Help! Not losing weight (while weighing food , counting calories and exercising).

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Myjourney2345
Myjourney2345 Posts: 116 Member
edited May 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all, I'd love to get some input on my situation. I'm 5'4.5,142.6 pounds and 27 years old. I've been consuming on an average 1,800-1,900 calories a day with 3-4 days where I consumed 2,100-2,300 calories. I weigh all of my food and wear a heart rate monitor during exercise so my caloric output should be fairly accurate. I exercise 5-6 times a week between 45-75 minutes during each session, and take anywhere between 5,000-15,000 steps. I haven't weighed myself in two weeks and while I am still on my period (third day), I stepped on the scale today and not only did I not lose, I gained .2 pounds. I decided to weigh myself before my period was over because I have a doctor's appointment today and I wanted to know my weight before the weigh in at the doctor's office (otherwise, I would have waited until my period was over to weigh myself).

I've been eating all of my exercise calories back on MFP and my profile settings is on sedentary in order to get my steps and and exercise calories from my heart rate monitor. I also make sure to drink 2.5-3 litters of water a day and got to the bathroom daily.

What gives? Did I screw up my metabolism by gaining 13 pounds from January-May through bingeing? I notice that when I eat more I have no desire to binge, but I am also not losing weight :(. Should I lower my calories to 1,500 a day and reduce my exercise? In the past I've lost weight on 1,450-1,500 calories a a day, but I also felt deprived and after 4-5 months started to binge.

Would love some input (my diary is open, the food is all logged, but it is not always in the correct order, sometimes I just put it all in for snacks).


«1345

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Most likely it's water weight gain due to your period. If you weigh yourself after its done, you'll notice a drop.
  • Myjourney2345
    Myjourney2345 Posts: 116 Member
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    jessicarobinson00 wrote: »
    I would give it a few days before you change anything: during your period you naturally retain water. I have fluctuated nearly 8 lbs myself through this time. But I do wonder: is it possible that you are simply eating at your maintenance level? I am the same height as you..and my maintenance calories are somewhere around 1800 (not including exercise).

    This is where it gets confusing for me :(. I can burn anywhere between 400-600 calories from working out and if I walk 10,000 steps that's an additional 500 calories just from exercise alone. If my base calories to lose weight is 1,210 (my profile setting is set on sedentary) than I would think that eating 1,800 calories a day would put me at a deifict ;(. I upped my calories during my period to maintaince (2,200-2,300 calories) to avoid bienging so perhaps that is contributing to that.

    Here is a sample day where I would think that 1,800 calories a day would lead to a deifict large enough to lose weight. I use a polar heart rate monitor to track my steps and exercise calories.

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  • Myjourney2345
    Myjourney2345 Posts: 116 Member
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    LazSommer wrote: »
    Also, checked your diary and it seems you are double dipping on exercise calories. You are already getting your additional calories from your polar/iOS sync, and then it seems you are adding in the exercise too.

    I am only adding the exercise calories from my polar/iOS syncs.

    1,210 (base)+ 400 (calories from workout)+ 300 ( calories from walking). Should I simply erase any activity related or calories derived from steps from my input and only input the actual workout calories which will then bring the total calories needed to lose weight to 1,610?
  • tahxirez
    tahxirez Posts: 270 Member
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    We're at similar stats (5'4", 126#, 28 yo) I maintain at 2100-2300 calories a day with no exercise logged (just fitbit calories of which I eat most if not all) I think you might be consuming a bit more than you want to right now. I know its not pleasant advice but it really helped me on my journey: swap out some of the calorie dense options. Basically I like to eat bulk. I can't be satisfied on a cup of yogurt for lunch (everyone is different) so I chose to bulk up my meals with nutrient and fiber dense (calorie poor) food items. That simple change has helped me to stay very well fed on fewer calories (I managed 1200 net for at least 6 months without ever feeling deprived.) Good luck OP!
  • pcpop7
    pcpop7 Posts: 161 Member
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    You say you are weighing your food, but I see packets and muffins and squares. Unless you have scale I am unaware of these are not weights. Weigh everything in grams if you can and use the correct entry in the datavase. You are eating more than you think.
  • FitPhillygirl
    FitPhillygirl Posts: 7,124 Member
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  • Myjourney2345
    Myjourney2345 Posts: 116 Member
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    VintageFeline wrote: »
    500 calories for 10'000 steps? That seems awfully high. I did a lot of walking on holiday the past two weeks, I'm 172lbs or there abouts currently and got 400 calories for 20'000 step days. An instense cardio workout for about an hour would give me tops 500 calories (I also wear an HRM, Vivoactive and GymTimer app). I think you are quite possibly eating too much to lose.

    That said, it's only two weeks and you could well just be retaining water.

    You might be onto to something, but over here my phone added an additional 500 calories for 10,000 steps, perhaps it is not adding the correct number of calories and I should remove the activity related calories from the calculation.

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  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited May 2016
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    I think I see double dipping the exercise. Let fit bit do all the exercise and sync to MFP. That is what the fitbit is supposed to do and it takes any guess work out of this. It will give you an adjustment if you will allow MFP to do negative adjustments (this is the difference between the calories/food plan you setup in Fitbit and MFP calories).

    Secondly, you ate 500 calories more and you are just going to naturally gain more water weight due to increase in the calories and naturally more digested food in your body, etc.

    You are on your period. Wait until this over and please always give yourself a weight range of 3 - 4- 5 pounds during the month for fluctuations due to hormones around ovulation and the actual menes.

    You need to weight weekly and do measurements and keep up with trending weight. It is especially important for us women. It will tell you over a period of time when you are your heaviest at times during the month, even if you consumed to much salt, may not be hydrating as you should.. Keep track of all of it.

    It looks to me that you need some additional help with setting up fitbit and mfp so that the fitbit device actually does what it is designed to do. I would be curious to see the food plan you setup in fitbit (or if it is set up) cause I am assuming your food dashboard does have the MFP calories synced back to it.

    I hope some of this makes some sense. My experience with fitbit is these calories can be way over inflated and trusting any calories burns 100% should be taken with a grain of salt. You should consider eating back a portion needed to attain energy balance. So if you eat 100 of them and still need more then eat back more, but eating back too many of them will always derail any deficit.

    And you use the Polar heart rate to calcuate steps? this does not make sense to me.. This should be worn for exercise steady state cardio type only. If you are (if I understand this correctly) wearing that all day for normal walking around, well this could be an issue as well.
  • Myjourney2345
    Myjourney2345 Posts: 116 Member
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    pcpop7 wrote: »
    You say you are weighing your food, but I see packets and muffins and squares. Unless you have scale I am unaware of these are not weights. Weigh everything in grams if you can and use the correct entry in the datavase. You are eating more than you think.

    For those oatmeal packets, muffins I and squares simply use the calories provided to me in the back, but I probably should weigh them as well as the numbers displayed on the package can be off.
  • pcpop7
    pcpop7 Posts: 161 Member
    edited May 2016
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    VintageFeline wrote: »
    500 calories for 10'000 steps? That seems awfully high. I did a lot of walking on holiday the past two weeks, I'm 172lbs or there abouts currently and got 400 calories for 20'000 step days. An instense cardio workout for about an hour would give me tops 500 calories (I also wear an HRM, Vivoactive and GymTimer app). I think you are quite possibly eating too much to lose.

    That said, it's only two weeks and you could well just be retaining water.

    Not arguing here, but 400 for 20,000 steps seems a bit lower than even I would expect and I'm quite the pessimist - Is your activity level already set quite high ? It does of course matter how intense the steps are right, but I would have expected quite a bit more than 400.. unless it was very very slow walks.

    Looked up NHS website in UK -

    How many calories will I burn if I walk 10,000 steps a day?

    A person aged 45 and weighing 70kg (about 11 stone) can burn around 400 calories by walking 10,000 steps briskly (3-5mph). If you're trying to lose weight, you should aim to reduce your daily calorie intake by 600kcal. This is best achieved by a combination of diet and exercise.
  • Myjourney2345
    Myjourney2345 Posts: 116 Member
    Options
    tahxirez wrote: »
    We're at similar stats (5'4", 126#, 28 yo) I maintain at 2100-2300 calories a day with no exercise logged (just fitbit calories of which I eat most if not all) I think you might be consuming a bit more than you want to right now. I know its not pleasant advice but it really helped me on my journey: swap out some of the calorie dense options. Basically I like to eat bulk. I can't be satisfied on a cup of yogurt for lunch (everyone is different) so I chose to bulk up my meals with nutrient and fiber dense (calorie poor) food items. That simple change has helped me to stay very well fed on fewer calories (I managed 1200 net for at least 6 months without ever feeling deprived.) Good luck OP!

    Yes, I am not satisfied with yogurt and chicken and I also try to avoid consuming dairy and only drink almond milk and at times consume yogurt ( it makes me breakout). In the past, eating empty calories helped me stay satiated, but when I try to eat clean and healthy I feel deprived and not satiated.
  • aub6689
    aub6689 Posts: 351 Member
    edited May 2016
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    I wouldn't think anything of this. 1-still that time of the month, 2-you don't weight a lot, 3-it sounds like it has been only 2 weeks? 4-you ate at maintenance a few days of those two weeks.

    I get that you are anxious, but I think there is a lot going on here. Wait it out. Commit to do what you have been doing for a bit longer and see if the scale goes down, if not readjust. Judging by your stats you do not have a lot to lose, so it is going to come off kind of slowly. The scale should TREND down, but water retention fluctuation can easily mask a small loss. Yes, your maintenance level and deficit could be off because monitors can overestimate, but if binging is a problem at lower calories, then don't go there unless you actually need to.

    Best of luck. I really think for you that patience is key (Sorry not what you want to hear )
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
    edited May 2016
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    Myjourney2345 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'd love to get some input on my situation. I'm 5'4.5,142.6 pounds and 27 years old. I've been consuming on an average 1,800-1,900 calories a day with 3-4 days where I consumed 2,100-2,300 calories. I weigh all of my food and wear a heart rate monitor during exercise so my caloric output should be fairly accurate. I exercise 5-6 times a week between 45-75 minutes during each session, and take anywhere between 5,000-15,000 steps. I haven't weighed myself in two weeks and while I am still on my period (third day), I stepped on the scale today and not only did I not lose, I gained .2 pounds. I decided to weigh myself before my period was over because I have a doctor's appointment today and I wanted to know my weight before the weigh in at the doctor's office (otherwise, I would have waited until my period was over to weigh myself).

    I've been eating all of my exercise calories back on MFP and my profile settings is on sedentary in order to get my steps and and exercise calories from my heart rate monitor. I also make sure to drink 2.5-3 litters of water a day and got to the bathroom daily.

    What gives? Did I screw up my metabolism by gaining 13 pounds from January-May through bingeing? I notice that when I eat more I have no desire to binge, but I am also not losing weight :(. Should I lower my calories to 1,500 a day and reduce my exercise? In the past I've lost weight on 1,450-1,500 calories a a day, but I also felt deprived and after 4-5 months started to binge.

    Would love some input (my diary is open, the food is all logged, but it is not always in the correct order, sometimes I just put it all in for snacks).


    The bottom line?

    Weight naturally fluctuates. .2 is nothing at all. You didn't gain fat, you gained water. It will go away.

    Also, you are already at a normal weight for your height and any weight you are trying to lose would not be much. It will come off slow. Just be patient. :)

    ETA: I could be wrong, but 1900 seems like a lot to try to be losing weight on. Isn't that closer to maintenance? I may be older but I'm about the same height and weight, run and weight lift, and my maintenance is 1960 without carido.

    Do you just count the calories for cardio? That's all that should be included.
  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
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    Your calories seem high for someone trying to lose. Since you don't need to lose much I would change your goal on MFP to .5 pound loss per week. Don't eat back the exercise calories and don't sync your device with MFP since this will probably make you go over.

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