Can't lose anything!

nikkiwickersham
nikkiwickersham Posts: 5 Member
edited December 1 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi I'm about 40 pounds over weight. I was using a different app before this and have been on this app about 2 weeks. I gave up soda about 2 months ago except maybe the occasional glass maybe once a week which i log into my calories. I have tried losing weight for the last 2 months since giving up soda. I have been walking about 6 days a week. It's been raining the last few days so I've been trying to stay active indoors. I am literally logging everything I put in my mouth. If I walk by the treats I get my kids and have one gummy worm I log it. It's been 2 months and I gained 2 pounds and lost zero inches. I've had my thyroid checked. I see my doctor every month right now checking my weight loss or lack of. I quit smoking about a year ago and that's when the wait gain really started. I am seriously to the point of giving up and just starting smoking again because I didn't have as much as a weight problem when I smoked. I know that's not the right way to go and I don't see myself actually starting to smoke again but in very frustrated. My calorie intake is 1400 a day which i stay under after exercise. My weekly calorie goal also is under. And yes I do use the recipe part and put my own recipes in for what I make at home. That way I'm not using someone else's that may be different from mine. I don't know what else to do!

Replies

  • smotheredincheese
    smotheredincheese Posts: 559 Member
    Are you weighing everything you eat? Are you using a food scale or measuring things in cups?
  • Sinistrous
    Sinistrous Posts: 5,589 Member
    Give it time. Count condiments, drinks, etc.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Do you weigh everything you eat and drink and check with labels an package? What do you mean by "My calorie intake is 1400 a day which i stay under after exercise" - do you eat back exercise calories? 2 weeks is nothing. Weight fluctuates naturally from day to day and weekly weigh-ins can easily mask fat loss. Weigh yourself every day and look for trends.
  • nikkiwickersham
    nikkiwickersham Posts: 5 Member
    Yes I'm doing all that. I eat a bowl of cereal and I use measuring cups. I make a burger I weigh the meat. I do everything I feel I'm supposed to be doing.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Don't use measuing cups. Weigh.
  • nikkiwickersham
    nikkiwickersham Posts: 5 Member
    The app told me to eat 1400 calories a day for a weight loss of a pound a week. I have actually been doing this for 2 months. I just switched to this app 2 weeks ago. I was using a different one before that. I don't eat more than the 1400 so after exercise I am under that. I measure and weigh everything. I put even the drinks I consume including my cup of coffee in the morning. Literally everything.
  • smotheredincheese
    smotheredincheese Posts: 559 Member
    nikkiwickersham wrote: »
    Yes I'm doing all that. I eat a bowl of cereal and I use measuring cups. I make a burger I weigh the meat. I do everything I feel I'm supposed to be doing.

    You need to start weighing everything, cereals and other dry foods included. You can cram a lot in to a cup, which can make it a pretty inaccurate system of measurement.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    Then you need to give it more time than two weeks. If in two more weeks you still don't lose then your logging is off. Period.
  • nikkiwickersham
    nikkiwickersham Posts: 5 Member
    I just want to add it's been 2 months not 2 weeks. It's just been 2 weeks on this app.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    nikkiwickersham wrote: »
    I just want to add it's been 2 months not 2 weeks. It's just been 2 weeks on this app.

    Which is exactly why I said give it two more weeks. I'm only considering the 2 weeks you've been here, as you used a different app prior to MFP.

    Also, opening your diary would help immensely in feedback. Viewing your food/exercise logs could help people give you better, custom advice particular to your situation. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings if you choose to do so.
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    This has some good advice:

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  • xtina315
    xtina315 Posts: 218 Member
    I would weigh your food. I just started that, and I notice how much more I over eat when measuring with cups/
  • emdeesea
    emdeesea Posts: 1,823 Member
    Weigh. Your. Food.

    Not measuring cups. A scale.
  • georgeis5
    georgeis5 Posts: 3 Member
    been in your situation so many times - especially when you lose some weight to start with then hit the dreaded wall. My experience ( and I have much more to lose than 40 pounds !! ) is to try to switch your focus away from food and try to boost your exercise instead - this will make you feel good as you are mentally adding something to your life not restricting it ( might sound silly but it worked for me ) It's easy to over eat without really being aware so what others say about actually weighing your portions is good advice as well. But equally don't let food stress you , take back control and by feeling calmer about your body and by becoming even at little more active it will work. I imagine you are a busy Mum so going to the gym probably isn't possible but I started using the Wii fit ( if you have one ) and did static jogging in the living room every day to loud music which I loved and this gave me confidence to then trying the 'learn to run pod cast on the NHS website' , all free and really liberating without taking up too much time. Very best of luck , don't be too hard on yourself as this is totally self defeating. You will get there - take it from snail pace weight loss !!!
  • 42firm03
    42firm03 Posts: 115 Member
    To "weigh all of your food" I will just add:

    How are you measuring your exercise calories? And are you eating all of them?

    It is depressingly easy to under estimate our intake and over estimate our exercise and end up perfectly maintaining weight rather than losing. Believe me, we've all 'been there' and it's not a criticism of you personally!
  • nikkiwickersham
    nikkiwickersham Posts: 5 Member
    42firm03 wrote: »
    To "weigh all of your food" I will just add:

    How are you measuring your exercise calories? And are you eating all of them?

    It is depressingly easy to under estimate our intake and over estimate our exercise and end up perfectly maintaining weight rather than losing. Believe me, we've all 'been there' and it's not a criticism of you personally!

    I don't eat any of my exercise calories. I only eat my food calories. I walk in the evenings after dinner because I work 6 am until 6 pm most days doing daycare at home and have to feed my kids and do homework after that. So it's late when I actually get to go walk and after I've eaten all my meals.
  • brb_2013
    brb_2013 Posts: 1,197 Member
    nikkiwickersham wrote: »
    Yes I'm doing all that. I eat a bowl of cereal and I use measuring cups. I make a burger I weigh the meat. I do everything I feel I'm supposed to be doing.

    Weigh all solid foods, your cereal included. You'll be shocked when you compare them. I was when I compared rice measurements. I was hundreds of calories off.
  • Colorscheme
    Colorscheme Posts: 1,179 Member
    edited April 2016
    I had this problem. Even though I was logging, I wasn't weighing everything. Turns out the pizza I was buying was weigh off weight wise and I was eating more cals than I thought.

    Measuring cups are not accurate, you need to use a food scale.
  • loplop26
    loplop26 Posts: 1 Member
    The 21-Day Sugar Detox Program helped me lose 24 pounds!
    http://fatburningmethods.com/the-21-day-sugar-detox-program
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    edited April 2016
    I agree with all that said weigh your food. That means, weigh your meats pastas, potatoes, rice/grains raw. Weigh fruits and veg raw, weigh cereals and snacks, weigh butters/oils/nut butters. Only use measuring cups for liquids and that includes wine and spirits. Also, if you make your own food, use the recipe builder...weigh all ingredients. Weigh the finished meal then portion and weigh again.

    OP, can you open your diary please? Lots of foods in the database are quite off..
    loplop26 wrote: »
    The 21-Day Sugar Detox Program helped me lose 24 pounds!
    http://fatburningmethods.com/the-21-day-sugar-detox-program
    No. OP...don't listen to this.
  • 42firm03
    42firm03 Posts: 115 Member
    nikkiwickersham wrote: »
    42firm03 wrote: »
    To "weigh all of your food" I will just add:

    How are you measuring your exercise calories? And are you eating all of them?

    It is depressingly easy to under estimate our intake and over estimate our exercise and end up perfectly maintaining weight rather than losing. Believe me, we've all 'been there' and it's not a criticism of you personally!

    I don't eat any of my exercise calories. I only eat my food calories. I walk in the evenings after dinner because I work 6 am until 6 pm most days doing daycare at home and have to feed my kids and do homework after that. So it's late when I actually get to go walk and after I've eaten all my meals.

    So then you've two options.

    1) You haven't given this enough time to see scale weight change. As women this can be excruciatingly painfully slow. My weight only changes once every four weeks. It took me months to accept this was my reality and learn to trust my logging and math rather than more regular scale feedback. I have to string together very long stretches of diligent logging to get tangible scale results. It sucks but it's that or stay fat (for me).

    2) you are eating at maintenance for your body either due to eating more than you think or because you don't have as high a TDEE as you expect. (If 1400 calories is supposed to yield 2lbs/ week loss then it's almost certainly logging issues.)

    Bad entries in the database and cup measures that are inaccurate together can bite even the most diligent logger and turn what you think is eating at a deficit into eating at maintenance.

    Cue the video showing how darn easy it is for cups and eyeballs to torch your supposed deficit (I can't post it from my phone but you can google it or search the forum if no one adds it).

    The weigh your food solution is not your only option, though it is the most accurate one. You can also just start purposely dropping food portions (actual amount eaten but still log as same calories) till the scale moves as expected. This works really well for some folks and if weighing is absolutely off the table for you it's really your only choice.

    You can do this! We all can, we just have to find our way.
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