Why am I not losing weight???
dsjnix
Posts: 9 Member
I am 5'2" female, 57 years old and do not understand why I am not losing wieght when I clearly have a calorie defecit daily of about 400-500 calories. I am now down to 122 lbs with my goal weight at 118 lbs, so not far to go but it just seems to have stopped going down. I just dont see how with such a defecit daily the weight is not coming off. I wear a fitbit so i know how many calories I am burning and enter everything I eat. I take in approximately 1300 or so calories daily and do about 45 minutes of cardio plus weights most every day. The few lbs are not a huge deal but Im just confused by it. any ideas whats going on?
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Replies
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Honestly, it sounds like you are already at a healthy weight and do not need to lose anymore. More than likely you are carrying around about four pounds of water weight from working out so much that this is masking any additional weight loss.
I would suggest changing your goals from losing fat to doing some kind of recomposition where you are focused more on body composition than losing fat.
I carry about an extra two pounds around on me from water retention because I lift weights four times a week…
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do you weigh your food with scales?0
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I feel your pain last year I was 205 when I took up mountain biking dropped to 170 within a few months just from biking and cutting out my junk food. Then took a nasty spill on the bike and broke my collarbone in two places. After 7 months of recovery I was back 100% however let myself go and back to 2050
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YOu only have 4 pounds to lose. It is going to be much harder when you are so close to goal. That means you are going to have to be super accurate on your logging. Are you using a food scale? If not you need to start.0
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The one thing you have to remember is muscle weighs more than fat!!!!
I had that issue...I started my fitness journey this year the 3rd week of January, I weighed 232lbs, I'm 6'0ft, and as of 2 days ago I weighed in at 182.9...my goal is 170-175. For a while it I couldn't get over the 195 mark. I Fluctuated between 195-199. I was running, lifting weights to tone. What I did was a cleanse for 10 days.
I ate a salad mix that consisted of :
Baby Spanish
Blueberries
Grapefruit
Carrots
Cumbers
Celery
No dressing, and I made sure to drink a gallon plus a day!!
I finally dropped to 190. And even though I still eat what I want, I'm more conscious about it. But I started only lifting 2-3 times a week, and continued running. You have to shock your body. It gets use to routinely workouts etcs. Switch it up!! Remember in order to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you consume!!!0 -
Muscle is denser than fat, but a 57 year old woman isn't putting on enough muscle while in a deficit to mask fat loss.0
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well, hate to say it but it could be the awful 'over 50' syndrome. I'm 52, track all my food, exercise, have a calorie deficit, and I've actually gained weight in the past 2 yrs. SO frustrating. What I've been told many times it that I need to add strength training to my routine and alternate with cardio. I'm going to try my own version of the 21 Day Fix and work on portion control and watch my carbs. Good Luck!!0
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I'm pretty much in the same boat and its very frustrating to hit plateaus or not see any changes in weight at all inspite of working out. It may be that my body has just adjusted to the usual routine - cardio + weights every day. The one thing I'm trying is increasing the intensity of my workouts/trying different workouts. I only started this recently, so I haven't seen any changes yet, but hopefully in a few weeks or so, it will make a difference! Hope you can reach your goal weight too!0
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Hi... 5' and 54 here. I finally reached 120 a month ago and have held steady there for the past month. Prior to that my loss slowed to 1/2 pound every 2-3 weeks. I gave up reaching118 and have just the tiniest of deficits at 1250-1300 calories. It appears I am probably around a half pound every four or five weeks now, but I am good with it. I am focusing more on maintenance now and if I suddenly wake up one day looking at 118 I will be delighted but it is just the lower mark of my maintenance range at this point. No ideas except be super accurate with your logging and just have patience.0
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I am 5'2" female, 57 years old and do not understand why I am not losing wieght when I clearly have a calorie defecit daily of about 400-500 calories. I am now down to 122 lbs with my goal weight at 118 lbs, so not far to go but it just seems to have stopped going down. I just dont see how with such a defecit daily the weight is not coming off. I wear a fitbit so i know how many calories I am burning and enter everything I eat. I take in approximately 1300 or so calories daily and do about 45 minutes of cardio plus weights most every day. The few lbs are not a huge deal but Im just confused by it. any ideas whats going on?
OP I'm same height and weight as you. I originally thought my goal should be 125, but I went right below that fairly easily when I was actively losing, so I thought 120 should be my new goal weight. However, I've been hovering in the same range (121-123) for 6 months or so. I've pretty much decided this is where my body wants my weight to be and rather than stressing about an arbitrary number on the scale I am going to change my goal to maintenance and instead focus on recomp.
I agree with others that when you are so close to goal, accuracy of logging becomes even more critical, so if you aren't using a food scale you may want to consider it.
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The calorie deficit is actually different from person to person. You might want to cut out any carbs that you eat after 2pm, which forces your body to burn more fat at night.
If that doesn't work, You can also try adjusting your carb intake toward fruit and away from grain, wheat or sugar.
Remember that carbs trigger insulin, and insulin tells your body to store fat. Going zero carb for a day can trigger your body to resume fat burning.
Experiment a little with your diet and switch things around. Don't be afraid to be hungry (under 1000 calories) for a day, just don't do it often. I wouldn't go much under 1000 though, it is not like you need to lose that much.
As long as you stick with your program it will work, it just may take an extra week.-4 -
Ignore all of this except for the bit about sticking with it.LowBudgetDave wrote: »The calorie deficit is actually different from person to person. You might want to cut out any carbs that you eat after 2pm, which forces your body to burn more fat at night.
If that doesn't work, You can also try adjusting your carb intake toward fruit and away from grain, wheat or sugar.
Remember that carbs trigger insulin, and insulin tells your body to store fat. Going zero carb for a day can trigger your body to resume fat burning.
Experiment a little with your diet and switch things around. Don't be afraid to be hungry (under 1000 calories) for a day, just don't do it often. I wouldn't go much under 1000 though, it is not like you need to lose that much.
As long as you stick with your program it will work, it just may take an extra week.
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I am 5'2" female, 57 years old and do not understand why I am not losing wieght when I clearly have a calorie defecit daily of about 400-500 calories. I am now down to 122 lbs with my goal weight at 118 lbs, so not far to go but it just seems to have stopped going down. I just dont see how with such a defecit daily the weight is not coming off. I wear a fitbit so i know how many calories I am burning and enter everything I eat. I take in approximately 1300 or so calories daily and do about 45 minutes of cardio plus weights most every day. The few lbs are not a huge deal but Im just confused by it. any ideas whats going on?
With so few pounds left to lose, it's only going to happen very, very slowly. And I agree that you're already at a healthy weight and recomp is probably your best bet. I'm within 3-4lbs of maintenance and only losing 1/2lb to 1lb a month at most. You have to be super accurate with tracking and logging your food.
I'm 5'2.5" and almost 66 years old.0 -
The answer is you're eating too much.
You needed to get super honest with anything you're putting in your mouth regardless of if it's food or liquid calories.
You also need to be super accurate with logging. Weigh everything.
Lastly you also need to be super aware how many calories you're actually burning. Get a HRM or other device to help get your burn more accurate.
You're well in the healthy range so you need to be really accurate if you're going to lose more.0 -
DeguelloTex wrote: »
Ignore all of this except for the bit about sticking with it.LowBudgetDave wrote: »The calorie deficit is actually different from person to person. You might want to cut out any carbs that you eat after 2pm, which forces your body to burn more fat at night.
If that doesn't work, You can also try adjusting your carb intake toward fruit and away from grain, wheat or sugar.
Remember that carbs trigger insulin, and insulin tells your body to store fat. Going zero carb for a day can trigger your body to resume fat burning.
Experiment a little with your diet and switch things around. Don't be afraid to be hungry (under 1000 calories) for a day, just don't do it often. I wouldn't go much under 1000 though, it is not like you need to lose that much.
As long as you stick with your program it will work, it just may take an extra week.
+1
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I am 51 and I am slowly working on the last pounds as well. I have found that stress is a big factor.. Stress from work, stress from strenuous exercise and stress from dieting..specifically restricting carbs. If I take a short vacation or manage the stress in my life better I generally see the scale reflect that. Cortisol is not a dieters friend.
I am happy with losing a pound or two a month and eating more. I don't think this battle of being at a very Low BMI or body fat over 50 is won in the kitchen simply by restricting.
This week I put a few stress reduction activities into my weekly schedule. Scheduled a nap today.
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xavierw0612 wrote: »The one thing you have to remember is muscle weighs more than fat!!!!
I had that issue...I started my fitness journey this year the 3rd week of January, I weighed 232lbs, I'm 6'0ft, and as of 2 days ago I weighed in at 182.9...my goal is 170-175. For a while it I couldn't get over the 195 mark. I Fluctuated between 195-199. I was running, lifting weights to tone. What I did was a cleanse for 10 days.
I ate a salad mix that consisted of :
Baby Spanish
Blueberries
Grapefruit
Carrots
Cumbers
Celery
No dressing, and I made sure to drink a gallon plus a day!!
I finally dropped to 190. And even though I still eat what I want, I'm more conscious about it. But I started only lifting 2-3 times a week, and continued running. You have to shock your body. It gets use to routinely workouts etcs. Switch it up!! Remember in order to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you consume!!!
this is totally unnecessary...
muscle does not weight more than fat
a cleanse is not necessary
you more than likely dropped water weight
you are correct about CICO....0 -
I am 5'2" female, 57 years old and do not understand why I am not losing wieght when I clearly have a calorie defecit daily of about 400-500 calories. I am now down to 122 lbs with my goal weight at 118 lbs.
I wear a fitbit so i know how many calories I am burning and enter everything I eat.
The less you have to lose, the more slowly it comes off. That's just the way the human body works. You need to switch your focus from losing weight to increasing lean body mass (aka recomp)—and eating at an aggressive deficit is not going to make you lose weight any quicker.
Your Fitbit burn is TDEE (the calories necessary to maintain your current weight), which is way more than 1,300 calories. (I'm 5'2", 115 lbs., 47, and sedentary, and I eat 1,800 calories.)
Enable negative calorie adjustments in your diary settings, set your goal no higher than .5 lb., per week, eat back your adjustments—and be patient.0 -
If you make your diary public, people might actually be able to make suggestions. The simple answer is, if you aren't losing weight, it is because you are consuming too many calories.0
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xavierw0612 wrote: »The one thing you have to remember is muscle weighs more than fat!!!!
I had that issue...I started my fitness journey this year the 3rd week of January, I weighed 232lbs, I'm 6'0ft, and as of 2 days ago I weighed in at 182.9...my goal is 170-175. For a while it I couldn't get over the 195 mark. I Fluctuated between 195-199. I was running, lifting weights to tone. What I did was a cleanse for 10 days.
I ate a salad mix that consisted of :
Baby Spanish
Blueberries
Grapefruit
Carrots
Cumbers
Celery
No dressing, and I made sure to drink a gallon plus a day!!
I finally dropped to 190. And even though I still eat what I want, I'm more conscious about it. But I started only lifting 2-3 times a week, and continued running. You have to shock your body. It gets use to routinely workouts etcs. Switch it up!! Remember in order to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you consume!!!
This is not true. Muscle has more DENSITY than fat, but one pound of muscle weighs the same as one pound of fat, sorry.
Also, a cleanse is completely unnecessary. Your body naturally cleanses itself - this is the function of organs like kidneys and your liver.
You do not need to shock your body. Your body actually doesn't appreciate very large, very quick changes to routine and they can cause GI distress, muscle fatigue or injury.
OP, you need a caloric deficit and patience. When you get down to the last few pounds, it gets tough and takes time! Be accurate in your logging and drink lots of water. You can do it!0 -
I went fro 14% bf to 8% bf eating all my calories in the night. Basically , I fast the whole day from 7am to 7 pm ( water, black coffee, an orange/berries/kiwi fruit) and then eat like 1800-2000 calories in 2 hours after 7 Pm.-1
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FOUR pounds??? My weight can fluctuate with 5 lbs a day......
Why are you stuck on a number on the scale? At 47 I am a lot more interested in lifting heavier, running faster, doing something for longer and achieving some new fitness goal than stressing over a few pounds on the scale......
Life is too short to starve yourself or do silly "cleanses" in order to see a smaller number on the scale.....
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With all due respect, this is the biggest bunch of nonsense I have read in a week.....LowBudgetDave wrote: »The calorie deficit is actually different from person to person. You might want to cut out any carbs that you eat after 2pm, which forces your body to burn more fat at night.
If that doesn't work, You can also try adjusting your carb intake toward fruit and away from grain, wheat or sugar.
Remember that carbs trigger insulin, and insulin tells your body to store fat. Going zero carb for a day can trigger your body to resume fat burning.
Experiment a little with your diet and switch things around. Don't be afraid to be hungry (under 1000 calories) for a day, just don't do it often. I wouldn't go much under 1000 though, it is not like you need to lose that much.
As long as you stick with your program it will work, it just may take an extra week.
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I went fro 14% bf to 8% bf eating all my calories in the night. Basically , I fast the whole day from 7am to 7 pm ( water, black coffee, an orange/berries/kiwi fruit) and then eat like 1800-2000 calories in 2 hours after 7 Pm.
I'm glad this worked for you, but it's not good advice for everyone.0 -
I went fro 14% bf to 8% bf eating all my calories in the night. Basically , I fast the whole day from 7am to 7 pm ( water, black coffee, an orange/berries/kiwi fruit) and then eat like 1800-2000 calories in 2 hours after 7 Pm.
You're not fasting if you are eating. Odds are you are changing your body fat percentage because you're eating healthier. Not because you're eating all of your calories in a 2 hour time frame.
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@dsjnix You ask why you aren't losing weight. There's a simple response. You aren't burning more than you're eating.
But with 4 pounds left to lose, they won't drop in one week. Or even one month. Just focus on improving what you can do. Maybe you're now able to lift more. Or maybe you're eating healthier. Or you can stop at one cookie instead of eating half of the package in one sitting.0 -
I am 5'2" female, 57 years old and do not understand why I am not losing wieght when I clearly have a calorie defecit daily of about 400-500 calories. I am now down to 122 lbs with my goal weight at 118 lbs, so not far to go but it just seems to have stopped going down. I just dont see how with such a defecit daily the weight is not coming off. I wear a fitbit so i know how many calories I am burning and enter everything I eat. I take in approximately 1300 or so calories daily and do about 45 minutes of cardio plus weights most every day. The few lbs are not a huge deal but Im just confused by it. any ideas whats going on?
I am guessing one or more of the following
1) you have a fitbit HRM and are taking all the calories from it but for you it's not working ...either because of the settings or the type of exercise you're doing ....eat back half instead
2) you're not weighing and logging your food properly. You are choosing inaccurate entries from the database and aren't double checking ...I would refocus on calorie logging http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1
3) you've been doing this so long that bad habits and errors have snuck in to your logging...see above
4) you aren't doing a progressive resistance programme ...you probably should0 -
I am 5'2" female, 57 years old and do not understand why I am not losing wieght when I clearly have a calorie defecit daily of about 400-500 calories. I am now down to 122 lbs with my goal weight at 118 lbs, so not far to go but it just seems to have stopped going down. I just dont see how with such a defecit daily the weight is not coming off. I wear a fitbit so i know how many calories I am burning and enter everything I eat. I take in approximately 1300 or so calories daily and do about 45 minutes of cardio plus weights most every day. The few lbs are not a huge deal but Im just confused by it. any ideas whats going on?
How long has it been? A month? 2 months?
This thread might be able to help, tho all it boils down to is consistency, accuracy & patience:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/737101/relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner/p1
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xavierw0612 wrote: »The one thing you have to remember is muscle weighs more than fat!!!!
I had that issue...I started my fitness journey this year the 3rd week of January, I weighed 232lbs, I'm 6'0ft, and as of 2 days ago I weighed in at 182.9...my goal is 170-175. For a while it I couldn't get over the 195 mark. I Fluctuated between 195-199. I was running, lifting weights to tone. What I did was a cleanse for 10 days.
I ate a salad mix that consisted of :
Baby Spanish
Blueberries
Grapefruit
Carrots
Cumbers
Celery
No dressing, and I made sure to drink a gallon plus a day!!
I finally dropped to 190. And even though I still eat what I want, I'm more conscious about it. But I started only lifting 2-3 times a week, and continued running. You have to shock your body. It gets use to routinely workouts etcs. Switch it up!! Remember in order to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you consume!!!
A pound is a pound no matter the substance ... so starting with your first sentence, your post is wrong. You then starved yourself while calling it a "cleanse" ... unnecessary and in your case depriving your body of needed nutrients.
Nothing in your post is worthy of praise or being called advice.0
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