Help! I'm not losing weight!

evanwinseck
evanwinseck Posts: 2 Member
edited November 15 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys, so I am 5"5 and 149 lbs. I used to be a competitive cheerleader, I ate junk food all the time but on average I trained about 20-25 hours a week so I was tiny and fit (about 115 lbs and my body looked fit). When I retired I quit working out and kept eating the way I had my whole life and I gained 35 lbs over the period of about two years. Now I am not outrageously over weight or anything but I want to be fit like I used to be. For the last 6 months or so I have been actively trying to eat better and workout more. I still don't eat perfect by any means but I definitely eat better than I used to, I try to eat fresh foods and stay away from processed foods, I rarely drink, and I don't drink sodas. I workout usually 3-4 times a week lifting weights and doing cardio. I just can't seem to lose weight, I can tell that I am becoming more muscular but I still am not happy with the way I look.
Does anyone have any tips? About anything, food, exercise, anything! I know they say it is easier (not easier per say but the larger someone is the quicker they tend to notice a weight lose difference) to lose weight the larger you are, so could it be that I'm not insanely overweight and I need to be doing even more than what I am?
Is there anyone that is currently in the same situation or anyone that used to have this issue? What did you do/are you doing to overcome it?
Any feedback at all would be appreciated, thanks so much :)

Replies

  • ashliedelgado
    ashliedelgado Posts: 814 Member
    The first thing to do is buy a scale and learn how to accurately track your intake. It doesn't matter what you're eating, if you're eating too much, you'll stay the same or even gain. Then make sure you're only eating about 50-75% of the calories you earn through exercise.

    If tweaks to your logging don't pan out, the next step is the doctors office.
  • fiberopticjellyfishmfp
    fiberopticjellyfishmfp Posts: 27 Member
    If you're not in a caloric deficit, you won't lose. Period. How are you tracking your calories? Are you weighing your solids and measuring liquids?
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Not only are you "not insanely overweight", you're technically not even overweight at all (close, but you still fall under a normal BMI).

    Have you been counting calories and logging everything with as close to 100% accuracy as possible? This may include logging every bite of food that passes your mouth, weighing all foods on a food scale/measuring all liquids, double-checking that the entries you log are correct, using the recipe builder over "homemade" or "generic" entries, and being mindful about the number of exercise calories burned and eaten back.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    You didn't say anything about calories. If you aren't losing weight, then you are eating at maintenance level. Put your stats into MFP, choose a goal of half-a-pound per week, and start logging your food and see what happens!
  • CMNVA
    CMNVA Posts: 733 Member
    What everyone else has said...you can often change the type of food you eat to better things, but if you don't adjust the quantity by enough, then you won't lose. Start logging everything you put in your mouth for a few weeks and see how much you are eating.
  • evanwinseck
    evanwinseck Posts: 2 Member
    Thank you all for the input, I haven't been closely tracking calories. Like I said, I used to eat fast food for every meal so I figured eating healthier food would make a difference. I didn't realize that calorie counting was that big of a deal. I know I probably sound dumb/uneducated, but when I started this I knew nothing about health at all so everything I have learned has come from the internet which I try to take with a grain of salt (since everything on the internet is true, you know).
    Thanks again for the advice, I will start logging my calories and I will start more closely measuring my meals. I have had the My Fitness Pal app downloaded on my phone for ages but I just recently started logging into it and honestly I have just been "eye balling" my portion sizes. I am going to work on that and hopefully start seeing results! Fingers crossed :)
  • serindipte
    serindipte Posts: 1,557 Member
    Grab a food scale :smile:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnnpUYmr0OM
  • Drueru
    Drueru Posts: 46 Member
    Some things you can try; up your protein (protein at every meal), ensure you are eating a variety of foods and receiving all of your nutrients, get your blood work done (make sure they check your hormones), vitamin d, vitamin c and probiotics. Also try lemon juice or apple cider vinegar in warm water 10 min before meals to get your digestive system ready!
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,332 Member
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  • serindipte
    serindipte Posts: 1,557 Member
    Drueru wrote: »
    Some things you can try; up your protein (protein at every meal), ensure you are eating a variety of foods and receiving all of your nutrients, get your blood work done (make sure they check your hormones), vitamin d, vitamin c and probiotics. Also try lemon juice or apple cider vinegar in warm water 10 min before meals to get your digestive system ready!

    Not the bolded parts. Your digestive system was born ready.

    The other things here won't affect your weight loss, but aren't necessarily bad ideas if you have any other health issues going on.


  • ashliedelgado
    ashliedelgado Posts: 814 Member
    Drueru wrote: »
    Some things you can try; up your protein (protein at every meal), ensure you are eating a variety of foods and receiving all of your nutrients, get your blood work done (make sure they check your hormones), vitamin d, vitamin c and probiotics. Also try lemon juice or apple cider vinegar in warm water 10 min before meals to get your digestive system ready!

    After blood work, all of this is a no. And personally, I would only pay for lab work if logging accurately doesn't yield results.
  • hawkmancody
    hawkmancody Posts: 63 Member
    Good luck ! I was suprized just how many calories I was eating when I first started this counting calories thing.
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