Why am I not losing weight when I seem to be doing everything right??

lepineapplecat wrote: »

easy. Eat less calories (less than your BMR), and since you're 5'1 to lose weight as swiftly as you'd like, try eating 1000 calories a day or less. Or intermittent fasting; fast for 15-20/24 helps me reduce my intake significantly. Working out isn't going to make a difference if you don't eat less since weight loss is 90% dietary; eg. Cut butter/oil out of your diet, stop eating junk food/sweets/chocolate etc. basically cut down and you'll lose weight, and depending on how much you cut down, you'll lose weight faster.

No. You don't eat less than your BMR. You eat less than your TDEE. No. You don't only eat 1000 calories a day. That's not healthy long term especially not for a teenager who is still growing. No. You don't need to cut butter/oil/chocolate etc out of your diet. That is RIDICULOUS. All the OP needs to do is use a food scale which she already knows, to eat only half of her exercise calories as 600+ cals burned seems rather high and probably inaccurate.

Well done OP on becoming more active and looking to lose a few pounds. There is a vast amount of DECENT knowledge and experience on here. The quoted post above however is drivel so please ignore it. Good luck!

bratterz_xoxo wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

bratterz_xoxo wrote: »

kirstens1984 wrote: »

You're not eating enough for the amount of exercise you are doing. Eat back your exercise calories so that your "net" calories are at least 1200 - therefore you need at least 1800 with your activity level.

Also cut out the processed food in your diet and replace with whole foods. When I switched from processed to unprocessed food without changing anything else, I lost another stone and I eat loads. Eat lots of the right foods, combine with regular exercise and you will lose weight.

Don't be put off if it takes a couple of weeks for the weight to start coming off - let your body adjust to the changes you are making to your lifestyle aim to lose 1-2lb per week, no more than this as it will be far easier to maintain and it is much healthier than crash dieting (which will only lead to weight gain once you eat normally again).

I agree with previous post - weigh your food and log it exactly - you can save your meals on here so its only a pain the first time you make a meal.

Finally, what has helped me is to eat a HUGE breakfast - make it your biggest meal of the day as it is your fuel for the day ahead. Then a good sized lunch and more moderate sized dinner. Don't eat too late in the evening. Eat plenty of protein rich foods if you're doing a lot of exercise. And healthy fats (unsaturated) such as nuts, avocados, oily fish etc help when trying to lose weight and also keep hormones regulated.

Thank you for this post, this has helped me a lot, and made me feel a bit better about everything, i'll try and follow your advice, thanks again!

"Not eating enough" isn't the cause for not losing weight. Eating too much is.

You need to log accurately and be patient.

I am logging accurately like I've said..

If you are not weighing your food to determine how much you are eating, then you could be off by hundreds of calories. I know this isn't what you want to hear, but this is likely a logging issue.

bratterz_xoxo wrote: »

Oh and also, the reason why I get "defensive" is because some people have been plain rude. So I have a right to get defensive because there's no need to be rude.

You're asking people for advice. If you don't want the advice, then disregard it. But your way clearly isn't working (that's why you made this post asking for help), so dismissing it doesn't make much sense.

1. It's only been 3 weeks and you've only been using this app for a week. You may just need some patience. Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people, these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those extra earned calories. Certain activities tend to be overestimated by MFP and that can cause you to unintentionally eat too much. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

5. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

6. If you do all of those things and you still cannot lose weight after 5-6 weeks, then you should check with your doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

bratterz_xoxo wrote: »

I

DeguelloTex wrote: »

bratterz_xoxo wrote: »

Okay to reply to that my phone went weird. I can post my opinions if I like and I don't have to follow certain advice if I don't wish too. If you don't like how I respond simply don't reply on here, simple

That's not really how a public forum works, though.

And, yeah, you come across as defensive and dismissive over here, too.

I just said I did? Never denied I didn't?

Well, when people put words in quotes, like "defensive," it often means they don't agree with the application of that term. If that's not how you meant it, then I misunderstood your use of the quotes.

If you believe someone has been rude to you, you can report those posts to the moderators, though I'm not sure which posts those might be.

bratterz_xoxo wrote: »

Oh and also, the reason why I get "defensive" is because some people have been plain rude. So I have a right to get defensive because there's no need to be rude.

No, you got defensive because no one was telling you what you wanted to hear. No one was being rude.

You came on here, asked why you weren't losing. People came on, asked if you were weighing your food. You danced around the question, then finally admitted you weren't weighing. Other MFPers said if you wanted to log accurately, you needed to weigh your food. You argued and got defensive that you didn't need to do it before, weighing food was "weird", and that people lost weight without logging.

So yes, this is why the same thing was said over and over again.

And no, I am not being rude. But I am calling you out, because I think it is in extremely poor taste to call these people "rude" when they are just trying to help.

DeguelloTex wrote: »

bratterz_xoxo wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

thetrickstergib wrote: »

Have you looked at getting some body fat scales, instead of just basic weight ones - perhaps all that gym work, you are slowly gaining muscle without realising it, so your weight is staying steady, but actually you are toning and your body fat % is getting lower.

No, not this.

Chances are you are eating more than you think and burning fewer calories than you think.

Well, I'm logging everything I'm eating, so I don't think that's the case.

If it were as simple as logging, people wouldn't have issues. Logging accurately is the goal.

But, if you aren't losing weight over time, it is absolutely the case that you aren't burning more than you're eating.

^^ this!! stop eating back all your workout calories. you are not burning as much as mfp says you are.

kirstens1984 wrote: »

You're not eating enough for the amount of exercise you are doing. Eat back your exercise calories so that your "net" calories are at least 1200 - therefore you need at least 1800 with your activity level.

Also cut out the processed food in your diet and replace with whole foods. When I switched from processed to unprocessed food without changing anything else, I lost another stone and I eat loads. Eat lots of the right foods, combine with regular exercise and you will lose weight.

Don't be put off if it takes a couple of weeks for the weight to start coming off - let your body adjust to the changes you are making to your lifestyle aim to lose 1-2lb per week, no more than this as it will be far easier to maintain and it is much healthier than crash dieting (which will only lead to weight gain once you eat normally again).

I agree with previous post - weigh your food and log it exactly - you can save your meals on here so its only a pain the first time you make a meal.

Finally, what has helped me is to eat a HUGE breakfast - make it your biggest meal of the day as it is your fuel for the day ahead. Then a good sized lunch and more moderate sized dinner. Don't eat too late in the evening. Eat plenty of protein rich foods if you're doing a lot of exercise. And healthy fats (unsaturated) such as nuts, avocados, oily fish etc help when trying to lose weight and also keep hormones regulated.

I'm sorry but first, exercise calories tend to be overestimated. Always eat half of what you think you burned just to be sure.
Processed and not processed foods do not matter, if you wanna lose weight, eat the right amount of calories for moderate, healthy weight loss. Eat whatever you want - literally - although you will of course be healthier if you eat more fresh foods in their natural state then if you eat more treats. But moderation is the key and it helped me keep my sanity during the time when i was losing weight.
Huge breakfast make me starve for the rest of the day, I tend to save my calories for late at night because that's when i get hungry. So when you eat your calories doesn't matter.
Final advice, START LIFTING ASAP. There's so many youtube videos and articles that can teach you how to do it properly if you cannot afford a personal trainer.
Best of luck

bratterz_xoxo wrote: »

kgeyser wrote: »

bratterz_xoxo wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

bratterz_xoxo wrote: »

kirstens1984 wrote: »

You're not eating enough for the amount of exercise you are doing. Eat back your exercise calories so that your "net" calories are at least 1200 - therefore you need at least 1800 with your activity level.

Also cut out the processed food in your diet and replace with whole foods. When I switched from processed to unprocessed food without changing anything else, I lost another stone and I eat loads. Eat lots of the right foods, combine with regular exercise and you will lose weight.

Don't be put off if it takes a couple of weeks for the weight to start coming off - let your body adjust to the changes you are making to your lifestyle aim to lose 1-2lb per week, no more than this as it will be far easier to maintain and it is much healthier than crash dieting (which will only lead to weight gain once you eat normally again).

I agree with previous post - weigh your food and log it exactly - you can save your meals on here so its only a pain the first time you make a meal.

Finally, what has helped me is to eat a HUGE breakfast - make it your biggest meal of the day as it is your fuel for the day ahead. Then a good sized lunch and more moderate sized dinner. Don't eat too late in the evening. Eat plenty of protein rich foods if you're doing a lot of exercise. And healthy fats (unsaturated) such as nuts, avocados, oily fish etc help when trying to lose weight and also keep hormones regulated.

Thank you for this post, this has helped me a lot, and made me feel a bit better about everything, i'll try and follow your advice, thanks again!

"Not eating enough" isn't the cause for not losing weight. Eating too much is.

You need to log accurately and be patient.

I am logging accurately like I've said..

If you're not weighing your food, you're not logging accurately. You need to know how much you are eating in order to log it in your diary accurately.

I'm sorry, but I know quite a few people who have lost a good amount of weight, and not one of them has weighed there food? They have just used this app? So I find it a bit odd to be honest

You can lose weight using a variety of tools and methods. This is a calorie counting app. It does not work at all without a scale.

FoodFitnessTravel wrote: »

I never weighted my food, i lost a good amount of weight. If you have general idea what a portion size is, what a big apple and a small apple looks like, what a serving of cereal looks like, that kind of stuff, it's not difficult. I find it odd too that so many people need to weigh every gram of everything.
Even if you underestimate by 50-100 calories, not a biggie, you're gonna burn them just by walking around on a usual day

100 calories overestimation for three meals a day and, poof, your supposed .5 pounds per week loss is gone or, hello, .5 pounds a week of weight gain.

DeguelloTex wrote: »

FoodFitnessTravel wrote: »

I never weighted my food, i lost a good amount of weight. If you have general idea what a portion size is, what a big apple and a small apple looks like, what a serving of cereal looks like, that kind of stuff, it's not difficult. I find it odd too that so many people need to weigh every gram of everything.
Even if you underestimate by 50-100 calories, not a biggie, you're gonna burn them just by walking around on a usual day

100 calories overestimation for three meals a day and, poof, your supposed .5 pounds per week loss is gone or, hello, .5 pounds a week of weight gain.

If you're eating at a deficit not at maintenance it's not possible. If you don't count every single exercise calorie, like walking around, cleaning, etc, even 300 extra calories a day (especially since op is eating only 1200, she could use another 300) won't make a big difference.
That being said, she will also overestimate calories sometimes. It's about lifestyle change, the food scale is unnecessary, i am the living proof.

FoodFitnessTravel wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

FoodFitnessTravel wrote: »

I never weighted my food, i lost a good amount of weight. If you have general idea what a portion size is, what a big apple and a small apple looks like, what a serving of cereal looks like, that kind of stuff, it's not difficult. I find it odd too that so many people need to weigh every gram of everything.
Even if you underestimate by 50-100 calories, not a biggie, you're gonna burn them just by walking around on a usual day

100 calories overestimation for three meals a day and, poof, your supposed .5 pounds per week loss is gone or, hello, .5 pounds a week of weight gain.

If you're eating at a deficit not at maintenance it's not possible. If you don't count every single exercise calorie, like walking around, cleaning, etc, even 300 extra calories a day (especially since op is eating only 1200, she could use another 300) won't make a big difference.
That being said, she will also overestimate calories sometimes. It's about lifestyle change, the food scale is unnecessary, i am the living proof.

You know what begging the question is, right? Yeah, if you're eating at a deficit you won't gain. The problem is she doesn't know that she's in a deficit.

And, yes, an extra 300 calories a day can most certainly make a big difference. 300 extra calories every day for a year is 31 pounds.

You have no idea that OP "could use" another 300 calories a day, all the more so since she isn't losing weight now.

And no one said a scale was "necessary," but it's certainly helpful for someone who believes she's eating 1200 calories and supposedly burning 600-700 calories a day but still not losing weight. Obviously, her estimations are messed up on intake, output, or both. Given that, a scale could help.