losing difficulty

joo607
joo607 Posts: 16 Member
edited November 30 in Health and Weight Loss
I've been doing MFP since 1/1/16 and have been fluctuating within the same 2 pounds. So I increased my water intake and put on another 3 pounds. I think this is a great program and it's good to be accountable to it but this happened on Weight Watchers also.
Is it my body fighting weight loss? I'm getting discouraged but I want to win at this. Any ideas how to fight this? Thanks for any suggestions.

Replies

  • ilex70
    ilex70 Posts: 727 Member
    edited March 2016
    8 weeks+ is a long while to not make progress.

    Your results indicate you are eating at or near maintenance.

    How big of a daily deficit are you aiming for? With a higher deficit there is more wiggle room for inaccuracy. If your deficit is only 250 calories a day then you need to be more careful.

    I'm sure someone will post the chart. The usual issues are inaccurate logging which can be due to sloppy measurements (not weighing your solids on a food scale) or you are over estimating calories burned from exercise and eating back your exercise calories.

    My measurements aren't awesome, though I do weigh most things, OTOH I have a fairly large deficit and I don't try to eat back exercise calories.

    The weighing thing really isn't so bad. Tonight I put my plate on the scale, TARE, added spaghetti, TARE, added meatballs. Got my weight for those two, honestly guesstimated the marinara and veg (half a package). I'm more careful with higher calorie food and less so with stuff like veggies and popcorn.

    ETA: Pasta and rice you are supposed to weigh dry. I usually don't though, just eat modest amounts and enter weight for a cooked entry. When my husband cooks, or we go out to eat, it isn't going to be spot on, but I make my best guess.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    ilex70 wrote: »
    8 weeks+ is a long while to not make progress.

    Your results indicate you are eating at or near maintenance.

    How big of a daily deficit are you aiming for? With a higher deficit there is more wiggle room for inaccuracy. If your deficit is only 250 calories a day then you need to be more careful.

    I'm sure someone will post the chart. The usual issues are inaccurate logging which can be due to sloppy measurements (not weighing your solids on a food scale) or you are over estimating calories burned from exercise and eating back your exercise calories.

    My measurements aren't awesome, though I do weigh most things, OTOH I have a fairly large deficit and I don't try to eat back exercise calories.

    The weighing thing really isn't so bad. Tonight I put my plate on the scale, TARE, added spaghetti, TARE, added meatballs. Got my weight for those two, honestly guesstimated the marinara and veg (half a package). I'm more careful with higher calorie food and less so with stuff like veggies and popcorn.

    ETA: Pasta and rice you are supposed to weigh dry. I usually don't though, just eat modest amounts and enter weight for a cooked entry. When my husband cooks, or we go out to eat, it isn't going to be spot on, but I make my best guess.

    This one

    nnnaq5rggu08.jpg

  • joo607
    joo607 Posts: 16 Member
    Hi. I weigh, measure and do the package barcode. I'm supposed to eat 1200 calories and am usually pretty close to each nutritional goal.what am I doing wrong. I was hoping to be down 10 pounds by summer but I don't think that's going to happen .I'm active and go to the gym 2 weekly for 1 hour each . I have high colesterol and try to eat healthy. Any hints?
    Thanks
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    You weigh all your solids? With 10 pounds to go, your calorie intake needs to be accurate.
  • joo607
    joo607 Posts: 16 Member
    No thyroid problems. Blood work all good too.this is an ongoing problem. Tried weight watchers and had the same outcome. But thanks for your thoughts
  • joo607
    joo607 Posts: 16 Member
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    You weigh all your solids? With 10 pounds to go, your calorie intake needs to be accurate.

    I weigh and measure. I'm wondering if the same routine both with food and exercise has me on a plateau? Maybe I need to mix things up...but how. Your thoughts?. This is so frustrating.
  • shan_sel
    shan_sel Posts: 31 Member
    Bottom line is that you are not burning more calories than you take in. Drinking water will not make you gain weight.
  • indiaalexis
    indiaalexis Posts: 13 Member
    You have to workout more. 2x per week isn't really considered active (I don't mean to sound harsh). Going to bodybuilding.com you can find a great, free workout program to follow that should get you unstuck.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    edited March 2016
    You have to workout more. 2x per week isn't really considered active (I don't mean to sound harsh). Going to bodybuilding.com you can find a great, free workout program to follow that should get you unstuck.

    While I could agree with you, the OP said they are on 1200 calories. So exercise is irrelevant as this is already below BMR.

    I'm on 1200 cal and no exercise (or movement at all due to health issues) and I've lost 8 lbs since 9th Feb.

    Are you certain you're only eating 1200, joo?

    Edit: I've gone from 166 lbs to 158 lbs to be precise.
  • indiaalexis
    indiaalexis Posts: 13 Member
    gebeziseva wrote: »
    You have to workout more. 2x per week isn't really considered active (I don't mean to sound harsh). Going to bodybuilding.com you can find a great, free workout program to follow that should get you unstuck.

    While I could agree with you, the OP said they are on 1200 calories. So exercise is irrelevant as this is already below BMR.

    I'm on 1200 cal and no exercise (or movement at all due to health issues) and I've lost 8 lbs since 9th Feb.

    Are you certain you're only eating 1200, joo?

    Edit: I've gone from 166 lbs to 158 lbs to be precise.

    My thoughts were that her metabolism is extremely sluggish. The way to jump start it is to add lean muscle. I wasn't thinking about the calories she is burning only that she needs to add muscle. I should have been clearer.
  • ClosetBayesian
    ClosetBayesian Posts: 836 Member
    joo607 wrote: »
    Hi. I weigh, measure and do the package barcode. I'm supposed to eat 1200 calories and am usually pretty close to each nutritional goal.what am I doing wrong. I was hoping to be down 10 pounds by summer but I don't think that's going to happen .I'm active and go to the gym 2 weekly for 1 hour each . I have high colesterol and try to eat healthy. Any hints?
    Thanks

    What is your current height and weight?
  • blues4miles
    blues4miles Posts: 1,481 Member
    joo607 wrote: »
    Hi. I weigh, measure and do the package barcode. I'm supposed to eat 1200 calories and am usually pretty close to each nutritional goal.what am I doing wrong. I was hoping to be down 10 pounds by summer but I don't think that's going to happen .I'm active and go to the gym 2 weekly for 1 hour each . I have high colesterol and try to eat healthy. Any hints?
    Thanks

    Are you eating back exercise calories? If so what are you using to estimate calorie burns?

    There are two possibilities:
    1) You are eating more than you think (you said you weigh, but I know personally this is something I can always be better at, so keep at it, weigh EVERYTHING, only liquids don't get weighed)
    a) Are you really eating 1200 every day? Even when I am targeting a specific number, a lot of times if I look back at my diary there are days I went over and binge days etc. and that brings my average higher than the # I am targeting. Are you sure you have really been averaging 1200 over this whole time? Binges or cheat days could be wiping out the work you do the rest of the time.
    2) You are overestimating calories from exercise. If you are eating these calories back, try to only eat back 50% or something along those lines.

    What did you set your MFP goal to? I assume "2 lbs a week"? You might have more success on 1 lb a week of .5 lb a week. I know that seems "slow" but when people have more calories to play with they tend to feel less deprived, binge less often, and are more accurate with their logging. I see you say you are trying to eat healthy too, but eating within calories is more important for weight loss.
  • joo607
    joo607 Posts: 16 Member
    Thanks for your reply. Some times I end up eating less then 1200 calories and the warning appears. I've set my goal originally at 1.5 lbs with no success then 1 lb, no success. I'm ready to give up and just attack my trigger foods then start over again. My husband is a recent diabetic and I've been trying to eat healthy for his sake too. Not fair to eat junk food that he can't have. I'm doing something wrong but I need to Jumpstart this weight lose. the only times I've had real success is when I've only had coffee for breakfast ,rushed off to work, didn't have a chance to eat all day and just had dinner.i know that's not good but it worked for me. So maybe 1200 calories is way too much?
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    joo607 wrote: »
    Thanks for your reply. Some times I end up eating less then 1200 calories and the warning appears. I've set my goal originally at 1.5 lbs with no success then 1 lb, no success. I'm ready to give up and just attack my trigger foods then start over again. My husband is a recent diabetic and I've been trying to eat healthy for his sake too. Not fair to eat junk food that he can't have. I'm doing something wrong but I need to Jumpstart this weight lose. the only times I've had real success is when I've only had coffee for breakfast ,rushed off to work, didn't have a chance to eat all day and just had dinner.i know that's not good but it worked for me. So maybe 1200 calories is way too much?

    You are not in a calorie deficit, plain and simple. Read this

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1
This discussion has been closed.