Haven't Lost Any Weight in over 2 Months
Options
bokaba
Posts: 171 Member
I am getting discouraged because I haven't lost any weight in over two months. I weighed 283 pounds when I joined on 9/02/14 and weighed that much today with a couple of pounds either way. I should be losing 1.5-2 lbs a week. With about 9 weeks, I should have lost between 13.5 and 18 lbs making my total weight 269.5 to 265 by now. This clearly has not happened.
I am probably not logging correctly and MFP is probably overestimating my workout calories, but I usually never eat exercise calories to make up for it and I cannot imagine that my logging could be so bad as to make the past two months an exercise is futility. Whatever I am doing is clearly not working for me.
I am happy that my fitness has improved over the past two months. On lifting days, I am able to do 70 pushups in a day (when I started, I could do zero) and I am able to bicycle sever miles (I could make it around the block a couple of times two months ago).
If I am unable to lose 1.5 pounds or more in the next week, I plan to stop logging and join a weight loss program offered by my physician and see if that works better for me. I know it is unrealistic to expect big losses quickly, but zero progress in two months is unacceptable to me and I realize much of it is probably my own fault.
I think that my frustration is understandable. Has anyone else experienced this kind of lack of progress?
I am probably not logging correctly and MFP is probably overestimating my workout calories, but I usually never eat exercise calories to make up for it and I cannot imagine that my logging could be so bad as to make the past two months an exercise is futility. Whatever I am doing is clearly not working for me.
I am happy that my fitness has improved over the past two months. On lifting days, I am able to do 70 pushups in a day (when I started, I could do zero) and I am able to bicycle sever miles (I could make it around the block a couple of times two months ago).
If I am unable to lose 1.5 pounds or more in the next week, I plan to stop logging and join a weight loss program offered by my physician and see if that works better for me. I know it is unrealistic to expect big losses quickly, but zero progress in two months is unacceptable to me and I realize much of it is probably my own fault.
I think that my frustration is understandable. Has anyone else experienced this kind of lack of progress?
0
Replies
-
I am getting discouraged because I haven't lost any weight in over two months. I weighed 283 pounds when I joined on 9/02/14 and weighed that much today with a couple of pounds either way. I should be losing 1.5-2 lbs a week. With about 9 weeks, I should have lost between 13.5 and 18 lbs making my total weight 269.5 to 265 by now. This clearly has not happened.
I am probably not logging correctly and MFP is probably overestimating my workout calories, but I usually never eat exercise calories to make up for it and I cannot imagine that my logging could be so bad as to make the past two months an exercise is futility. Whatever I am doing is clearly not working for me.
I am happy that my fitness has improved over the past two months. On lifting days, I am able to do 70 pushups in a day (when I started, I could do zero) and I am able to bicycle sever miles (I could make it around the block a couple of times two months ago).
If I am unable to lose 1.5 pounds or more in the next week, I plan to stop logging and join a weight loss program offered by my physician and see if that works better for me. I know it is unrealistic to expect big losses quickly, but zero progress in two months is unacceptable to me and I realize much of it is probably my own fault.
I think that my frustration is understandable. Has anyone else experienced this kind of lack of progress?
Are you weighing out your food?
What medications are you on?
0 -
It is impossible to eat less than you burn and remain the same weight for two months. Whatever your daily calorie limit is, you need to reduce it.0
-
I am on omeprazole (for GERD) and levsin (an antispasmodic drug that targets the digestive system). I have begun weighing and measuring foods within the last few weeks. My daily calorie limit with a 750 calorie deficit is 2500 with no exercise or 2250 with a 1000 calorie deficit. So, my maintenance with no exercise is 3250 and upwards of 4000 with the exercise recommended by MFP. I am not sure it would be a good idea to go lower than a 1000 calorie deficit because most consider a 1000 calorie deficit to border on starvation (not starvation mode mind you, only where your body doesn't have enough energy to carryout basic functions).0
-
This.TimothyFish wrote: »It is impossible to eat less than you burn and remain the same weight for two months. Whatever your daily calorie limit is, you need to reduce it.
0 -
Dude, you've lost almost 20lbs in TWO months. Why the hell are you complaining about lack of results? You are either BSing this thread or you are BSing your weigh-ins, because your ticker clearly states 17lbs lost.
Your logging IS bad. You are using generic MFP entries for recipes and you are not weighing your food.
You've posted already about plateaus and weight loss issues, and we told you that your logging was off even though you told us to assume your logging was tight. It wasn't, and it isn't. On average you eat less than I do, at least according to your log. And you're still taking like 500 unnecessary supplements.
Stop using homemade generic entries, enter in your own individual ingredients in recipes or in the general diary, weigh your food, calculate your estimated energy needs from a website like exrx.net and subtract 20% from it and set as your goal (include exercise int he calculation if your exercise is consistent, if not then log and eat back half or more of the calories and don't include exercise in your estimate), and be consistent.
So yeah, your goal is probably too steep and you are over-eating because you are eating a lot of fast food, using generic entries, and not being smart about logging.-1 -
It should not say I lost 17 lbs. I just changed it because I created my account before I started logging and used that weight instead my weight when I began logging.0
-
In that case you are clearly logging incorrectly.
Signs:
1) not weighing food
2) Being inconsistent with intake, so of course you have no idea hwo much you need to eat to lose
3) Not even meeting your net intake needs. If you've set 2500 as your net needs to lose weight before accounting for exercise, then even if you exercise you need to be eating 2500 calories. And if you do exercise then you should be eating at least half of the calories you log from exercise to have a better idea of how to adjust your calorie goal if not seeing results.
The only thing you'll get from doing some program at your doc's office is a super low calorie meal plan and you'll probably not figure out how to maintain the weight you lose.
Estimating 40% body fat as a random %, 2800 is given as a maintenance calculation for net needs. Subtract 20%, that's around 2250 to lose 1lb/week. So if you are that high of body fat, then you could just be eating too much, considering you don't weigh your food and eat out a lot. But either way, you need to start actually being consistent with intake and meeting your set up goal intake so you can actually know how to adjust your intake needs.-1 -
"I am probably not logging correctly and MFP is probably overestimating my workout calories"
Given you know this, havent you just answered all of your concerns?0 -
I am probably not logging correctly and MFP is probably overestimating my workout calories, but I usually never eat exercise calories to make up for it and I cannot imagine that my logging could be so bad as to make the past two months an exercise is futility. Whatever I am doing is clearly not working for me.
Weigh and measure everything.-1 -
Your calories per day seems really high. Do you have an extremely active job? Are you on your feet morning to night lifting and carrying most of the time?
I weigh 306 right now and am set at lightly active. My goal is 1.5 lbs per week and my daily calories are at 2290. I am on my feet most of the day, just doing basic daily stuff. Unless you are working a strenuous job, it seems odd that your calorie needs would be considerably higher than mine.
My guess is that your problem is both having your activity level set too high and not being careful with logging. If your daily calories are set 300 calories to high, it only leaves you with a deficit of 400 calories, which would be really easy to eat through without careful logging. It doesn't matter what weight loss program you join. If you don't keep accurate track of your intake, you won't lose.0 -
As everyone said, you need to accurately weigh and log everything. Yesterday you logged cheese pizza. Was that a recipe you created or was it from somewhere like Pizza Hut? Anything like that out of the database you can't be sure that's what you're consuming due to different amounts/kinds of ingredients used between two people.0
-
justalittlecrazy wrote: »Your calories per day seems really high. Do you have an extremely active job? Are you on your feet morning to night lifting and carrying most of the time?
I weigh 306 right now and am set at lightly active. My goal is 1.5 lbs per week and my daily calories are at 2290. I am on my feet most of the day, just doing basic daily stuff. Unless you are working a strenuous job, it seems odd that your calorie needs would be considerably higher than mine.
My guess is that your problem is both having your activity level set too high and not being careful with logging. If your daily calories are set 300 calories to high, it only leaves you with a deficit of 400 calories, which would be really easy to eat through without careful logging. It doesn't matter what weight loss program you join. If you don't keep accurate track of your intake, you won't lose.
I have my activity level set at sedentary. There is a 300 calorie difference on the calculator for men and women.0 -
Use a food scale.
Given that you started working out some of this weight may be water or muscle gain. Have you been tracking your measurements as well as your weight?
I looked at your diary and the numbers for that plain cheese pizza seem to be about half of what they should be. When I google I get 952 calories for 3.5 slices of cheese pizza. The stuff you've been getting could have even more than that. Some pizza is dripping with oil.
If you love pizza so much make your own. You can buy frozen pizza dough at the supermarket. Take a frozen ball out in the morning, put it in a big tupperware container with a cover and put it someplace warm to rise all day, like an oven with a pilot light. Or your kitchen counter. In the evening punch it down and put it on a pizza pan (don't worry about getting it round), put on your favorite sauce and part skim mozzarella slices or grated mozzarella (and or other cheeses). You can add chopped veggies for toppings. Put it in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Voila. You have fresh pizza and you control the calories. What you don't eat you can save for lunch or dinner for the next day.0 -
your physician is just going to put you on a calorie deficit diet and then you're going to be back to where you started which is figuring out what you are logging incorrectly.0
-
I'm seeing a lot of inaccuracies in your diary.
Nov 10
-Lowfat - Whole Wheat Pancakes, 3 pancakes: Use a food scale.
-Apple - Green - Small, 2 - Raw : That is meaningless. 2 small apples could be any size.
-Strawberries - Raw, 4 small (1" dia): Meaningless, use a food scale.
-Fruit - Banana (2 Fruit), 0.25 banana: Meaningless, use a food scale.
-Pizza - Plain Cheese, 3.5 Slice: Meaningless, use a food scale.
Nov 9
-T - Tomato Slice, 2 slice: Meaningless, use a food scale.
-Cheese - Swiss, 1 cubic inch: Meaningless, use a food scale.
-Romaine - Chopped Romaine, 2 cups: Meaningless, use a food scale.
-Olives - Black, Pitted, 3 large: Meaningless, use a food scale.
-Pizza - Plain Cheese, 3.5 Slice: Meaningless, use a food scale.
-Spinach - Raw, 2 cup: Meaningless, use a food scale.
-Trader Joes - Coconut Cream, 1/6 CUP: Do you have a 1/6 cup measuring cup?
-Oatmeal Quick Oats - Great Value, 1/2 Dry Cup: Meaningless, use a food scale.
Nov 8
-Trader Joes - French Toast, 2 slices: Unless pre-packaged, this is probably inaccurate. Does this include the syrup/toppings?
-Homemade - Sanwich-Turkey, 1 sandwich: Did you create this entry using the recipe builder? Otherwise, it's inaccurate.
0 -
Do a lot of cardio starting with low intensity(keeping your heart rate down) such as a 30 minute to 1 hour walk or jog etc... Than once you get accustomed and drop some weight go for high intensity interval training(Insanity is a good one) to really speed up the process. It will also get rid of a lot of water weight due to that you will be sweating like maniac. You will be surprised on how much extra water weight people have and believe or not drinking more water helps prevent water retention because it tells your body your getting adequate amounts of water so it doesn't need to store any excess of it. At your weight at least a gallon. I drink at least a gallon especially if your getting a lot of sodium in your diet... More or less if it's due to something on long the lines of a thyroid imbalance/medical condition you should contact your doctor.0
-
It's not a bad idea to take occasional breaks when you feel frustrated or "diet fatigue". I don't mean eat whatever you want, stop exercising, load up on a lot of high calorie junk etc--rather, try to eat at maintenance for a week or a few weeks. I do that periodically: if I have a lot of socializing and know I will be at restaurants and in situations where it is difficult to log accurately I just eat around maintenance calories and keep exercising, walking a lot. Sometimes I still lose weight, sometimes I don't, sometimes I gain a pound or 2. Over the weeks and months the weight trend keeps going downward and I don't feel like I am missing out or leading a restricted life.
I am aware that this is not for everyone but I like doing it every other month or so. I only really use my food scale for fats and proteins too. Sorry, not going to weigh lettuce. That isn't gonna work for me
0 -
I am getting discouraged because I haven't lost any weight in over two months. I weighed 283 pounds when I joined on 9/02/14 and weighed that much today with a couple of pounds either way.
How often do you weigh? If we are talking two individual dates, they could be outliers. Do you weigh yourself somewhat regularly? Do you measure yourself or have some clothes to test by?I should be losing 1.5-2 lbs a week. With about 9 weeks, I should have lost between 13.5 and 18 lbs making my total weight 269.5 to 265 by now. This clearly has not happened.
As others have said, you need to get the logging figured out so you know what your calories are. Then, if you aren't losing, you need to accept those are your maintenance calories and lower them. The calculators are just estimates and can be off for an individual. Among other things, if your body fat percentage is high, they usually overestimate calories needed.
Once you know you are logging accurately you can figure out what you need to eat to lose 1-2 lbs/week. If for some reason that's significantly lower than makes sense for someone of your stats, then that's a starting point for a doctor to investigate, but so far there's no reason to assume that's so.
0 -
If you aren't weighing your food and measuring your liquids, you're overeating. It's that simple. Before I started weighing my food, I couldn't figure out why I was stuck. Turns out, I was overeating by enough to cancel out my 500 calorie per day deficit (thus eating at maintenance).
Also, if you ever "sneak" a bite of anything (nut butter, a piece of chocolate, whatever) log it. You aren't doing yourself any favors by sneaking a taste and not logging it. (I've been guilty of this before. Hell, I'm still guilty of it now.)
And are the recipes yours or the generic ones in MFP? If they aren't yours, don't use them! Make your own so you know you're eating the actual calorie/fat/protein/carb numbers in the recipe.
And for reals man, lay off all the supplements. There is no reason to take 16 different supplements, some of which probably double you up on some vitamins/minerals. Does your doctor know about all of these? What does he/she say about it?
I'll say it again because it really is that important: weigh all solids and measure all liquids to know what you are actually eating. If you aren't willing to do that, there's nothing any of us can do for you.
And I'm pretty sure I've told you this all before, so this is really just for grins and giggles.0 -
And
0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.9K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.8K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.7K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 399 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.8K Motivation and Support
- 7.9K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.4K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 981 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.4K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions