Not losing weight despite sticking to calorie goal

Are you weighing all solids and measuring all liquids? If not then that is most likely the issue.

CoocooKat wrote: »

Don't eat sugar. Try not eating it for like two weeks. Just don't eat added sugar. It's worse than fat for you. The more you know...

No. Unless you have a medical condition, sugar is fine in moderation just like everything else.

This chart is quite helpful:

CoocooKat wrote: »

Don't eat sugar. Try not eating it for like two weeks. Just don't eat added sugar. It's worse than fat for you. The more you know...

Whatever you do-make sure you ignore this

Often when these threads start the OP is eating more than they think. But it's only been a couple of weeks-I would first suggest giving it more time. Then take a look at your intake and make sure you are being as accurate as possible. Someone will pop along with links and a nice chart about monitoring your intake.

ETA: seska popped in while I was writing!! Take a look at the chart- it is golden

It's hard to answer these kinds of posts without more details. How long has it been since you last saw a drop on the scale? A plateau is something like 6-8 weeks without a drop on the scale and with no changes to your routine (since diet & exercise changes tend to come with some water weight retention - which can screw with the scale). If it's only been a few weeks, then it's possible that it's just a natural stall and will go away on its own.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear

Other than that, the most common problems we see come from underestimating calories eaten and overestimating calories burned.

Opening your diary might help to get you more specific advice if you're comfortable doing so.

You're logging everything you eat? Including condiments, cooking oils, veggies, cheat days, etc? Are you using a food scale, measuring cups, or eyeballing your portion sizes? Most people can be off in their estimates by several hundred calories when they eyeball portions. Measuring cups are better, but a food scale is going to be the most accurate.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1290491-how-and-why-to-use-a-digital-food-scale

And make sure that you've calculated your calorie goals appropriately. Remember that these are just estimates. You may need to play around a little to find what works best for you.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

If you're exercising and eating back your earned exercise calories, be sure that you're using accurate estimates of your burn. MFP and gym machines have a tendency to overestimate certain activities, which can cause you to eat back more calories than you need to. Even a heart rate monitor isn't 100% accurate. If you're eating those extra earned calories it might be a good idea to eat only 50-75% of those.

And there's something to be said for the fact that some people just burn fewer calories than the generic equations predict. If you're an outlier due to size, age, or medical conditions, then you may need to check with your doctor or dietitian for better advice.

CoocooKat wrote: »

Don't eat sugar. Try not eating it for like two weeks. Just don't eat added sugar. It's worse than fat for you. The more you know...

No. Sugar has nothing to do with weight loss at all. Neither does fat. Only calories in/out.

OP, as another poster said, if you aren't weighing your food, you should start there. A lot of people take it as an insult to there intelligence when told this, but it's actually really easy to log inaccurately a eat a lot more calories than you think you are.

angwardmail wrote: »

Thanks all, I have curbed sugar intake but not cut it out as I am still eating fruit etc. I've never tried to lose weight in my life before so maybe I'm expecting too much too quickly. I do measure/weigh out food but not religiously as don't want it to become a 'thing'. Maybe just need to stick with it and be patient - not my forte lol

Being your first month, part of the 2lbs might be water weight loss.

As for logging, I don't like that I have to log everything, but it's necessary to really get a feel for where you're starting from. What I had to do was log everything for a couple weeks before I started making changes so I could see patterns and decide what changes to make. That gave me a good baseline to work from and let me make good decisions about what I ate and how much. Now, I've found that after three years, I've started to retrain my brain to what amount I'm eating and can make estimates if need be. I don't necessarily recommend that (especially at first!!), but it worked for me after a couple of years. It helps that I tend to eat the same thing for a lot of my meals! XD Weighing and logging is a pain at first, but once you build up meals and your list of frequent foods, it becomes much quicker. One thing I did to make sure I logged every day was bribe myself. Don't know if it'll work for you, but it did for me!

Just keep in mind that this will be slow. In fact, if you're losing too much too fast, you'll end up pretty sick from doing it! You have to retrain your brain and your body on how to eat, which takes a lot of time. However, the reward is a healthier body, which, I don't know about you, but feels pretty good to me. Good luck!