stuck at this weight the rest of my life...it is really upsetting me because I don't feel good (out of breath/no energy) and I don't feel good in my clothes--so I just want to stay home. All I want to do is lose 20 pounds--nothing crazy. I have always had a hard time losing pounds. At one point, I was able to lose inches, but that has also stopped. I have talked to my doctors, and they say I won't lose any weight. That cannot be true!! I have been tested and I do have slow gastric emptying also.
  • JTick
    JTick Posts: 2,131 Member
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    I can pretty much eyeball my portions because I have done it for so long, so I think I am ok with that. I'm confused on how MFP counts your calories...I don't want to eat my exercise calories back. I have been tested for a thyroid issue, but it came back negative. My body is so stubborn!! I tried eating 1200 calories and I have tried eating 1500 calories and have not seen any difference.

    Perhaps you should try weighing your food.
  • ercarroll311
    ercarroll311 Posts: 295 Member
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    I would also recommend weighing and measuring food--I can certainly lie to myself on something like peanut butter amounts. I would also say maybe up the intensity of your workouts a bit, and try some more strength training. Those things worked for me the first time I lost weight.
  • sadiebrawl
    sadiebrawl Posts: 863 Member
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    Try this for one week.

    Only eat non packaged foods. Do not eat anything that comes in a package for 7 days and see if you get results. I have digestion issues when I eat certain foods/preservatives and it keeps me from losing weight. Those foods I also friggin love though, so it's really hard. I gave you some ideas below, obviously not everything in the categories are one meal, but choose from stuff within those categories to eat. Give it a whirl, friend me and report back. would love to know if it helps! Try to cook with olive oil and no pam or things you spray out of a can also...

    Breakfast:
    Eggs
    Fresh fruit or packed in own juices
    Bacon (nitrate free)
    Omelet (add any veggies you want!)
    Fruit and/or veggie smoothies (made with water, coconut water)

    Lunch:
    Salads topped with at least one protein and maybe some nuts/fruit
    Applegate farm cold cuts
    (i usually eat salads or leftovers here)

    Dinner:
    Any all all meats that aren't processed, try grilling or cooking them with natural rubs you make yourself, or dressings you make yourself.
    Fresh roasted veggies (anything shaked in a bag with olive oil, onion, garlic and pepper and roasted is so good!)
    Sweet potatoes

    Snacks:
    Fruits
    Nuts (read labels, you should try and eat nuts that just have the nut listed as ingredient)

    Those are the basics, feel free to get creative. I make my own ice cream with raw honey bananas, real almond milk (not the shelf kind), pecans, nom nom nom...
  • errollmaclean
    errollmaclean Posts: 562 Member
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    Totally agree with people saying weigh your food, absolutely weigh your food! You'll be shocked at how easy it is to under estimate amounts and calories and sobotage yourself. Look for accurate database listings or make your own, and try to hit your macros (protein/fat/carbs) they're all important for your body to function properly.
  • Anniebotnen
    Anniebotnen Posts: 332 Member
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    Start weighing your food - fairly small differences between eyeballing or using measuring cups and accurate weight add up and make a big difference over the course of weeks and months! As someone else mentioned, also be careful about picking the correct entries from the food database. I double check against the usda database for many items that d not have a lot of confirmations.

    Why did the doctor say you won't lose weight if there is no medical condition?
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
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    eyeballing portions doesn't work for most people, and since you're not losing weight, it doesn't work for you. weigh or measure everything before you eat it or buy only prepackaged foods and eat a specified amount where you know the calories in advance. that way you REALLY know how many calories you're eating. if you aren't losing weight, it's easy to cut 500 calories per day once you have an accurate count.

    i started losing weight when i started a food diary (before i found MFP - i used a notebook) and weighed and wrote down all my food. it's easier with MFP as you don't have to find a pen or do any writing.

    if you want to make a real lifestyle change to be fitter and weigh less, measuring and writing is a VERY important first step.
  • Tanie98
    Tanie98 Posts: 675 Member
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    I agree with everyone, invest yourself a food scale .You might be eating way mre than you think
  • tigerblue
    tigerblue Posts: 1,525 Member
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    I am almost the same height as you and started out at about the same weight (155 lbs.). I lost over 40 lbs. following MFP to the T. It took 11 months, although I did see success from the beginning.

    I set my activity level for sedentary, and I logged all exercise (even including being more active in my work some days). I ate the calories back. Actually I always tried to leave about 100 cals "on the table" to compensate for logging errors. I was always conservative in my estimates of calories, and exercise. For instance, if I saw several choices for the food I was logging, I would log the higher calorie option, or at least the one near the middle, not the lowest. At some point I got a heart rate monitor for counting exercise calories. I found MFP to be pretty consistent with it, so I don't use it now.

    Unfortunately, small bodies like ours just don't need as many calories as most people think. The calculators are often high for those of us who are below average in size. So you may have to go even a bit lower than MFP reccommends if you don't see results. Unfortunately that will be true for maintenance also.

    Yes, there is danger in undereating also, but as small as you are (even being overweight), I would say that you are probably not undereating, unless you are very young. (I did not see an age on your profile).

    I weigh in my mid120's now, and I find that I MAINTAIN eating around 1600 total calories, including exercise. When I need to lose a few (after holidays!) I pretty much have to eat fewer than 1400 cals very consistently to lose. Again, that includes my exercise calories eaten. Considering I exercise every day, that means I am probably eating about 1100 cals plus exercise cals to lose. But until I dropped below 130, I could lose on 1200 calories plus whatever I earned in exercise.

    Hope that helps.
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
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    good points, tigerblue. i'm just over 5' 3" and i eat 1200 net calories per day, work out 6 days a week, and usually eating back at least part of my exercise calories. i'm losing about a pound a week.
  • bergpa
    bergpa Posts: 148 Member
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    I walk in the morning briskly for an hour, and I also do walk/run intervals for at least 45 minutes in the evening. I also incorporate reistance band training each day. I am not sure if I should raise my calories, maybe I'm not eating enough? But, I'm not hungry and I hate to just keep eating. Again, this is really not making any sense to me. I cannot be stuck at this weight the rest of my life...it is really upsetting me because I don't feel good (out of breath/no energy) and I don't feel good in my clothes--so I just want to stay home. All I want to do is lose 20 pounds--nothing crazy. I have always had a hard time losing pounds. At one point, I was able to lose inches, but that has also stopped. I have talked to my doctors, and they say I won't lose any weight. That cannot be true!! I have been tested and I do have slow gastric emptying also.

    In your case you should go back to your doctors for more information. Ask them why they think you won't lose weight. If you do have gastroparesis, following general diet advice may not be wise.
  • wal807
    wal807 Posts: 4
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    Hi Honeycrisp
    Your starting to panic DON'T all you need to do is step back and have a look at your foods and ask yourself this, WHAT IS YOUR STABLE DIET have a look and ask yourself what in those foods are not helping you in your regime. honeycrisp it's not about how you can reduce your eating and it's not about cancelling out your stable diet but if you do remove something from your everyday eating do replace it with a healthier option . if you are reducing the food that you eat this will bring your metabolic rate down (Leptins) < control most of the hormone s that help the body to burn calories/fat . What leptins do : If you don't take in your daily requirements they lower all the fat burning homore in the body in which the body start to store the fat . After any workout you do the foods you take in after must be more protein base then carb and a sensible portion this is all i'll say for now but do send me a message if you feel what i said is interesting :smile: