confused and frustrated
CarlanaVanHouten
Posts: 12 Member
i've been keeping just under all of my goals (i do go over in sodium sometimes, but that's it), and i've been drinking about 8 cups of water every day, and i've been swimming five days a week, but i'm not losing any weight. why am i not losing any weight?
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Hey Carlana, not nice to be trying so hard and not seeing the benefits. When you say you're not losing any weight, do you really mean none at all or are we talking not as much as you though you would. There are lots of things can could be causing this but you first need to understand if you really aren't loosing any weight, then you need to consider that, if you had really low muscle density and are now doing exercise far more than you were before you will also be changing fat mass for muscle mass and muscle weighs more. Try taking your measurements, waist, hips, bust, arm and legs and see if you are loosing anything there. I'd also be looking at your sodium. I haven't been calorie counting for long myself but I know I've barely used half of mine each day and used nearly all my calories. I'd be wondering if you might be retaining fluid because of that. I'd have a look at these areas first and if you are loosing just not as much as you hoped then I'd try not to be too hard on yourself. A loss is a loss, dieting can be hard enough as it is without expecting more that your body is willing to give.0
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I'm not losing anything at all. The 8lbs loss it shows in my profile is because I got a new scale and it reads differently than the one I was using. My measurements have been weird, too. One week I had lost half an inch on my hips but gained an inch on my waist, and the next I had lost an inch on my waist but gained it through the hips. I think maybe I'm not taking the measurements right, which is hard to do anyway because of my belly flap. I do have some difficulty staying below 2300mg sodium, but I am trying. Thank you!0
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I'll eat my hat if it's not down to the exercise you are doing. I have only just started losing after 6 weeks of taking up a lot of exercise. I feel it in my body though, I feel much smaller and clothes fit better.
Keep logging everything with a scale, keep drinking the water and give it a few weeks.
Just make sure your calories and method of weighing your food is good.
What do you use to track exercise calories, and do you eat them?0 -
From your diary:
1) Stop using cups to measure things, you can be completely off. If it is solid, use a scale
2) Be very careful about recipes. Unless you prepared it and measured everythign yourself, what you think had 150 calories per serving for example, could easily have 300 per serving on a generic entry or a homemade entry someone else logged, or the serving could be 1/4 of what you think it is.
3) Stop logging normal activities like cleaning etc as exercise
4) You are not burning 500 calories swimmign for half an hour. Not unless you are really serious about it, as in athlete-training type serious. No matter what MFP thinks.
In brief, you are eating more than you think, burning less than you think. You are eating at maintenance.0 -
From your diary again, who logs 300 calories burned from sexual intercouse and then eats them back??? Get serious
and you will see results. Logging is great, as long as it makes sense. 0 -
From your diary:
1) Stop using cups to measure things, you can be completely off. If it is solid, use a scale
2) Be very careful about recipes. Unless you prepared it and measured everythign yourself, what you think had 150 calories per serving for example, could easily have 300 per serving on a generic entry or a homemade entry someone else logged, or the serving could be 1/4 of what you think it is.
3) Stop logging normal activities like cleaning etc as exercise
4) You are not burning 500 calories swimmign for half an hour. Not unless you are really serious about it, as in athlete-training type serious. No matter what MFP thinks.
In brief, you are eating more than you think, burning less than you think. You are eating at maintenance.
All of this.
If you aren't losing weight then you aren't eating less calories than you are burning. It is almost always that simple. Inflating your exercise calories or choosing food entries that are lower than reality only hurts you in the long run. There's no one watching you and no reason not to be brutally honest with yourself about what you're eating. Always underestimate your calorie burns and overestimate your food calories and never log things that are a part of your daily routine; cleaning is not exercise as much as we'd want it to be. If you think you should get extra calories for that time, invest in a pedometer/activity tracker which will give you extra calories for more steps taken during the day. The extra calories will be much lower than what MFP is giving you for "cleaning".
Sodium doesn't cause fat gain or inhibit its loss. At best, you'll see a temporary gain until your body flushes out the extra. Don't obsess about sodium unless you have a health reason to do so. There are other things which are much more important for you to focus on, including correct logging and weighing your food. Once you are losing weight at a steady pace you can focus on the little things like sodium intake.
Additionally, someone mentioned "cheat" meals. Don't do it. Cheat is a word to be avoided as it sounds like you're doing something illegal or immoral. Besides, it's really easy to wipe our your calorie deficit for several days if you have a day where you aren't logging. If you want a treat build it into your calories for the day. If you have a party or event, understand that you may not lose weight that week depending on how much you indulge. If you do those things you won't feel the need to "cheat."0 -
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I DO have an HRM now and am using it. The calories burned that I logged were estimated from this website, so I will adjust after this shift, since it is all cleaning anyway. Some calories are burned during chores, though likely not as much as MFP says. Some of the foods logged had barcodes that I scanned, and the nutrition facts that the app showed me matches the label on the food itself. But you are right, measuring in cups may be a mistake. I just got a new kitchen scale and will be using it.0
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Yeah.... the rest of it was appropriate. This was not.0 -
You are not losing weight because you are eating too much and overestimating calorie burns during excerc...wait...everything apparently.0
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CarlanaVanHouten wrote: »I DO have an HRM now and am using it. The calories burned that I logged were estimated from this website, so I will adjust after this shift, since it is all cleaning anyway. Some calories are burned during chores, though likely not as much as MFP says. Some of the foods logged had barcodes that I scanned, and the nutrition facts that the app showed me matches the label on the food itself. But you are right, measuring in cups may be a mistake. I just got a new kitchen scale and will be using it.
Great! You're on your way then. Trust me, the advice people are giving you isn't necessarily intuitive. Some of these things I've learned after being on the site for 4 years.0 -
It takes a bit to figure out the logging often. I found this thread extremely helpful when I first started in understanding the logging: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1CarlanaVanHouten wrote: »I DO have an HRM now and am using it. The calories burned that I logged were estimated from this website, so I will adjust after this shift, since it is all cleaning anyway.
Yeah, that's another thing that people understandably often do not realize at first -- that MFP overstates the calorie burn from lots of things.0 -
Let me be clear. I came here for support. I did NOT come here to be harassed because you think calories are not burned in sex or house cleaning. There is nothing unreasonable about logging calorie burn for whatever you do. Will you next harass me for logging a walk? If so, harass someone else. I WILL NOT hear it. If you can't say something nice or supportive, then keep your mouth shut.-2
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You are getting support. You asked why you're not losing any weight and people are answering you.0
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Maybe some people aren't being as kind as you'd like them to be; regardless of that, the advice being given is true and should be applied. The most accurate way to log your food is by purchasing a food scale. The best way to get a grasp on your activity level is through a HRM or device like a Fitbit. I have a Fitbit Charge HR and I still only eat back ~25% of extra exercise calories it gives me. I've deep cleaned my bathroom for over an hour without stopping and didn't even burn 200 calories.
Things like cleaning and sex really should not be logged. Unless you're moving vigorously nonstop and your heart is racing, which it's most likely not. Exercise logs really should be used for intentional exercise only, even if your intentional exercise is a walk. You don't have to be excessively out of breath for it to count as exercise, but a 30 minute walk without stopping is more exercise than a 30 minute sex session where, realistically, both partners are taking turns moving, taking breaks, and not constantly having sex with one person doing the work the entire time.
If you're the type that does not enjoy exercise, then the way for you to lose weight is by a pure calorie deficit. With the inaccurate logging and the severely inflated calorie burns, you are eating at maintenance. If you're gaining weight, you're above maintenance cals. Bottom line. If you don't want to get a food scale, then you're going to have to make sure you don't eat your exercise calories back because it seems to be a huge part of what's preventing progress.0 -
UltimateRBF wrote: »CarlanaVanHouten wrote: »Let me be clear. I came here for support. I did NOT come here to be harassed because you think calories are not burned in sex or house cleaning. There is nothing unreasonable about logging calorie burn for whatever you do. Will you next harass me for logging a walk? If so, harass someone else. I WILL NOT hear it. If you can't say something nice or supportive, then keep your mouth shut.
Actually there kind of is. Logging things like sex or cleaning the house is kinda pointless since everyday stuff like that (jokes aside) is included already in your activity level. Assuming you're not completely sedentary, like borderline bedbound sedentary counting that stuff is basically double dipping and won't really benefit you. Unless you're doing like complete house cleaning where you move the furniture, are on hands and knees scrubbing floors or are uprooting trees or whatever or are are having some sort of marathon sexytimes.
Sorry if that wasn't nice or supportive. Hopefully you'll still listen to it.
+1 If you're logging everyday activities then you're double dipping.0 -
CarlanaVanHouten wrote: »Let me be clear. I came here for support. I did NOT come here to be harassed because you think calories are not burned in sex or house cleaning. There is nothing unreasonable about logging calorie burn for whatever you do. Will you next harass me for logging a walk? If so, harass someone else. I WILL NOT hear it. If you can't say something nice or supportive, then keep your mouth shut.
Plenty of people on MFP have sex (I assume)
And I guarantee 90% of them don't log it lmao
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CarlanaVanHouten wrote: »Let me be clear. I came here for support. I did NOT come here to be harassed because you think calories are not burned in sex or house cleaning. There is nothing unreasonable about logging calorie burn for whatever you do. Will you next harass me for logging a walk? If so, harass someone else. I WILL NOT hear it. If you can't say something nice or supportive, then keep your mouth shut.
Calories are burned by everything we do, just by virtue of being alive. If you would like to lose weight, you will need to be selective about what is part of normal life and what is part of deliberate, above and beyond normal activity, to count as exercise calories. If you would like to lose weight you will need to measure and chose entries that are as accurate as they can be for the calories you eat or drink. If you do these two things then the equation (calories in minus calories out = weight change) will work the way you want it too.0 -
One, most people don't log exercise of things that are daily activities. So unless your job is a professional cleaner then it is just daily activity. Sex is also (let's hope) a daily activity. You log purposeful exercise outside of daily activities. Those daily activities are already counted in your MFP calorie goal. Simple as that. No one is harassing you telling you so.
Secondly...the things you are logging aren't accurate calorie burns. You aren't burning 1000 calories in your cleaning session....or 500 for a swim or 300 for having sex. It's a bloated burn. If you really think you are burning those calories and eating accordingly...no wonder you are having a bad time.
Play the victim all you want, but people are trying to help you. You're doing it wrong. You can say you are not, but when you step on the scale and you aren't losing the weight...that is the judgment right there. You asked for help as to why you aren't losing weight. People answered. I'd suggest you listen, but do what you want to do.
People actually flagged this?
If you get given advice that is valid = flags????
Shell's advice was honest and cut right to the chase.. but nevertheless, let's flag it right? -_-
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CarlanaVanHouten wrote: »Let me be clear. I came here for support. I did NOT come here to be harassed because you think calories are not burned in sex or house cleaning. There is nothing unreasonable about logging calorie burn for whatever you do. Will you next harass me for logging a walk? If so, harass someone else. I WILL NOT hear it. If you can't say something nice or supportive, then keep your mouth shut.
Carlana,
People are giving you support by telling you the truth. I thought you came here with an honest question for honest answers. That's what you are getting.
Science is mandated by evidence, and the evidence shows that you are unintentionally eating more than your realize by possibly unintentionally underestimating food intake and overestimating calories burned. It's okay, though, because we've all done that.
While your deficit is already built in when MFP renders your number of calories to lose weight, this does not mean you eat back exercise calories for regular activity. You just eat back your cardio calories and everything else is included in your activity level. In other words, house cleaning, sex, short little walks, weight lifting, are not included. The only thing you count is that cardio, and you should only eat about 75 percent of those back anyway.
I think you said you have a heart rate monitor too. I love min and use it for all my cardio exercise. Nothing else, unless I am keeping track of time I am working out, because non-cardio calories are too difficult to figure out.
I encourage you to do an experiment. For two weeks, weigh your portions, log every single thing you eat, count nothing as extra calories to eat back except for cardio, and see how you do. Prove all of us non-supportive people wrong.
The only reason I share this with you is because I remember a time when I was in the same place as you and refused to acknowledge that my weight gain was from too much food. In fact, I was convinced that I had something wrong with me and was ready to buy some green tea pills to help me lose weight. I never bought the pills, but got serious and looked at my eating habits and started working on striving for accuracy in both calories in/calories out.
You can do this, I know you can.
I apologize in advance if you believe I am not being supportive and, no, I will not keep my mouth shut.
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You don't have to be excessively out of breath for it to count as exercise, but a 30 minute walk without stopping is more exercise than a 30 minute sex session where, realistically, both partners are taking turns moving, taking breaks, and not constantly having sex with one person doing the work the entire time.
Wait - what if both people are "doing the work" the entire time? Your sex isn't at least as vigorous as walking the dog?
/end smart *kitten* (but really, if you are taking turns "doing the work" you might be missing out on something good)
There are some valid points to consider. The main answer that seems to be readily available is that you must be logging something wrong. I've seen other posts tonight discussing plateaus that are months long, it happens. I don't think it means you must be doing something wrong, but you need to be honest with yourself. Are you cutting corners anywhere, or "forgetting" to log a snack so that your log comes out right? If so, that could be a problem. You are really the only one that knows how good your log is.
Another possibility is that your body is just readjusting, and you might go through the plateau, then drop stage. Where your weight seems to level off, then your body loses a bunch at once.
Yet another possibility, is that you might not actually be in a plateau. Sometimes it's hard to see, because of normal daily fluctuations in water weight, food/waste volume, etc. Chances are, your weight hasn't been *exactly* the same for the last two weeks. I use a website www.trendweight.com to keep track of my weight. It averages my daily weight out, so that the normal fluctuations don't look so scary. I might be losing weight, and not realize it because of the way the daily fluctuations happen.
Let me double check - you also said two weeks worth, right? Maybe you have unrealistic expectations. How much weight did you expect to see over two weeks? Where in your cycle did these two weeks fall? I know there is a week in my cycle where I normally gain a little, then it comes off in the next couple weeks.
Do you feel absurdly hungry at the end of the day constantly? Is there a noticeable decrease in your energy? How close is your target to what mfp suggested? Is your activity level set appropriately? If you like to log lots of activity, your activity level should probably be set to sedentary, because if you say you are active, then mfp already assumes many of those calories burned in your goal. If you are somewhat close to the mfp suggested values, I would suggest that you wait out the "plateau" and not try to increase your calories. If you are way off from what they suggested, again, you need to be honest with yourself. There really are reasons behind the suggestions. It's not a totally random number. You might have a valid reason to shift dramatically from that, but if you are set drastically high, or drastically low, its just going to mess with your body.
Slow and steady wins the race.
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My activity level is set to sedentary because - with a few exceptions - my job just has me sitting a lot. I did just spend 97 minutes cleaning someone's house and my HRM said I burned 538 calories doing so. Also, when it comes to sex, there is little in the way of taking turns and usually I work with him. Too, what I recorded was an estimate I got online. I only got my HRM last night, so before that I was depending on what this website was saying for calorie burn. I've been weighing what I cook for myself, and if it has a barcode, I scan it. I weigh in on e a week because of those fluctuations.0
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CarlanaVanHouten wrote: »My activity level is set to sedentary because - with a few exceptions - my job just has me sitting a lot. I did just spend 97 minutes cleaning someone's house and my HRM said I burned 538 calories doing so. Also, when it comes to sex, there is little in the way of taking turns and usually I work with him. Too, what I recorded was an estimate I got online. I only got my HRM last night, so before that I was depending on what this website was saying for calorie burn. I've been weighing what I cook for myself, and if it has a barcode, I scan it. I weigh in on e a week because of those fluctuations.
Carlana,
Please hear this: anything other than cardio is included in your activity level. If you feel you are more active than sedentary, then raise your activity level a notch. I guarantee you that amount will be way less than the calories you are counting for sex and house cleaning and other commonplace activities that are not cardio.
Really, it doesn't matter how you're doing the sex, the fact is that it is not meant to be counted as extra. The only reason it's in the database is because someone put it in there who didn't realize it's part of your normal activity.
If you want to lose weight you need to pay attention to these things, and to people in this conversation who are telling you the truth.
Just try for two weeks what I suggested upstream.0 -
Try entering in only deliberate aerobic exercises that you are doing to accelerate weight loss or things that you would not do for any other reason than weight loss. For example I walked nearly 5 miles today but less than 2 of those were deliberate aerobic exercise those 2 are the only ones I logged as exercise. The other three are part of my sedentary lifestyle.CarlanaVanHouten wrote: »My activity level is set to sedentary I only got my HRM last night, so before that I was depending on what this website was saying for calorie burn.
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So when you know it all better than the advice givin here..go on
good luck i know you can do it!
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Right now I'm using my HRM to determine my calorie burn rather than the database, but I did just start today with it. When I record my activity, I adjust the calories burned to match the HRM. However, I will also try adjusting my activity level. My morning shift is mostly sedentary, but any extras I get usually have a bit more to do.0
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You can argue and try to fool yourself with the logging, but at the end of the day you cannot fool the scale.0
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