Sloooooooooow weight loss

segacs · December 2014

Bread is the thing that's usually off by the most. I buy whole wheat bakery bread from my local supermarket, and a slice by label weight is listed as 55g. I've found that most slices are anywhere from 30g to 65g depending on thickness or how close the slices is to the end of the loaf (the bread is round-ish). If I'm making a sandwich, I'll pop the bread on the scale and log actual weight instead of by slice.

Some other things I don't bother to weigh. For instance, my 100g individually-sized yogurt might actually contain 95g or 105g, but it's too much hassle to spoon it into a separate bowl to weigh, so I figure that all averages out across a package of, say, 8 containers.

But bread? Absolutely, weigh bread.

WickedPineapple · December 2014

kimault1984 wrote: »

WickedPineapple wrote: »

I have to agree with ana. Your logging is not meticulous. Tighten that up. Don't use quick calories for an entire day. Stop logging only half a day... unless you're really only eating 300-700 calories per day. In that case, eat more.

There have been some days in the past few weeks where I've eaten very little. Life happens. There have been several days that I've been sick an unable to tolerate much food. As for not weighing everything, you got me. I don't weigh bread. Or tablespoons of jelly. I will also list an entire serving of PB if I have lick of a spoon. If I had something from out that's listed as having 1,000 calories, I may do a quick add of 1200. Like I said, I overestimate to compensate for error. I successfully lost 90 lbs about 3 years ago (without using MFP), and 20 of them have crept back and it seems so much more difficult this time around, which is why I was asking if other people may have had a slower loss than anticipated.

Personally, I don't weigh single serve items like bread or cheese slices. (I actually did weigh once or twice to verify, and they're usually dead on or within a gram or two.) I only went like 8 days back in your diary and of those days only one or two appeared to be a full day of eating. If you've been sick and your low calories are accurate, I'd make a comment on that day. Since you asked for suggestions, people are going to look at your diary. So putting a quick comment will help prevent assumptions. I still wouldn't suggest using quick calories for an entire day.

If you're really confident your logging is accurate. Okay. I wouldn't suggest eating less, so maybe more exercise and/or acitivity. Even just walking around your house while talking on the phone or getting up every 20 minutes or so when you've been sitting.

kimault1984 · December 2014

Lots of great ideas and suggestions. Thanks all for the input!

eychenn · December 2014

I feel your pain! I'm 5'2" and started at 152.5lbs - have been logging for over a month and I feel like it's been slow (now at 148.5, so about .5lb/week). I started with 1200cals/day (with exercise and eating back half the calories), did that for 3 weeks and I felt like it actually moved slower. Then I switched to 5:2 fasting (this is my 3rd week) and I feel like it's finally starting to move a bit quicker! Look into it - reading this thread, it might suit you better (if you are only eating 300-700cals on some days).

rhtexasgal · December 2014

Your stats of 5'4" and 154 lbs is pretty much right where I started in late April of this year. I started eating 1200 calories a day and thought it sucked so I started exercising because I wanted to eat more. My goal weight is 125 and right now, I am four pounds away. You are doing ok right now but you admittedly said you did not exercise so if you want "quicker" results, you do need to add exercise in. My weight loss has averaged about .7 - 1.2 pounds per week, depending on hormones

While my progress may appear a bit slow, it really isn't, thanks to those newly formed muscles. Add some exercise!

lemurcat12 · December 2014

unlikelyathlete wrote: »

I am a "shortie" at 5 feet 2 inches. I finally had an "ah hah" (or "duh") moment when I really looked at my TDEE. My TDEE, for example, is about 1600 calories. With no exercise at all, if I follow a 1200-calorie a day diet, I'm only creating a weekly caloric deficit of 2800 calories (aka, less than a pound a week for loss if I don't exercise). Doing the numbers, then, it makes sense that I would lose about .6 or .8 of a pound a week, and that's if my weekly deficit could be *exactly* reflected in my weight loss every week on the scale (which can always be affected by many factors, sodium intake, etc.)

Yep, I was just posting about this elsewhere. My sedentary TDEE is estimated at about 1550. I'm about 130, 5'3, so not that far off of the OP's stats. That would be a slow loss at 1200, but instead I'm currently doing a slow-ish loss at 1700 with exercise (cardio & weights).

In that you probably aren't completely sedentary, though, you might want to make sure you are using the right entries--that's one way that the logging can be off even when you are measuring, and there are lots of bad entries in the database. It could also be that your metabolism is a bit low due to the loss before, however, as extended dieting can do that.

segacs · December 2014

If it helps to not see it as slow, think of it as a percentage of your total body weight lost, as opposed to as how many pounds you lose.

It's one thing for me to say I have to lose 40lbs. Doesn't sound like a lot. But when you consider that's a fourth of my starting body weight... Well, that puts things in perspective.

I'm sticking to a 20% TDEE deficit. A bigger person could lose 1-2lbs per week at a 20% deficit. For me, that 20% deficit gives me about 0.5-0.7lbs/week. It's still a big loss, relative to my smaller body.

arditarose · December 2014

I'm 5'4" and when I was in the 150's I was still losing a pound a week with 1400 calories or so. Now I'm shooting for .5 a week and it is so slow because I'm just eating too much. Adding a bit of exercise might help your deficit though.

Sloooooooooow weight loss

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