Not losing weight

witsend79
witsend79 Posts: 19 Member
in Getting Started
Hi

3 years ago, I lost 4 stone by following slimming world. Since then, I've gained about 7lb and would like to lose it again.

I've tried sw several times and didn't lose, tried low carb, high protein and didn't lose. So I'm calorie counting now and 10 days in haven't lost.

I'm a runner and enjoy weight lifting but in between exercise I am sedantry. I have arthritis and take methotrexate (this is fairly recent, been on it 4 months). My bmr is 1400 ish. I started on 1500 cals and yesterday upped it to 1800 incase I needed more.

Truth is, I haven't a clue! Any words of wisdom?

Replies

  • streliving
    streliving Posts: 2 Member
    I am in the same boat I am staying the same, I have started on 1200 though, I'm going to stick at it and hopefully will lose X
  • Firefly0606
    Firefly0606 Posts: 366 Member
    Give it time. It can take a while to figure out your true BMR. All of the calculators online are a guide only - each individual is unique as well as various other factors mean that a static calculator that you plug numbers into is only going to do math for you, not tailor an answer to your life.

    Stick to 1800 for a week or two and see what happens. Adjust accordingly. Personally I stuck to 2000 with a calculated TDEE of 2500 for about a month, with roughly the same amount of exercise each week of lifting 3x per week and walking my dog a couple of times a week. (I prefer to use this method of taking 500cal per day off my average total daily energy expenditure rather than adding back exercise calories as MFP sets you up - eaither method works, it's just preference) I should have lost roughly 2kg. I didn't - so my TDEE from the online calculators was actually too high for me. I have figured out my TDEE is more like 2300, I eat 1800cal now and am losing roughly 0.5kg (1lbs) per week.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member

    1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

    2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

    3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

    4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

    5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

    6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

    7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

    8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

    9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.
  • clambert1273
    clambert1273 Posts: 840 Member
    For me what works (you just have to adjust and find your sweet spot) is setting my goal to a certain number per day regardless of workouts. I don't record calories burned because I have accounted for that in my deficit already. I also recalculate and adjust frequently as it will fluctuate the more you lose and strength gains :)
  • witsend79
    witsend79 Posts: 19 Member
    Thank you so much everyone.

    I weigh most things but have, on occasion, picked 'homemade' or '1 portion of' instead of weighing everything. I'm going to be more careful with that.

    I'm upping my miles (half marathon in October) so will see how it goes for a while. Like the idea of the weight trend app, will look for that now.

    Thanks again :)
  • clambert1273
    clambert1273 Posts: 840 Member
    witsend79 wrote: »
    Thank you so much everyone.

    I weigh most things but have, on occasion, picked 'homemade' or '1 portion of' instead of weighing everything. I'm going to be more careful with that.

    I'm upping my miles (half marathon in October) so will see how it goes for a while. Like the idea of the weight trend app, will look for that now.

    Thanks again :)

    Good for you!! I promise when you zero in on what works it all comes together like magic lol
  • B4Rachael
    B4Rachael Posts: 155 Member
    If you are trying to figure out your daily calorie goal here is a good calculator that was created by an MFP user, hope it helps you. sailrabbit.com/bmr/

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