Seriously depressed with lack of progress
theledger5
Posts: 63 Member
I honestly think I defy science. I haven't had a good weight loss for over a month now. I had a weeks holiday end of May and gained 1lb. I lost this last week and gained .5lb this week. So I now weigh the same as I did on 20/05. I am consistently logging, exercise is the same (3x 1hr cardio a week + 10k steps). I am averaging 1400 cals a day. Rarely over 1600. I feel like crying as I am eating hardly anything which is such a massive change to my diet 6 months ago. It's not TOM. I am 5'8", 188lbs and have no thyroid but on meds to control it. I can't keep this up, it's making me so depressed that the progress is either non existent or just so tiny it's barely noticeable. 7lb in 3 months. I see people losing this and more in 1 month. I am worried that if I can't lose on 1400 a day what will I have to go down to lose and how realistic is that to maintain long term.
Can anyone offer any advice or look at my diary and see where I am going wrong? I do weigh things, drink plenty, have made changes like switching to almond milk, dropping the artificial sweeteners etc.
Can anyone offer any advice or look at my diary and see where I am going wrong? I do weigh things, drink plenty, have made changes like switching to almond milk, dropping the artificial sweeteners etc.
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Replies
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you weigh everything on scales? a lot of your food is nicely rounded to 10g or 150g or 100g which always makes me wonder? what did you eat on Saturday?
i wouldn't say you're hardly eating anything from what is in your diary, but you may want to try and increase your protein and see if that helps keep you fuller?
what is your cardio? have you been doing the same thing for the last 6 months?
teeny progress is still better than no progress, but given your stats you would expect to be losing a bit more than you have done on 1400 cals.5 -
You don't eat lunch? from what I see in your diary for a few days, didn't go back more than that.
If you are eating what you have logged you should be losing weight. At your height your maintenance cals will be in excess of 2200 calories so if you eat at deficit you will lose.
Are you being really truthful about logging every single thing you eat?
It does look as if you are hardly eating anything.
But be positive, you are in the right place, logging food is a great place to start. Keep tracking your intake, it takes time to lose but you will be glad you stuck with it.
All the best.4 -
All you have to do to lose weight, is to eat less than you burn, but you have to do that, and do it consistently. You don't have to exercise, or eat anyting in particular, or cut anything out. No need to go below 1400, but you can't go over (let's say) 2000. One thing to keep in mind is that daily fluctuations can be greater than any fat loss you can achieve in a week, so that you might not see a drop every week. And you have to keep at it even if you don't see the drop. If you eat at a consistent deficit, your weight will drop. If you count calories, you have to do it right to make it work. You need to use correct entries, correct amounts, log everything that has calories, and hit your goal every day, for calorie counting to work. You have to weigh everything and compare entires to labels/websites yourself.
If you want to cry, cry. It's harmless, it releases stress. But don't deliberately plan so that you have to cry a lot.
If you find it difficult to stick to your allotted calories because you are hungry, look at your diet composition. You need good nutrition, and because losing weight means you have to eat less, you have to pay more attention to what you eat. So cut way down on the less nutrient dense things, and balance the rest. I suggest allotting 150 calories worth of your choice of EITHER candy, ice cream, alcohol, popcorn, crisps, cereal bars, biscuits, flavored yogurts, coffee drinks, cakes, OR cookies, ONCE per WEEK. I would also have one serving of fruit and one serving of vegetables for/with every meal. Your servings of fruit/vegs don't have to be more than 100 grams, but eat different types through the day. Try to both eat regularly, and hitting close to you calorie goal, but also aim to eat some different things from day to day.11 -
Where I have entered 100g for example if you go into the entry you will see I have allowed for example 2/3 of the portion so it's closest to my actual weighed item. I always round up. So if I have 80g of something I generally log 100g to be sure.
They days I haven't eaten lunch are few and far between - we've had a heatwave and it's been so hot I have no appetite so skipped the meal.
I would say I am accurately logging and truthful 99% of the time, this is why I eat a little under my cals to account for the 1% I might miss.
Exercise consists of 1 hour dance fitness class on Mon, 1 hour boxing circuits on Wed and Fri. In between I do weights at home and average 10k steps most days.
I feel like crying as I don't honestly know what more I can do to get the weight loss to show. I have never had so much trouble losing weight. In the past when I have done slimming world for example I have lost well. However the last time I tried to follow the plan it didn't work hence i turned to exercise and MFP.
I tend to avoid fruit to some degree because of the sugar and my teeth. I eat loads of veg though. One thing I have noticed is my bowels are not as consistent as before. On my old diet I was as regular as clockwork and daily, now it's maybe 3 times a week, I wouldn't say I was constipated but I would imagine it's because I am eating substantially less. I do think I need to see a GP and investigate any other reason as I am sure with my diet being so low in cals that I should be losing weight.1 -
Or you could just follow the advice we gave you?
Please ask if something is unclear!3 -
I am already doing those things- accurately logging- daily. Eating fruit and veg, treating myself occasionally to the odd cookie and logging that. I will try adding more protein as someone else suggested. The majority of foods I log I use the bar code scanner to be sure, I also check the label to make sure it matches.kommodevaran wrote: »Or you could just follow the advice we gave you?
Please ask if something is unclear!
Is there anything else you think I am not doing?
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You shouldn't worry so much about the plateau you are on. It is currently happening to me as well. I haven't lost a single pound in a month but I keep exercising and measuring my intake. It will start to go down again soon enough. I'm not depressed about it but I am annoyed about it. But try to focus on the positives. Like I still feel better than ever, I can run farther now than I when I started and have made great progress in my nutrition. Sometimes being too focused on the weight number can be a bad thing. How do you feel physically now compared to when you first started?
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theledger5 wrote: »
I am already doing those things- accurately logging- daily. Eating fruit and veg, treating myself occasionally to the odd cookie and logging that. I will try adding more protein as someone else suggested. The majority of foods I log I use the bar code scanner to be sure, I also check the label to make sure it matches.kommodevaran wrote: »Or you could just follow the advice we gave you?
Please ask if something is unclear!
Is there anything else you think I am not doing?
You're not logging accurately if you log 100g for an 80g item. Yes, it sounds like you'd be eating less than your diary claims but then how often do you skip logging a bite of this or that because you figure your overlogging covers it?
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Using the bar code scanner is not a good method unless you weigh it to check the portion size is accurate. Use the bar code scanner, then weight then work out how much your portion is calorie wise.
In the end it does not matter if you eat 1200 calories of doughnuts or 1200 calories of cauliflower. You just have to eat less than you burn. Though looking at your diary some vegetables would really help with nutrition and to fill you up, you rarely seem to eat anything not packaged, which is totally fine, but veg really do make a huge difference nutritionally. Now I sound like your mum. Hahaha!
You must log everything you eat and drink, you also must log accurately. No eyeballing or guessing.
Be careful eating back exercise calories, burns are hugely overestimated.
If you are doing all of the above and honestly can say you never forget to log, then go to your doctor and ask for testing. It is very rare that people cannot lose weight through diet alone, it is very, very common that people do not log properly.3 -
That sounds so frustrating! It really sounds like you're doing everything right. For me personally, I went a few months without losing much at all, and then all of a sudden weight just started to fall off of me like crazy. Don't give up yet, you might be on the edge of a big drop!
The only thing I could maybe recommend would be to try cycling your carbs/calories and see if that revs your metabolism up i.e. eating higher calorie/higher carb on days where you workout and otherwise eating around 1400 on days you don't work out. Sometimes the body plateaus when either your calories or workouts haven't changed in a while, so it might be worth just fiddling around with it and see if anything happens.
Also I found I started losing more weight when I started drinking a bunch of water, so maybe try incorporating that if you don't drink much as it is. Best of luck!
**edit: After looking at your diary, I think you might be struggling so much because you're opting for only a couple huge meals. If you feel like you're not eating a lot, check out my diary to see how much food I get for 1200 cals. Opting for smaller healthier meals lets me eat a ton throughout the day, maybe that will help you mentally!2 -
theledger5 wrote: »
I am already doing those things- accurately logging- daily. Eating fruit and veg, treating myself occasionally to the odd cookie and logging that. I will try adding more protein as someone else suggested. The majority of foods I log I use the bar code scanner to be sure, I also check the label to make sure it matches.kommodevaran wrote: »Or you could just follow the advice we gave you?
Please ask if something is unclear!
Is there anything else you think I am not doing?
You aren't logging accurately. If you were eating 1200-1400 calories every day, you'd have steadily lost weight. We aren't judging you or anything, it's just that it means that something is off with your logging - so if you can pinpoint and correct that, you will lose weight. So, first - using the bar code is no guarantee for an accurate entry. You still have to double check and weigh it. If don't weigh what you eat, you don't know how much it is. If you weigh, you don't have to round or estimate anything. It means you will be eating less, but not much less, just so much less that you lose weight, but healthily. Don't be afraid.
You can and should treat yourself, and you can indeed eat anything you like, but those cookies, well, they arent't exactly odd. They are so prevalent in your diet that they "eat" up a lot of your calories, and this can explain why you feel like you're eating very little. If you eat more substantial food, and more consistently, you'll feel better.11 -
Trial and error. You need to play around with things until it works. Try reducing some carbs and replace with protein. (although to be honest imo your calories are quite low for someone doing that much cardio) you could try upping fats or reducing sugar (I'm not a big chocolate fan so find this easy to cut out).
You said you lift at home but what does this mean? Those silly coloured tiny dumbbells or something more substantial? remember more muscle = increased bmr.
Other things to consider is quality sleep, relaxing, adequate water intake. Make these daily habits, hell I add them to workouts!0 -
In addition to the great advice you've already been given, I am going to suggest the only other thing that you need to do is work on your expectations. You've lost 7lb in 3 months that is still an achievement, it might be slow progress but it's still progress. Don't compare your weight loss to other people's you aren't them and they are not you. Your medical condition can also affect the rate of weight loss even when medicated.
You mentioned it's not your TOM but you can also see a stall in weight loss around ovulation 2 weeks before from water retention. A 0.5lb gain can be the difference between having had a glass of water or not having a bowel movement at the time of weighing compared to your last weigh in - try not to get so emotionally attached to the number on the scale, it fluctuates, and that is totally normal. If you're logging accurately both your calories and calories out, you will lose the weight, just stick at it.
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I know everyone on here is quick to say that you are not logging correctly. I am guessing that you are and have just hit a plateau. They are maddening! One thing I have tried when I hit a plateau such as you are on is the 5-2 plan. I cannot do this long term but it kick starts my metabolism for two weeks to get me started again. It is HARD! basically you are eating 500 calories for two days and what you want for the other 5. I do not eat "what I want" for the other five I eat my normal 1,200-1,400. This never fails to get me off my plateau. Get the magazine or cookbook though so when you do the 500 calories you actually are eating interesting food and you feel okay about it. Good luck!0
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Hiya. You just need to switch your amounts around. Have a bigger breakfast and a smaller dinner. Aim to eat most (80%) of your daily carbs for breakfast and lunch. Have protein with lunch to fill you up and a high protein low/no carb dinner.
Keep one eye on your snacking. Drink a pint of water every time you feel like a snack.
Hope this helps you.
Best wishes. x0 -
I know everyone on here is quick to say that you are not logging correctly. I am guessing that you are and have just hit a plateau. They are maddening! One thing I have tried when I hit a plateau such as you are on is the 5-2 plan. I cannot do this long term but it kick starts my metabolism for two weeks to get me started again. It is HARD! basically you are eating 500 calories for two days and what you want for the other 5. I do not eat "what I want" for the other five I eat my normal 1,200-1,400. This never fails to get me off my plateau. Get the magazine or cookbook though so when you do the 500 calories you actually are eating interesting food and you feel okay about it. Good luck!
This is not the 5:2 diet as 5:2 has you eat at maintenance five days per week.
The OP is not on a plateau. Her weight has been changing. A plateau is no scale movement for the length of a menstrual cycle and the solution is to eat a bit less or move a bit more or a combo of those two, keeping in mind that at a certain point cutting calories results in a reduction of activity due to lack of energy.6 -
It looks like you are eating quite considerably under your calorie target on most days. Could you be suffering from metabolic adaptation? I don't know what you were doing before your holiday?
I'm only saying that because it's one of the problems with shake/crash/long term keto diets. Your body will gradually adapt, which is why those who then revert to normal eating patterns put the weight back on. If I were you I'd look at your calories over the last 14-21 days, total them and divide them by the number od days to an average calorie intake per day. Then compare that to your BMR. If it is below your BMR then you are likely suffering from metabolic adaptation and would need to gradually reverse diet to get back to normal maintenance calories.
Also, reduce the cardio and replace some of it with weight/resistance training. Muscle requires more calories to keep going, so it will help you with the calories in vs calories out.0 -
theledger5 wrote: »Where I have entered 100g for example if you go into the entry you will see I have allowed for example 2/3 of the portion so it's closest to my actual weighed item. I always round up. So if I have 80g of something I generally log 100g to be sure.
They days I haven't eaten lunch are few and far between - we've had a heatwave and it's been so hot I have no appetite so skipped the meal.
I would say I am accurately logging and truthful 99% of the time, this is why I eat a little under my cals to account for the 1% I might miss.
Exercise consists of 1 hour dance fitness class on Mon, 1 hour boxing circuits on Wed and Fri. In between I do weights at home and average 10k steps most days.
I feel like crying as I don't honestly know what more I can do to get the weight loss to show. I have never had so much trouble losing weight. In the past when I have done slimming world for example I have lost well. However the last time I tried to follow the plan it didn't work hence i turned to exercise and MFP.
I tend to avoid fruit to some degree because of the sugar and my teeth. I eat loads of veg though. One thing I have noticed is my bowels are not as consistent as before. On my old diet I was as regular as clockwork and daily, now it's maybe 3 times a week, I wouldn't say I was constipated but I would imagine it's because I am eating substantially less. I do think I need to see a GP and investigate any other reason as I am sure with my diet being so low in cals that I should be losing weight.
If you're not going to the loo as much that will mask any loss on the scale for sure. More fibre will help with that issue - or try prunes! they work a treat.
You are active, I'm not actually sure how you aren't fainting eating as little as you are - I'm only 5ft 2 and I ate more than that when I was losing (I'm active too).
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I looked back a month or two in your diary and saw more veggies and healthy choices. Not sure what difference that would make, but why not try picking a time when you were losing well, go to that week's diary entries, and copy what you ate then to see if you do better on that again? I'm sort of in the same boat; I've regained 8 lbs after hitting my goal and now seem stuck. Thinking of doing what I just advised you to do.3
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Water retention a factor from this very non-English heat wave?
7lbs in 3 months is something though, another 3 months and you will have lost a stone.....3 -
Some entries seem inaccurate. There's no way that 2 peaches are only 76 calories. Weigh them. 55g of oats is not 100 calories either, but closer to 180.. and you have those a lot. And weigh your honey as well. One hot dog is typically closer to 400 calories than 240. One slice of cake will never be only 160 calories LOL.
All this in the last couple days. Guaranteed that you're eating more than you think.
That being said, I'm guessing you're just hitting a stall.. even if you ate 1800 calories, you should be losing. Log more accurately, and be patient.
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Hi I am 59 5ft 1 and have Hashimoto's UAT and am on levo . Im doing a keto diet and tracking with a calorie deficit and despite sticking to the macros my progress is dead slow and i keep gaining and losing the same few pounds. It irks me that some are doing lazy keto and having "treats and cheats" and lose lots more weight than I in a shorter period of time. It is the thyroid I feel is to blame for the snail pace weight loss. All we can do is stick at it. Maybe you need to take some Magnesium Chelate which is a good bowel stimulant, to keep your bowels more regular. I have to take Movicol 2x per day as i have had bowel cancer reconstructive surgery as I lost the rectum and this new rectum made from a length of colon does not empty itself without going to diahorrea most days ! Your weight loss will be hindered if you dont have regular bowel movements.0
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carolgold2017 wrote: »Hi I am 59 5ft 1 and have Hashimoto's UAT and am on levo . Im doing a keto diet and tracking with a calorie deficit and despite sticking to the macros my progress is dead slow and i keep gaining and losing the same few pounds. It irks me that some are doing lazy keto and having "treats and cheats" and lose lots more weight than I in a shorter period of time. It is the thyroid I feel is to blame for the snail pace weight loss. All we can do is stick at it. Maybe you need to take some Magnesium Chelate which is a good bowel stimulant, to keep your bowels more regular. I have to take Movicol 2x per day as i have had bowel cancer reconstructive surgery as I lost the rectum and this new rectum made from a length of colon does not empty itself without going to diahorrea most days ! Your weight loss will be hindered if you dont have regular bowel movements.
Why does it bother you? There's nothing magical about keto that makes people lose more weight. A calorie deficit is all that's needed for weight loss and those people are achieving that. Your thyroid may have a bit to do with it, sure, but being precise in your logging is also a huge factor.6 -
dhawthorne1973 wrote: »Hiya. You just need to switch your amounts around. Have a bigger breakfast and a smaller dinner. Aim to eat most (80%) of your daily carbs for breakfast and lunch. Have protein with lunch to fill you up and a high protein low/no carb dinner.
Keep one eye on your snacking. Drink a pint of water every time you feel like a snack.
Hope this helps you.
Best wishes. x
Timing of meals is irrelevant, it has no effect on weight loss.6 -
Some entries seem inaccurate. There's no way that 2 peaches are only 76 calories. Weigh them. 55g of oats is not 100 calories either, but closer to 180.. and you have those a lot. And weigh your honey as well. One hot dog is typically closer to 400 calories than 240. One slice of cake will never be only 160 calories LOL.
All this in the last couple days. Guaranteed that you're eating more than you think.
That being said, I'm guessing you're just hitting a stall.. even if you ate 1800 calories, you should be losing. Log more accurately, and be patient.
Quoting for emphasis. This is where your problem is OP.
Double check the entries you are using. Use the food scale, even for stuff you are scanning.
Commit to logging accurately for two weeks, no rounding, double checking the entries you're using, weighing every portion on the food scale, logging every single thing. It should shine a light on where the problem is so you can move forward. Good luck!5 -
Some entries seem inaccurate. There's no way that 2 peaches are only 76 calories. Weigh them. 55g of oats is not 100 calories either, but closer to 180.. and you have those a lot. And weigh your honey as well. One hot dog is typically closer to 400 calories than 240. One slice of cake will never be only 160 calories LOL.
All this in the last couple days. Guaranteed that you're eating more than you think.
That being said, I'm guessing you're just hitting a stall.. even if you ate 1800 calories, you should be losing. Log more accurately, and be patient.
Quoting for emphasis. This is where your problem is OP.
Double check the entries you are using. Use the food scale, even for stuff you are scanning.
Commit to logging accurately for two weeks, no rounding, double checking the entries you're using, weighing every portion on the food scale, logging every single thing. It should shine a light on where the problem is so you can move forward. Good luck!
And double check some values. Again, dry oatmeal is 150 calories for 40g.3 -
Some entries seem inaccurate. There's no way that 2 peaches are only 76 calories. Weigh them. 55g of oats is not 100 calories either, but closer to 180.. and you have those a lot. And weigh your honey as well. One hot dog is typically closer to 400 calories than 240. One slice of cake will never be only 160 calories LOL.
All this in the last couple days. Guaranteed that you're eating more than you think.
That being said, I'm guessing you're just hitting a stall.. even if you ate 1800 calories, you should be losing. Log more accurately, and be patient.
Quoting for emphasis. This is where your problem is OP.
Double check the entries you are using. Use the food scale, even for stuff you are scanning.
Commit to logging accurately for two weeks, no rounding, double checking the entries you're using, weighing every portion on the food scale, logging every single thing. It should shine a light on where the problem is so you can move forward. Good luck!
And double check some values. Again, dry oatmeal is 150 calories for 40g.
The oatmeal sachets I use are pre measured at 27g, it quotes 189 cals as made up with semi skimmed milk which is 75 cals per 100ml. I use almond milk at 13cals per 100ml so I'm sure my logging for that entry is correct0 -
OP, you may also want to try a weight-trending program like Happy Scale (iPhone) or Libra (Android). Weighing every day helps you understand the daily fluctuations due to food, sodium and hormones. With several weeks of daily weigh-ins, it shows you the general trend of your weight. It uses a predictive algorithm to show you where you're headed: up, maintaining or losing.
It helped me stop hating the scale. And from being freaked out by the fluctuations. And it took the pressure off the "weekly weigh-in."4 -
You don't log anything at all on the weekends; problem solved. Your yolo weekends are killing your deficit. Nothing wrong with over days (if you are still in an overall deficit) but do log them and log them accurately because as you learned the body keeps an accurate journal no matter what you write down (or dont)15
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I didn't read all the replies so maybe someone said this already...or maybe it doesn't even apply, I see the OP has added more and pertinent info, like cheat days.
Change the batteries in your body weight scale. Mine shows no weight loss for months if it needs new batteries.2
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