Why am I not losing anything??

A lot of this is covered in the flowchart above, so hopefully you've already covered those steps, but these are my really general tips when someone stalls:

1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or 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 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. 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. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, 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.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

Follow 80/20 rule. 80% diet. 20% exercise. No sense in going to the gym this soon as it can make you quite hungry. My suggestion would be to start from the diet standpoint and then focus on exercise. Good luck.

One other piece of advice is don't kill yourself with dieting. I usually eat very healthy for breakfast and lunch and snack on things like peanuts or pickles. Pickles are awesome they are basically water and have really no calories or carbs. Hardboiled eggs are great to and if you get tired of them deviled eggs with light mayo are only about 1 carb and 45 calories. At dinner I eat what I enjoy, if I want spaghetti and garlic bread then I eat that just eat smaller portions or find ways to make it healthier low carb spaghetti, low carb bread. Fish is a great way to lose weight also, tuna or a filet of whatever you like. If not a fish fan try cod it’s the least fishy tasting fish. You can substitute turkey for hamburger or use the really lean hamburger. A lot of what people call health food really isn’t that good for losing weight. Bananas, oranges, those box diet dinners even yogurt are really high on carbs. Good luck and don’t give up.

Another thing to consider is how are you calculating your calories burned? Unless you're using a heart rate monitor, chances are the burn that any machine is telling you is wrong. Same with MFP. If you're eating back all your exercise calories, that may be the issue.

Also, I have to agree with having an issue with a 5'7" woman going down to 1200. I'm 5'7" and the lowest I ever went to was 1400. And that was for the last 5 pounds. If you're estimating all your calories, that could fool you into thinking you're doing good on 1200 but you may in reality be much higher.

kerishields wrote: »

Appreciate all the input. These are all great things I want to hear/know. Its the only way to figure out the issue.

Maybe I should be eating more. I am exhausted all the time. But I am going to take this week and really make sure I am on top of my food tracking and accurately. Also, I dont drink soda, eat bread. or eat red meat....and cant eat nuts. On occasion those things may happen (well not nuts), but rarely. I love veggies, I love salads, and I love seafood. And drink 80-90 ounces of water/day. I really am trying not to diet but make a new lifestyle for myself. So I have to figure out what works and doesnt work for me.

Maybe I am not doing the right kind of workouts. I am going along with what my trainer is giving me so I guess assumed as long as I do that, that I am. What kinds of work outs would you guys consider a good workout? What is your weekly workout routines?

I really appreciate all input, I am frustrated that I havent seen any change on the scale. Most importantly I just want to be in good health and be around for my kids. Thanks!

Weight loss isn't linear, so there may be a couple weeks you don't see loss on the scale or it goes up. What you can do is track the trend of your weight loss. Some people use Trendweight, I just look at the graph MFP will give you. If you can draw a line from start to finish and it's going down, you're good. ^_^

Also, yes, eating more will probably help with exhaustion. You don't HAVE to cut out carbs or soda or red meat if you don't want to, just eat less of them. Of course, if you want to, that's totally ok too. Try upping your protein and see if that helps you feel full longer. That will also give your muscles something to repair with when you do exercise.

might you have gained muscle mass? see if your gym can do a body composition evaluation

My doctor had me add more protein and more calories when I complained about not losing on 1200 & exercising. She said my body was hanging on to the weight because I was "starving it". When I went up to 1400-1500 a day the weight started to come off.

kerishields wrote: »

And I am eating better and working it out in the gym.

It sounds to me like you need to focus more on how much you are eating and less on how 'healthy' it is. For weight loss, quantity trumps quality. Though quality can help with adherence, health, energy, etc. But for weight loss, eating too much 'healthy' food and you will still gain weight.

Are you eating back your calorie burns from the workouts? How are you calculating those?

Clearly you are eating more than you think. Should you be eating more than 1200 calories? Probably. But it sounds like you already are if you haven't lost weight over 8 weeks. Food scale was really eye opening for me. I weigh everything, I weigh my English muffins to make sure they are what "one" English muffin is on the package and adjust up or down accordingly (1.02 or .97 etc.) I tare the scale with the muffins on the plate, then put my butter on and see how many grams of butter I added. You have to be 100% accurate if you expect to complain about your lack of results.