Not losing weight despite calorie deficit?

StinkyCheeze
StinkyCheeze Posts: 26 Member
edited September 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello I'm 5'5 and 135 pounds. I'm trying to lose weight but the scale won't move. I have a fitbit and it's synced with MFP. According to fitbit, I burn 2000-2200 calories a day because I'm so active. 10-15k steps a day and 1-2 hours of cardio 5-6 days a week. I consume 1500 calories minimum and 1600 maximum. And there's no way I'm underestimating by several hundred calories, especially since I don't eat calorie dense foods. I eat lots of fruits and veggies along with proteins like eggs and tuna. My snacks are low calorie especially pickles. And I use soy sauce on meats and other cooked dishes instead of calorie dense sauces. And use vinaigrette dressings on salads instead of ranch, and unsweetened almond milk instead of regular. Also, salsa and/or hummus in tuna sandwiches instead of mayo. And cottage cheese with fruit instead of ice cream. What's going on? The scale won't budge.
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Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,393 Member
    With so very little fat left on you to lose, you have extremely narrow margins of error. 1550-1600 should be working for you.

    1. How long have you been logging your food and staying at that level?
    2. How are you arriving at the portion sizes you are using? With your thin error-margin, you need a digital food scale and very fastidious record keeping.
  • StinkyCheeze
    StinkyCheeze Posts: 26 Member
    mitch16 wrote: »
    Pickles? Soy sauce? Have you considered tracking your sodium? In the absence of other issues (you don't say how long you've been at this, your diary isn't open, etc.), you might be retaining water.

    Almost 3 weeks :(
  • StinkyCheeze
    StinkyCheeze Posts: 26 Member
    edited September 2016
    dhimaan wrote: »
    You are eating more than you think.

    Nope. Example. Yesterday I had an apple and black coffee for breakfast. Lunch was 2 slices of bread, can of tuna, 2 tablespoons salsa. Snack was 2 pickles. Dinner was a 250 calorie tv dinner (it's easier to measure calories that way). Another snack was 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 4 strawberries, 2 more pickles. I frequently eat like this. Sometimes 1300 calories. Explain...?
  • StinkyCheeze
    StinkyCheeze Posts: 26 Member
    edited September 2016
    cmriverside wrote: »
    With so very little fat left on you to lose, you have extremely narrow margins of error. 1550-1600 should be working for you.

    1. How long have you been logging your food and staying at that level?
    2. How are you arriving at the portion sizes you are using? With your thin error-margin, you need a digital food scale and very fastidious record keeping.

    I weigh fruits and veggies. I use measuring cups for almond milk and cottage cheese, and measuring spoons for salsa and hummus. And as for canned and packaged foods and TV dinners, I scan. I eat the whole thing because I buy them in single portions or small calories (can of tuna, minute rice cups, applesauce cups, small tv dinners, etc)
  • nosebag1212
    nosebag1212 Posts: 621 Member
    edited September 2016
    male or female?
  • StinkyCheeze
    StinkyCheeze Posts: 26 Member
    edited September 2016
    nosebag1212 wrote: »
    male or female?

    Ok. And some days I only eat 1200-1300. So again, very confusing. I have IBD anyways so I rarely get hungry and don't eat much to begin with.
  • MikilouB
    MikilouB Posts: 56 Member
    I'm guessing water retention as much of what you say you are eating is very high in sodium. If that is the case, drink more water and it will eventually start moving.
  • dhimaan
    dhimaan Posts: 774 Member
    StinkyCheeze wrote: »
    dhimaan wrote: »
    You are eating more than you think.

    Nope. Example. Yesterday I had an apple and black coffee for breakfast. Lunch was 2 slices of bread, can of tuna, 2 tablespoons salsa. Snack was 2 pickles. Dinner was a 250 calorie tv dinner (it's easier to measure calories that way). Another snack was 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 4 strawberries, 2 more pickles. I frequently eat like this. Sometimes 1300 calories. Explain...?

    You know way more than I do so just disregard what I said. Good luck.
  • StinkyCheeze
    StinkyCheeze Posts: 26 Member
    MikilouB wrote: »
    I'm guessing water retention as much of what you say you are eating is very high in sodium. If that is the case, drink more water and it will eventually start moving.

    How much water?
  • MikilouB
    MikilouB Posts: 56 Member
    I would aim for around 64oz per day and see what happens. Also, start tracking your sodium and look for low sodium substitutes.
  • StinkyCheeze
    StinkyCheeze Posts: 26 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    How long have you been at this? It takes a long time to lose weight when you are already at a healthy weight. Don't expect to see big losses, more like 1/2 pound per week - and it's not going to be every week.

    If you are going to continue to use measuring cups and scanning dinners, you are going to continue to have less than perfect food logging - which is fine, but don't assume that you're "doing everything right."

    You ARE eating more than you think.

    Maybe more than I think but not 500-700 calories more. Especially with the low calorie snacks I eat and small tv dinners etc. Again, I don't eat much. Not a big appetite. If you don't believe me, maybe I'll go on 1,000 calories a day to prove you even more wrong about my "high calorie intake"
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/113609/relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner/p1
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,906 Member
    Hey, be careful with those tv dinners! I had some microwave curry today. The packaging said that the box contains two servings with each at 250kcal. So I microwaved the whole box to eat half of it later on. Only: I found 3 tablespoons of oil swimming at the top. One tablespoon could easily be 10-15 grams, 1 gram of fat has 9kcal. 3x10x9 is at least 270kcal. Which means the herbs, chicken, further oil not swimming at the top and other stuff in there can only be 230kcal or less. No, that absolutely makes no sense at all! This dinner could easily have twice the amount of calories.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,316 Member
    Personally I would not trust those TV dinners to be accurate in terms of serving size. The times I have measured ones I have eaten by weighing them, they have always been more, sometimes substantially more, then the package stated.
  • ValerieMartini2Olives
    ValerieMartini2Olives Posts: 3,024 Member
    I could easily have 2 servings of cottage cheese in a measuring cup and easily 2 or 3 servings of hummus in a measuring spoon.
  • StinkyCheeze
    StinkyCheeze Posts: 26 Member
    edited September 2016
    How about of I start eating one plain sandwich a day and bump my exercise to 3 hours a day. Will that convince you that I'm definitely not overeating?
  • StinkyCheeze
    StinkyCheeze Posts: 26 Member
    edited September 2016
    Colorscheme wrote: »
    StinkyCheeze wrote: »
    nosebag1212 wrote: »
    male or female?

    Ok. And some days I only eat 1200-1300. So again, very confusing. I have IBD anyways so I rarely get hungry and don't eat much to begin with.

    if you rarely get hungry or didn't overeat, then you wouldn't have gained weight.....

    Research IBD because nausea and vomiting are common symptoms (which I both experience). Hence, why I can go long without eating and why I start out with a tiny breakfast. Sometimes i skip it.
  • Colorscheme
    Colorscheme Posts: 1,179 Member
    StinkyCheeze wrote: »
    Colorscheme wrote: »
    StinkyCheeze wrote: »
    nosebag1212 wrote: »
    male or female?

    Ok. And some days I only eat 1200-1300. So again, very confusing. I have IBD anyways so I rarely get hungry and don't eat much to begin with.

    if you rarely get hungry or didn't overeat, then you wouldn't have gained weight.....

    Research IBD because nausea and vomiting are common symptoms (which I both experience). Hence, why I can go long without eating and why I start out with a tiny breakfast. Sometimes i skip it.

    Right, but at some point you must have been eating too much if you're here at MFP trying to lose weight. You don't gain weight unless you're eating a surprlus of calories, barring certain medical conditions.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    edited September 2016
    StinkyCheeze wrote: »
    Hello I'm 5'5 and 135 pounds. I'm trying to lose weight but the scale won't move. I have a fitbit and it's synced with MFP. According to fitbit, I burn 2000-2200 calories a day because I'm so active. 10-15k steps a day and 1-2 hours of cardio 5-6 days a week. I consume 1500 calories minimum and 1600 maximum. And there's no way I'm underestimating by several hundred calories, especially since I don't eat calorie dense foods. I eat lots of fruits and veggies along with proteins like eggs and tuna. My snacks are low calorie especially pickles. And I use soy sauce on meats and other cooked dishes instead of calorie dense sauces. And use vinaigrette dressings on salads instead of ranch, and unsweetened almond milk instead of regular. Also, salsa and/or hummus in tuna sandwiches instead of mayo. And cottage cheese with fruit instead of ice cream. What's going on? The scale won't budge.

    You are already at a normal weight for your height. Any weight you do lose will come off slowly.

    If you are not losing weight at all, but not gaining, then this means you are eating at maintenance. Bottom line: you are eating too much to lose weight.

    It's doubtful to me that your calories to lose weight is 2000-2200 calories a day, even with your cardio. I suspect you are overestimating calorie burns by a few hundred calories each day.

    Food type has zilch to do with weight loss. You lose weight by eating less than you burn of any food you like.

    Weigh every single solid food you eat, measure all liquids, eat only half your exercise calories back, and be judicious about staying within your calorie goals and you will lose weight. Guaranteed. :)

  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/113609/relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner/p1

    This. And stop using measuring cups and spoons unless you're measuring pure liquids. Use a food scale for everything solid and semi solid, and weigh your prepackaged foods as there can be around 20% error of margin with those as well.
  • GetFitKTB
    GetFitKTB Posts: 288 Member
    StinkyCheeze wrote: »
    mitch16 wrote: »
    Pickles? Soy sauce? Have you considered tracking your sodium? In the absence of other issues (you don't say how long you've been at this, your diary isn't open, etc.), you might be retaining water.

    Almost 3 weeks :(

    Only 3 weeks? I'd give it more time. Your body has to adjust to your new diet.

    But I think water retention is a real concern. Most people have way too much salt in their diet, and don't even realize it. The FDA recommends no more than 2,300 milligrams of salt a day, but many people, who are on salt restricted diets, like myself, try to keep it sodium intake below 1,500 milligrams a day. Here's some links that might help explain better:

    mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/sodium/art-20045479

    heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/HealthyEating/Nutrition/Sodium-and-Salt_UCM_303290_Article.jsp

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