Why aren't I losing weight?

Your diary is closed so it's hard to guess what might be going on, but often when people don't lose despite a low calorie goal it's due to logging errors that mean they're eating more than they think they are. This could be: using measuring cups instead of a food scale, choosing incorrect entries from the database, or not logging something that they think is very low calorie. If you open your diary, you may get more specific help.

Measuring and weighing your food correctly is essential for knowing how many calories you actually consume. But if you are correct about your calorie intake, it's possible that your weight gain is just temporary water weight, especially if you have just begun a new exercise program. That could easily cause you to retain a few pounds of water weight, while extra water weight from issues such as your time of month could account for the rest. So basically, weigh your food, track accurately, and just be patient. If it's water weight it will come off. By the way, at 5ft 2 and 125 pounds, your weight is already within normal range.

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.

First off, exercising 3-4 hours per day is far too extensive. An hour or 2 is plenty. Just get in, make your session worth it and get out. Anything more is going to overwork your body and you'll burn out very quickly. Secondly, are you weighing your food? This could be the reason that you are not seeing any weight loss. Accurate food measurements are key, although with that much exercise it could be a "cheat day" is adding up.

duvs33 wrote: »

Your body can also go into starvation mode when consuming under 1200 calories a day.

No, it can't. If you eat too little over a long period of time your body might lower your calorie expenditures to try to compensate but you'll still lose weight.

peaceout_aly wrote: »

First off, exercising 3-4 hours per day is far too extensive. An hour or 2 is plenty. Just get in, make your session worth it and get out. Anything more is going to overwork your body and you'll burn out very quickly. Secondly, are you weighing your food? This could be the reason that you are not seeing any weight loss. Accurate food measurements are key, although with that much exercise it could be a "cheat day" is adding up.

OP stated that she exercises for 1 hour 3-4 days/week, not 3-4 hours/day.

1. You are a healthy weight for your height, relax. If you want to lose a couple of vanity pounds, it's in your interest to first acknowledge that to yourself, and second slow down. A very, very small calorie deficit of only a couple hundred calories is better than eating 1000-1200 calories a day.

2. Eating "real healthy" is nearly irrelevant to weight loss. Consuming fewer calories is what counts for that. Eating healthy is good for your health and can make you feel good, but it's not going to help you lose bodyfat.

3. How do you know you are eating 1000-1200 calories a day? The #1 mistake I see people who have only recently started trying to lose weight make is this: estimating portion size instead of measuring portion size. To be sure you are actually eating less, you need to measure your portions. A lot of people will say you "need" to use a scale instead of measuring cups, but honestly so many people make the mistake of not even using measuring cups and just "eyeballing" portions. Trust me, you may think you know what a cup of milk or a tablespoon of peanut butter looks like, but you almost certainly don't. If you are off by 25% it won't look like much if anything at all, but 25% of 1200 calories makes it 1500 calories. And honestly I think most people tend to eyeball wrong by more like 50% - 100%. Measure your portions, do not eyeball them.

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Well when you do lose weight, your metabolism drops. And that is basically what could be happening in your case. You need to keep it going. Also, maybe you haven't measured your food properly or you aren't burning enough calories. How long are you at the gym? You need to be there at least at min, 30 to an hour. Do not do the same fitness routine everyday.

As for food, I do not want to repeat what everyone else is saying but they are right; you need to measure your food properly. Do not reward yourself with food. Food is not a privilege, it is something you need to survive.

I do want to say, even though she's at a healthy weight, we should not discourage her from reaching her goals. Losing 5kgs isn't unhealthy.

I hope this helps!

Could be water retention depending on where you are on your cycle. If your target was 1lb/week, then 3 lbs can be easily obscured by it. If nothing changes in 2 weeks, then increase your cardio. Strength training is nice but it doesn't burn too many calories. Certainly keep it though.

For those of us in the lower weight ranges trying to get lower, there's not much room to cut back on food. And even factoring the probability of inaccurate counting, you're probably not far off if you're maintaining at 125. So, try doing some high intensity/sweaty cardio for about 5-7hrs/week and see what happens. Make sure you've got plenty of carbs going on so you don't crash and burn.