Weight won't budge this time

Cali223
Cali223 Posts: 5 Member
edited November 19 in Health and Weight Loss
About 2 years ago I lost around 19lbs, which is the most I have ever lost by tracking my calories (very loosely now I look back on it) and only doing cardio 3 times a week. But I ended up falling off the bandwagon and bounced back to my original weight.

I'm 5"1 and weigh 155 lbs and really want to get down to a healthy 120lbs.

This year I'm in a better place to loose the weight, but this time I am having so much trouble. For over a month I have been tracking my calories and sticking to 1200 a day. I have only exeeded this limit once other than eating back a few calories in fruit after a work out. I have weighed all my food this time around and am loging much more accurately than last time. I also exercise 3-4 days a week doing a mix of about 40% cardio 60% heavy weights and still nothing.
A typical day of eating for me looks like-

Breakfast:
50 grams of rolled oats
1/2 cup of skim milk
Tangelo

Lunch:
Greek yoghurt
Granny Smith apple
Assorted musli bar (all around 200 calories)

Dinner:
200g chicken breast
1 cup of broccoli
1/2 cup carrots
1/2 cup of capsicum
Oyster sauce to help stir fry ( 3 table spoons)

Snack:
Banana

Total calories- 1137

I only drink water, the occasional sugar free iced tea, and coffee with skim milk and sweetener.

I am a little disheartened that I am seeing no change on the scale or looks much. Any advise on how to get the weight off?
Thanks so much!

Replies

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    Still nothing?
  • Cali223
    Cali223 Posts: 5 Member
    I've been following the same calorie tracking and exercise for over a month and no I haven't lost anything. Any advise would be appreciated to try and help me work out if I'm doing something wrong?
  • Nbaker0909
    Nbaker0909 Posts: 102 Member
    The only suggestion I can give is eat more. 1200 is sort of bare minimum for calories and not enough if you're working out too. Have a little more food and the weight should come off
  • Cali223
    Cali223 Posts: 5 Member
    Thanks, yeah most of the time if I work out I'll eat about 100-200 calories over my limit which takes me to my BMR (because I'm so short my BMR is only 1400) So is that enough or do you recommend more? Im just scared that I'll be eating back everything I burn.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    I would suggest eating way more vegetables
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,486 Member
    Looking at how you have listed your intake above, although you are logging, you are not weighing all your food. (Apologies if you are and it just looks like you are not)

    Start weighing everything- all bananas are not created equal :)
    The usda database, or entries using the usda database are the most accurate.

    It could also be water retention. Depending on where you are in your cycle it may take 2 months to see a loss.
    If you have just restarted exercising that too can cause water retention.

    A trending app, like happyscale for iPhone, and daily weighing may help you see losses more clearly.

    Stick with it, eat a portion of your exercise calories back, you need the fuel for optimum performance, and if you find 1200 hard, move your deficit .5 lbs.

    Remember if you give up you will weigh the same in a year, if you stick with it you will be at your goal weight this time next year.

    cheers, h.
  • Cali223
    Cali223 Posts: 5 Member
    Thanks for the feedback!

    You are right, I don't weigh my bananas I just go off the "small, medium, large" measurement that the app provides so I can certainly change that.

    I've kept in mind that some of it could be muscle gain seeing as I am already lifting much heavier weights, and I figure that part of it could be water retention too. I guess because I saw the scale drop so rapidly last time, that I would be the same this time around but I guess not.

    I'll make sure that I weigh my fruits too now. Thanks for the help!
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,486 Member
    It is always easier learning how to log accurately at the beginning, albeit a bit tiresome, then knowing where you can back off once you are well established in your deficit than using incorrect data and having lots of stalls.

    Also, unfortunately, women build muscle very slowly, so it won't be muscle gain. Water retention happens when your muscles are repairing after use. Don't let not building muscle stop you, by using your muscles you are helping preserve them.

    Around 200 cals per hour of exercise would be reasonable to start with. This can be adjusted up or down in the future once your logging and exercise routine are established.

    Cheers, h.
  • kvwalton30
    kvwalton30 Posts: 15 Member
    Personally I would try eating a bit more. Maybe do a reverse diet, where you add 50-100 extra calories each week and see what happens. Perhaps your metabolism is a bit sluggish. Personally I would struggle to do all that exercise on 1200 calories a day!
  • postchi1
    postchi1 Posts: 30 Member
    Weight yourself at the same time ideall am before food. Secondly, use a mirror more. 4x weights p/w and a good protein intake would aid protein synthisis and help preserve and in some conditions gain a small amount of muscle hypertrophy.

    Basically, you may be losing BF but maintaining weight due to and increase in muscle mass. Scales can often mislead i would recommend but with a pinch of salt.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    All of what MiddleHaitch is saying. She knows her stuff. When I started lifting, it took many weeks without losses before, whoosh, 4lbs dropped off essentially over night. Give yourself more time. I know it's hard, but you'll get there. Patience.
  • Silentpadna
    Silentpadna Posts: 1,306 Member
    middlehaitch wrote: »

    Also, unfortunately, women build muscle very slowly, so it won't be muscle gain. Water retention happens when your muscles are repairing after use. Don't let not building muscle stop you, by using your muscles you are helping preserve them.

    It's true for men too, at least in the sense that muscle gain is not as fast as some think. I bolded the part above for the OP so that it's understood that water retention for this purpose is a very good thing. Don't let water weight scare you into not preserving muscle. That would be a mistake.
  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
    Cali223 wrote: »
    Thanks for the feedback!

    You are right, I don't weigh my bananas I just go off the "small, medium, large" measurement that the app provides so I can certainly change that.

    I've kept in mind that some of it could be muscle gain seeing as I am already lifting much heavier weights, and I figure that part of it could be water retention too. I guess because I saw the scale drop so rapidly last time, that I would be the same this time around but I guess not.

    I'll make sure that I weigh my fruits too now. Thanks for the help!

    you are not putting on muscle mass within one month while eating at a calorie deficit.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    It doesn't matter what you eat, it matters how many calories. Entering an apple in your diary means nothing other than an inaccurate calorie count. Weigh everything by the gram and use entries in the database that are listed by gram whenever possible. It is likely the OP is eating much more than what they think. Since some of the things listed are in grams I assume they have a scale. Use it for everything, even the liquids if you can. Even a "banana" can be from 90-150 calories depending on size, even more (large *kitten* banana!).
  • postchi1
    postchi1 Posts: 30 Member
    If applying progressive overload with a good protein intake. There is a good chance fluctuation on the scales is related to muscle mass or water retention.

    Id love to see a study that shows muscle mass cannot be gained on a deficit, agreed it is much harder given macros/hydration need to be on point. But to an extent can be done
  • acbraswell
    acbraswell Posts: 238 Member
    postchi1 wrote: »
    If applying progressive overload with a good protein intake. There is a good chance fluctuation on the scales is related to muscle mass or water retention.

    Id love to see a study that shows muscle mass cannot be gained on a deficit, agreed it is much harder given macros/hydration need to be on point. But to an extent can be done

    This. I have been logging for about a year, but had a bad injury last year that required surgery in January and a hard cast for 6 weeks, so no exercising at all. Once I got some base fitness back, I went hard at logging and eating at a calorie deficit, but increased protein and lifted heavy. The scale has actually increased 8 pounds from my lowest, however my clothes fit better and my measurements have changed. I believe that you can gain muscle mass and lose fat eating at a deficit. The scale is not the be all/end all of your fitness journey. A muscular 130 looks better than a "skinny-fat" 120 any day!
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