Why am I not losing weight like i think i should?

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Replies

  • jazzine1
    jazzine1 Posts: 280 Member
    edited January 2015
    malibu927 wrote: »
    Nutn899 wrote: »
    I would take measurements. Muscle weighs more than fat. From your earlier post, it sounds like you are hardly eating anything at all. If that's the case, your body goes into "starvation" mode and holds on to all the weight it can. Try to eat more fruit and veggies too.

    At that amount that he's eating, it's impossible to gain muscle. Also, starvation mode is a myth.

    LOL what she said. What I have learnt around here and other articles its a myth. If that were the case ppl who are actually starving due to their poverty circumstances would not get thin at all.
  • swolfe01 wrote: »
    What would you suggest I add to my diet?

    Thanks for opening up your diary, man!

    So, you really ate 3 grams of cinnamon toast crunch? A serving is a lot more than that. This is why weighing food is so important- if you know the exact amount you're intaking, it takes all the guesswork out of it. :)

    I took like 5pieces as a "snack". You're right though, I need to get a scale today to be more precise.
  • workout_ninja
    workout_ninja Posts: 524 Member
    you are totally not eating enough - you seriously need to be eating AT LEAST 1200 calories a day - im going to assume you used to eat alot more than this before you decided to start on your weight loss journey - so you went from eating too much to starving yourself. This is completely non sustainable and you will, at some point, binge because you will be craving.
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    - At the amount of calories you are eating just now, there is no way you are getting enough nutrients or vitamins to keep you healthy and lets face it, you lose weight to be healthy, no?
    -
    - Please eat more. instead of egg whites, eat the whole egg - there is nothing wrong with the yolk and its the best bit! instead of 3 grams of cereal, eat the recommended 30g or whatever it is. Have some carbs with your dinner. Just start thinking
  • dakotababy
    dakotababy Posts: 2,407 Member
    Wow...this is the saddest food diary I have ever seen! And you are a male??!

    I am a female, eating 2000 calories a DAY - and losing weight at a consistent rate. Why would you be afraid of carbs?! Carbs are delicious, fuel you to function normally, and they are delicious.
  • Far too low of a goal for any male ... generic entries making it impossible to determine how much you're actually consuming ... calorie burns from walking that look greatly overestimated unless your "uphill" is 15% or more ...

    I'm not estimating here. I'm putting in exactly what is displayed on my treadmill. All of my walking is done uphill.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    swolfe01 wrote: »
    Far too low of a goal for any male ... generic entries making it impossible to determine how much you're actually consuming ... calorie burns from walking that look greatly overestimated unless your "uphill" is 15% or more ...

    I'm not estimating here. I'm putting in exactly what is displayed on my treadmill. All of my walking is done uphill.

    Machine calories burns are inaccurate.
  • PattiWalling
    PattiWalling Posts: 25 Member
    First off a food scale is a must. Mine is with me everywhere I go...cause you never know when you might need it! I noticed you are eating a little cabbage...that's great...eat a lot of it! Eat more broccoli....Truth is you can have so much more of many of the things you are already eating. Remember the "cleaner" you eat the more of it that you get. For me personally I had to decide what was more important to me...a little taste of something sugary and sweet or a big taste of other cleaner foods. Those cleaner foods are what my body needs to give me FUEL for all the weight training and cardio that I do daily. Please, I'm not saying you are eating sugary sweet things, I didn't look that far into your diary, I'm just saying you can be eating a WHOLE LOT MORE than you are and YOU NEED TO EAT MORE. If you like spaghetti then buy a spaghetti squash and halve it, remove the seeds and cook either in the oven or microwave. Use a fork to scrape it and like magic it comes out just like spaghetti. At Walmart there is a marinara sauce by Wild Oats Marketplace that has 1.5 grams fat and about 6-7 carbs....it is the lowest that I have found and it tastes good. I usually have 186 grams of spaghetti squash, 113 grams, or one serving of the marinara and about 4.5 ounces of chicken. that is just one delicious meal that typical in my diet.
  • dakotababy wrote: »
    Wow...this is the saddest food diary I have ever seen! And you are a male??!

    I am a female, eating 2000 calories a DAY - and losing weight at a consistent rate. Why would you be afraid of carbs?! Carbs are delicious, fuel you to function normally, and they are delicious.

    I completely agree that they are "delicious".
  • Rikki007s
    Rikki007s Posts: 102 Member
    Based on your diary entries, you are on the road to a very unsustainable diet. It's possible to eat under 1000 calories a day for a little while, but at some point you are going to break and it's gonna cost you a lot of what you have lost. If this doesn't happen and you somehow stick with it something even worse will happen: permanent serious damage to your body.

    I changed the way I eat when someone bought me the SuperFoods RX book. That book won't necessarily work for you, but you should find something that can guide you into a sustainable healthy diet. I hope you can find your way on this.
  • GillianMcK
    GillianMcK Posts: 401 Member
    You need to eat more, calculate your TDEE and deduct 10%-15% to get your weight loss calories.
    Remember that weight loss is not linear, I ate the same things every day in the same order for 4 weeks, weight loss was different every week!
    You mention adding in exercise but not upping your calories, think of your body as an engine, would you expect your car to go further/faster on less fuel, or would you put more fuel in?
    Check the nutritional value of what you are inputting, 30 calories for apple pie (an apple without the pastry or sauce is 70cals), are your 2slices of turkey really only 2oz? Egg white's, have you checked the calories in them or just taken it from MFP?
  • beckyml1980
    beckyml1980 Posts: 126 Member
    You seem to have some great advice here. You should be eating more for sure. I have found with my own personal experience, when I stop losing I have to increase my calorie intake and then my body will start losing again. It's one of the many mysteries and wonders that is weight loss. Also, remember that muscle does not weigh more than fat, a pound is a pound, however muscle is leaner and therefore takes up less room on your body. Also, the more you lose the less you lose weekly once you hit close to goal. The smaller you get the less calories you burn.

    Please up your calories to no less then 1200, however, for a male, you should be eating more than that. like 1500. Remember A burger may be a quick 500 calories but you won't remain as full an satisfied as if you were to eat A cup of spinach and onion sauteed in a little bit of olive oil, a cup of broccoli florets roasted, and a a filet of salmon.... roughly 230 calories and fills you up. that would be a great lunch :) Best of luck on your road to healthy! YOU CAN DO THIS!!!
  • chette78
    chette78 Posts: 82 Member
    First off you know you are not eating enough. Second off, you know what you need to do. No one needs to tell you. Your food diary is sad and looks inaccurate. You need to eat more protein and less sugar and less salt. Your sodium intake is really high. a lot of sodium equals water weight. Are you drinking enough water? Eat more veggies and healthy protein's. I lost 50lbs before but through not watching I gained it all back now I am starting over. If I can do it, you can do it. Want more motivation start looking at the Success Stories. Look at their diaries. See what they are doing. I think you can do this. Just do it. It looks like you already lost some Lbs. if you lost them bc you are not eating enough, you will gain every pound back when you start eating again. We are all addicted to food or we would not be here. We are all here for a reason, to get healthy! I'm sorry if this sounds harsh. but YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    swolfe01 wrote: »
    Far too low of a goal for any male ... generic entries making it impossible to determine how much you're actually consuming ... calorie burns from walking that look greatly overestimated unless your "uphill" is 15% or more ...

    I'm not estimating here. I'm putting in exactly what is displayed on my treadmill. All of my walking is done uphill.

    Like I said ... if you're not walking up a 15% slope, it is overestimating. Period. At under 10% you're not even doubling flat ground caloric burns which are on average only .3 calories per pound per mile net for walking.

    If the machine is reporting gross calories rather than net, that's another inaccuracy to account for.
  • wykedengel
    wykedengel Posts: 5 Member
    First, congrats on the weight you already lost. It is a major accomplishment and is the foundation for future success. First, everyone's body responds differently to various diet and exercise routine. With that said allow me to throw in my two pieces of copper:
    malibu927 wrote: »
    Unless you have a medical reason to watch carbs, you do not need to cut them

    If you're doing the keto diet, one of the tenants of the diet is to keep carbs super low. Without going into pages of explanation, here is a link to find out more about it. (Using Google URL Shortener: http://goo.gl/FDftdV) While yes, you don't need to cut carbs, cutting them can prove to be a huge benefit to people, who may be considered obese.

    The general consensus is that you're not eating enough. I honestly don't know without see your food diary. It's your choice if you want to make it available to your friends, but I would say that if you are looking for guidance, it would help.

    I like the steps @CupcakeCrusoe listed above. Weighing your food will help immensely. You'd be surprised how much difference there is between what we think we're eating versus what we're actually eating.

    The OP does about 1:45 hours of walking per day, but never said if this is at one time, or broken up throughout the day. If you're walking that much, then I would think your body is used to that stress and it's time for a change. Incorporate some lifting into your routine. The combination of cardio and weight training burns more calories than either cardio or weight training alone.

    @swolfe01‌, I know it may seem like a lot, but in the end, it's to help you reach your goal. All the best!
  • elsalily
    elsalily Posts: 47 Member
    Well, honestly being between 300 and 1000 max per day over the last two weeks... You seriously need to eat more.
    You definitely aren't getting enough energy for your workouts and eating so little is likely counterproductive.
    You have to remember that you have to keep "dieting" for a long while to get the weight loss you want. Being at a more manageable number of cals per day- around 1500 min. I'd say- will not only give you results, but also be much easier to be on for say a year or more. You don't want to lose weight too fast anyway, because these losses are usually harder to maintain.
    I'd suggest adding things you like to your days,while trying to meet your macro goals.
  • You seem to have some great advice here. You should be eating more for sure. I have found with my own personal experience, when I stop losing I have to increase my calorie intake and then my body will start losing again. It's one of the many mysteries and wonders that is weight loss. Also, remember that muscle does not weigh more than fat, a pound is a pound, however muscle is leaner and therefore takes up less room on your body. Also, the more you lose the less you lose weekly once you hit close to goal. The smaller you get the less calories you burn.

    Please up your calories to no less then 1200, however, for a male, you should be eating more than that. like 1500. Remember A burger may be a quick 500 calories but you won't remain as full an satisfied as if you were to eat A cup of spinach and onion sauteed in a little bit of olive oil, a cup of broccoli florets roasted, and a a filet of salmon.... roughly 230 calories and fills you up. that would be a great lunch :) Best of luck on your road to healthy! YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

    Thanks!
  • Thanks everyone for your humbling and motivating advice here. This is exactly what I needed!!!!
  • ludazatobom
    ludazatobom Posts: 53 Member
    Do not be afraid of carbs our systems need carbs and there are plenty of guides on the net about what carbs are the best plus this app guides you very well on how much to eat. Also you are not eating enough. You have to lose weight in a way in which you can imagine yourself doing for the rest of your life. Doing something that drastic we all known is not a realistic way to live by long term and clearly your body is trying to tell you stop and do it properly.
  • DYELB
    DYELB Posts: 7,407 Member
    swolfe01 wrote: »
    Hey everyone. I started dieting back in September of 2014 with changing my diet. Over a 7 week period I lost 12 lbs at which time I decided to include cardiovascular into my plan. I started out walking on my treadmill for about 15-20 minutes and have progressed to about 1hr45 minutes a day. At this rate, and along with my diet I would think that I would be shedding the pounds (I started at 344 lbs and am down to 319); however, it seems to be a very odd cycle. I'll lose a few lbs and then gain a few pounds. I am at a loss as to what is going on... HELP!!!!!

    You are not accurately estimating your caloric intake. At 319 that is the only possibility.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    DYELB wrote: »
    swolfe01 wrote: »
    Hey everyone. I started dieting back in September of 2014 with changing my diet. Over a 7 week period I lost 12 lbs at which time I decided to include cardiovascular into my plan. I started out walking on my treadmill for about 15-20 minutes and have progressed to about 1hr45 minutes a day. At this rate, and along with my diet I would think that I would be shedding the pounds (I started at 344 lbs and am down to 319); however, it seems to be a very odd cycle. I'll lose a few lbs and then gain a few pounds. I am at a loss as to what is going on... HELP!!!!!

    You are not accurately estimating your caloric intake. At 319 that is the only possibility.

    ^This
  • DYELB wrote: »
    swolfe01 wrote: »
    Hey everyone. I started dieting back in September of 2014 with changing my diet. Over a 7 week period I lost 12 lbs at which time I decided to include cardiovascular into my plan. I started out walking on my treadmill for about 15-20 minutes and have progressed to about 1hr45 minutes a day. At this rate, and along with my diet I would think that I would be shedding the pounds (I started at 344 lbs and am down to 319); however, it seems to be a very odd cycle. I'll lose a few lbs and then gain a few pounds. I am at a loss as to what is going on... HELP!!!!!

    You are not accurately estimating your caloric intake. At 319 that is the only possibility.

    Can you elaborate?
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
    There's just no way that you are doing almost 2 hours of cardio and that severely undereating and not losing weight. Something doesn't add up here.
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