Very discouraged, not sure what else to try

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jinggirl
jinggirl Posts: 2 Member
in Motivation and Support
In late 40s and have steadily gained weight while remaining active everyday with ballroom dancing 1-2x per week, zumba 2x per week, weight training 2-3x per week and lots of bowling 3-5x per week. Cannot add much more to my schedule. I watch what i eat, i get inimum 8500 steps a day. Why can i not lose the weight? I go to doctor but just get told that i should 'exercise more'. Any advise?
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  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
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    If you are gaining weight it's because you are consuming more than you are burning. If you're in calorie deficit you WILL lose weight.
  • LuvtheCubs
    LuvtheCubs Posts: 161 Member
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    It's all about what you eat. Track your food. Weigh and measure.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
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    What do you mean by "watch what you eat?" Are you logging everything you eat? Otherwise, you have no way of knowing whether you have a calorie deficit or not. It's incredibly easy to eat many, many more calories than you think you, even of so-called "healthy" foods.
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
    edited February 2016
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    Indeed... there is "watching what you eat" and then there is measuring / weighing everything that goes in your mouth!

    Sometimes people only log food but not drinks... Sometimes people just "eyeball" portions (a real eye opener when you actually measure 30g of your breakfast cereal and realise that your "portion" was about 75g!)... Sometime people log a sandwich but "forget" about the butter... Sometimes people fry something and don't log the 125 cals of olive oil they liberally poured into the pan... It all adds up.
  • maasha81
    maasha81 Posts: 733 Member
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    You can out eat any exercise regimen. To lose weight you have to eat at a calorie deficit. A food scale and mfp can be used to track and log your calories. Best wishes!
  • Scamd83
    Scamd83 Posts: 808 Member
    edited February 2016
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    Vague terms like I watch what i eat are always a near certain indicator of a lack of accuracy. Quite a few people say things like that or that they 'eat clean', eat right, eat healthy, etc. As much as you feel your food watching abilities are on point, people are naturally biased towards underestimating what they're eating because basically we want to eat as much as we can.
  • Debmal77
    Debmal77 Posts: 4,770 Member
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    Food scale.
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,089 Member
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    Get yourself a food scale. Be honest. Weigh everything. Log it. No guesses or eyeballing portions.

    If you are not losing, you are not in a caloric deficit.
  • doesthisappmakemelookfat
    doesthisappmakemelookfat Posts: 103 Member
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    I think very active people often overestimate how much food they can get away with. You really need to track your food honestly for a while (without changing anything) and see how much you're eating. It's amazing how few calories you earn from exercise.
  • cryptobrit
    cryptobrit Posts: 200 Member
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    I am surprised at the responses to jinggirl in the sense that folk are assuming she does not already do this. I know for a fact that in some cases although not that common, metabolism can change and you can be doing everything correct and still struggle. People such as my daughter with PCOS are one group for starters. She spent months eating fantastically healthily, going to the gym virtually every day; had a very active job. She lost 3 lbs in around 6 months! Nobody but nobody could say "you are consuming more than you are burning. If you're in calorie deficit you WILL lose weight." The interesting thing is that since she stopped trying so hard and went back to being 'average' in doing exercise and healthy eating, she did not put the weight back on; so it doesn't always add up.

    I have just posted on my status that I am not sure it is worth carrying on due to hardly losing anything. I didn't eat that much before (child portions in a lot of meals); I normally eat healthily with the odd treats (who doesn't). Yet in 48 days I have only lost 1.75 lbs. Despite having disabilities I have increased my activity, logged and measured out meticulously to my husband's despair (not eating that until it has been weighed). I bought a Polar heart monitor and activity watch which tells me how much has been burned both in calories and 'fat burning' I am not drastically overweight - around 7-10 lbs, but it will not shift. Before menopause I could put a few pounds on and within a few days lose it again. It is possible there is some sort of metabolic issue with jinggirl, or menopause. I can really feel for her frustration as I am struggling too. For me I am feeling at the moment it is just not worth it. Might as well go back to not weighing out portions and not trying to fight the pain by exercising. Yet the stubbornness in me I guess makes me try and carry on for a bit longer. MFP tells me at the end of completing my diary I will be between 9st 3 and 9st 6 within 5 weeks. It has been saying that ever since I started!! I would be happy to be 9st 7 which would be 3lbs less than when I started.

    How about we try and actually help jinngirl to determine if there is 1: a health condition that has developed that could have affected her metabolism? 2:there is any other information she hasn't given that would help get to the root of the cause? It is easy and quick to judge folk are guessing amounts etc; but in my experience, the ones who keep trying to lose weight and don't see much happening, are the ones who are the most meticulous in measuring and not cheating. Please don't think I am having a go, just trying to enable folk to see from 'outside the box' :-)
  • Rocknut53
    Rocknut53 Posts: 1,794 Member
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    I've been telling myself for a couple years that I don't eat that much, how can I not be losing weight with the miles and miles of hiking I do every week and working 12 hour shifts for weeks on end? Now that I am seriously keeping track, the answer is obvious. Even though I "for the most part" ate healthy I was eating enough that burning all those calories was negated by my food consumption.
    @cryptobrit OP had gone to her doctor and you're right, there could be underlying issues, but perhaps her first step may be to follow some of the advice given, if that fails, then dig deeper.
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
    edited February 2016
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    Most OPs who are aware of underlying health issues which may make it a little harder to lose weight (PCOS, thyroid, certain mental health medication...) will say so in their post. The fast is that the vast majority of people who are not losing weight continue to consume more than they burn and are not 'sick'.
  • Healthy_4_Life2
    Healthy_4_Life2 Posts: 595 Member
    edited February 2016
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    CollieFit wrote: »
    If you are gaining weight it's because you are consuming more than you are burning. If you're in calorie deficit you WILL lose weight.

    This exactly!! OP, I am 46 years old soon to be 47. I understand that as we age, losing weight may become difficult..... But it's not impossible. Like this person said... If you're not losing weight, it's likely due to calorie overage. I have loss over 70+ pounds. It took a looooong time because I wanted to be able to eat and not starve by cutting my calorie level to something that's not sustainable in the long run. I like moderate calorie deficit. Also make sure you weigh and log what you eat accurately. We oftentimes unknowingly underestimate what we're actually eating if we don't weigh our foods and log accurately. I think your exercises are fine, but really make sure you're not unknowingly eating excess calories. Calories in versus calories out. Best of luck!!
  • PearBlossom9
    PearBlossom9 Posts: 136 Member
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    cryptobrit wrote: »
    How about we try and actually help jinngirl to determine if there is 1: a health condition that has developed that could have affected her metabolism? 2:there is any other information she hasn't given that would help get to the root of the cause?

    We aren't doctors. We shouldn't be helping anyone self diagnose themselves. Clearly she has been to her doctor since she states her doctor told her to exercise more.

    Yes....exercise more if you want to keep eating the calories you are eating. Loosing weight is a matter of eating a calorie deficit, as others have said. You would be surprised at times on how easily calories can stack up while you think you are watching what you eat.

    The bottom line is start tracking what you eat and look at how many calories you are consuming. If you eat at a deficit and your weight is still going up, definitely mention it to your doctor. But it sounds like you have talked about it which probably means the issue is calorie consumption being too high.
  • jinggirl
    jinggirl Posts: 2 Member
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    Thank you for your responses. I track everything. Caloric Deficit has not resulted in success in my case... Wishing y'all the best in your fitness journeys.
  • cside691
    cside691 Posts: 39 Member
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    It could be that you are not eating enough!
    Otherwise maybe trying changing one of your activities for something different. I maintained the same weight for ages so adjusted some of my exercises - I still walk 5 miles but I tried walking at different speeds and the weight is on the move again.

    Don't give up it will happen x
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    You should not exercise more, you should eat less.
  • ladymeldrum82
    ladymeldrum82 Posts: 51 Member
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    cside691 wrote: »
    It could be that you are not eating enough!
    Otherwise maybe trying changing one of your activities for something different. I maintained the same weight for ages so adjusted some of my exercises - I still walk 5 miles but I tried walking at different speeds and the weight is on the move again.

    Don't give up it will happen x

    I agree with you that she might not be eating enough... I was seriously undereating & gaining weight... It took me a couple of months to slowly increase my caloric intake to 1500 calories per day & then I lost 8lbs in 20 days... I used to workout pretty aggressively at the gym until it started making me seriously sick (from undereating)- I continued to gain weight & my body started breaking down... My body basically went into panic mode because I was burning tons of calories & eating an average of 600 calories a day... I'm still physically recovering from the huge strain I put on my body for years, but I'm making leaps & bounds of progress in my health...
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
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    People tend to over estimate the calories in exercise and underestimate the calories consumed.

    Overestimation of calories consumed can be eliminated (or at least reduced to a low level) by accurate logging and weighing/measuring.

    Exercise calories: Whilst some people swear by activity trackers and/or HRMs I've always found them a pain in the *kitten*, I no longer track exercise cals at all (but I don't do the log cardio sessions I used to do when a serious runner) but when I did I only logged 1/2 to 2/3 of the duration to account for MFP database inaccuracies.
  • cryptobrit
    cryptobrit Posts: 200 Member
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    Well I have done my Monday morning weigh in and put on another pound. This makes me only one pound under than when I started. My calories have been in deficit each week and in fact the last week even more so. Yes, I have weighed everything meticulously. I think there is definitely something in not eating enough, especially if upping the exercise. I have already posted on my status about thinking of going back to eating how I was before but keeping the exercising when possible. Maybe I would have more success?

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