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Not losing no matter what I do ;(
healthyme227
Posts: 1
I'm having trouble losing weight. I eat a mostly clean diet and keep the junk out of arms reach. I admit, I don't exercise as of late and have a legit reason; due to back trouble that has lead me to the ER, my doctor suggested I complete physical therapy before going back to the gym. I'm busy throughout the day, with 5 kids and 2 of them under 5, movement isn't an issue. Although I do not know how to categorize my fitness level.
My thoughts are I do not eat enough (I aim for 1200, be often land somewhere between 1000 - 1700). I'm eating too much for my activity level. I'm not choosing the right foods.
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I am 5'1" and weigh in at 154. I gained 30 pounds since Easter 2014 (tough times and food became my friend). I will be 40 in a few months and am beginning to worry about my heart health. I go to physical therapy 2x a week to work on stretching and overly tight muscle and ab strengthening. My day is filled with cleaning, running errands and tending to the kids needs, leaving little time to sit still for extended periods of time. I sleep 6-8 hours a night and choose fruits and veggies over sugar laiden treats.
Thoughts? Advice?
My thoughts are I do not eat enough (I aim for 1200, be often land somewhere between 1000 - 1700). I'm eating too much for my activity level. I'm not choosing the right foods.
-
I am 5'1" and weigh in at 154. I gained 30 pounds since Easter 2014 (tough times and food became my friend). I will be 40 in a few months and am beginning to worry about my heart health. I go to physical therapy 2x a week to work on stretching and overly tight muscle and ab strengthening. My day is filled with cleaning, running errands and tending to the kids needs, leaving little time to sit still for extended periods of time. I sleep 6-8 hours a night and choose fruits and veggies over sugar laiden treats.
Thoughts? Advice?
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Replies
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do you weigh everything you eat with scales?0
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You're eating too much
"I eat a mostly clean diet and keep the junk out of arms reach."
means nothing, weigh and log your food so you know what you're eating
"I admit, I don't exercise as of late and have a legit reason; due to back trouble that has lead me to the ER, my doctor suggested I complete physical therapy before going back to the gym"
that's fine - but you could walk more or try swimming if you wanted - although you lose weight in the kitchen so don't need to
"My thoughts are I do not eat enough (I aim for 1200, be often land somewhere between 1000 - 1700). I'm eating too much for my activity level. I'm not choosing the right foods. "
you have absolutely no idea what level of calories you're eating - but yes you are eating too many to achieve weight loss
weigh your food and log it carefully and lose weight0 -
Eat less; move more. If you can't do stuff at the gym, find something you can do, such a walking.
When I see someone say, "I'm not losing because I'm eating too little," that tells me that they are trying to justify eating more than they ought. As for not choosing the right foods: choosing the right foods is good for your health, but makes no significant difference to weight loss. So, your second though is the correct one, "I'm eating too much for my activity level."0 -
Here are some of the reasons that my weigh creeps up between weigh-ins.
#1 I have not been honest with my caloric intake. I'll have a banana or anything small and not punch it in because I had extra calories to give on that day. (Insert any excuse you like!)
#2 The app overestimates my exercise values. It is not uncommon to think that you burning more calories than you actually are. Put the daily activity level on your app at sedentary, even if you think it should be at active.
3# Water can change things. Make sure you are weighing yourself at the same time of day about once a week. Also make sure you eat and drink similarly before your weigh-in. If you weighed yourself one week on Monday after a health dinner at home, don't weight in next Monday after a sodium rich dinner out at a restaurant.
Also, if you can't workout right now, it might be best just to maintain your weight until you can. Diet is only one piece of the puzzle. Don't expect huge loses until your body can burn some of the weight off. Exercise increases metabolism as well, so it will be easier to shed lbs once your body becomes more efficient!
This piece of advice is the hardest one for me to accept during plateaues and gains. Go with how you feel and how you look! If you feel fitter and clothes fit better, you are probably getting in better shape. The scale can't tell you everything.0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »do you weigh everything you eat with scales?
+1
When trying to lose weight exercise actually doesn't have as much impact as one may think. It's more about the quality of food and the quantity of food. If you are not already doing so, weigh everything that you're about to consume, drink more water, & make sure you are getting enough sleep. Also if you are currently unable to full-on exercise, Google or YouTube exercises that would not further strain your back but keep parts of you active. This way when you can exercise again, you wouldn't be starting back from ground zero.
Best of luck to you!0 -
Can you open your diary?0
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Using the stats that you gave, you should be eating around the 1450 calorie level to lose weight based on your activity level. It appears that for you to maintain, you would need to eat around 1700 calories (which you've stated is your high range that you eat), so that would make sense that you are not losing weight. Here's an online calculator that you can use to figure out your exact calorie level to eat in order to lose weight:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Hope this helps
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Here are some of the reasons that my weigh creeps up between weigh-ins.
#1 I have not been honest with my caloric intake. I'll have a banana or anything small and not punch it in because I had extra calories to give on that day. (Insert any excuse you like!)
#2 The app overestimates my exercise values. It is not uncommon to think that you burning more calories than you actually are. Put the daily activity level on your app at sedentary, even if you think it should be at active.
3# Water can change things. Make sure you are weighing yourself at the same time of day about once a week. Also make sure you eat and drink similarly before your weigh-in. If you weighed yourself one week on Monday after a health dinner at home, don't weight in next Monday after a sodium rich dinner out at a restaurant.
Also, if you can't workout right now, it might be best just to maintain your weight until you can. Diet is only one piece of the puzzle. Don't expect huge loses until your body can burn some of the weight off. Exercise increases metabolism as well, so it will be easier to shed lbs once your body becomes more efficient!
This piece of advice is the hardest one for me to accept during plateaues and gains. Go with how you feel and how you look! If you feel fitter and clothes fit better, you are probably getting in better shape. The scale can't tell you everything.
I was nodding along to all this until the bit I've bolded which I believe is completely incorrect .. you lose weight in the kitchen
Exercise helps by increasing your edible calories and getting you in the right frame of mind as well as the emotional and physical benefits of greater fitness but it's no reason not to eat at a defecit and lose weight.
The more efficient a body becomes and the lighter, the fewer calories one can eat ... although maintaining as much muscle as possible through resistance / weight work helps maximise your maintenance calories0 -
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Sorry, don't know how to edit anymore?
Weighing everything is very important!0 -
healthygreek wrote: »Sorry, don't know how to edit anymore?
Weighing everything is very important!
there's a small cog in the top right-hand corner of your post if you move your mouse over it ... you get an hour to click on and edit - after that, you can't0 -
Even if you were truly under eating you'd still be losing. You're eating more than you think.0
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Thanks!healthygreek wrote: »Sorry, don't know how to edit anymore?
Weighing everything is very important!
there's a small cog in the top right-hand corner of your post if you move your mouse over it ... you get an hour to click on and edit - after that, you can't
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You aren't undereating. I have a couple of suggestions . . .
Invest a little in your health. Measure everything with at least measuring cups. Invest in a food scale if you possibly can. If you do that for at least two weeks you will learn a LOT about portion sizes.
Don't snack of your kid's plates. Those extra fingerfulls of this, the extra potato chip or 5, the licked peanut butter spoon, the half a cookie . . . They'll add 500 calories to your day. If you do take bit of this or that, LOG IT.
Set your activity level to sedentary. I run around a lot at home too, but it still doesn't get me a lot of steps. I strongly recommend a fitbit zip - they are $40 on ebay. It will sync with MFP and add in the extra calories you earn from running around. If you can't afford that, get a $5 pedometer. At sedentary, less than 3500 steps is no exercise calories. I think you get like an extra 300 if you hit 100000 steps in a day. You can look it up - it's around an hours' walking at 3.5 miles per hour.
Things that add a lot of calories to my data were 1) big glasses of milk 2) bread 3) cheese. All healthy stuff we feed to kids.
Keep your carbs under 40%. That's not low carb, it's high protein and moderate fat. If I don't do that I can't lose weight easily no matter what. You are quite overweight for your size, you but can take it off. It just takes really accurate measuring and logging and PERSISTENCE.
Good luck.
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Walking increases my BMR? Wow learned something new today.Here are some of the reasons that my weigh creeps up between weigh-ins.
#1 I have not been honest with my caloric intake. I'll have a banana or anything small and not punch it in because I had extra calories to give on that day. (Insert any excuse you like!)
#2 The app overestimates my exercise values. It is not uncommon to think that you burning more calories than you actually are. Put the daily activity level on your app at sedentary, even if you think it should be at active.
3# Water can change things. Make sure you are weighing yourself at the same time of day about once a week. Also make sure you eat and drink similarly before your weigh-in. If you weighed yourself one week on Monday after a health dinner at home, don't weight in next Monday after a sodium rich dinner out at a restaurant.
Also, if you can't workout right now, it might be best just to maintain your weight until you can. Diet is only one piece of the puzzle. Don't expect huge loses until your body can burn some of the weight off. Exercise increases metabolism as well, so it will be easier to shed lbs once your body becomes more efficient!
This piece of advice is the hardest one for me to accept during plateaues and gains. Go with how you feel and how you look! If you feel fitter and clothes fit better, you are probably getting in better shape. The scale can't tell you everything.
0 -
Here are some of the reasons that my weigh creeps up between weigh-ins.
#1 I have not been honest with my caloric intake. I'll have a banana or anything small and not punch it in because I had extra calories to give on that day. (Insert any excuse you like!)
#2 The app overestimates my exercise values. It is not uncommon to think that you burning more calories than you actually are. Put the daily activity level on your app at sedentary, even if you think it should be at active.
3# Water can change things. Make sure you are weighing yourself at the same time of day about once a week. Also make sure you eat and drink similarly before your weigh-in. If you weighed yourself one week on Monday after a health dinner at home, don't weight in next Monday after a sodium rich dinner out at a restaurant.
Also, if you can't workout right now, it might be best just to maintain your weight until you can. Diet is only one piece of the puzzle. Don't expect huge loses until your body can burn some of the weight off. Exercise increases metabolism as well, so it will be easier to shed lbs once your body becomes more efficient!
This piece of advice is the hardest one for me to accept during plateaues and gains. Go with how you feel and how you look! If you feel fitter and clothes fit better, you are probably getting in better shape. The scale can't tell you everything.
I was nodding along to all this until the bit I've bolded which I believe is completely incorrect .. you lose weight in the kitchen
Exercise helps by increasing your edible calories and getting you in the right frame of mind as well as the emotional and physical benefits of greater fitness but it's no reason not to eat at a defecit and lose weight.
The more efficient a body becomes and the lighter, the fewer calories one can eat ... although maintaining as much muscle as possible through resistance / weight work helps maximise your maintenance calories
I agree.. you don't have to do anything exercise wise. I am (and have not for a while) been doing anything exercise related but this week I am down 4lbs just on my intake. The first days are usually just figuring out where I need to be in my logging then the rest of time is hard core logging. From about last Wed or Thurs on, I have accurately logged every little item with a scale .. it makes a difference for me 0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »do you weigh everything you eat with scales?
bingo. i did not see this mentioned.......i had your similar problem when i first started my journey 2 years ago (september 18th.....). i had bouts where the scale just would not budge....i then got a digital kitchen food scale from walmart, think i paid 12 bucks for it.....and now literally weigh everything i eat....unless it comes in a package with it's own nutrition facts....but i have shyed away from that sort of food too as of late.....
you'd be surprised how incorrect even a 'dry measure' of cereal is......that was my biggie...when i first started weighing my foods....the serving i weighed out did not match my previously measured 'dry measure'.....but you gotta figure, it's a volume thing lol....there becomes air space within that measuring cup.....
i'm willing to bet if you start weighing out your foods, you will lose...
another consideration......aim for half your body weight, in fluid ounces, of water. at your specs of 154, you should be aiming for 77 fluid ounces of water per day....make sure it's real water though.....'liquid' does not count.....sodas don't count, coffee doesn't count. only water counts, whether it's bottled, or municipal, don't matter.....0 -
I could have written your post... except for the kids part since I'm a menopausal woman. I eat healthy foods, have painful medical conditions, and swore I was undereating (yeah, there's no such thing as eating too little) and/or eating little enough to lose weight.
I was wrong.
Plain and simple.
You are eating more than you think. I was eating more than I thought. When I started tracking my calories online and really measuring and weighing my intake instead of in my head and eyeballing? It was an eye opener.
I don't always exercise. I can't always exercise. My arthritis flares. I get migraines. The weight still comes off. Consistent, accurate logging works. Try it.0
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