I cannot lose weight!

jstalt0525 wrote: »

I do use a food scale and the containers for the 21dayfix to make sure I don't overeat. I drink only water 100oz daily.

I can stuff a lot of food into a container, if I try hard enough. It's another way we can deceive ourselves. The food scale should be for all things. 1500-1700 plus exercise calories may be too much. How did you come up with those numbers? What is your height and weight? How are you determining your exercise calories? (again, the database is inaccurate for many people)

For reference: I'm 5'2" 185lb, 43, and can lose on 1700 cal/day (no exercise cals back) IF I swim for 60-90 minutes 5 times/week, plus lifting 2x/week, plus PT once per week, plus work (which has me on my feet for nearly 7 hours). If I'm not that active, I have to eat less to keep losing.

jstalt0525 wrote: »

Just started yesterday but would be willing to make my diary public if it will help. Don't know how to do it though. Lol

Go to 'Settings' at the top of the web page, then click on 'Diary Settings'. At the bottom of that page you can choose how visible you want your diary to be.

@nutmegoreo spelled everything out nicely and I don't have a lot to add to that! I especially agree with the last two - you need to be patient and give the process time, don't start changing things after a week or two because you think it's not working. And there will be times you stumble and fall, so you need to realise that it's not going to ruin everything and you just pick yourself up and get back on track as soon as you can. (Not "on Monday"... now, today, next meal! )

There are many different ways of eating, and the low-carb style mentioned by @tnevin225 is just one of them - it works for some people, others find it really difficult to give up carbs. If the idea appeals to you, give it a try for a few weeks and see how you feel! If it doesn't sound like it's for you, then that's okay - there are plenty of ways to eat less without cutting out any food groups.

I think that the most important thing is to get a food scale, if you don't already have one, and weigh or measure everything. It's really easy to underestimate how much we're eating, and if you really haven't lost any weight then I'm afraid you haven't been in a calorie deficit and have most likely been eating more than you think. (This is not to imply that people are inherently 'greedy' or anything, just that a large number of us are really bad at estimating portions!) Weighing your food is an eye-opening experience.

Finally, I'd add that you should take photos and measurements as an additional way to gauge progress, because the scale doesn't always cooperate! Having other ways to see that things are changing, like losing an inch on your hips or a shirt fitting more comfortably, is a great motivator when it seems like your weight isn't budging.

Good luck, and stick with it - it will work, if you get your calories in line and give it time.

I do triathlons and have done the insantity workwork programme but i don't train to loose weight i train to gain fitness and improved health. If your goal is to loose weight then this is a matter of calorie counting. If you consume fewer calories than you burn you will you will loose weight. I'm sure you already know this and other members have mentioned it to.

If in your experience this isn't true or somehow it doesn't work then i think their is something else going on. Whatever the cause is you can loose weight, stay honest with yourself, if you have a bad day log everything anyway and feel good. Good luck!

p.s - i've always found that MFP overestimates the number of calories burnt during exercise. I could be wrong but i've always observed the notion that 30mins of vigorous cardio (where you're sweating) will burn about 250 cals. This has always worked for me and in the past three months i have lost 22Ibs

@jstalt0525 , I will add my "welcome" and my endorsement of the effectiveness of this site. The USDA has a database of nutrition values for all manner of food items. You can find it with a search either on google or using the Search function in these discussions. That is a gold standard of nutrition information. Another gold standard is maintained at http://nutritiondata.self.com/ , but it's chock full of pop-ups and I don't use it much. If you don't know about tdeecalculator.net , now you do. Another sick useful site is scoobysworkshop.com .

One of the most awesome threads ever on this site is http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10247171/carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also/p1 .

You can find accurate food database listings, it takes some time and diligence but it is worth the effort.

When you think you're in the groove, you can dive into the maelstrom of the recipe tool. The only way to make it work right is to copy-paste from the USDA database, remembering to remove commas.

I could have called the recipe tool a *kitten*, which is what happens when you try to describe your feelings about it.

The community here is the best resource offered.

I have lost 58 lb since January 25, mostly by getting into and staying in a calorie deficit for consecutive weeks between single day or meal or hour excursions from it, which I'm trying to make rarer and less severe.

Not sure if someone mentioned this but also track what you drink. Juices, milk, alcohol, anything with calories... I found I was drinking a lot more calories than I'd assumed. Hope that's helpful. Good luck to you!

Hey jstalt0525.
I too am in the same position.... I don't know what I am doing wrong, if I don't exercise, I lose weight, and yet if I walk (because I suffer from panic attacks and I'm scared to exercise) I don't seem to lose any weight.

I'm new to the message board thingy and its nice to see there are people in the same situation as me!

All the best,
Helen

Yes about overestimating - I started calculating my calorie burn myself according to its MET score (Google it, you'll get a list). However, you say that you've been to the doctor and had a panel done, but have you gone to an endocrinologist? GPs don't always pick up on thyroid problems because they ONLY look at TSH and ignore the other hormones.

(Long story ahead, feel free to skip).

Years ago, I was about 140 lbs when I was taking care of myself, lower if I wasn't and we're not getting into that. I didn't eat perfectly, but pretty well - avoided fried/heavy food, loaded up on lean protein and fresh produce. Exercised 5-6 hours per week. Despite this, my weight started creeping up; I went up about a size per year. At the same time, my energy levels started going down. Every time I mentioned this to a doctor, they'd test my TSH, tell me I was fine, and lecture me about eating less and exercising more. Eventually I gave up.

I started law school last fall, right when my energy levels hit bottom. Law students routinely have to study 10-12 hours per day, but after about four hours of classes, I'd get so tired that I literally could not function. It wasn't a matter of not being able to make sense of the concepts; it was like I had actually forgotten how to read. The only fix was a 'nap' that lasted 2 or 3 hours. I went to the doctor and told her that I was so exhausted and brain fogged that I was in danger of losing my scholarship, utterly at the end of my rope and wondering if there was any point to my life if my brain abandoned me entirely.

She ordered a test of my TSH and then lectured me about losing weight, eating less, and exercising more.

Instead of dropping out of school, curling up on the couch, and withdrawing from the world, I got a second opinion from an endocrinologist who looked at symptoms as well as bloodwork. In the weeks coming up to the appointment, I charted EVERYTHING. Sleep, medications, supplements, menstrual cycle, every and any weirdness that I could think of. Seriously, he got an Excel spreadsheet. (In the meantime, I pulled through fall finals with just below a 3.0. Thanks, 5 hour energy and diet pills. It's a wonder any of us get through grad school alive.) As it turns out, I DO have a thyroid problem in the form of antibodies that make me effectively hypothyroid despite my TSH. He put me on synthroid, and I was feeling better within a month. I made the dean's list in the spring via an ungodly amount of effort to catch up on what was fogged out, and if I'm not in the top 10%, I'm damned close. After my last final, I've spent the summer trying to re-establish a healthy routine for myself, planning meals and workouts exactly as they'll fit into my fall classes so that I won't slip up. So far I'm down 11 pounds since the end of April.

TL;DR - if you're truly being honest with yourself about what you're eating and your exercise, you still can't lose weight, and your GP says there's nothing wrong, go get a second opinion from a specialist.

Nikion901 wrote: »

i like @xmarye comment about setting calories at TDEE and eat less to see the deficit for the day ... but I know i would eat all the way to TDEE so that would not work for me, and maybe not work for other's also. But it is a good idea.

To each their own, definitely! The reason why I started doing this was because I hated that whenever I went over my calories, the number became red and I felt like I had failed! Even if I was just over by a few calories. Now I can see the bigger picture and realize how much of a deficit I can achieve everyday.

Tedebearduff wrote: »

Everyone says this but the evidence is right there, you keep switching programs nothing is done for more then 3 weeks?... you need to find a program and stick to it.

This is a good point.

CICO and IIFYM have people thinking that you can "fit in" ice cream cause it falls into your caloric goal for the day. That's not the case it doesn't work for everyone!! I get the science, I get the logic to it... but it just doesn't work.

You're right in that it doesn't work for everyone, but that's not to say it doesn't work at all. I know I'm not the only person who prefers to fit in some chocolate or ice cream regularly because it removes the temptation to binge on "forbidden foods".

Actually weigh and measure your food, oil counts, salt counts, butter counts, that 1 spoon of peanutbutter it counts, that can of coke counts...everything counts.

Also true.

Eat white meats and vegetables that's it, nothing else! do that for 8 weeks and see what happens, stop cooking with oil or butter at most use Pam.

That sounds incredibly boring and would drive me nuts. I'd give up after a couple of weeks. Some people may find it necessary to be so restrictive, but in most cases it's not really required and many people have more success just learning portion control. Everyone is different, and we all have to find what works best for us.