Stumped

mandilamadrid
mandilamadrid Posts: 19 Member
edited November 16 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, about two weeks ago I switched my calroie goal from 1430 (.5 pound lost a week) to 1200 (1 pound lost), but I have stayed the same weight since. Even before I switched it, I was stuck maintaining weight instead of losing. What reasons could there be for this? I know it could be because I'm not able to measure my food very well, but because I exercise almost every day, I always make sure that I do not eat back all the exercise calories, only some, so there are usually about 200 calroies left to account for that. Why else am I not losing weight?

Replies

  • Stella3838
    Stella3838 Posts: 439 Member
    Not weighing/measuring food is the culprit 9.9/10. If you aren't losing, you're not in a deficit. No matter how much exercise you do. You can't out-exercise a diet that's not controlled.
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,669 Member
    How long have you been involuntarily maintaining, and how long were you losing before that?

    What is your height and current weight?

    Male or female? If female, where are you in your monthly cycle?
  • mandilamadrid
    mandilamadrid Posts: 19 Member
    TmacMMM wrote: »
    How long have you been involuntarily maintaining, and how long were you losing before that?

    What is your height and current weight?

    Male or female? If female, where are you in your monthly cycle?

    Been involuntarily maintaining about a month, before that I had been losing slowly for about 2 months. Height: 5'1" weight: 139. Female, about to start menstruating currently.
  • mandilamadrid
    mandilamadrid Posts: 19 Member
    Stella3838 wrote: »
    Not weighing/measuring food is the culprit 9.9/10. If you aren't losing, you're not in a deficit. No matter how much exercise you do. You can't out-exercise a diet that's not controlled.

    What do you recommend? I am a college student and can't measure my food since I eat from the dining hall every day. The dining hall has portions and theit nutrition facts in MFP so I base it on that.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    edited March 2017
    This content has been removed.
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,669 Member
    You're not very heavy, so weight loss is going to be slow. So "success" should look like .5 lbs/wk, or less. As long as it's moving over the course of the month, you're good.

    The sodium/carb content of the school meals or the lead-up to your cycle may make you retain water. It may be disguising any weight loss you'd otherwise see from the calorie decrease.

    So, my advice is to focus on lighter foods, to take the edge off the difficulty in estimating at the cafeteria. A mistake made with grilled chicken will be less painful than one made with lasagna.

    You're in college, and if I remember those years, there was plenty of alcohol. If you drink, are you logging it accurately?

    Give it lots of time, and don't adjust your calories again until you've gone through a cycle or two.

    Also, a final question: Can you think of what changed between when you were losing slowly and when you stopped? Are you eating/drinking something different? Exercising differently or walking less? Something has changed, so can you ID it?
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,669 Member
    Another thought: Exercise calories on MFP are often inaccurate and very high. What exercise do you do, in what intensity/duration, and how do you determine the calorie burn?

    I know you're not eating some as a buffer, but if the total is far enough off, it could stall you.
  • mandilamadrid
    mandilamadrid Posts: 19 Member
    TmacMMM wrote: »
    Another thought: Exercise calories on MFP are often inaccurate and very high. What exercise do you do, in what intensity/duration, and how do you determine the calorie burn?

    I know you're not eating some as a buffer, but if the total is far enough off, it could stall you.

    I do the fitness classes offered at the school gym, so zumba, Kickboxing, trx, turbo fot and cardio dance, and I also run when there are no classes that day. That cardio is usually moderate intensity for an hour. I also strength train 3 days a week for about an hour. I just determine burn with what the app gives me since I do not have a tracker.
    As for the alcohol question and what has changed, I don't drink and nothing I can think of has changed since I was losing, since my routine is always the same.
  • mandilamadrid
    mandilamadrid Posts: 19 Member
    Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »
    The few hundred calories you think is covering your inability to not weigh, probably isn't helping at all..

    considering how many times i've found some pretty terrible inaccuracy and even more often i find little ones in everything i eat.. a few hundred calories really might not cover you depending on what you are eating.

    ill use myself an example.. i have a 250 cal deficit, recently i found out that the bread i was buying was mislabeled. it said 2 slices was 150 calories but it was actually 300. So instantly thats 150 calories of my 250 gone. And that was just breakfast. sometimes i also have a sandwich at lunch so it would of happened again.. +150 more calories i didn't know about.. now i am 50 calories above maintenance. Sometimes i have a fiber 1 90 calorie brownie thing with my tea at night. However they are only 90 calories for 25g, they are 28g which makes them 100 calories, so +10 more so now i am 60. So if i didn't own a scale to weigh my meats and veggies.. there is a possibility those veg could be another 20-30 more and you could be eyeballing chicken and getting another 50-60 more calories if you are just guessing what "3oz" or "100g" is. So if we add those hypothetical inaccuracies in i am now +150 into maintenance.. and thats just a couple things i could of eaten in 1 day ... so if all thats left at the end of my day was 200 calories outside of my 250.. and i am now 150 over in inaccuracies from not weighing, 50 calories a day is going to take me almost 2.5 months to lose a pound if i was doing that all the time it pretty much looks like a stall and would likely result in me making a board about being at a plateau.

    Then what do you recommend if I'm unable to measure?
  • AnnofB
    AnnofB Posts: 3,588 Member
    This is a difficult situation. There's just no way to determine the size of the servings. Maybe try to eat 10 % less of everything. Or bring a small scale with you and some measuring cups to weigh what you are given. You might feel funny about it, but you will have a much better idea regarding calorie intake.

    As TMacmm said, you don't have a lot to lose and the closer you get to your goal the harder it will be.

    And last of all. Relax. You are doing everything you can to get where you need to be. Give it a bit more time. If you remain the same, change it up again.

    Good luck, and keep us updated. :)

    Ann
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    edited March 2017
    This content has been removed.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,486 Member
    It is hard when you have little to lose and are not able to weigh your food.
    There are tones of images on the web for portion size estimates. Give it a google and chose one that works for you. Work with it consistently for 4 weeks then adjust your portion sizes up or down as needed.

    You may find having smaller portions of rice, potatoes, pasta, and sauces, and larger portions of veg (with little oil or dressing) will tip the scale in your favour.

    With the exercise you are doing, and providing you have no medical problems, 1450-1550cals a day should have you losing .5-1 lbs a week. (At 5'1 and 130lbs 1450 worked for me and I am old) undershooting a little bit because of the inherent logging inaccuracies in your situation should be ok.

    Don't drop your calories further. This can lead to lethargy- sacrificing daily activity to get your workout in which will start messing with your NEAT.

    Cheers, h.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    mandilamadrid wrote: »
    TmacMMM wrote: »
    How long have you been involuntarily maintaining, and how long were you losing before that?

    What is your height and current weight?

    Male or female? If female, where are you in your monthly cycle?

    Been involuntarily maintaining about a month, before that I had been losing slowly for about 2 months. Height: 5'1" weight: 139. Female, about to start menstruating currently.


    Potential inaccuracies in weighing/measuring, plus the bolded? Well, there you go.

This discussion has been closed.

Categories