What am I doing wrong?
Sam29a
Posts: 201 Member
I am in desperate need of some help. I've lost weight slowly since January 2016, but now my weight loss has completely stalled. Since around September/October, my weight has stayed the same pretty much, I'm not losing inches either.
I lost weight through just eating less, <1300 per day. Since this year I have begun exercising too, currently doing the 30-day shred workout 5 times a week and I don't eat back calories.
I am meticulous with making sure I weigh out every bit of food and usually go under to ensure I don't go over my allotted amount accidentally, yet I am not losing anything anymore.
I do tend to have a lot of processed food, mainly because I'm usually too tired after work to cook. Is this likely to be the reason I've stopped losing? I am desperate to be thin this summer, but this is looking less and less likely now. Does anyone have any ideas as to what I should try? I am almost tempted to crash diet - something I really struggled with when I was younger and always led to binge-starve cycles.
I lost weight through just eating less, <1300 per day. Since this year I have begun exercising too, currently doing the 30-day shred workout 5 times a week and I don't eat back calories.
I am meticulous with making sure I weigh out every bit of food and usually go under to ensure I don't go over my allotted amount accidentally, yet I am not losing anything anymore.
I do tend to have a lot of processed food, mainly because I'm usually too tired after work to cook. Is this likely to be the reason I've stopped losing? I am desperate to be thin this summer, but this is looking less and less likely now. Does anyone have any ideas as to what I should try? I am almost tempted to crash diet - something I really struggled with when I was younger and always led to binge-starve cycles.
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Replies
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There is no food that is evil. Unless you have a medical reason to eat a certain way, then you don't have to eat clean, or eat GF, or paleo. That's a choice of a eating habit that you make. Crash dieting isn't going to work, you already learned that when you were younger.
Since it's been several months, have you been to see a doctor to rule anything out? Or are you on medication that may stall weight loss? Since you lost weight have you recalculated MFP to make sure 1300 is eating at a deficit? How much are you looking to lose, and how much is MFP set to lose a wek?0 -
There is no food that is evil. Unless you have a medical reason to eat a certain way, then you don't have to eat clean, or eat GF, or paleo. That's a choice of a eating habit that you make. Crash dieting isn't going to work, you already learned that when you were younger.
Since it's been several months, have you been to see a doctor to rule anything out? Or are you on medication that may stall weight loss? Since you lost weight have you recalculated MFP to make sure 1300 is eating at a deficit? How much are you looking to lose, and how much is MFP set to lose a wek?
Thanks for responding. I have been trying to lose weight now for over a year. I've gotten to the point now where I know something isn't working, I'm just not sure what. I thought it was a lack of exercise, but that's not helped thus far. I really don't want to crash diet (even though it seems everyone around me is) and I don't think I'll ever go back to that, but I am feeling desperate now.
I have managed to lose weight over the last year, so I don't think it's there's anything wrong medically and I'm not on any medication.
I set my own goals for 1300 when I first started. MFP has always given me 1200. Currently, it says I could lose 0.7 lbs per week eating 1200 calories. I would like to lose another 20 lbs or so.0 -
Can you provide your beginning and current height/weights?0
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We need your stats. Could we have your gender, height, current weight and goal weight?
There are lots of things you can do and you'll get plenty of suggestions, but don't underfeed yourself.0 -
I do tend to have a lot of processed food, mainly because I'm usually too tired after work to cook. Is this likely to be the reason I've stopped losing? I am desperate to be thin this summer, but this is looking less and less likely now. Does anyone have any ideas as to what I should try? I am almost tempted to crash diet - something I really struggled with when I was younger and always led to binge-starve cycles.
Processed foods in general have a lot of sodium which could play a role in your inability to lose weight. I'd urge you to prep some wholesome, whole food, meals in advance, on your days off, so that you can have them in the evenings that you do work. Also try mixing up your workouts cardio or strength training -- the opposite of what you usually do.
Also, dipping too low on the calories can make your body go into starvation mode and essentially hold on to everything for dear life. If you're working out, you need calories for your body to recover and function properly. I do 1150-1200 calories when I want to lose, but I'm also 4'9.5". I wouldn't recommend that for anyone over 5'1" That's too low.
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dolcezza25 wrote: »I do tend to have a lot of processed food, mainly because I'm usually too tired after work to cook. Is this likely to be the reason I've stopped losing? I am desperate to be thin this summer, but this is looking less and less likely now. Does anyone have any ideas as to what I should try? I am almost tempted to crash diet - something I really struggled with when I was younger and always led to binge-starve cycles.
Processed foods in general have a lot of sodium which could play a role in your inability to lose weight. I'd urge you to prep some wholesome, whole food, meals in advance, on your days off, so that you can have them in the evenings that you do work. Also try mixing up your workouts cardio or strength training -- the opposite of what you usually do.
Also, dipping too low on the calories can make your body go into starvation mode and essentially hold on to everything for dear life. If you're working out, you need calories for your body to recover and function properly. I do 1150-1200 calories when I want to lose, but I'm also 4'9.5". I wouldn't recommend that for anyone over 5'1" That's too low.
Water retention from sodium is usually only if there is an increase in intake, and is temporary. And starvation mode doesn't work like that.
OP, can you open your diary?3 -
dolcezza25 wrote: »I do tend to have a lot of processed food, mainly because I'm usually too tired after work to cook. Is this likely to be the reason I've stopped losing? I am desperate to be thin this summer, but this is looking less and less likely now. Does anyone have any ideas as to what I should try? I am almost tempted to crash diet - something I really struggled with when I was younger and always led to binge-starve cycles.
Processed foods in general have a lot of sodium which could play a role in your inability to lose weight. I'd urge you to prep some wholesome, whole food, meals in advance, on your days off, so that you can have them in the evenings that you do work. Also try mixing up your workouts cardio or strength training -- the opposite of what you usually do.
Also, dipping too low on the calories can make your body go into starvation mode and essentially hold on to everything for dear life. If you're working out, you need calories for your body to recover and function properly. I do 1150-1200 calories when I want to lose, but I'm also 4'9.5". I wouldn't recommend that for anyone over 5'1" That's too low.
OMG! To the bolded : WHY do people keep saying this!!!??? It isn't true!11 -
I know you said you weigh everything, but there are a lot of entries with "1 slice" "2 biscuits" "1 fillet".
- For at least a couple of weeks weigh everything, including packaged foods. The nutritional info is correct for the weight portion, then they estimate how much the volume serving is. Often one fillet does not weigh what the package says it will.
- Try not to use generic entries or recipe-style entries that you did not create yourself. These were created by other users and are most often wrong.
- Do a gut check and make sure you are logging as accurately as possible - beverages, cooking oils, condiments, late night snacks. I'm not saying you're leaving stuff out, but we've all been there.
What are your stats (height, current weight, goal weight) and how much have you lost up to this point?5 -
We need your stats. Could we have your gender, height, current weight and goal weight?
There are lots of things you can do and you'll get plenty of suggestions, but don't underfeed yourself.
I am female, 5'2 and current weight is 128 lbs. Goal weight is around 105, but I'd be happy at 110 lbs initially.0 -
dolcezza25 wrote: »I do tend to have a lot of processed food, mainly because I'm usually too tired after work to cook. Is this likely to be the reason I've stopped losing? I am desperate to be thin this summer, but this is looking less and less likely now. Does anyone have any ideas as to what I should try? I am almost tempted to crash diet - something I really struggled with when I was younger and always led to binge-starve cycles.
Processed foods in general have a lot of sodium which could play a role in your inability to lose weight. I'd urge you to prep some wholesome, whole food, meals in advance, on your days off, so that you can have them in the evenings that you do work. Also try mixing up your workouts cardio or strength training -- the opposite of what you usually do.
Also, dipping too low on the calories can make your body go into starvation mode and essentially hold on to everything for dear life. If you're working out, you need calories for your body to recover and function properly. I do 1150-1200 calories when I want to lose, but I'm also 4'9.5". I wouldn't recommend that for anyone over 5'1" That's too low.
I tried meal prepping and hated it. Food was unpalatable and I really began to miss eating normal food. I definitely eat much healthier than I used to and do cook every now and again, but I also have days where I eat some processed food like baked cod or naan bread and low cal curry.
Also, just thought I'd add that I often eat under 1200 and don't think that makes any difference. I don't believe you go into into 'starvation mode' just because you go under 1200!1 -
We need your stats. Could we have your gender, height, current weight and goal weight?
There are lots of things you can do and you'll get plenty of suggestions, but don't underfeed yourself.
I am female, 5'2 and current weight is 128 lbs. Goal weight is around 105, but I'd be happy at 110 lbs initially.
OK, so you are already in the healthy weight range for your height, and you are aiming for a pretty low weight. So the loss will be SLOW (prob no more than half-a-lb per week) and you need to be as exact as possible. You said in your OP that your weight has stayed the same "pretty much". When I was losing my last 10 lbs, the scale wouldn't move for 4 or 5 weeks, then it would go down a lb. You are going to need patience and precision calorie-wise, and you may want to reconsider your goal weight. You definitely should not crash diet to get to such a low weight, and the harder you have to push to get down there, the harder it is going to be to maintain.
You might want to look into a strength training program, it will help to change your shape without having to get to such a low weight.0 -
If you're finding yourself at a plateau, you can try adding or subtracting foods into your diet while staying within your needs. I've read that you can and should do this for 1-2 weeks minimum.0
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dolcezza25 wrote: »I do tend to have a lot of processed food, mainly because I'm usually too tired after work to cook. Is this likely to be the reason I've stopped losing? I am desperate to be thin this summer, but this is looking less and less likely now. Does anyone have any ideas as to what I should try? I am almost tempted to crash diet - something I really struggled with when I was younger and always led to binge-starve cycles.
Processed foods in general have a lot of sodium which could play a role in your inability to lose weight. I'd urge you to prep some wholesome, whole food, meals in advance, on your days off, so that you can have them in the evenings that you do work. Also try mixing up your workouts cardio or strength training -- the opposite of what you usually do.
Also, dipping too low on the calories can make your body go into starvation mode and essentially hold on to everything for dear life. If you're working out, you need calories for your body to recover and function properly. I do 1150-1200 calories when I want to lose, but I'm also 4'9.5". I wouldn't recommend that for anyone over 5'1" That's too low.
I tried meal prepping and hated it. Food was unpalatable and I really began to miss eating normal food. I definitely eat much healthier than I used to and do cook every now and again, but I also have days where I eat some processed food like baked cod or naan bread and low cal curry.
Also, just thought I'd add that I often eat under 1200 and don't think that makes any difference. I don't believe you go into into 'starvation mode' just because you go under 1200!
You don't have to meal prep as long as you're able to track your food carefully, especially when you get close to your goal weight. You simply have less margin for error, which of course makes it harder.
And again, there's no harm in eating processed foods if that's what you want, it's okay to eat naan and curry. You have to enjoy life, you have to enjoy what you're eating (or at least be fine eating it) or at least for me it does, I'd be miserable if I was eating foods just because they are 'clean' and 'health foods'. Staying under your calories is the most important part, we each do it our own way!0 -
We need your stats. Could we have your gender, height, current weight and goal weight?
There are lots of things you can do and you'll get plenty of suggestions, but don't underfeed yourself.
I am female, 5'2 and current weight is 128 lbs. Goal weight is around 105, but I'd be happy at 110 lbs initially.
Thanks. I forgot to ask your age so I assumed 25. Your BMR is about 1380 and your TDEE at sedentary is 1655. Of course these are just estimates, but they're close enough.
I think your body has reached a plateau and you are probably unintentionally underreporting your calories. There's a great sticky in the top of this forum that describes that even most dieticians underreport by an average of about 250 per day and us normal folks do it at 450 per day. So what is probably happening is you are eating at maintenance, around 1600 calories or so, but only reporting 1300, completely honestly. Since you aren't losing weight, your body is telling you this, but don't worry, you don't need to do anything drastic. Try either being a bit more conservative with your calorie estimates (and know that MFP and even packaged calorie estimates are wrong or confusing a lot too) or you could simply lower your goal 50 calories and see what happens for awhile.
You are already doing well, and our body's want to stay in a comfortable place, so it will take some time. It might take 0.25 lbs a week and you've got to be ok with that, then adjust a bit at a time.
You're on the right track:), just keep going and don't change much. You might consider upping your protein, that tends to help with weight loss too.
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I know you said you weigh everything, but there are a lot of entries with "1 slice" "2 biscuits" "1 fillet".
- For at least a couple of weeks weigh everything, including packaged foods. The nutritional info is correct for the weight portion, then they estimate how much the volume serving is. Often one fillet does not weigh what the package says it will.
- Try not to use generic entries or recipe-style entries that you did not create yourself. These were created by other users and are most often wrong.
- Do a gut check and make sure you are logging as accurately as possible - beverages, cooking oils, condiments, late night snacks. I'm not saying you're leaving stuff out, but we've all been there.
What are your stats (height, current weight, goal weight) and how much have you lost up to this point?
I don't weigh out packaged items like sliced bread and biscuits - I don't eat all my calories most days to make up for this. I already feel like a slave to my scale and am hoping to soon stop using it. I can't eat out because of it - haven't in a year, and some days when I'm too late for breakfast and I forget to pack a lunch end up starving until I get home to eat at 7.30pm - like yesterday and today.
When using the calorie entries on mfp, I tend to go for either the one on the package (most often), or whichever one is higher. All the recipes are my own, I've measured everything, including spices down to the gram.
I never eat anything and 'forget' to add it to mfp. Even things like gum are added. I only really drink water and tea and both are added. When cooking I typically only use 1tsp of oil in recipes, again it's measured and added. I don't have late night snacks and if I did, I would most certainly add it.
Current stats, 5'2 128 lbs. Have lost 35, plus 5 before I joined mfp.0 -
dolcezza25 wrote: »I do tend to have a lot of processed food, mainly because I'm usually too tired after work to cook. Is this likely to be the reason I've stopped losing? I am desperate to be thin this summer, but this is looking less and less likely now. Does anyone have any ideas as to what I should try? I am almost tempted to crash diet - something I really struggled with when I was younger and always led to binge-starve cycles.
Processed foods in general have a lot of sodium which could play a role in your inability to lose weight. I'd urge you to prep some wholesome, whole food, meals in advance, on your days off, so that you can have them in the evenings that you do work. Also try mixing up your workouts cardio or strength training -- the opposite of what you usually do.
Also, dipping too low on the calories can make your body go into starvation mode and essentially hold on to everything for dear life. If you're working out, you need calories for your body to recover and function properly. I do 1150-1200 calories when I want to lose, but I'm also 4'9.5". I wouldn't recommend that for anyone over 5'1" That's too low.
Water retention from sodium is usually only if there is an increase in intake, and is temporary. And starvation mode doesn't work like that.
OP, can you open your diary?
It's open
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We need your stats. Could we have your gender, height, current weight and goal weight?
There are lots of things you can do and you'll get plenty of suggestions, but don't underfeed yourself.
I am female, 5'2 and current weight is 128 lbs. Goal weight is around 105, but I'd be happy at 110 lbs initially.
Thanks. I forgot to ask your age so I assumed 25. Your BMR is about 1380 and your TDEE at sedentary is 1655. Of course these are just estimates, but they're close enough.
I think your body has reached a plateau and you are probably unintentionally underreporting your calories. There's a great sticky in the top of this forum that describes that even most dieticians underreport by an average of about 250 per day and us normal folks do it at 450 per day. So what is probably happening is you are eating at maintenance, around 1600 calories or so, but only reporting 1300, completely honestly. Since you aren't losing weight, your body is telling you this, but don't worry, you don't need to do anything drastic. Try either being a bit more conservative with your calorie estimates (and know that MFP and even packaged calorie estimates are wrong or confusing a lot too) or you could simply lower your goal 50 calories and see what happens for awhile.
You are already doing well, and our body's want to stay in a comfortable place, so it will take some time. It might take 0.25 lbs a week and you've got to be ok with that, then adjust a bit at a time.
You're on the right track:), just keep going and don't change much. You might consider upping your protein, that tends to help with weight loss too.
I doubt I'm eating 1600 and haven't noticed! Like I said before, I am more likely to go for the highest estimate of a food, rather than the lower estimate. Plus I usually eat under my 1300 Calorie allowance. I've just lowered my calories to 1200, so will see if that changes things for me.0 -
You have a lot that is just 1 of this, or 1/2 of that. You aren't weighing. Packaged food can be 20% off, usually up to 20% more. With such a low calorie goal, you could easily be eating 250 calories or more over and not realize it.2
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If you are feeling like you are a slave to your food scale, perhaps a little break is in order. As I said in my earlier post, maybe you need to reconsider your goal weight. Why did you choose it? There is no way around the fact that for most people, it will be a struggle to get to the very low end of their healthy weight range. I'll reiterate that you may want to think about raising your goal weight and looking into recomp. 120 lbs with some muscle might look and feel better than 110 without it, and be easier to maintain.3
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If you are feeling like you are a slave to your food scale, perhaps a little break is in order. As I said in my earlier post, maybe you need to reconsider your goal weight. Why did you choose it? There is no way around the fact that for most people, it will be a struggle to get to the very low end of their healthy weight range. I'll reiterate that you may want to think about raising your goal weight and looking into recomp. 120 lbs with some muscle might look and feel better than 110 without it, and be easier to maintain.
I'm going abroad next week and will be away for a few months. I have decided not to take my food scale with me. I plan on only eating fruit, vegetables, beans, lentils, oats and other wholesome foods. I will also try more strength training exercises, however, I won't have access to the gym until I get back.
A few years ago I was 108 and I loved being that weight. On my height, that is a good weight. I've been much less when I was younger, at one point I was 90lbs, but that is no longer my aim! I wouldn't know where to begin in regards to gaining muscle.0 -
If you don't have access to a gym that's no problem. Squats, split squats, pushups, crunches, dips, lifting household objects can all work to help build muscle. Do a little research on bodyweight exercises and put a routine together for yourself. A gym is absolutely not a necessity for gaining muscle.I'm going abroad next week and will be away for a few months. I have decided not to take my food scale with me. I plan on only eating fruit, vegetables, beans, lentils, oats and other wholesome foods. I will also try more strength training exercises, however, I won't have access to the gym until I get back.
A few years ago I was 108 and I loved being that weight. On my height, that is a good weight. I've been much less when I was younger, at one point I was 90lbs, but that is no longer my aim! I wouldn't know where to begin in regards to gaining muscle.
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Totally unrelated to weight loss, but you say that prepped food is unpalatable. For lunch today I had garlic lime chicken, quinoa with pine nuts and wilted kale and steamed carrots. It was quite delicious and I cooked it last Sunday. I do nearly all cooking on the weekends.1
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Try eating Whole Foods, it will give you nutrients that will help keep you fuller and thus won't feel the need to eat more.
So food with fiber (oatmeal) and protein will keep you fuller longer than the equivalent amount of calories of processed food.
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