Eating below my calories but still not losing weight :(

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Pittgirl3
Pittgirl3 Posts: 69 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So for the past month, close to a month and a half, I have been working tirelessly to lose weight. I've been getting to the gym 3-4 times a week. I've been meticulously watching what I eat. I've been trying to swap unhealthy foods for healthy foods. I even try to stay under my daily calorie count. My goal is around 1400, but I usually try to stick to the 1,100 to 1,300 on splurge nights. And yet I still have not lost any weight. My friends and family can see a noticible change in my body. And my clothes for differently, but I haven't lost a single pound. I'm starting to lose motivation to do anything.

Can anyone help me out? I know people say the numbers don't matter, but I'm 5'6 and 182lbs. My weight is not good for my health.

Any advice? :(
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Replies

  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Pittgirl3 wrote: »
    So for the past month, close to a month and a half, I have been working tirelessly to lose weight. I've been getting to the gym 3-4 times a week. I've been meticulously watching what I eat. I've been trying to swap unhealthy foods for healthy foods. I even try to stay under my daily calorie count. My goal is around 1400, but I usually try to stick to the 1,100 to 1,300 on splurge nights. And yet I still have not lost any weight. My friends and family can see a noticible change in my body. And my clothes for differently, but I haven't lost a single pound. I'm starting to lose motivation to do anything.

    Can anyone help me out? I know people say the numbers don't matter, but I'm 5'6 and 182lbs. My weight is not good for my health.

    Any advice? :(

    Are you weighing and measuring all your food with a food scale?
    Are you eating back a portion of your exercise calories?
    Can you open your diary so people can give you specific advice?
  • 85Cardinals
    85Cardinals Posts: 733 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Unpossible! Tighten up that logging.
  • belleflop
    belleflop Posts: 154 Member
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    Weight loss ≠ getting healthier. Along with what WinoGelato said about opening diary for eating recommendation and analysis think about what you said. Friends and family notice differences and your clothes are fitting differently, Non Scale Victories count just as much!
  • Nimbus5000
    Nimbus5000 Posts: 15 Member
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    Hi Pittgirl3,

    Having had a quick look at your diary, I can see that you are not including anything like cooking oils or condiments which you may be using in the preparation and serving of your meals. 1 tablespoon vegetable oil = 124 calories !

    Also, it may be that you aren't fully logging your intake or are eating no way near enough food some days. I noticed one day you were eating about 500 calories?

    It may be different based on location, but I know for example that a turkey and salad sub with light dressing (6") from Subway contains 370 calories, whereas you have it down as only 280. As you seem to eat prepared foods quite often, be really careful that the calorie/nutrition information is accurate.

    I also emphasize what has already been said though. You will have gained muscle mass from all the physical activity which compensates for the fat you will have lost. The fit of your clothes doesn't lie, even if you can't always trust other people! Keep going, you're doing great! It's a marathon.
  • cb2bslim
    cb2bslim Posts: 153 Member
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    You and I almost have the same stats. I'm 5'-6". I started out around 173 lbs. but weighed more the previous years, I'm sure. The only difference is I'm older lol. I definitely do agree it is unhealthy at that weight and this was the reason I wanted to lose the weight. If people are seeing a difference and your clothes are looser, then most likely you are losing.

    Weigh yourself in the morning same time & after restroom use. I weighed myself in my birthday suit. If you want to be clothed, make sure you wear the same clothing at each weigh-in.

    Take measurements. If you don't know how, google it. I did. I was incorrectly measuring my waist and lost some pretty good starting numbers.

    Food scale is a very important tool in my kitchen. I weighed everything during my weight loss journey. I love that nutrition labels have the grams listed!

    Record all food and drinks.

    Good luck to you, Pittgirl3! Keep at it! Lose clothing should be your motivation-high right now. :smiley:
  • dlkfox
    dlkfox Posts: 463 Member
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    You need to weigh your food. Measuring in cups is not accurate. Even weigh single serving prepackaged foods. Seriously. (Legally packaged food can be 20% more than labelled and they are fined if under so it is in their best interest to give you a little more than a little less.)

    Do you cook with olive oil, vegetable oil, spray oil, wine? I'm not seeing any of those kinds of things in your log. No butter or ketchup on anything? Do you ever drink anything with calories?

    The hidden calories you've been eating is likely astounding.

  • Pittgirl3
    Pittgirl3 Posts: 69 Member
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    Are you weighing and measuring all your food with a food scale?
    Are you eating back a portion of your exercise calories?
    Can you open your diary so people can give you specific advice?
    [/quote]

    I don't weigh really weigh my meat. Everything else is measured out. I usually guesstimate how much the protein weighs I'm eating.
  • Pittgirl3
    Pittgirl3 Posts: 69 Member
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    Meticulously watching what you eat means nothing without numbers.

    Swapping so called unhealthy food for so called healthy food means nothing without numbers. A calorie has the same effect on weight as any other calorie regardless of what its source is.

    You say you usually 'try to stick to' and mention 'splurge nights', this is a red flag warning sign of someone who eats more than they think.[/quote]

    I log pretty much everything I eat. I might take an extra bite of something and not log it, but that's about it. And by a splurge night, I meant that it's one day a week when I eat my suggested number of calories (1460). Every other day of the week, I'm usually eating as close to 1200 as possible.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    If you want to change your results, you have to change what you are doing.

    Buy a food scale.
  • Pittgirl3
    Pittgirl3 Posts: 69 Member
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    Nimbus5000 wrote: »
    Hi Pittgirl3,

    Having had a quick look at your diary, I can see that you are not including anything like cooking oils or condiments which you may be using in the preparation and serving of your meals. 1 tablespoon vegetable oil = 124 calories !

    Also, it may be that you aren't fully logging your intake or are eating no way near enough food some days. I noticed one day you were eating about 500 calories?

    It may be different based on location, but I know for example that a turkey and salad sub with light dressing (6") from Subway contains 370 calories, whereas you have it down as only 280. As you seem to eat prepared foods quite often, be really careful that the calorie/nutrition information is accurate.

    I also emphasize what has already been said though. You will have gained muscle mass from all the physical activity which compensates for the fat you will have lost. The fit of your clothes doesn't lie, even if you can't always trust other people! Keep going, you're doing great! It's a marathon.

    I don't usually use cooking oils, so I don't log them and it's hard to log "pinches" and "sprinkles" into my diary. Lol

    But that is a good catch on the calories for each meal. I'll have to be more careful about that. Thanks for the advice :)
  • Pittgirl3
    Pittgirl3 Posts: 69 Member
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    goldthistime wrote: »
    If you are exercising much more strenuously than you had been, I think water retention is the likeliest culprit. I have had disappointing scale readings after extreme effort, followed by a drop on the scales the day after eating a little more. Maybe it's hormones, maybe it's coincidence, but lightening up on the extremes for a day or two might help you too.

    So how do I release the extra water to see my true weight?
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Pittgirl3 wrote: »
    goldthistime wrote: »
    If you are exercising much more strenuously than you had been, I think water retention is the likeliest culprit. I have had disappointing scale readings after extreme effort, followed by a drop on the scales the day after eating a little more. Maybe it's hormones, maybe it's coincidence, but lightening up on the extremes for a day or two might help you too.

    So how do I release the extra water to see my true weight?

    Diuretics, Sauna suit, Saran Wrap........

    Seriously......the number on the scale is not that important. Different scales, different numbers. Different times of day, different numbers. Different times of month (for women) different numbers.

    It's ONE number, it's not that important. You are giving that one number too much power.
  • Pittgirl3
    Pittgirl3 Posts: 69 Member
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    sugaraddict4321 wrote: »
    I know it's frustrating when you feel like you've been doing everything right. Unfortunately we can fool ourselves far too easily. ;)

    Sorry, I have to agree with what others have said. You don't have any drinks, salad dressings, cooking oils, etc. logged. You've got serving sizes of "1 plate or .5 plate" or "1 slice" but what is that exactly? It depends largely on who does the scooping or cutting of the food and how much of it you eat. Let's take the hibachi steak plate you enter a lot - if they are over by the 20% allowed then you're looking at 411 cals instead of 343 each time you have that. Add up the difference in calories over the course of a month.

    You've also got some foods that look inaccurate, such as 2 oz of homemade mac n cheese only being 65 cals. That's not realistic. One ounce of uncooked macaroni is about 100 calories. Then you add the cheese, milk, whatever else and you get the idea. I make homemade mac n cheese all the time, and 2oz of my recipe is 150 cals. I'll be honest, I never eat just 2 oz either! :wink:

    You also have a few quick calories entries, including one of 600 calories. On one day you only entered 488 calories for the entire day. I sincerely hope you are not eating fewer than 500 calories a day on a regular basis.

    It's this type of logging that could be tightened up. You only have 22 pounds to lose, so the results will be incremental and small compared to others who need to lose 50+ pounds. Remember that going to the gym can help you keep your heart in shape and build muscle, but you can't outrun our outlift a bad diet. ;)

    To help myself be more accurate, I tend to pre-log foods I eat often. I copy snacks and beverages from one day to the next as soon as I log on, and then adjust as needed throughout the day. I also keep a notepad with me and write down everything I eat and drink, even if it's pre-logged. Then at the end of the day I cross-check to make sure everything that went in my mouth is listed.

    It's a lot of work, but it's worth it and has helped me tremendously. You can do it! (Sorry for the long post) :blush:

    That is absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for the advice. There are some days when I eat less than others (mostly because I stay in bed all day until I'm starving). And I don't drink sugary drinks. I drink water. And if I need a change, water with fruit in it. I don't use condiments because I like the taste of food and I don't usually keep any in the house. I've been meaning to buy mayo for the past 3 months now and have yet to do it lol.

    I liked your idea about pre logging everything that you eat. That might be something to try to help with my accountability.


    Thanks so much
  • Laura5960
    Laura5960 Posts: 2 Member
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    I weigh and measure everything, I thought. Then I bought a small glass measuring cup that measures tablespoons, ounces, and1/4 cup & up. Turns out that the morning mocha mix I was putting in my coffee was 18 tablespoons. I had guessed 3 or 4 tablespoons. Same with salad dressing, mayonnaise and sauces. I was taking in hundreds of extra calories with condiments.
  • swimmerm0m3
    swimmerm0m3 Posts: 1 Member
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    Log everything meticulously to start with as has been suggested. However, let's say that you have been logging meticulously and even going under the calorie requirement, then the issue can be that you are not eating enough calories to lose weight. Yes, I did say that. Going low calorie while working out even somewhat intensely can be a great way to self-sabotage your weight loss efforts. Briefly, your body lowers your metabolism in response to thinking it's starving.

    As a nutritionist at the club where I was working out years ago and complaining about the same thing told me, "Oh for Pete's sake, eat a piece of peanut butter toast." ( I was doing very low fat.)

    Do some more research on this, but honestly, if you try to outsmart the plan, your body will outsmart you.

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