Not losing weight?? Why??

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corkypine_99
corkypine_99 Posts: 7 Member
edited August 2015 in Fitness and Exercise
I have logged on for 34 days now. I am a 36 year old female, 5'1", and started at 123lbs. I am eating clean, and about 1,000 to 1,200 calories per day. Which is what is recommended for a person my size. I am 10 to 15lbs higher than usual and am getting married in two months. So I need to lose some to fit in my dress!!

I am eating things like cottage cheese, eggs baked in a muffin tin mixed with spinach and bell peppers for breakfast. Greek yogurt and blue berries, grapefruit, watermelon, almonds, carrots, sugar snap peas, celery, etc for lunch. Baked chicken, salmon, tilapia, etc for dinner with new potatoes, quinoa, rice or yams or cauliflower mash, and veggies are spinach salad, corn, broccoli, asparagus, tomatos, peas....

We are eating very clean, and healthy well rounded meals. I even start my day with lemon water.

I work out doing an integrated interval training for 30 minutes 5 or 6 days a week. This includes four weight lifting and two cardio - three rounds of two sets each. The program changes week to week. Each week getting more challenging.

I get home from work around five, have dinner and hike about three miles every week night. On the weekends we typically mountain bike ride or go for a long hike 5-6 miles with lots of elevation change.

Mon-Fri is about 1.5 hrs per day of exercise. Weekends two to four hours of exercise per day.

I have an office job and have been sitting on a balance ball at least four hours a day as well.

I have lost .4 pounds. I don't get it, and really don't have time to add more. What am I doing wrong? I feel like I just need to starve myself at this point!!

P.S. I used to have a glass it two of wine a night.. I have cut that out as well...I may have one cocktail a week, though that is unusual as well. And I don't drink soda or juices.

Replies

  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Would you be comfortable opening your diary for others to take a peek?

    The biggest problems we see (and most of us have struggled through them) are overestimating calories burned and underestimating calories eaten.

    1. It's been less than 3 weeks, so don't sweat it! 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. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

    4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Some of them are WAY off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

    5. 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. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. 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.

    6. 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.

    7. If you weigh yourself frequently (more than once or twice a week), consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.
  • corkypine_99
    corkypine_99 Posts: 7 Member
    edited August 2015
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    Thanks, I appreciate it. I opened up my diary. Just a note, it has been almost six weeks, and I am looking up accurate calories. Often times putting good in ingredient by ingredient or making my own recipes. I have noticed this app is off. Also my Tupperware for lunches are all measurements (ounces, cups etc.), my food is not weighed, but measured. the one I know is off is the calories burned in interval training. I have changed many of those. During walks and hikes we use strava and hrm.

    This week was an unusual one, the only cheat week (or day) I have had. It was my birthday Wednesday.
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    Your not using a food scale to weigh everything. Your entries are inaccurate
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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  • corkypine_99
    corkypine_99 Posts: 7 Member
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    @thorsmom01, I said I wasn't using a scale. I am however using Tupperware that measures by the ounce, cup, tablespoon etc. I am taking the readings directly from the packaging when available and measuring my food. If not I am googling to compare items such as an apple to make sure I am calculating correctly.

    Nearly Everything I eat is measured, not weighed.
  • sheldonklein
    sheldonklein Posts: 854 Member
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    I've looked at your diary. Your burns are badly overstated and I am pretty sure that your food is significantly understated. For example, 1 day you logged an English muffin and 1/2 tbsp of peanut butter. You'd need the hands of s surgeon to spread that small an amount of PB across a whole English muffin. I strongly suspect that the true calories are 3-4 times what you logged. There are other examples. Bottom line, if you're not losing and not weighing, the first place to start trouble shooting is always a digital scale.
  • CarlydogsMom
    CarlydogsMom Posts: 645 Member
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    You've lost 4 pounds in just over a month? When you are on your last 10-15 pounds? I would almost say you're losing weight too fast. Where you're at now, those last 10 pounds or so...to lose that "last bit" of weight is always the hardest, and in order to lose it healthfully and not too fast (otherwise you're going to lose quite a bit of muscle along with the fat), you shouldn't expect more than a 0.5 lb / week loss, which is about what you're doing now.

    You're doing it right (other than maybe double-checking your food with a scale). If you only lose another few pounds before your wedding, there's not a lot of noticeable difference between five pounds. Relax. With all the other wedding stuff going on, just ease up on yourself.
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    corkypine_99 wrote: »
    @thorsmom01, I said I wasn't using a scale. I am however using Tupperware that measures by the ounce, cup, tablespoon etc. I am taking the readings directly from the packaging when available and measuring my food. If not I am googling to compare items such as an apple to make sure I am calculating correctly.

    Nearly Everything I eat is measured, not weighed.

    Exactly. Those measurements are not accurate. I got my scale from Walmart for like 12$ . its worth every penny when you see how inaccurate measurements can be.

    You are very small ,( not being mean just stating the facts ) so you have very little room for error Here. To be accurate, a food scale is the way to go. You don't have much to lose at all so your deficit is going to be tight so accuracy will help you out a lot
  • corkypine_99
    corkypine_99 Posts: 7 Member
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    That four pounds was where I started at last year! This go around I am only down about half a pound!

    Thanks for all the tips. I will get a scale this week. I thought by using the measuring cups I was doing good!
  • corkypine_99
    corkypine_99 Posts: 7 Member
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    @sheldonklein, I know the interval training is overstated. I have changed a lot of them to reflect true ratings. But missed a few. On the peanut butter, I have only had that a couple of times, and it is accurate. Trust me, I want more. It is very thin! Very very thinly spread!
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
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    CarlydogsMom wrote: »
    You've lost 4 pounds in just over a month? When you are on your last 10-15 pounds? I would almost say you're losing weight too fast.

    She wrote .4 pounds, not 4 pounds.

    Anyway, to piggyback off the rest of the comments, measuring cups are not accurate enough. We're close in size, I'm 5'3" and 122.5 pounds. I lose 1 to 2 pounds a week doing close to the same activity level that you do except my Fitbit calculates my calorie burn for me. From the looks of your diary, your burns are overestimated and your food intake is underestimated since you do not use a food scale. You've lost a fourth of a pound in a bit over a month which, even though you're still making slight progress, means that you do not have much of a calorie deficit. It doesn't matter if you're eating "clean", in the end it's calories in vs. calories out. For someone our size we do not have much room for error food wise, so if you want to see results you'll have to tighten up your logging.
  • corkypine_99
    corkypine_99 Posts: 7 Member
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    Either way, I am eating a lot less, and a lot healthier, and working out a lot! Nothing is happening. Getting older sucks! All the weight is in my hips and stomach. I look like a pear! Being petite, five pounds makes a huge difference! My whole life I have weighed about 110 to 115, I hit 32 and the weight just came!
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    corkypine_99 wrote: »
    That four pounds was where I started at last year! This go around I am only down about half a pound!

    Thanks for all the tips. I will get a scale this week. I thought by using the measuring cups I was doing good!

    Sorry , but measuring cups are only good for liquid. Everything else must be weighed on your scale.seriously, you will be amazed. Since you have very very little room for error here, using a scale is your best bet surely.

    The good news is, it looks like you have no problems portioning out your meals and packaging them. That's really good. Now just weigh the items , log the weights here and you'll be fine.

    Your method of measurement would likely work just fine for someone who had a larger deficit, but since your tiny you have no room for these small inaccuracies.

    I also personally only ate back a portion of calories earned through workouts. They are seriously inflated on here for some things.
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    After you get your scale and start weighing everything for a few weeks ( yes patience is virtue :wink: ) update this thread and let us know how you've made out ! I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!
  • BigGuy47
    BigGuy47 Posts: 1,768 Member
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    corkypine_99 wrote: »
    I will get a scale this week.
    It's a good investment. Less than 20 bucks for accurate measurements. That's a bargain.

  • corkypine_99
    corkypine_99 Posts: 7 Member
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    Thank you all! And I will. Was starting to lose my motivation! Today a big rock scrambling, cliff jumping hike is on the agenda!
  • wombleval
    wombleval Posts: 36 Member
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    Did you only start weightlifting in the past month? I gained almost 2kg when I started which I was told was water/glycogen weight
    . those lbs havent come off but my clothes fit the same so dont bother me. maybe you've lost a few lbs but they've been masked by the water gain? aside from that I agree you should buy digital scales for measuring food.
  • rileyes
    rileyes Posts: 1,406 Member
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    It's true about the measuring. Filling my (very small) bowl with cereal equals two servings--double the calories!

    A good scale is made by EatSmart. Look it up on Amazon.com.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    Can't find my favorite video but this one will suffice. This is the difference between weighing a measuring:

    https://youtu.be/JVjWPclrWVY

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