I need advice as I am clearly clueless.
lilypond45
Posts: 31 Member
Any help appreciated. I am 29, weigh 170pounds, 5ft5. I need to lose about 24pounds. I have lost nothing.
I think I must be blind to something I am doing wrong. I started going to the gym twice a week about 2 months ago, the last 3 weeks I have upped to 3 times a week. I do about 45 mins of cardio only at the moment. In the last 3 weeks I have seriously begun calorie counting. I eat between 1200- 1500 calories a day (not sure which I should be eating but thought it was about right). I bike an 8 mile round trip to work 5 days a week and spend the day on my feet so I don't live a sedentary lifestyle. I try not eat back exercise calories. My meals are healthy, I do have snacks.
I have lost no weight at all. I began this because I wanted to feel better and I really do! Exercising has made a big difference to my overall well being. But every week I am feeling like I am letting myself down because I am not losing weight.
Perhaps I need to stick to 1200 calories every single day rather than going up to 1500?
I have successfully lost weight with weight watchers and slimming world but this time round I am finding it hard to shift.
I suppose I can't believe that I haven't at least lost half a stone by cutting out the sweets and crap and exercising. I can't believe my life style change is having no impact on my weight!
Can anyone shed any light? I am going on holiday and turning 30 soon and I so wanted to lose weight. I can't face being this weight and 30 (turn 30 end of June).
Any help really appreciated!
I think I must be blind to something I am doing wrong. I started going to the gym twice a week about 2 months ago, the last 3 weeks I have upped to 3 times a week. I do about 45 mins of cardio only at the moment. In the last 3 weeks I have seriously begun calorie counting. I eat between 1200- 1500 calories a day (not sure which I should be eating but thought it was about right). I bike an 8 mile round trip to work 5 days a week and spend the day on my feet so I don't live a sedentary lifestyle. I try not eat back exercise calories. My meals are healthy, I do have snacks.
I have lost no weight at all. I began this because I wanted to feel better and I really do! Exercising has made a big difference to my overall well being. But every week I am feeling like I am letting myself down because I am not losing weight.
Perhaps I need to stick to 1200 calories every single day rather than going up to 1500?
I have successfully lost weight with weight watchers and slimming world but this time round I am finding it hard to shift.
I suppose I can't believe that I haven't at least lost half a stone by cutting out the sweets and crap and exercising. I can't believe my life style change is having no impact on my weight!
Can anyone shed any light? I am going on holiday and turning 30 soon and I so wanted to lose weight. I can't face being this weight and 30 (turn 30 end of June).
Any help really appreciated!
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Replies
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Do you weigh and measure all your food?0
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Are you weighing your food using a scale?
To lose weight you need to maintain a calorie deficit ☺️0 -
What they said ^^0
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Yes, I really am and I try to scan everything too. I electronic scales, good quality ones. Thank you :-)0
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have you measured yourself lately? I bet your body is changing, muscles is a heavy thing. What about your pants, do you notice they fit differently?0
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I am, unfortunately, a very "bloated" kind of person! I retain water easily and a change in eating also bloats my tummy for a few weeks until I am used to it so I can't use the pants test at the moment. Some mornings they feel looser but the scale hasn't moved!0
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If you aren't losing weight then you aren't eating less calories than you're burning. It's almost always as simple as that.
How are you determining the calorie content of the foods you are logging? Are you using a kitchen scale to weigh (most accurate), using measuring cups or eyeballing your portions? Are you using entries that you've verified or entries others have entered and you haven't verified?
Are you entering exercise calories into MFP? If yes, how are you verifying those calorie amounts?
Honestly, I see this several times each day. Almost every time it's a case of inaccurate logging whether it's because people aren't logging everything, aren't ensuring what they are logging is accurate or are overstating calorie burn numbers. When it comes to calorie counting, it's all about the numbers.
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Weight is lost in the kitchen, not at the gym.
I see a lot of focus in your post about your exercise, but very little about your food other than saying you "usually" eat "around" 1200-1500 calories per day.
Shift your focus to your food. Enter your stats into MFP, it will give you a calorie number. Then do your best for a few weeks to stick as closely as possible to that calorie number, weighing everything you eat on a food scale and logging it as accurately as possible.
You should start to see a difference.0 -
lilypond45 wrote: »I am, unfortunately, a very "bloated" kind of person! I retain water easily and a change in eating also bloats my tummy for a few weeks until I am used to it so I can't use the pants test at the moment. Some mornings they feel looser but the scale hasn't moved!
Start using a tape measure to record your progress, too. If you normally experience bloating then water retention may very well be disguising any fat you're losing. I have that problem, too. I once gained 18 pounds of water in 3 days.0 -
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Thanks for the advice, I suspect I don't log *everything*. I usually scan food but yes, sometimes I find it tricky to find the appropriate food item from the list in MFP. Perhaps that is where I am going wrong! I think I am feeling put out that I could go back to eating a huge bag of haribo sweets a day and still weigh the same!0
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http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods
^^ this is a really awesome database with pretty much all food you can imagine listed in grams, kg, oz, etc. and has the energy content, nutrient amounts, etc. I would suggest double checking the things you are logging from the MFP database against the things listed in here. A lot of times the MFP listings are wrong. And just to reiterate how important it is to be accurate...be sure you are using a food scale and weighing everything that goes in your mouth!!0 -
Do you think the calories I aim for is about right, 1200-1500? Maybe I should stick with 1300 everyday?0
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Yes, pay closer attention to calories in...
But, by all means, keep up the great work with all your activity- it will help you get healthier and more trim.0 -
lilypond45 wrote: »Do you think the calories I aim for is about right, 1200-1500? Maybe I should stick with 1300 everyday?
Enter your stats into MyFitnessPal -- height, current weight, goal weight, age. Enter 1lb/week as your target rate of loss. It will give you a number.0 -
What segacs means is that weight loss (fat loss) is accomplished from your diet and your calorie intake vs tdee (what you burn daily), not from what you do in the gym.
You can run 10 miles or squat 4 plates in the gym but if your diet is wrong, then you're going to be paddling upstream.0 -
You simply need to be at an accurate deficit over a period of time. The sume total of your efforts seems to indicate you are at maintenance.lilypond45 wrote: »Do you think the calories I aim for is about right, 1200-1500? Maybe I should stick with 1300 everyday?
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lilypond45 wrote: »Do you think the calories I aim for is about right, 1200-1500? Maybe I should stick with 1300 everyday?
What number did MFP give you when you input your stats?
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Many of the foods in that list are already in MFP and aren't marked with an asterisk. Everything with an asterisk has been entered by a user. I use wrappers to verify against the entry I'm going to use or try to pick the one with the most verifications noted.cosmo_momo wrote: »http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods
^^ this is a really awesome database with pretty much all food you can imagine listed in grams, kg, oz, etc. and has the energy content, nutrient amounts, etc. I would suggest double checking the things you are logging from the MFP database against the things listed in here. A lot of times the MFP listings are wrong. And just to reiterate how important it is to be accurate...be sure you are using a food scale and weighing everything that goes in your mouth!!lilypond45 wrote: »Thanks for the advice, I suspect I don't log *everything*. I usually scan food but yes, sometimes I find it tricky to find the appropriate food item from the list in MFP. Perhaps that is where I am going wrong! I think I am feeling put out that I could go back to eating a huge bag of haribo sweets a day and still weigh the same!
It's most likely the problem, yes. You can get away with not logging the stuff that doesn't have many calories like dark green veggies but most other things can add up pretty quickly. I can't see any of your personal information to verify but if you don't have a lot of weight to lose your deficit window is going to be pretty narrow. An extra 250 calories each day that are unaccounted for can possibly keep you from losing enough to be noticeable.0 -
lilypond45 wrote: »Do you think the calories I aim for is about right, 1200-1500? Maybe I should stick with 1300 everyday?
If I were you, I’d first focus on making sure all my tracking is accurate. Would you be okay with making your food diary public? We could take a peek to see if anything jumps out. This is usually an issue of tracking what you eat (weigh for solids, cups for liquids), and tracking everything (e.g. including that one handful of fruit or latte).0 -
OP, I have your stats only I'm closer to goal weight. 1300 calories netted gave me about 1lb per week loss (I'm sedentary except for exercise in the gym). I currently eat 1500 netted to lose 0.5lb per week. Those calorie levels are probably fine for you as long as you're not overestimating how much you are eating. For burns in the gym, I only log 100-150 calories per 1 hour gym session which includes cardio and strength training. These calculations seem fine for me as I'm losing fat as expected.
What calorie burns are you recording? Do you eat back all those calories or a portion? I eat back all my calorie burns.0 -
Many of the foods in that list are already in MFP and aren't marked with an asterisk. Everything with an asterisk has been entered by a user. I use wrappers to verify against the entry I'm going to use or try to pick the one with the most verifications noted.cosmo_momo wrote: »http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods
^^ this is a really awesome database with pretty much all food you can imagine listed in grams, kg, oz, etc. and has the energy content, nutrient amounts, etc. I would suggest double checking the things you are logging from the MFP database against the things listed in here. A lot of times the MFP listings are wrong. And just to reiterate how important it is to be accurate...be sure you are using a food scale and weighing everything that goes in your mouth!!
Good to know! I use the phone app to do all of my logging, so as far as I know it doesn't show up any special way. I just type in usda after the name when I search.0 -
I don't think the phone app uses the asterisk to note the difference. Anything that has USDA in the title was actually entered by a user. I suspect that it's phone users who started using the USDA notation in the title to help them differentiate.cosmo_momo wrote: »
Many of the foods in that list are already in MFP and aren't marked with an asterisk. Everything with an asterisk has been entered by a user. I use wrappers to verify against the entry I'm going to use or try to pick the one with the most verifications noted.cosmo_momo wrote: »http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods
^^ this is a really awesome database with pretty much all food you can imagine listed in grams, kg, oz, etc. and has the energy content, nutrient amounts, etc. I would suggest double checking the things you are logging from the MFP database against the things listed in here. A lot of times the MFP listings are wrong. And just to reiterate how important it is to be accurate...be sure you are using a food scale and weighing everything that goes in your mouth!!
Good to know! I use the phone app to do all of my logging, so as far as I know it doesn't show up any special way. I just type in usda after the name when I search. The ones that were entered into the app by the developers off the USDA website have different serving size options (100 grams, 1 medium whole, 1 cup diced, etc.) selectable. Ones that were entered by users only have one serving type as an option.
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Go see a doctor. Maybe you have a physical issue.0
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lilypond45 wrote: »Do you think the calories I aim for is about right, 1200-1500? Maybe I should stick with 1300 everyday?
I'm close to your height and weight and age and to lose a pound a week MFP says to eat 1300 calories with me being at a sedentary activity level. I try to come close to that - if I've put in a good work out I'll have a few hundred more.
Something that helps me is to drink a lot of water (and it makes my skin look nice). I also retain water very easily. If I work out to the extent that I'm sore I'll be up a pound or two. If I have even one slice of pizza or some fries, even if its within my calorie limit the salt ALWAYS has me up a couple of pounds for a few days afterwards.
I know you said you're eating healthily, maybe try no processed foods and watch your salt intake?
Good luck! I'm glad you're feeling better. Exercise always makes me feel like my best self.0 -
Sorry for the delay, been to the gym Thanks for all the advice, a lot to think about! MFP says I should eat 1200 calories but I cross checked with various websites and it came out between 1200- 1500. I guess I didn't trust MFP enough! I hardly bother to log the gym and don't log my cycling to work because I'm used to it and I know it doesn't exactly challenge me anymore. If I do log the gym I half the calories the machines say. Some days I will eat it all or some of it back or nothing (depending on how desperate I feel).
Argh! I feel like I'm doing nothing right! I will keep reminding myself that my lifestyle has changed but I am getting the point where I cry on the scales. I will continue whilst taking into account your advice though :-)0 -
lilypond45 wrote: »Do you think the calories I aim for is about right, 1200-1500? Maybe I should stick with 1300 everyday?
I'm close to your height and weight and age and to lose a pound a week MFP says to eat 1300 calories with me being at a sedentary activity level. I try to come close to that - if I've put in a good work out I'll have a few hundred more.
Something that helps me is to drink a lot of water (and it makes my skin look nice). I also retain water very easily. If I work out to the extent that I'm sore I'll be up a pound or two. If I have even one slice of pizza or some fries, even if its within my calorie limit the salt ALWAYS has me up a couple of pounds for a few days afterwards.
I know you said you're eating healthily, maybe try no processed foods and watch your salt intake?
Good luck! I'm glad you're feeling better. Exercise always makes me feel like my best self.
Absolutely agree, I try to drink a lot of water too! I think it comes with the territory of being a bloaty person 0 -
lilypond45 wrote: »Sorry for the delay, been to the gym Thanks for all the advice, a lot to think about! MFP says I should eat 1200 calories but I cross checked with various websites and it came out between 1200- 1500. I guess I didn't trust MFP enough! I hardly bother to log the gym and don't log my cycling to work because I'm used to it and I know it doesn't exactly challenge me anymore. If I do log the gym I half the calories the machines say. Some days I will eat it all or some of it back or nothing (depending on how desperate I feel).
Argh! I feel like I'm doing nothing right! I will keep reminding myself that my lifestyle has changed but I am getting the point where I cry on the scales. I will continue whilst taking into account your advice though :-)
If that's your routine, consider switching to the TDEE method, where you factor your exercise into your calories already and you don't log it or eat it back separately.
Here's a good calculator to work out your calories using TDEE: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
Use that and choose a 20% deficit, and include your cycling and gym workouts in your estimate of how much activity you get. It'll give you a number. Once you've done that, you'd go into the MFP "goals" section and enter that number as a custom goal.0 -
lilypond45 wrote: »Sorry for the delay, been to the gym Thanks for all the advice, a lot to think about! MFP says I should eat 1200 calories but I cross checked with various websites and it came out between 1200- 1500. I guess I didn't trust MFP enough! I hardly bother to log the gym and don't log my cycling to work because I'm used to it and I know it doesn't exactly challenge me anymore. If I do log the gym I half the calories the machines say. Some days I will eat it all or some of it back or nothing (depending on how desperate I feel).
Argh! I feel like I'm doing nothing right! I will keep reminding myself that my lifestyle has changed but I am getting the point where I cry on the scales. I will continue whilst taking into account your advice though :-)
If that's your routine, consider switching to the TDEE method, where you factor your exercise into your calories already and you don't log it or eat it back separately.
Here's a good calculator to work out your calories using TDEE: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
Use that and choose a 20% deficit, and include your cycling and gym workouts in your estimate of how much activity you get. It'll give you a number. Once you've done that, you'd go into the MFP "goals" section and enter that number as a custom goal.
Thanks, I have followed the link and my daily amount to maintain is 2062 and to lose 20% is 1649kcals. I'm a bit surprised it is so high! I might try upping my calories a bit and focus on tracking within an inch of my life.0
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