I'm about to pull my hair out.

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XB92AI
XB92AI Posts: 7 Member
edited March 2015 in Motivation and Support
Hi and thanks for taking the time to read,

I have had several MFP accounts over the years and read a lot of interesting threads on the community.

Right now, I ma having some severe issues - I can't seem to lose weight. I have been daily logging my weight loss for around the past 60+ days, every day apart from one. The only "real" bad day's I have had have been 1 or 2 days this past week, because I had been feeling down about this issue.

I am eating around 1,700 calories per day. I am a male. I am 22 years old i am 5 ft 8 inches in height. I have tried losing weight at 1,900, 1,800, 1,700, and 1,600 calories per day. I am currently around 225 lbs and I have only lost around 4-6lbs (constantly fluctuate between this number) over the past 2-3 months, I'd like to weigh around 170lbs.

I log all of my food - Be it good or bad. I know i've had some bad days and my diary is open for all to have a look at and possibly tell me where I have been going wrong? I would greatly appreciate it, because I feel pretty down right now.

The only liquids I drink are water and tea. I don't really give myself the pleasure of drinking any beer, even for one day at the weekend, simply because of how it affects my weight loss.

I feel that If i begin to eat any less it will have negative effects on my metabolism and honestly, my happiness.

Thank you for any help, if you need any more information please let me know.

EDIT: I accurately weigh my food and enter the correct foods that I buy from stores. I track my exercise accurately, too.

EDIT 2: I was also pretty reserved about posting on here for a while, I have seen some very helpful posts with the community willing to help. I have also seen some extremely negative things which I didn't really want to be a part of. I just hope someone out there understands and will have some helpful words.

Replies

  • debubbie
    debubbie Posts: 767 Member
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    Are you weighing your food on a scale? Are you using accurate entries in the food database to log your food? Do you eat your exercise calories back? How do you know how many calories you have burned through exercise? How much weight do you have to lose? How many pounds a week are you trying to lose?
  • XB92AI
    XB92AI Posts: 7 Member
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    debubbie wrote: »
    Are you weighing your food on a scale? Are you using accurate entries in the food database to log your food? Do you eat your exercise calories back? How do you know how many calories you have burned through exercise? How much weight do you have to lose? How many pounds a week are you trying to lose?

    Hi,

    I have MFP set me to lose 1.5lbs per week, which I think is fair. I have only lost 4-6lbs (usually fluctuate between these two numbers).

    I weigh my food on a scale and also check food packaging to make sure I am accurately checking the food that I am eating.

    Most of my exercise has just been walking, honestly. To track this I just enter it in to MFP and honestly it isn't that many calories burned - Maybe 100 - 200 each time.

    I am currently around 225 lbs, I am aiming to be around 170lbs.
  • jules777_us
    jules777_us Posts: 31 Member
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    If it makes you feel any better I have been walking 10 miles a day for 2 weeks and have only lost 6 lbs. How often are you working out? I thought I read something about the first 20 min of a workout you only burn carbs and sugar after 20 minutes you start to burn fat. If your only walking and burning 100-200 calories I would say walk more.
    Back in the day I lost 55lbs in 5 months just walking it off and watching what I ate. Your young you can do it you just have to push yourself a little longer. Of course now I'm 10 years older carting kids around everywhere and I'm realizing it's not as easy as it once was for me.

    Good luck
  • debubbie
    debubbie Posts: 767 Member
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    How far or long do you walk? Are you eating your exercise calories back? I don't burn many calories walking unless I add some jog intervals to it, or I am hiking a trail with elevation changes. Do you use any oils or butter when cooking, that you may not be logging? Do you have your diary open for people to look and see if they can help you with that?
  • never2bstopped
    never2bstopped Posts: 438 Member
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    Have you taken pics or measurements? It can be hard to judge progress when all you are looking at is the scale. I know it is easer to step on a scale, look at a number, and judge if you have progressed in the direction you want, but the scale doesn't tell the whole story.

    Also you may want to look into the group "Eat Train Progress" they are a wonderful group and it is run by some successful and knowledgable individuals who are willing to help if you are willing to commit.
  • XB92AI
    XB92AI Posts: 7 Member
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    never2bstopped wrote: »
    Have you taken pics or measurements? It can be hard to judge progress when all you are looking at is the scale. I know it is easer to step on a scale, look at a number, and judge if you have progressed in the direction you want, but the scale doesn't tell the whole story.

    Also you may want to look into the group "Eat Train Progress" they are a wonderful group and it is run by some successful and knowledgable individuals who are willing to help if you are willing to commit.

    I have been taking pictures, unfortunately I don't see any change.

    Thank you for the suggestion.
  • back2twentyfive
    back2twentyfive Posts: 36 Member
    edited March 2015
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    This may be a long shot, but are you sure that your scale for weighing yourself is accurate? The first 3 weeks after I started logging and cutting my calorie intake, my weight kept fluctuating 5 lbs. up and 5 lbs. down until I thought something might be wrong with my scale. I ordered a new scale online and by the time it arrived in week 5, it turned out that I had actually lost 10 lbs. during that 5 weeks.

    Thank you for opening your food log -- it looks like you should be losing more weight than you are. So you may want to try weighing yourself on a different scale.
  • neaneacc
    neaneacc Posts: 224 Member
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    I took a moment to view your diary to get a better view at what might be going on. Here is my suggestions:
    1) drink more water and be consistent about it
    2) eat more protein (fish, nuts, seeds, even Greek yogurt has some) I would expect that you should be getting at least about 150 grams a day. MFP is asking you for 200 but I think that would better fit if you were actually trying to build more muscle.
    3) don't fear good fats, but log them properly (avocados, eggs, olive oil, nuts, nut butter, and fatty fish for some examples. People cut them out too often, but they are nutritious and satisfying in reasonable quantities.
    4) get more sleep....this one seems weird but when stress is high people gain weight. All research shows that sleep seems to help people lose weight.
    5) take measurements so that you can better track your progress. It seems strange, but your body may be making positive changes that you don't yet see on the scale.
    I hope this helps!
  • greaseswabber
    greaseswabber Posts: 238 Member
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    You have been reading the forums so you know that logging consistently and accurately is critical to success. And I'm sure you would expect much of the comments to your post to focus on that. Mine is no different.

    You have said that you are weighing your food and checking the accuracy of the MFP entries. So I haven't looked too closely at any of your specific food choices. Instead I looked at your total calories for each day (total calories, not net calories). There is a fairly wide variation. Of the 62 days since you started logging on Jan 19th:

    5 days have no entries (8%)
    11 days have <1200 calories (18%)
    20 days have between 1200 and 1500 (32%)
    22 days have between 1500 and 1800 (35%)
    4 days have more than 1800 (6%)

    You target is 1700, but you only logged that many calories, or more, about 20% of the time.

    Eating at such a large deficit for two months should lead to some visible and measurable results. I can see why you are frustrated. I would encourage you to review, again, what you are eating to make sure everything is being logged. In particular, look at those very low calorie days. Is anything sneaking by?

    Everyone is different, but I have nearly the same height, weight, activity level, and calorie level. When I have stuck closely to my calorie goal consistently, accurately, and for an extended period of time, I have seen some success. I'm sure you can too.
  • XB92AI
    XB92AI Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    neaneacc wrote: »
    I took a moment to view your diary to get a better view at what might be going on. Here is my suggestions:
    1) drink more water and be consistent about it
    2) eat more protein (fish, nuts, seeds, even Greek yogurt has some) I would expect that you should be getting at least about 150 grams a day. MFP is asking you for 200 but I think that would better fit if you were actually trying to build more muscle.
    3) don't fear good fats, but log them properly (avocados, eggs, olive oil, nuts, nut butter, and fatty fish for some examples. People cut them out too often, but they are nutritious and satisfying in reasonable quantities.
    4) get more sleep....this one seems weird but when stress is high people gain weight. All research shows that sleep seems to help people lose weight.
    5) take measurements so that you can better track your progress. It seems strange, but your body may be making positive changes that you don't yet see on the scale.
    I hope this helps!

    Thanks for all of the tips :)
  • XB92AI
    XB92AI Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    greaseswabber wrote: »
    You have been reading the forums so you know that logging consistently and accurately is critical to success. And I'm sure you would expect much of the comments to your post to focus on that. Mine is no different.

    You have said that you are weighing your food and checking the accuracy of the MFP entries. So I haven't looked too closely at any of your specific food choices. Instead I looked at your total calories for each day (total calories, not net calories). There is a fairly wide variation. Of the 62 days since you started logging on Jan 19th:

    5 days have no entries (8%)
    11 days have <1200 calories (18%)
    20 days have between 1200 and 1500 (32%)
    22 days have between 1500 and 1800 (35%)
    4 days have more than 1800 (6%)

    You target is 1700, but you only logged that many calories, or more, about 20% of the time.

    Eating at such a large deficit for two months should lead to some visible and measurable results. I can see why you are frustrated. I would encourage you to review, again, what you are eating to make sure everything is being logged. In particular, look at those very low calorie days. Is anything sneaking by?

    Everyone is different, but I have nearly the same height, weight, activity level, and calorie level. When I have stuck closely to my calorie goal consistently, accurately, and for an extended period of time, I have seen some success. I'm sure you can too.

    Thanks for taking the time to read over everything for me and for the in-depth reply. I will definitely look at my weights, etc a little closer.

    Is it possible for you to tell me what/if any workout you do and how many calories you are eating each day? Since you are saying you are close to me height and goal wise!
  • greaseswabber
    greaseswabber Posts: 238 Member
    Options
    XB92AI wrote: »
    greaseswabber wrote: »
    You have been reading the forums so you know that logging consistently and accurately is critical to success. And I'm sure you would expect much of the comments to your post to focus on that. Mine is no different.

    You have said that you are weighing your food and checking the accuracy of the MFP entries. So I haven't looked too closely at any of your specific food choices. Instead I looked at your total calories for each day (total calories, not net calories). There is a fairly wide variation. Of the 62 days since you started logging on Jan 19th:

    5 days have no entries (8%)
    11 days have <1200 calories (18%)
    20 days have between 1200 and 1500 (32%)
    22 days have between 1500 and 1800 (35%)
    4 days have more than 1800 (6%)

    You target is 1700, but you only logged that many calories, or more, about 20% of the time.

    Eating at such a large deficit for two months should lead to some visible and measurable results. I can see why you are frustrated. I would encourage you to review, again, what you are eating to make sure everything is being logged. In particular, look at those very low calorie days. Is anything sneaking by?

    Everyone is different, but I have nearly the same height, weight, activity level, and calorie level. When I have stuck closely to my calorie goal consistently, accurately, and for an extended period of time, I have seen some success. I'm sure you can too.

    Thanks for taking the time to read over everything for me and for the in-depth reply. I will definitely look at my weights, etc a little closer.

    Is it possible for you to tell me what/if any workout you do and how many calories you are eating each day? Since you are saying you are close to me height and goal wise!

    I'm 5' 9" and 218 lb. I started at 240 in 2012 and got down to 200 in 2013 using MFP. I stopped tracking my food and got back up to 230 by the end of 2014. I started tracking again in December with a 1lb /week goal. I know that MFP works for me as long as I use it.

    My calorie target is 1920. I go over some days, but I get close most of the time and have been doing well the last few days. My diary is open if you want to look.

    As for workouts, I don't usually log them because there aren't that many to begin with and I don't eat back exercise calories. I walk my dog every day for 20 to 30 minutes. That is about the extent of my daily activity. I go to a gym for weights and cardio, but not regularly. I want to have a more consistent workout routine but haven't found the motivation.

    I hope that is helpful. I wasn't trying to imply that I am an expert with my previous post. I just thought taking a look at the long term data might provide some useful feedback for you. I did the same thing with my diary and found that I was 100 calories or more over my calorie goal about half the time. That is useful for me to know.

    I hope you are able to see more progress. Patience and persistence are critical. Good luck!






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