Can't Lose Weight!

pwedge68
pwedge68 Posts: 36 Member
edited April 2017 in Health and Weight Loss
My Thyroid levels are good. I am 48 going on 49 years old. I am having a really hard time losing these extra 53lbs! I use to lose easily but this time around it isn't working. I don't know what to do. I lose a couple of pounds but gain them back. I do an hour on the treadmill at a brisk pace carrying 2lb weights in each hand 5 times a week. I do get 10,000 Steps or more a day. My calorie intake is at 1200 and I do eat some of my exercise calories. Maybe I shouldn't eat any of them and stay at 1200 calories. Help!

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    How long have you been doing this?
  • pwedge68
    pwedge68 Posts: 36 Member
    Since January
  • cross2bear
    cross2bear Posts: 1,106 Member
    Yes, you can lose weight - the laws of physics will work for you too! So examine your logging and weighing - are you completely accurate, no fudging? Are you sure you are accurately recording your exercise? There is an expression - you cant outrun a bad diet - maybe stop eating, or cut back on those calories. I hope someone comes along and posts a really good graphic - a flow chart of stuff to check.

    And if you have only been doing this for a short time - be patient. Weight loss isnt entirely predictable.
  • pwedge68
    pwedge68 Posts: 36 Member
    If I eat 1200 Calories and only get 500 exercise calories and eat some of those exercise calories back will I still lose weight?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    I see several days in the past few weeks where you have gone over by a little or even a lot (even counting your exercise calories). Some of the meals look like you might be trying to approximate restaurant meals so the calories on those could be much higher than what you estimated.

    Before you determine it isn't working, I would focus on consistently hitting your calorie goal. Consider that your calorie burns could be over-estimates, you might just want to eat a portion of them back.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    pwedge68 wrote: »
    If I eat 1200 Calories and only get 500 exercise calories and eat some of those exercise calories back will I still lose weight?

    Assuming you are measuring your calories in and calories out accurately, you should.
  • pwedge68
    pwedge68 Posts: 36 Member
    Thank you. I will pay close attention to my measuring and see where that gets me.
  • Duchy82
    Duchy82 Posts: 560 Member
    First, are you sure your logging is accurate, are you weighing and measuring all the food and drink you consume? And are you cross checking the database entry with the calories on the package where possible/using usda entries? I'm not being mean but at 1200 cal with 53lbs to lose you should be losing weight and people are very good at underestimating portion sizes

    Second you say your thyroid levels are good, I assume you are hypothyroid and are on replacement? If so define good, tsh etc in the normal range may not mean normal for you, are you symptom free besides the inability to lose weight? If not then I suggest you may need a dose increase. Also get vit D, B12 and iron checked they can be low and could hinder weightloss.

    Weightloss can definitely be achieved with thyroid problems I have lost 70 lb so far with hypothyroidism.
  • pwedge68
    pwedge68 Posts: 36 Member
    I only have 2/3 of my Thyroid and I am on medicine. My tsh is in the normal levels and my doctor will not raise my dosage. I do take a Vitamin D and B12 supplement. I am going to focus on making sure I measure my food correctly and see how it goes. Maybe this time in my life it will just take more time to lose my extra weight. I would love to keep this weight off for good. It was wrong of me to revert back to my old habits and gain it back.
  • firead
    firead Posts: 56 Member
    There are 2 things that could be going on. Either you're underestimating what you eat, or overestimating your calorie burn. I've heard that the calorie burn estimated both by MFP and by exercise equipment can by way off, so maybe only eat back half of the estimated exercise calories.

    For logging, be careful to weigh your portions and log it accurately. Even going over an ounce or two per meal can add up. Also, if you're estimating restaurant meals, they can be much higher in fat & calories than a homemade version would be - most restaurants add a lot of butter, oil, and other fats in the cooking process.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    Try to be as accurate as possible in your food logging for 8 weeks. Nothing wrong with eating out, but you do somewhat give up control with that. Even though many restaurants post their nutritional information, you have no way to know if a chef is heavy handed with his/her use of high calorie items like butters and oils. For food you make, weigh everything. That is, any bit of solid food: weigh on a food scale and log in grams. Even things like slices of bread. The package 'serving' is often wrong.
    • Weigh all solids on food scale. Avoid serving entries like 1 piece, 1 slice, 1 cup. (Cups/spoons for liquids only.)
    • Log every thing, every day.
    • Consider misc items like condiments, cooking oils, drinks
    • Be honest with yourself - a bite of this, a taste of that CAN add up
    • Create your own recipes - my baked pasta could have different ingredients and therefore different calorie content than your baked pasta
    • Make sure your weighed method matches your logged entry. Such as 112 grams raw chicken breast is logged as 112 grams raw chicken breast; 112 grams cooked chicken breast logged as 112 grams cooked chicken breast
    • Be aware the database is user created, so there are errors from human mistakes. Look for USDA entries, and/or question the #s if it seems too good to be true. An 8 ounce filet mignon at 125 calories is suspect!
    • Have patience - weight is lost over time.
  • junodog1
    junodog1 Posts: 4,792 Member
    Become friends with this website: https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list
  • Kullerva
    Kullerva Posts: 1,114 Member
    Where is the MFP flippy chart thingy? Aha...behold the sticky! http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10179969/weight-loss-flow-chart-2-0/p1
  • pwedge68
    pwedge68 Posts: 36 Member
    I have a question about my exercise calories. I notice that my Fitbit gives me higher calories than my My Fitness Pal gives me. I have been adding my Treadmill stats from my Fitbit into My Fitness Pal. I do wear a Fitbit that tracks my workout. The calories are usually around 100 off. Do I trust my Fitbit or what MFP tells me?
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    edited April 2017
    pwedge68 wrote: »
    I have a question about my exercise calories. I notice that my Fitbit gives me higher calories than my My Fitness Pal gives me. I have been adding my Treadmill stats from my Fitbit into My Fitness Pal. I do wear a Fitbit that tracks my workout. The calories are usually around 100 off. Do I trust my Fitbit or what MFP tells me?

    Get to the bottom of your calorie tracking issue first. If you're not losing weight, conventional wisdom suggests you are really eating more than you think. Do you have (and use) a food scale for foods other than liquids, and use measuring cups for liquids? Are you using accurate database entries? Tracking every nibble, bite, lick, and swipe?
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    pwedge68 wrote: »
    I have a question about my exercise calories. I notice that my Fitbit gives me higher calories than my My Fitness Pal gives me. I have been adding my Treadmill stats from my Fitbit into My Fitness Pal. I do wear a Fitbit that tracks my workout. The calories are usually around 100 off. Do I trust my Fitbit or what MFP tells me?

    Honestly, I would use whichever is lower. They are all estimates unfortunately. You just have to keep tweaking until you find the sweet spot :). So I would focus on your food logging and eat back most of your MFP exercise cals. Give it 3 weeks and see what happens. Some people find they can only eat 1/2 or even 1/4 of their exercise cals.
  • samuelgina91
    samuelgina91 Posts: 158 Member
    pwedge68 wrote: »
    I have a question about my exercise calories. I notice that my Fitbit gives me higher calories than my My Fitness Pal gives me. I have been adding my Treadmill stats from my Fitbit into My Fitness Pal. I do wear a Fitbit that tracks my workout. The calories are usually around 100 off. Do I trust my Fitbit or what MFP tells me?

    I would just take the average of the two measurements, or if you hate math just take the lower one, and only eat about "half" those exercise calories back. Most if not all those trackers, whether it is on the machine or by device overestimate the amount of calories burned.
  • pwedge68
    pwedge68 Posts: 36 Member
    Maybe I am not measuring accurately. I do have a scale, measuring cups and spoons. I will make sure to measure everything that goes into my mouth. I almost don't want to eat out because your never sure what the chefs are putting in their food. I will say I don't enjoy eating something and I can't measure it especially when it comes to sauces.
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,725 Member
    Everyone here has good advice, I also had around 55lbs to lose & I have 20 more to go so I know it works. mfp gave me 1460 to start off with & the more I lost, the less calories it gave me. I don't work out a lot but when I do, I eat about half the calories back most of the time. I rarely eat out. I think the accurate weighing is very important
  • 2snakeswoman
    2snakeswoman Posts: 655 Member
    Don't change too much at once. My thought is give yourself more calories - maybe 1500 - and keep exercising but don't eat any of the calories back unless you are really starving or have a special occasion.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    pwedge68 wrote: »
    Maybe I am not measuring accurately. I do have a scale, measuring cups and spoons. I will make sure to measure everything that goes into my mouth. I almost don't want to eat out because your never sure what the chefs are putting in their food. I will say I don't enjoy eating something and I can't measure it especially when it comes to sauces.

    The awesome thing about using a food scale is that ironically it makes you better at eyeballing. I've been logging for a couple of years, and was kind of horrified by how off my perception of "half a cup" or that sort of thing was. But now it's kind of a game, I pour out what I think is a serving and then weigh it, and I do much better LOL. After you get some practice, it's a lot easier to look at the plate of food you get in a restaurant and guess how much of each item you have. It's also a good idea to log a tablespoon of oil whenever you eat out, as they use more oil or butter than you would think.

    Practice makes perfect, and you CAN get to the point where you can go to a restaurant or someone else's house and not stress out. Besides, one meal doesn't make you gain weight, it's what you do most of the time. :)
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    firead wrote: »
    ...Also, if you're estimating restaurant meals, they can be much higher in fat & calories than a homemade version would be - most restaurants add a lot of butter, oil, and other fats in the cooking process.

    Not only that, but I've found that they often serve up larger portions than what's listed on their website. For example, I go to this one Chipotle that dishes out huge servings. Great for me, since I purposely eat there on my long trail running days when I need the extra calories and protein! But I log it as 1.5 servings of whatever I'm getting, not 1 serving, since they're dishing up way more than a serving...(That amounts to hundreds of extra calories each time, so if you eat out a lot, your diary probably isn't as accurate as you think.)

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