Not losing weight

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2

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  • lydiaisaacs
    lydiaisaacs Posts: 14 Member
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    Maxematics wrote: »
    How are you measuring your food intake?

    I measure out my food, and input it into the Myfitnesspal food tracker.

    That doesn't answer my question.

    How? Are you weighing it? Or are you just going off the packet weights? Are you using cups?

    I am weighing out my ingredients using scales, making sure if I'm making an omlette, for example, all of my vegetables are weighed out individually and inputted into the app in grams.

    So you use a food scale, eat 1200 calories, yet haven't lost weight in a month? My next question for you is, do you have a cheat day on the weekends? If so, it would explain a lot.

    No cheat days, I eat healthy every day, at the weekends I am more inactive, but I'll usually go for a run on these days to counter that. The last time I took a cheat meal was 3 weeks ago, which was a bite of birthday cake!

  • oolou
    oolou Posts: 765 Member
    edited July 2017
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    Lydia, I would keep on doing what you're doing for another month. Also, start to take waist measurements etc. so you are not only relying on the scales to see your progression. It may be that, as others have said, your fat loss is being masked by other factors.


    Edit: Also would you be prepared to open your food diary so the entries can be checked? It's not unusual to come across entries in the databank which are incorrect.
  • lydiaisaacs
    lydiaisaacs Posts: 14 Member
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    DM_78 wrote: »
    Hi,

    I've been counting my calories for almost a month now, trying to meet 1200 calories on days that I don't do exercise, and 1600 where I am exercising, as I cycle to work Monday to Thursday, which when logged burns 545 calories. Therefore, without increasing my calorie intake for the day, I am lethargic and tired, and at first experienced dizziness and nausea when cycling at 1200 daily calories. In addition to this, I follow the Kayla Itsines BBG work out programme, trying to tone up, in addition to my weight loss.

    My diet consists mainly of proteins, vegetables and fruits. I also tend to have white rice every other day or so. I've cut out so much out of my diet, and although I feel much better, I have not lost any weight. I run a couple of times a week too, burning more calories, though it just doesn't seem to be working!

    The only change I've seen is a little more muscle on my arms, from the fitness programme, but my main goal is to lose the weight around my lower half.

    Any advice?

    Need some context here. Age? Ht? Weight?
    DM_78 wrote: »
    Have you considered lowering your carbohydrate intake and increasing healthy fats and protein?

    According to the app I am on track with my nutrients. I'll reconsider my diet, but it's hard when I'm already at 1200 and the nutrients I am getting are needed when the intake is so low.

    Don't reconsider the diet just yet! It's only been a month and a lot of things could be happening to mask your progress.

    If you truly are eating 1200 calories and eating up to 1600 on the exercise days, you likely should be losing fat (this is why the context matters) - but in such a short time that does not always equate to weight. What is your presumed calorie deficit?

    Again, need more context.

    I'm 18, 5"10 and weight 79.2 kg.

    Even if you are sedentary, which you are not, you should be (and probably are if you are logging correctly) losing fat. A sedentary TDEE (i.e. no exercise) would have you burning close to 2000 calories per day, meaning you should be in the neighborhood of about 6 pounds of fat lost by now.

    Just because the scale doesn't show does not mean that it has not happening. Fluid retention is notorious for masking fat loss. And...unfortunately it fluctuates as much as that 6 pounds in a single day for many people. That's the reason I highlighted the "only been a month" part of your post.

    So either:

    1) You really are making progress losing fat, but it's masked by other factors

    -or-

    2) Your logging is inaccurate.


    Based on what I've read, I would not recommend adjusting your diet to eat less.


    thank you, the number on the scales have gone up, and I've put that down to muscle gain. It isn't a diet as much for me anymore, I've taken it as a lifestyle so I'm not giving up anytime soon, it's just sad that I haven't noticed any weight loss, and can't tell by weighing myself since the figures have gone up! I'll stick with it and hope to eventually see some changes

    you have not put on muscle mass in one month while eating 1200 calories and doing cardio. muscle mass gains (in women especially) is a looooong and difficult process that takes months/years - not 4 weeks. it also takes a calorie surplus and progressive lifting - two things you didn't mention.

    even if you were gaining muscle mass (which you are not) it wouldn't be at a rate that would outpace fat loss.

    It is much, much, much more likely that your logging is inaccurate.

    so my inflated arms are not muscle? I find that very hard to believe.

    It isn't cardio, It's a muscle training programme.

    Well then, am I to suppose that the increase in mass that can be seen on the scales is weight gain? Because that's ridiculous.

    Likely water retention.

    Thanks for the useful response!
  • CMNVA
    CMNVA Posts: 733 Member
    edited July 2017
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    So, bear with me. You are 5'10" and 79kg (which is 174 lbs). If that's the case, you don't have a lot of weight to lose, if any. Weight loss is VERY slow when you are at a normal weight. Maybe 10 lbs?
  • lydiaisaacs
    lydiaisaacs Posts: 14 Member
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    CMNVA wrote: »
    So, bear with me. You are 5'10" and 72kg (which is 174 lbs). If that's the case, you don't have a lot of weight to lose, if any. Weight loss is VERY slow when you are at a normal weight. Maybe 10 lbs?

    79.2kg, you read that wrong aha. I wish I was 72!
  • callmeAl19
    callmeAl19 Posts: 9 Member
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    Are you overestimating your exercise calories? If you are using MFP's calculations, you could be overeating on days that you exercise and throwing off your CICO balance.
  • CMNVA
    CMNVA Posts: 733 Member
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    CMNVA wrote: »
    So, bear with me. You are 5'10" and 72kg (which is 174 lbs). If that's the case, you don't have a lot of weight to lose, if any. Weight loss is VERY slow when you are at a normal weight. Maybe 10 lbs?

    79.2kg, you read that wrong aha. I wish I was 72!

    Yeah, I typed that wrong at first and went back and corrected. Even with that difference, with your height, you are not considerably overweight. It just takes so much longer when you are close to a good weight.
  • lydiaisaacs
    lydiaisaacs Posts: 14 Member
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    CMNVA wrote: »
    CMNVA wrote: »
    So, bear with me. You are 5'10" and 72kg (which is 174 lbs). If that's the case, you don't have a lot of weight to lose, if any. Weight loss is VERY slow when you are at a normal weight. Maybe 10 lbs?

    79.2kg, you read that wrong aha. I wish I was 72!

    Yeah, I typed that wrong at first and went back and corrected. Even with that difference, with your height, you are not considerably overweight. It just takes so much longer when you are close to a good weight.

    Yeah, that's okay. Just a shame, I wished I'd have noticeably lost by now
  • DM_78
    DM_78 Posts: 57 Member
    edited July 2017
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    Based on OP's stats and info shared assuming she is logging correctly it sounds like she has been eating at a deficit. Every body is different and people lose at different rates. If sodium and carbohydrate intake is higher than necessary that could contribute to water retention. Some people hold water easier than others. I'm not suggesting to drastically reduce either but just to consider doing some tweaking from time to time to find what works best for you. Don't get discouraged. If you're eating at a healthy deficit and you feel good you'll likely weight. Just be patient and enjoy the journey.