Not losing weight

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xxzenabxx
xxzenabxx Posts: 935 Member
edited July 2017 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone! So I'm 23 years old, weigh 154lbs. In oct 2015 I managed to get my weight down to 136 lbs by diet and exercising but because of university and stress I've gained all the weight back. I've been eat 1200/1400 calories a day and I exercise three times a week. I sometime mix up hand weights at home, yoga or stretching. I've built abit of muscle. I'm at loss as to why it's been over a year and I'm not losing weight?! I am an ectomorph and endomorph! Pear shaped slightly! I'm desperate and want to do alternate day fasting?!
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Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    How long has it been since you've lost weight? What is your calorie goal?
  • GrumpyHeadmistress
    GrumpyHeadmistress Posts: 666 Member
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    Any more information you can give? Height, calories, how you measure your food (if you do), how often you go over? If you could open your diary too that would help.
  • xxzenabxx
    xxzenabxx Posts: 935 Member
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    Sorry I updated the info! It disappeared for some reason! I measure my food by reading labels or using portion control like the size of my palm for example.
  • xxzenabxx
    xxzenabxx Posts: 935 Member
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    I'm not eating more than I think...I measure and eat mostly low calorie veggies...even if I was it would only be 100 calories more and I don't feel very energetic. i can't use a food scale as my family would think I'm going into my eating disorder past...I'm tryng to do this in the least mentally draining way possible.
  • shadus
    shadus Posts: 424 Member
    edited July 2017
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    xxzenabxx wrote: »
    Sorry I updated the info! It disappeared for some reason! I measure my food by reading labels or using portion control like the size of my palm for example.

    Well, there's your likely problem. You're underestimating your calories (could also be over estimating calories from exercise if you eat those back, almost all machines and fitness bands *massively* overestimate what you're burning.) Even "portions" listed on packaging unless you're doing it by weight are often off by as much as 25-30%... and consider items like potatoes, which of the potatoes in the bag is a 'medium potato'? I've seen a single bag have potatoes from 65g to 350g and without weighing... you might as well be blind guessing at calories consumed.

    Try weighing your food for a month. I'd wager you're over estimating what you're eating by a significant amount (you're not gaining because you're active and you're not off by *a lot*, but you're stalling out.)

    If the original post isn't showing your vital statistics to calculate tdee/bmr I'd just reply again and post em, people will see em, still very close to the thread top.
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Check out a food scale, it's the most ONLY accurate way to measure your food.

    FTFY ;)

    (Realism is... some people have no need to weigh food, they naturally regulate the food they eat to what they're expending very well, they're generally not the folk on this site. If you have went more than a month or two of no weight loss at a calorie deficit that should result in a multiple pound weight loss and you're not weighing your food, 90% of the time that is the cause, 9.9% of the time they're basing their numbers off bad numbers from exercise machines/fitnessbands and eating back too many calories, 0.1% of the time it's actually some metabolic disorder a doctor needs involved in resolving.)
  • xxzenabxx
    xxzenabxx Posts: 935 Member
    edited July 2017
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    I'm eating 70/80g protein and some days I eat more carbs like 100g and I eat a higher fat diet. I feel insanely healthy but my body has been stuck on 154 lbs for one year...in fact it went up to 161lbs and I recently came down to 154 and it's not going down...
  • GrumpyHeadmistress
    GrumpyHeadmistress Posts: 666 Member
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    I notice you've been a member of MFP for just a few hours. Have you been tracking elsewhere or using another diet as a path?
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
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    First: determine if you really need to lose weight and, if so, what is your goal. Focus on being a happy productive person. Don't get overly preoccupied with appearance. Focus on health.

    Given that, It all comes down to maintaining a consistent deficit over many weeks or months. The deficit can be small, but so long as you maintain it consistently, you will lose weight. This means knowing your portions.

    IFs can help, within reason. But body weight isn't gained or lost in a day.
  • princeofmind
    princeofmind Posts: 95 Member
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    xxzenabxx wrote: »
    I'm not eating more than I think...I measure and eat mostly low calorie veggies...even if I was it would only be 100 calories more and I don't feel very energetic. i can't use a food scale as my family would think I'm going into my eating disorder past...I'm tryng to do this in the least mentally draining way possible.

    I just googled the calories in a small chicken breast and a large chicken breast and the difference was 198 calories.
    A baby potato has aprox 50 calories per potato so if you had 5 baby potatos at a size 1/5th bigger than the average then thats an extra 50 calories.
    So just misjudging those 2 items for dinner could lead to an extra 250 calories in that one meal.
    If its not on a scale then the judgement is always going to be wrong unless you only eat prepackaged food.
    Weight loss is a simple method of calories in vs calories out. So if you are not losing weight you are eating at maintenance levels.
    I know that you don't want to hear that you are eating too much to lose weight but unless there is a medical condition involved, either your calculation of how many calories you should have a day is wrong, or you are misjudging how much you are eating.
  • xxzenabxx
    xxzenabxx Posts: 935 Member
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    Look I can't used a food scale, but I can read packaging and I can use the fist and palm method to track calories. And I'm not going to accept my weight the way it is because my clothes have become tighter for me. I've been on MFP for over a year but I haven't religiously tracked my calories everyday. Some days I don't log in. Also, how can I go below 1200 calories? Isn't that undereating?
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    xxzenabxx wrote: »
    Also, how can I go below 1200 calories? Isn't that undereating?

    Because you're not eating 1200 calories. You only think you are. I know you don't want to believe it, that's okay. We've all been there and with your situation it doesn't sound like accuracy is going to be something you can do right now. Buy new clothes if yours don't fit. Unfortunately that's going to be your best option based on the information you've given us.
  • xxzenabxx
    xxzenabxx Posts: 935 Member
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    Is food scale the only other option for me then? I also use the food labelled on MFP. I guess I don't understand how it's been a year and I'm sick of dieting and I can't get below 154 lbs. I remember a few weeks ago I ate 500 calories in a day and I didn't feel any better.

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