Eating healthy exercising daily but not losing any weight.
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laurakepko
Posts: 2 Member
I am 26 years old, Female 5’6” and about 171lbs (goal weight 135lbs) I am looking to lose some weight and get toned. I have been Eating healthy and working out daily since October 1st (today is October 19th) I lost 7lbs the first week However, after all this effort (healthy diet and exercising) I haven't lost a single pound since the first week. I feel very frustrated that my strategy is not working. I have written down my typical daily diet and exercise routine so you have an idea of what I have been doing for the last 3 weeks. Are you in a similar situation or have any advice? Thanks for your responses!
Below is my typical daily diet and exercise routine
Diet: (No Dairy No Wheat No Sugar)
Breakfast: 1 cup of steel cut oatmeal with two Agave packets (from Starbucks)
3 shots of espresso (each shot is 1 oz)
Workout M-T-W I go hiking for three hours after breakfast before lunch (Even in the rain) Th-Fr just a short walk with my dogs (about 2 miles) Sat and Sun strength workouts
Snack: I usually have two snacks a day. Both after lunch. A cup of fruit. Three spoons of natural peanut butter. A banana, Apple or Orange. Celery with avocado hummus. Nuts. Raw carrots and broccoli.
Lunch A salad with fresh Spinach, Kale, red cabbage, red onion, sunflower seads, grapes, a whole chicken breast. No dressing (sometimes oil and red wine vinegar and sometimes salt pepper and lemon juice )
Dinner usually a Piece of meat with two fresh cooked veggies
I would really appreciate the advice. Thank you in advance.
Below is my typical daily diet and exercise routine
Diet: (No Dairy No Wheat No Sugar)
Breakfast: 1 cup of steel cut oatmeal with two Agave packets (from Starbucks)
3 shots of espresso (each shot is 1 oz)
Workout M-T-W I go hiking for three hours after breakfast before lunch (Even in the rain) Th-Fr just a short walk with my dogs (about 2 miles) Sat and Sun strength workouts
Snack: I usually have two snacks a day. Both after lunch. A cup of fruit. Three spoons of natural peanut butter. A banana, Apple or Orange. Celery with avocado hummus. Nuts. Raw carrots and broccoli.
Lunch A salad with fresh Spinach, Kale, red cabbage, red onion, sunflower seads, grapes, a whole chicken breast. No dressing (sometimes oil and red wine vinegar and sometimes salt pepper and lemon juice )
Dinner usually a Piece of meat with two fresh cooked veggies
I would really appreciate the advice. Thank you in advance.
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Replies
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It seems this is a common experience. I have been logging for about 40 days now. In the first 10 days, I lost 7 lbs. Then I lost nothing for another 12 days. Since then, it picked back up and I lost 3 more lbs and it seems to go it spurts like that, but at a downward trend.
What you lost the first week, is probably a lot of water weight due to removing extra calories and whatever from your diet. I'm sure that out of my 7 lb weight loss that first week, only 2lbs was true weight (I started at 1200 calories). Since then, I have increased my calories and I seem to be trending downward. Anyway, this is the third post this week, where people are in a stall after the first week. Give it another 2 weeks.
What are your calories per day, by the way?1 -
I eat a lot of food. most of it is veggie fruit and meat. my daily calorie intake is around 1,000 to 1,900 it depends on the day. my goal intake is 1,200. and i usually burn about 800 causeries 3 days a week (on my hiking days)
Thank you for the quick response. this has made me feel about 60% better and 100% willing to continue to eating the way i am and working out daily.0 -
Do you have medical reasons to avoid dairy, wheat and sugar?
Are you weighing your food with a food scale? Logging everything? What's the calorie total for that sample day? What is your calorie goal set at?
Are you eating back some exercise calories?
You've lost 7 lbs in just under 3 weeks. That's actually a faster rate of loss than recommended for the amount you have to lose (35 lbs), you should be aiming for 1 lb/week.
That sounds like a terribly restrictive eating plan, unless you have medical reasons to cut out the things you mentioned, you really don't need to. You can eat all those things, adhere to an appropriate calorie goal for your rate of loss, and achieve your goal. Being so restrictive is often a recipe for losing motivation, and eating at such a large deficit especially when exercising could lead to you crashing.5 -
How many calories are you eating? In terms of weight loss that's all that matters. You must be eating the correct calorie deficit for your weight loss goals.0
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Good for you for trying to take the first steps to getting healthier!
It sounds like you are really making an effort to eat nutritious foods, which is great. I am concerned about what you described though. Not the foods so much as the lack of description of portions.laurakepko wrote: »
Snack: I usually have two snacks a day. Both after lunch. A cup of fruit. Three spoons of natural peanut butter. A banana, Apple or Orange. Celery with avocado hummus. Nuts. Raw carrots and broccoli.
How much is 3 tablespoons? My idea of a spoonful and your idea are completely different. Two tablespoons of peanuts (32 grams) has about 200 calories in it. Same with the nuts, avocado, and hummus. Massive calorie bombs if you don't watch out.laurakepko wrote: »
Lunch A salad with fresh Spinach, Kale, red cabbage, red onion, sunflower seads, grapes, a whole chicken breast. No dressing (sometimes oil and red wine vinegar and sometimes salt pepper and lemon juice )
How much is a whole chicken breast? 9 ounces? 3 ounces? How is it prepared- pan seared in olive oil or baked? Again be careful of oil as a tablespoon, which is not that much, can clock in at 100 calories. It is easy to add 100's of calories without realizing it.laurakepko wrote: »Dinner usually a Piece of meat with two fresh cooked veggies
How are these vegetables being prepared? Are you using oil and if so is it being measured?
When is comes to weight loss, portion control is king. This is a great video to illustrate the importance of weighing and measuring every piece of food that crosses your lips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU
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Oops I meant to say 3 spoonfuls, I should have proofread.
Also, please be realistic in your goals. The weight didn't come on after night and it won't come off either. Seven pounds in the first week is most likely due to water, not fat. Weigh your self weekly. It should go down 1-2 pounds every few weeks and it should not be going up. Be patient, be consistent.1 -
I agree with what CMNVA said. I've gone through this each time I've begun the weight loss process (I'm a bit of a yo-yoer. Not good, I know.)
I'll lose crazy amounts of weight the first week, and think "hot dog, this is gonna be so easy!", then the next week I won't lose anything. Sometimes I'll even gain back a pound or two. Then usually after that it'll start gradually going back down at a more normal rate of 1-2 pounds a week. Hang in there. It'll normalize.0 -
I am in the exact same boat! I started at the end of September and have been eating 1240 calories a day and walking/jogging. I lost 6 lbs and stalled which makes me want to eat because it is hard to maintain 1200. I'm young and have just had a baby and up 60lbs so I was hoping it would just fall off.. but it's not. Thank you for your post... makes me not feel so alone1
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At one point I was eating healthy and exercising daily. I lost good one month then nothing. Then a friend told me I may not lose pounds but inches was what mattered. At that point I started taking my measurements and voilà. ..I was losing inches and no pounds. This happens because the fat turns to muscle and muscle is heavier because it is compact. My suggestions. ..take your measurements. Good luck!0
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walking your dogs for 2 miles and hiking isn't much of a workout. Aside from 3 spoons of peanut butter daily, the rest of your food is very healthy. when i lost 95lbs I ate pretty healthy, lots of protein/fruits/vegetables and limited my carbs (pasta, bread, alcohol).
I lost 65lbs in 7 months, so the people saying you're losing weight too fast are just wrong. So i'd say to up your activity or you're not truly logging everything you eat (and drink) correctly.
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You are using cups/handfulls/spoons.
Yes you are eating "healthy" but even "healthy" food can be super calorie dense - especially peanut butter/nuts.
Get a food scale, start measuring.1 -
SherondaHarrisonBurton wrote: »At one point I was eating healthy and exercising daily. I lost good one month then nothing. Then a friend told me I may not lose pounds but inches was what mattered. At that point I started taking my measurements and voilà. ..I was losing inches and no pounds. This happens because the fat turns to muscle and muscle is heavier because it is compact. My suggestions. ..take your measurements. Good luck!
Fat cannot turn to muscle. Fat is fat. Muscle is muscle.
But agree on taking your measurements.
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Hiking and walking are great forms of exercise! They will both burn calories. I agree with others above, it doesn't sound like your really know how many calories you're taking in.1
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SherondaHarrisonBurton wrote: »At one point I was eating healthy and exercising daily. I lost good one month then nothing. Then a friend told me I may not lose pounds but inches was what mattered. At that point I started taking my measurements and voilà. ..I was losing inches and no pounds. This happens because the fat turns to muscle and muscle is heavier because it is compact. My suggestions. ..take your measurements. Good luck!
^^ this is completely false except taking measurements can also be used as another method or indicator of fat loss when the scale is not showing it..laurakepko wrote: »I eat a lot of food. most of it is veggie fruit and meat. my daily calorie intake is around 1,000 to 1,900 it depends on the day. my goal intake is 1,200. and i usually burn about 800 causeries 3 days a week (on my hiking days)
Thank you for the quick response. this has made me feel about 60% better and 100% willing to continue to eating the way i am and working out daily.
And your calorie intake is around 1000 to 1900 a day (depending on the day)? . this is a huge range of calorie intake to be eating. You could be eating too many exercise calories back and even overestimating how much you eat.
If I see this right, 1) stick to a specific calorie goal each day 2) eat back a portion of your exercise calories 3) weigh all your food intake using a food scale and make sure your choose the right entries from the database (make sure to include everything like oils, pad of butter, condiments, dressings, etc..)0 -
I concur with the above, guesstimating calories based on "handful" "spoonful" is highly inaccurate, and most of us underestimate the size of the portions we eat. Weight loss is fairly simple: calories in vs calories out. You need to measure and weigh every item of food you put in your mouth. Tedious, yes. But it's the only way to track your calories accurately. Additionally, MFP vastly overestimates calories burned, so I'd suggest getting a heart rate monitor to accurately log your burn rather than punching in "3 hours hiking" etc... My cardio for 45 min is ridiculous (600-700 calories) if I log MFP, but my heart rate monitor tells me 300-400 which is far more accurate.0
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Neither eating healthy nor exercise determine whether you will lose or gain weight. Only one thing does. Calorie balance. Doesn't matter what you ate, it matters how many calories you took in versus how many calories you put out. If you don't know then therein lies your issue.
That said you have only been at this for three weeks. Quite often it will take a full 2 months to see actual weightloss through the day to day fluctuations in weight caused by things like water retention. Its possible you just need to keep at it and be patient and eventually you will start to see a net loss over time.1 -
yeah more of what has been said above. measure/weigh everything. I used to, ages ago, not measure my salad dressing. I just didn't think - it didn't click to me - that it would make much difference. I was losing weight, sure, but like sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowly. Then one day for some reason I thought "oh, I'm going to count the olive oil" and it's 120 calories per tablespoon!!!! I was IN SHOCK! I'd been pretty much turning the oil bottle upside down drenching my salad. So yeah - I was eating a nice healthy 300 calorie salad - TOPPED WITH ABOUT 300 cals of oil!!!
So yeah - weigh and measure everything. My tablespoon of peanut butter when I'm being true to MY idea of a tablespoon is like about 60grams compared to the actual weight of a tablespoon of peanut butter, which is 20grams. I know - I have weighed it.
Also, this fluctuation from 1000-1900 is a bit high too. Go for a middle ground somewhere - 1400, 1500... and stick to that.
Instead of hiking for 3 hours, would you consider doing some HIIT for 30-odd minutes or going to a gym for an hour instead (or with - like less hiking, more gym)?
PS . I don't eat back my exercise calories. But I do allow myself a eat whatever the hell I want meal per week without worrying about calories/macros.
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