Frustrated! Need Help!

leahsmolinski
leahsmolinski Posts: 9 Member
in Motivation and Support
I am getting so frustrated, and looking for some tips to get me back in the game!

For 3 weeks now, I have been eating great, and doing cardio religiously, no cheat days, etc. but my weight is still the exact same!!!

Here is what my typical day looks like:
-Breakfast: Coffee, grapefruit
-Lunch: spinach/kale mix with 1 egg, lite vinegrette dressing, a few blue berries
-Snack: 1 apple or 1 cup of brussel sprouts, herbal tea
-Dinner: about 1 cup cooked veggies, about 4-5 oz lean meat (chicken or turkey typically).
-Snack: I don't always have one, but if I do it's a yogurt or banana
-Exercise: 30-40 minutes cardio running on the treadmill

What am I doing wrong here?!?!?

For reference, I'm female, 5'2", 115lbs, and have an office job so I don't think my calorie intake is too low for my size

Replies

  • GsKiki
    GsKiki Posts: 392 Member
    What is your recomended calorie goal by MFP and how much are you looking to lose?
    If you only have couple of pounds to lose, I would focus more on lowering your body fat.
    Another problem also might be eating too little.
    Your body could also be used to the routine, both diet and exercise, so try switching them up a bit.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited January 2016
    You are shorter and do not weigh much, which means that the difference between your maintenance calories and cutting calories is likely fairly small. How many calories are you eating per day?

    I'm not sure how much exercise you do, but when I do the Scooby calculator with you set as desk job with little exercise, it shows your TDEE for maintenance is just 1455. If your MFP goal is 1200, that means that your deficit is just 255 if you hit everything on the nose and if the Scooby calculator is accurate (keep in mind that all calculators give you estimates as we all burn slightly different numbers of calories even at the same size.)

    If your daily deficit has actually been 255 each day, over 21 days that would be 5,355 calories. Divide that by 3500 (estimated calories in a pound of fat) and it comes to 1.53 pounds. When you consider that everybody, but especially women, experience various water fluctuations throughout the month, you can see how those could hide a 1.5 pound loss. A lot of women see their weight go up slightly at both ovulation and at the onset of their periods, for instance. With an average 28 day cycle, that means your weight would fluctuate, just due to hormones, every two weeks. For those reasons, I would encourage you not to get discouraged and to keep on with what you are doing. Wait another 4 weeks or so to see if you are having any changes at the scale.
  • RachelX04
    RachelX04 Posts: 1,123 Member
    OP here is a link to a MFP discussion that I highly recommend you check out. It really helped me when I started. Its not written by me, but my SideSteel. He is very knowledgeable.
    Here's a copy of a part of the info in the link. Overview of what I think is important:

    1) Eat the appropriate caloric (and macronutrient) intake for your goals and track intake accurately. I think eating mostly nutrient dense and whole foods while still allowing some "treats" is a reasonable starting point/guideline.
    2) Exercise regularly. Do something you enjoy or at worst case choose the least objectionable activity. Ideally you should include some form of resistance based training as a part of your program.
    3) Get adequate rest/sleep.
    4) Establish metrics and use them appropriately.
    5) Repeat.

    And do NOT complicate things worrying about minutia.
    The vast majority of you should be able to stick to the above and make very good progress. Will other things matter at some point? Possibly, but the above will get you very far.


    I'm going into some details here and when I make generalizations please realize that I'm well aware of the idea of applying context and unfortunately it's difficult to generalize and apply context at the same time. So treat the generalizations as such.

    Here's the link: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1


  • rsisca
    rsisca Posts: 5 Member
    Have you considered any form of weight training? Muscle burns fat and weight training is critical to anyone wanting to lose weight /body fat.
  • Justmj77
    Justmj77 Posts: 13 Member
    What about your water intake? I've noticed in myself (I'm 5'1) when I drink 6+cups of water I have a higher weight loss.
  • andrasita30
    andrasita30 Posts: 24 Member
    leahsmolinski wrote: »
    I am getting so frustrated, and looking for some tips to get me back in the game!

    For 3 weeks now, I have been eating great, and doing cardio religiously, no cheat days, etc. but my weight is still the exact same!!!

    Here is what my typical day looks like:
    -Breakfast: Coffee, grapefruit
    -Lunch: spinach/kale mix with 1 egg, lite vinegrette dressing, a few blue berries
    -Snack: 1 apple or 1 cup of brussel sprouts, herbal tea
    -Dinner: about 1 cup cooked veggies, about 4-5 oz lean meat (chicken or turkey typically).
    -Snack: I don't always have one, but if I do it's a yogurt or banana
    -Exercise: 30-40 minutes cardio running on the treadmill

    What am I doing wrong here?!?!?

    For reference, I'm female, 5'2", 115lbs, and have an office job so I don't think my calorie intake is too low for my size

    It's calories in vs calories out. It's clear that you are maintaining. Try intermittent fasting and cut back 200-300 on your calories intake
  • SunnyDayzMomma
    SunnyDayzMomma Posts: 114 Member
    I'm no expert, but I see a lack of fat in your diet. If you're not feeding your body healthy fats, it's going to hold on to its own fat, conservation mode type of thing. Coconut oil in your morning coffee, regular vinaigrette on your lunch salad, and cooking your lean dinner meats in a half tablespoon of healthy oil, or eating beef or pork one or two times a week instead of just chicken or turkey, are just some suggestions off the top of my head.

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