What am I doing wrong?

In my experience, with only 20 pounds to lose, it takes longer. It took me over a year. And water weight is definitely a factor in the gain/loss department. Keep up the logging and exercise. You might not see that .5 pound loss every week, but it will happen.

Keep measuring and taking photographs! There is "only" 7lbs difference in me on the pics below.



Seriously do all three, it really helps to keep you motivated. One week the scale might not budge but the tape measure might. This week was the first time my tape measure didn't budge and my weight loss in general is really slowing but looking at photos I look completely different to even 3 weeks ago. So if one thing isn't showing progress, chances are one of the other two things will.

Technically you can do no exercise at all and still lose weight so long as you're in a deficit - it's your diet that has the greatest impact not the exercise.

That said it certainly doesn't hurt to up your exercise and will give you more cals to play around with, plus give you more definition.

I have hypothyroid and feel your pain, my doctor laughed at me when I asked him about losing weight, but that said I did do it almost 30 pounds last year. I work hard to keep it off, with clean eating, portion control and a mix of cardio and weights, feel free to add me!

Oh, honey. With hashimotos and pernicious anemia, I feel your pain on the weird weight fluctuations.

The thing that works the absolute best for me, isn't so much reducing my calories, as it is adding cardio. I got a Fitbit and started walking my 10,000 steps a day, and It fairly reliably results in a pound a week of weight loss - with the exception of when I am STILL SICK.

When I am counting my calories and logging my exercise and my weight is still mysteriously going up, then I know something is WRONG. The first time I couldn't figure out why I wasn't losing weight, I found out I had pernicious anemia, and the lack of b12 was (killing me, literally) preventing me from processing my thyroid meds. As soon as they put me on shots, I started dropping a pound a week again. The second time something was mysteriously wrong, I had a problem with my IUD. Turns out, I have an autoimmune response to silicone. (So... no boob job for me. Bummer.) As soon as I had it out, I started dropping a pound a week instead of GAINING it. I'm pissed that I have to re-lose 20 more pounds to be where I was last summer, but at least I'm not sleeping 15 hours a day and gaining a pound a week anymore.

Keep track of your eating and your exercise and find a sustainable pairing that works for you. (I really suck at eating less than 1600 calories a day. I just can't do it - so I get enough exercise to justify eating that much. I love cardio, so it works out.) If you've double checked your food amounts by weighing everything you eat, and you know you're not over-estimating calories burned with your exercise - go through your lifestyle and see if something else isn't wrong. See a doctor and show them what you're doing. It's possible something really isn't right.

All cautionary statements aside, my Fitbit has made it very easy for me to stay on target with both my cardio, and my daily calorie requirements.

Keep at it, and don't give up!

At 0.5 lb/week, that's going to be pretty easily masked by fluctuations in water weight. It would be tough to wait like, 2 weeks before knowing you might be down a lb, only to find you're up 2, because you're retaining water. Hard to know for sure you're doing everything right, etc.

But if you've been on since early Jan, that's about 10 weeks. Which IS about 0.5 lb per week. Which is what you have MFP set to.

So the probable water weight aside, I think you're losing right on schedule, and the scale is just not going to be as validating for you at this pace. I second the suggestions to take photos, measurements, etc.

Nanoosh92 wrote: »

CountessKitteh wrote: »

Nanoosh92 wrote: »

exercising twice a week is not enough, you should try 3 times a week

You don't need to exercise at all to lose weight if you're truly eating in a calorie deficit. Working out just lets you eat more.

i do agree with you but exercising helps in increasing your metabolism and prevents any weight gain. The only reason you feel like eating more is because of the increasing metabolism. Say for example you eat a total of 1200 cal/day, and then you do the 1000 calorie workout, that doesn't mean you have to eat the 1000 calorie that you have burned, it just means that if you want to eat more than the 1200 cal/day because you burn 1000 in exercise , its okay , but if you dont eat its a no problem. Besides you can never feel the desire to eat more if you eat well enough within the calorie zone. for eg you can eat 1500 cal/day instead of 1200 , and burn 1000 by exercise.

Keep following the process and take measurements. Since you are eating at a calorie deficit, you are not gaining fat.