Grrrr! Not loosing and trying so hard!

Hello! Congratulations on your weight loss so far!

Couple of suggestions...

• Adjust your calories/goals based on your current weight if you haven't already.
• Have patience! There was a point I stayed within the same 10lbs but I fit into old pants that were 3-4 sizes smaller
• Weigh your food to make sure it is as accurate as possible if you aren't already

All of the above, plus I would add the following questions:
Are you double checking each entry in your MFP diary against the nutritional information on your packages? The MFP database is user maintained, so calorie amounts are often incorrect. This also includes the barcode scanning and the green checkmarked "verified" entries. Double check everything!
Are you using the recipe builder for things you make at home, or just guessing and using pre made entries?
Do you have regular unlogged "cheat" meals?
How are you calculating your calorie burms through exercise?
Are you weighing food, or just eyeballing portion sizes?
Do you log everything you eat, including fruits, vegetables, condiments, cooking oils, etc..?

kristinaserrano23 wrote: »

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions. Just what I need. I am wondering if I am consuming too little calories? Before you all laugh at that statement, I have been trying to stay between 1,000-1,200 a day. I am exercising 3x week, maybe 4, but not usually. I am thinking that my body is holding on to the current weight because I am eating too little? (Not trying to be funny or stupid!) I am going to go get a food scale today. Also, how do I track heart rates? I was thinking of getting a fitness tracker but have no idea which one. To answer some of the questions, I am entering food content directly from packages and calorie charts, no cheating (I swear). I am also wondering what is the real calorie content I should be eating.

No. That won't happen.

kristinaserrano23 wrote: »

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions. Just what I need. I am wondering if I am consuming too little calories? Before you all laugh at that statement, I have been trying to stay between 1,000-1,200 a day. I am exercising 3x week, maybe 4, but not usually. I am thinking that my body is holding on to the current weight because I am eating too little? (Not trying to be funny or stupid!) I am going to go get a food scale today. Also, how do I track heart rates? I was thinking of getting a fitness tracker but have no idea which one. To answer some of the questions, I am entering food content directly from packages and calorie charts, no cheating (I swear). I am also wondering what is the real calorie content I should be eating.

Your body doesn't hold onto weight when you undereat; that's a myth. If it really worked like that no one would ever die of starvation. Why not ensure you really are eating so little first by getting a food scale and tightening up your logging? You'll be greatly surprised how different food packaging info, and the actual calorie content of what you're eating can be; the size of a "serving" and the size of what they have packaged as a serving can be quite different. After a week or so of that you'll be in a better position to judge whether or not you need to make any changes.

Plug your current stats back into your goals and it'll give you a new calorie goal to meet. You may also need to revise your weight loss per week goal. With 60 pounds to go you shouldn't be aiming at more than 1.5 pounds per week and might be happier at 1 pound. If MFP is telling you 1200 calories you are probably trying to lose too quickly.

MFP's calorie numbers for walking and running are actually not bad as long as you are using the entries that match how fast you were going. A heart rate monitor is the best device to give you a calorie goal for steady state cardio exercises like biking, the elliptical, etc. As far as which one, that's really up to you and what you're doing. Since I run outside I have a Garmin Forerunner with GPS; you may not need anything so fancy. I've heard some people in here swear by Polar brand monitors but I haven't tried one myself. Look at reviews on Amazon and you'll get a good idea of which ones are the most reliable.

What I did was I got a Fitbit tracker. I wanted to see how many calories I was actually burning on a daily basis. This helped me see what I can actually eat for that day in order to stay under my calories. As others have suggested, weighing your food accurately will help determine what you are actually consuming. I also had a problem with sodium and carbs. My weight was all over the place and would not budge below a certain number. I started taking potassium supplements and this has helped me manage my sodium levels as well as helping with converting carbs in to energy. Now my weight doesn't fluctuate all over the place. If you do decide to try potassium supplements make sure to take magnesium with it. Otherwise, potassium cannot get through the cell membrane to do its job. Too much sodium could be a problem for you if your diet mainly consists of packaged food items.

kshama2001 wrote: »

kristinaserrano23 wrote: »

Got a fitbit, and have so far enjoyed the extra data, steps, calorie info. Thanks for the suggestions.

My fitbit is motivating, but my digital food scale is key to weight loss. It's far more accurate than cups.

Indeed. Weigh everything that isn't liquid. Even weigh peanut butter, cream cheese and butter....

Getting food scale will make all the difference for you