Why is my weight loss unsuccessful

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  • deneenae
    deneenae Posts: 97 Member
    edited February 2017
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    Give it time. We lose weight in cycles... so have patience. It sounds like you might actually not be eating enough. Although starvation mode is a contentious issue, what is true is that if we eat too little, our body will breakdown muscle to serve as energy for a short period. This will actually work against you because muscle is a huge way to burn calories at rest. So, in order to spare the muscle, you must supply yourself with enough calories to prevent your body from taking from muscle. It's a fine balance. CICO works, but again, everybody's metabolism works a little differently and eating less than 1200 calories per day is not healthy. Anyone eating less than 1200 calories risks nutrient deficiencies (like vitamins and minerals) and illness. I would actually be worried that your activities are not sustainable and you might be overworking your body, making it prone to injury. Especially with the weight you gave. If anything, you should be closer to 2000 calories.

    Also, periods knock off our hormones and make us retain water in weird ways.

    Remember, we didn't gain this weight in a day, so don't expect it to come off in a day. Slow babysteps makes healthy living easier to stick to. Also, I would recommend to see a Registered Dietitian. They can calculate your optimal calorie goal and give some one on one advice.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    Bekah7482 wrote: »
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    Bekah7482 wrote: »
    Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »
    bjvbcuyna1pl.jpg
    recommended serving sizes are often never right

    Look at this photo, the package says "1 muffin" but the gram weight is 20g LOWER then what the muffin actually weighs, making the calories in that muffin much higher then what is listed on the package.

    I have to say, this is probably the best proof of advise that I seen on these threads. It is very informative without being attacking. I have always gone by suggested serving size and never even noticed the grams next to it. Going to be changing the way I log my food.

    Calorie estimation is extremely difficult and carries an industry wide 20% margin of error. This is why the consistent answer to "Why am I not losing weight?" is "Look to your logging".

    The problem is that many are not aware of this information.

    I weight out most of my foods but I never really thought about weighing out the slice of bread I have every morning because the package tells me everything. Granted, I have pretty big deficits so a few hundred calories will not make a huge difference in my loss right now, it is great information to make sure I am being more accurate, especially when I get closer to my goal weight.

    I'm a lazy logger and just put in 1.2 if I'm not hitting my deficit and seem to be stuck in a plateau. My workouts give me a large margin as well for now, but I know this is going to require some tightening once I get down to my goal weight.

    @Look_Its_Kriss There is so much variation in the calculation of a calorie that it makes this task nearly impossible. This is why I add in a fudge factor of +20% on calorie dense foods...like fudge.
  • tross0924
    tross0924 Posts: 909 Member
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    Put down another vote for the time comments. While it's possible that you have a medical condition that could cause some issues, 2 weeks is far to short a time to make that determination.

    I would also say that you're not NOT losing weight because you ate 17.6 grams more crackers than you thought. You may want to tighten this up eventually, but you may not too. Many many people lose weight without doing this. Me personally, I lost over 100 lbs with the "ehhh that looks like 7 oz" eyeball method.

    I would also say that you're not NOT losing weight because your calories are too low. Being an obese person you have a resistance to eating too little for a while. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2495396/)

    Give it some time and check back in 5-6 weeks (I'd say another month, but that would put you in the middle of your menstrual cycle again and water retention and bloating will wreck havoc with the number shown on the scale.)

    Keep exercising, and keep eating right. Sooner or later the scale will catch up with your hard work.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited February 2017
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    I shudder when i find a recipe i really want to try and the amounts are listed in cups, spoons and God forbid, scoops!!! I keep searching until i find a similar recipe with accurate weights in grams.
  • Hello_its_Dan
    Hello_its_Dan Posts: 406 Member
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    If anyone ever wants to lose weight without logging, weighing or counting calories, Precision Nutrition has a handy portion guide that takes a ton of stress out of losing weight.

    Here's the link.
    http://www.precisionnutrition.com/calorie-control-guide-infographic

    Imagine never having to reduce a piece of food to a number so you can worry about its effects on the body again.

    Much simpler and less stressful.
    /Endthread
  • Hello_its_Dan
    Hello_its_Dan Posts: 406 Member
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    kimny72 wrote: »
    Dan_Rollins_ACE_PN wrote: »
    If anyone ever wants to lose weight without logging, weighing or counting calories, Precision Nutrition has a handy portion guide that takes a ton of stress out of losing weight.

    Here's the link.
    http://www.precisionnutrition.com/calorie-control-guide-infographic

    Imagine never having to reduce a piece of food to a number so you can worry about its effects on the body again.

    Much simpler and less stressful.
    /Endthread

    That's how I always used to "make sure" I was eating the right amount, and couldn't lose the last 15 lbs for anything. Then I got a food scale, discovered I was eating well more than I thought, and finally lost the weight.

    Eyeballing certainly does work for some people, and if you can get away with that, awesome. But now that I've been using a food scale for a couple of years, not only is it effortless, but I am much better at eyeballing portions than I used to be when I used to guesstimate that the chicken cutlet was the size of 1.5 palms.

    Awesome
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »
    Ive never really understood the palm size thing... i have TINY hands... lol... so whose hands should i use to guesstimate my meat portions? and if the portion fits into my own palm... how tall is it allowed to be? could it touch my nose from my hand sitting at chest height?

    I'd be using the thick rib eye steak rather than a thin minute steak, if i was going to use my palm size :lol:
  • sarahann104
    sarahann104 Posts: 90 Member
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    I fell off the mfp wagon for a few months and am just getting started again.
    Something I never normally do is weigh say the single serve tuna tins. After reading this thread this morning I thought i would weigh it while making my lunch today. The nutritional panel says 95g is a serve. It weighed in at 100g. To some that 6 calories may not seem like much, but some days I am so close to my calories it will definitely add up. Thanks for the reminder guys and gals:)
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    The only thing that I've found weighs less than what the label says are single serve yogurt tubs, I've never had one that weighs more or exactly what the label states, they're always less.
  • DoNotSpamMe73
    DoNotSpamMe73 Posts: 286 Member
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    I just took a peak at your dairy. On some of your days your eating a little low and if with inaccuracies it is neither too low for weight loss or too high. If you're exercising hard you will retain water but it'll come off. Just keep up a good pace but don't let yourself get too low.
    Note when not exercising regardless of weight you'll only burn around 1600 static calories. You only burn more when heavier if you exercise, or its around the same as other weights. Don't binge, don't cut calories and drink plenty of water.
  • Hello_its_Dan
    Hello_its_Dan Posts: 406 Member
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    Without metabolic testing it's all guess work.
    GI, hormones, macro breakdown, exercise, NEAT, sleep quality....
    Too many moving parts to say you'll burn xxxx calories per day.

    This is why we use feedback and time.
    You eat X calories.
    You lose/gain weight, adjust if necessary.
  • crooked_left_hook
    crooked_left_hook Posts: 364 Member
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    chynaloveee1 wrote: »
    @misskarne those are the "recommended serving size. So if it says 16 crackers for 160 cals, then I'll count out 16 crackers, lol 1pkg is the packet my protein powder comes in (one packet per use) and the granola bars come 2 in a pack "2 bar"

    Theoretically you should be losing weight eating 1200 calories. Based on your weight, calorie intake, and the descriptions of some of the foods you are eating there are likely a few things going on. 1. You are not eating enough calories per day, 2. The calories you are eating are not nutritionally dense, 3. You may be inaccurately weighing some things, 4. You most likely are not tracking every bite that goes in your mouth.

    For perspective, I am 137 lbs and 5'6", which is a healthy weight for my height and makes losing weight fairly difficult. I've got 26.5% body fat so I'm clearly NOT an athlete ;) I eat 1250-1500 calories per day and I do moderate exercise for about 1 hour 3x a week. I actually measure more like you do, so I don't weigh every little thing perfectly and I rely quite a bit on containers with predetermined measurements quite a bit but I track EVERYTHING (including cough drops). I'm losing between 0.5 and 1.5 lbs a week. I eat 6 times a day (3 meals and 3 snacks). I cook everything, 90% of what I eat or use to cook is whole, fresh foods (fruits, veggies, meat, etc) and I try and use minimal processed foods (crackers, granola bars). Protein shakes should be used as a supliment to boost protein in addition to a well rounded diet, not as a meal replacement. Food you can chew is always best!

    I have worked with a nutrition coach, which is helpful for accountability. Weight watchers also works for me. You're welcome to add me as a friend so you can take a look at my diary and see what kind of things I'm eating and what a typical day looks like.



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