Why can't I lose weight?

Question...how do measure (know), how much your eating? You are more than likely estimating your intake incorrectly. If you were truly in a calorie deficit, you would lose weight. Until I got I food scale I was over eating every day. Also every morsel of food needs to be counted. In reality you can excercise 7 days a week pretty intensely and still gian with poor calorie accountability.

IAmMaxFit wrote: »

I have been an avid 5 - and sometimes 6 - days a week exerciser since I was 15 (I'm now in my late 40s). I've done cardio, weights, both, different combinations. Everything you can think of. I also never overeat. I will admit I was never a calorie counter. But even during times when I did count my calories and watched all my sugars and carbs and ate more proteins - nothing! To look at me, you'd think I was watching TV all day long rather than exercising and watching what I eat. To my eyes, I'm mostly flabby. IMHO I need to lose about 20 pounds and yet no matter what I do I can't seem to accomplish this. If I eat the same amount of calories but exercise more I stay the same. If I lower the calories and still keep the exercise up I stay the same. As a matter of fact I went low on calories (about 1100) the last couple of weeks just testing my theory out and not only did I not lose a single pound I feel like I've actually gained a few! I mean, how is this possible? I've done everything anyone can think to do.

PS - I recently read an article where the author stated that he did not believe in starvation mode. He claimed very succinctly that it was calories in calories out. If your calories were lower than X and you were doing Y in exercise there was no doubt you would lose the pounds. I have done X & Y and still not lost a pound.

You have to make sure that X and Y are as accurate as possible (with Y being your TDEE, as you burn much more outside of exercise). That may mean needing to purchase a food scale and weighing your food. That may mean slashing your burn estimations in half, depending on how you determine those.

Weigh your food. It's honestly an eye opener.

IAmMaxFit wrote: »

I have been an avid 5 - and sometimes 6 - days a week exerciser since I was 15 (I'm now in my late 40s). I've done cardio, weights, both, different combinations. Everything you can think of. I also never overeat. I will admit I was never a calorie counter. But even during times when I did count my calories and watched all my sugars and carbs and ate more proteins - nothing! To look at me, you'd think I was watching TV all day long rather than exercising and watching what I eat. To my eyes, I'm mostly flabby. IMHO I need to lose about 20 pounds and yet no matter what I do I can't seem to accomplish this. If I eat the same amount of calories but exercise more I stay the same. If I lower the calories and still keep the exercise up I stay the same. As a matter of fact I went low on calories (about 1100) the last couple of weeks just testing my theory out and not only did I not lose a single pound I feel like I've actually gained a few! I mean, how is this possible? I've done everything anyone can think to do.

PS - I recently read an article where the author stated that he did not believe in starvation mode. He claimed very succinctly that it was calories in calories out. If your calories were lower than X and you were doing Y in exercise there was no doubt you would lose the pounds. I have done X & Y and still not lost a pound.

I hear you! I am 46, and was struggling with the same issues when I got into my 40's.
Here's the deal, when we get into middle age, our hormones change. This is NOT a bad thing. Our hormones change throughout our lives from birth to death, and we just need to understand what is happening.
Your METABOLISM is controlled by your hormones, and they are in charge of what is happening with your body (there are 7 metabolic hormones). When you understand what is going on , you can work with your body instead of feeling frustrated.
You can lose fat easily if you adjust your macros and remove some things from your diet for a little while. Here is what I am doing.
There is much more to explain than I can address in just a forum post, and the exact specifics of YOUR body, of course. I will cut to the chase and you can ask me more questions if you like...I can also direct you to some information you can check out yourself.
Get the essential foods into your diet....proteins (beef, chicken, fish, protein powders, black beans, legumes) protein should be about 35% of your daily cals. Non-starchy veggies, and lots of them (increase your total daily fiber to 35-45g/day), healthy fats (coconut oils, ghee, nuts and nut butters, olive oil, avocado, etc) No commercial oils, and your fats will be 40-50% of your daily calories, and your CARBS will come from the above listed foods, and you will keep carbs at <50g/day NET carbs (carbs - fiber).
This means for a while you will exclude the following from your diet: all dairy, all grains, all fruit, all sugar. Also, take a few days and wean off any caffeine intake to 0. Go organic...grassfed beef, organic chicken, wild caught seafood. Conventional really messes with your hormones, and conventional beef is particularly bad about this.
This gives your body's metabolism a chance to balance back out. After just a few days you will notice that you start losing excess water retention, bodyfat, cravings are gone! Your mood stabilizes, sleep quality improves, energy is back! You can easily eat at an appropriate deficit without hunger.
You can check my profile and see the results I've had with this! A couple of days ago I calculated that I am losing .1%bodyfat every day! That's 3% per month! I am lifting, walking and biking, but exercise is moderate. I lose about 2lbs each week.
You can view my diary (go back a week or so, my computer broke and everything got wonky for a while!)
If it's hard to understand what a day's meals look like, PM me and I'll tell you.
Many blessings and good health!


I agree with weighing your food, in grams, with a scale. It's important to know what is going on by being accurate and measuring.

I used to think this until I followed a strict diet plan where I had specific food and amounts to follow. I weighed everything, didn't eat anything extra. All of the sudden, I lost weight. I kept losing weight.
I don't mean you need to follow a strict diet plan, my point is that we are very good at underestimating what we eat and overestimating how much we work out. I learned how inaccuate I could be.

IAmMaxFit wrote: »

Hi, and thank you to everyone who is trying to help. I very carefully watch every calorie. I am without a doubt eatIng much less than I used to and the weight is just not budging. I seem to stay the same weight no matter what I do. Even when I eat a lot more! How is that possible? The only way I *ever* lost weight (and this is when I was a stupid 20 something) was by not eating *at all*. All through my 30s I did upwards of 3 hours a day of exercising and still (!) was the same weight/size. My mother has only taken walks all her life (and not even fast sweat producing walks) and is thinner than I am. I'm just saying all this so you know I'm following what people tell me to do. And last time my thyroid was checked it was normal. I'm beyond baffled.

When you say you "watch" every calorie, does this mean you are weighing all solid foods? How many calories do you eat per day?

IAmMaxFit wrote: »

No I will admit that I don't weigh my food but I do measure, meaning 1c rice crispies or 4 oz chicken strips or 1/2 c broccoli. I have never eaten in large quantities and will also say that for a good portion of my life I've done generally quadruple the exercise of most people (ex, 2 hours cardio and then lifting weights in an attic that - in the summer - is well over 100 degrees) and then training other people at my gym (and working out with them for an additional 3 hours) and my figure never - ever - changed. I should leave my body to science as the girl who could never lose weight no matter what she does - oh, and add cellulite to that as well, even though I used to run 10 miles 5 days a week and could deadlift 165 lbs 15x. Same. Exact. Figure.

How do you measure 4 oz. of chicken without a scale?

jemhh wrote: »

IAmMaxFit wrote: »

No I will admit that I don't weigh my food but I do measure, meaning 1c rice crispies or 4 oz chicken strips or 1/2 c broccoli. I have never eaten in large quantities and will also say that for a good portion of my life I've done generally quadruple the exercise of most people (ex, 2 hours cardio and then lifting weights in an attic that - in the summer - is well over 100 degrees) and then training other people at my gym (and working out with them for an additional 3 hours) and my figure never - ever - changed. I should leave my body to science as the girl who could never lose weight no matter what she does - oh, and add cellulite to that as well, even though I used to run 10 miles 5 days a week and could deadlift 165 lbs 15x. Same. Exact. Figure.

How do you measure 4 oz. of chicken without a scale?

she's probably going by what the pack says....

@IAmMaxFit barring any medical conditions, if you're not losing weight then you're eating too much.
You can exercise for 10 hours straight everyday, but if your input is more than your output you will gain, or maintain if it equals out.
There's that saying "you can't outrun a bad diet".

Give us your stats - height, weight, age, BF% if you know it and whether you'd consider you are moderately active 3-5 hours a week or vigorously active 6-7 days a week. You could also open your diary. Could it be that you are already very lean and your body does not want to give up fat?

I don't typically have a lot to lose as I am pretty lean already (20-23% BF range in past 8 years), work out a lot (teach 5-6 classes a week at the gym), etc. I can eat 2100-2400 to maintain depending on the exercise that day. Now that I am leaning out, I eat 1800 most days, 2000 other days when I teach more than one class and I can only lose at a rate of about .75-1 per week. And that's being diligent, logging daily, watching calories, getting enough sleep, etc. 1800 is enough calories but it certainly does not leave much room to go wild. It's really only a 15% deficit from my TDEE and that's very easy to undo with one weekend day of gluttony.

I do agree with you that it is SO MUCH HARDER to lose weight in my 40's than it ever was in my 30's. 5 lbs is a major undertaking now...when it used to come off in like 2 weeks easy.

Point is...it takes consistency over the long haul. I have 6 more lbs to my goal and it will probably take me another 2 months+ to get there factoring in vacation eating, etc.

I'm not loosing weight either. I never had a weight problem until in my 40's and I am now 52. I used to run marathons and cld eat whatever I wanted. I'm struggling now as I eat a lot of sugar. U can look at my diary. It is a struggle for me. My advice to u is to get ur tsh (thyriod) numbers from ur dr. Get the numbers and look it up on the internet. My dr said I was normal but I finally got the numbers from him and looked them up on the internet and found my dr/lab didnt know what they were talking about ... They were wrong. I am now on meds for my thyriod. Good luck.