No weight loss

Losing weight can be so frustrating, especially when you feel like you are working so hard but don’t see results. However, there are some very important things to keep in mind. Remember that you didn’t gain the weight overnight. It won’t come off overnight either. Be realistic. Four to five pounds a month is excellent progress, although you may wish it was even more. Patience, dedication, and consistency are key.

If you have been trying to lose weight through counting calories every day for at least 30 days yet have not lost any weight, you might want to take a serious, honest look at what you are truly eating. Underreporting is extremely common. In a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, individuals underreported their intakes by 47%, but over reported exercise by 51%. (http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM199212313272701). Researchers had subjects eat several meals in the lab, then estimate how much they had eaten. Subjects reported they ate about 1,028 calories, but where actually eating 2,081 calories. Unfortunately this not an isolated incident, as there are numerous articles on this subject as well. A Pub Med or Google Scholar search using the terms “self-reported dietary intakes” or “underreporting food”, etc will help give you a greater scope of the problem.

Why people underreport is another discussion entirely, but I encourage you to think long and hard about how much you are truly eating. Here are some suggestions to get you thinking:
1. Condiments such as ketchup, mayonnaise, butter, gravy, syrup, jelly, sugar, salad dressings, cream cheese, sour cream can add hundreds of calories quickly.

2. Not weighing, measuring, or paying attention to portion sizes of foods. Yes, one serving may only be 110 calories, but you just ate half the package and there are ten servings in there, so you really ate 550 calories. This video from Tall Trainer does an excellent job demonstrating the importance of weighing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU

3. Over eating healthy foods, such as peanut butter and nuts. While both are a great source of healthy fats, protein, vitamins, minerals, and fiber, ½ a cup of peanut butter contains 800 calories! If you measure out ½ a cup of peanut butter, it isn’t very much. Same with nuts. A small handful can contain almost 200 calories. Eat 2 or 3 handfuls and you could be eating upwards of 600 calories. A tablespoon of olive oil contains 120 calories. It is easy to add several tablespoons while cooking, adding hundreds of calories without you realizing it. Avocados are another high calorie healthy food.

4. Forgetting to track things, like a few bites of food off a friend or kids plate, handful of candy on a co-workers desk, snacking while watching TV, eating while driving, etc. If it goes in your mouth, it needs to be accounted for.

5. Sugary drinks, from soda to sweet tea to smoothies to fancy coffees. Many of these drinks have upwards of 300 calories.

6. Not counting “cheat” days. You do great all week, then over indulge on the weekend. Embarrassed and ashamed, you leave out many of the foods you eat. Don’t. If you over eat, put that in your food journal. It can be very depressing to realize that you are eating 4,000+ calories on your cheat day, sabotaging the whole week of results.

Finally, remember that all the changes you make must be permanent. The second you go back to doing what you where before, all the weight will come back. This is why diets don’t work. They are not permanent. You don’t need to restrict yourself or eliminate favorite foods, just less of the high calorie and more fruits and veggies.
I have listed some good resources below for additional food for thought.

1. “Mindless Eating” by Brain Wansink, a great book that can help you identify what is sabotaging you, and what to do about it.

2. The National Weight Control Registry, (http://www.nwcr.ws/) a database of individuals who have lost at least 30 pounds and maintained for 1 year. They report how and what they do to maintain their weight.

3. If you like to watch TV, Secret Eaters, a U.K. show you can find on youtube, features individuals who can’t lose weight despite eating 1,000-1,500 calories. The show places video cameras in their home and hires private investigators to figure out how much participants are really eating. Spoiler alert: They are eating much more than they are reporting. Here is a link the season 1, episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYJrC3RTtgQ

4. If you suspect you have an addiction to eating, contact your doctor, mental health care professional or Over Eaters Anonymous (www.oa.org). Here is a link to fifteen questions to determine if you are a compulsive eater: https://oa.org/newcomers/how-do-i-start/are-you-a-compulsive-overeater/
Food addiction is a serious condition. It is not a moral failing or lack of will power on your part. Many of the foods today are designed by food scientists to taste delicious. The more of this delicious food you eat, the faster you run out and must purchase more, driving profits. Sugar and fat are cheap. It costs about a dime to make a bottle of pop, for example (https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Cost+to+make+a+bottle+of+pop).
Here is an interesting article on the toxic food environment in most industrialized countries: http://boingboing.net/2012/03/09/seduced-by-food-obesity-and-t.html. Scroll down to “The Most Fattening Diet in the World” for more details.

Hang in there. Weight loss is hard but not impossible. Enlist family, friends, your doctor or other health care professionals to support and help you. The health benefits and improved quality of life are wonderful and worth it. It’s great that you are trying, and I just want to help you succeed and achieve your goals.

To put into perspective for you, I had 30lbs to lose and I've been diligently logging and exercising every single day for 2 years, August 2014 i started here, and i'm finally right around my goal weight now. Patience grasshopper, patience

I've had maintenance months thrown in here and there and am set up to lose at the lowest rate, which is why it's taken so long.