Not seeing results

Drf0394
Drf0394 Posts: 6 Member
edited November 21 in Health and Weight Loss
What's up.

So I've been keeping my diet in check and working out 4 days a week, with a good 20 minutes, plus or minus 5 of cardio those day. This has been about 2 and a half weeks. I haven't dropped any weight though. I never really worked out before this, so I'm thinking maybe my body is getting used to being active and eating right like I have been before I start losing. Any advice and guidance or knowledge is extremely appreciated. Thank you.

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Are you weighing what you eat?
  • Drf0394
    Drf0394 Posts: 6 Member
    Yes. I bought a kitchen scale so I had everything to a specific limit.
  • JaydedMiss
    JaydedMiss Posts: 4,286 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Are you weighing what you eat?

    Or even counting calories to begin with? "In check" means nothing.
  • Drf0394
    Drf0394 Posts: 6 Member
    Yeah, I've been using the meal counter on here, that's what in check means so it does mean something. Just wasn't clear enough.
  • khard1788
    khard1788 Posts: 14 Member
    edited August 2017
    Have you had a lipid blood test? Or a thyroid check? Those could give you some answers.
  • VioletRojo
    VioletRojo Posts: 597 Member
    edited August 2017
    Drf0394 wrote: »
    What's up.

    So I've been keeping my diet in check and working out 4 days a week, with a good 20 minutes, plus or minus 5 of cardio those day. This has been about 2 and a half weeks. I haven't dropped any weight though. I never really worked out before this, so I'm thinking maybe my body is getting used to being active and eating right like I have been before I start losing. Any advice and guidance or knowledge is extremely appreciated. Thank you.

    Please give stats: height, weight, male/female, age. How many calories are you eating? What kind of exercise are you doing? What is your goal? It would also help if you made your diary public.
  • Drf0394
    Drf0394 Posts: 6 Member
    That could be worth a shot. I didn't think of that. The only thing I could think of was to up my cardio more.
  • Drf0394
    Drf0394 Posts: 6 Member
    I'm 5'8, 211, male and 23. My limit on here is 2110 a day, but with exercise, it's less than that. I can make it public. If you see it, there's days I haven't logged because it's the same meal all those days, expect when I've updated it and those differences are on there.
  • VioletRojo
    VioletRojo Posts: 597 Member
    Drf0394 wrote: »
    I'm 5'8, 211, male and 23. My limit on here is 2110 a day, but with exercise, it's less than that. I can make it public. If you see it, there's days I haven't logged because it's the same meal all those days, expect when I've updated it and those differences are on there.

    So you eat the exact same thing every day? No variation in weight? That seams odd. It looks like you're not eating all of your calories, this could cause you to become malnourished. Eat every calorie in your budget. Make sure you are weighing every last thing, even prepackaged food items. And then give it time. It's been less than three weeks and you started exercising, which will cause water retention that can mask fat loss. Give it time.
  • rmgnow
    rmgnow Posts: 375 Member
    Another fault that you may have is over estimating your exercise calories.

    Someone post the flow chart.
  • DamieBird
    DamieBird Posts: 651 Member
    So, just a quick glance at your diary and I see a few things that might help you to tighten up.

    1) You have some 'generic' entries in a few places. Don't trust generic entries - you have no idea what amounts of anything whoever created that put in there. Just based on one (tuna with mayo @200 cal), I doubt that's accurate. A 2oz can of tuna is about 90 calories depending on brand and if packed in water or oil, and ONE tablespoon of mayo is in the range of 110 or so. So, did you eat exactly 2oz of tuna packed in water and drained plus one level tbsp. of mayo? Was it perhaps more (common) or less (not as common)?

    2) You have some things, mostly veggies, measured in grams, but use oz for your meat. This indicates to me that you're not using a kitchen scale or not using it consistently. Weigh everything in grams, it's more accurate. Cups should only be used for liquids.

    3) Even for specific foods, you don't have brand names or usda for generic. 2 slices of bread can vary wildly depending on the brand, as can 3 slices of bacon. Oscar Mayer Center Cut bacon is 70 calories for 2 slices, while the same brand of thick cut bacon is 70 calories for one slice (in either case, you're better of weighing in grams) because packaging weight can vary vs. what you actually consume. My bread says that each 90 calorie slice is 35g, but it's usually in a range of 33-37g per slice.

    4) You're not consistently logging. Even if you eat the same meals/foods from day to day, still log it. It's super easy to copy one meal to the next day so that you can see what you're consuming on a day to day basis.

    5) I also notice that you never log drinks. Are you only drinking water or no-calorie liquids? If not, that's your issue right there.

    Weigh EVERYTHING, log EVERYTHING, use USDA amounts for accuracy, be consistent and give it time.
  • gabriellejayde
    gabriellejayde Posts: 607 Member
    VioletRojo wrote: »
    It looks like you're not eating all of your calories, this could cause you to become malnourished.

    Not eating all of your calories won't cause a person to be malnourished. Not getting enough nourishment will cause it however.
    Someone can eat 2500 calories of cookies every day and be malnourished, or 2000 calories of lean protein, fruits and vegetables and calcium and be in great health.

    Telling someone to eat more calories just to satisfy a caloric goal doesn't help weight loss.

  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    Taking a peek at your diary it looks pretty generic; there are also quite a few volume-based measured foods on there. Always weigh everything by the gram. Also, when you enter something like Hamburger helper, you have to prepare it exactly as it is listed on the box for the calories to be anywhere near accurate, that includes cooking times. My wife will sometimes use whole milk instead of water in those boxed recipes, she'll also use whatever is on sale meat, so usually more fatty (IE: higher calories). Boxed meals/foods are notoriously inaccurate for those reasons. Move away from that type of food and start making things yourself. Weigh and measure each ingredient that you use, enter it into the recipe builder and you'll have an accurate calorie count per serving. It'll blow your mind how off a lot of these boxed meals are. Same thing goes for something like a 'Subway sandwich' their menu may list the calories, but the guy making the thing might give you extra veggies or extra meat, add sauce, etc. Even the bun may be bigger or different than the one used to create the calorie listing.

    Keeping all those things in mind, you may also be giving yourself too many calories for exercise. If you're only working out 20 minutes you probably have not burned more than 150 calories no matter what you are doing.

    Keeping all that in mind, if you go for two months with no weight loss or gain, then congrats, you've found your TDEE. You've basically found out exactly how much you can eat without gaining or losing weight. You'll now need to subtract 500 calories a day from that amount to lose a pound a week.

    You'll figure it out, keep at it, try to be dead on accurate in everything you log, and consider doubling or tripling your exercise to an hour. I'm 6'2" tall, and work out 90 minutes a day 5 days a week at a high intensity. My maintenance (TDEE) calories are around 2600-2700 calories. So for me, at my height, to lose a pound a week, I have to drop to around 2200 or less calories a day. I'm taller than you, so it's likely you need to drop your daily calories back. You mentioned 2110 calories a day, at 5'8" tall a man who weighs around 200 lbs at age 23 would burn around 2161 calories a day without any exercise other than getting up, going to work, and doing normal daily activities. That's the amount of calories you will maintain your current weight (at 200lbs.. you didn't say what you weighed). So if you weigh anywhere close to 200lbs trust me, 2110 calories a day isn't the right amount to eat to lose weight. Even if that 20 minutes of exercise netted you an extra 150 calories a day you'd lose weight at somewhere less than a quarter of a pound a week. That's only if you were 100% accurate on your logging. Food for thought.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    rmgnow wrote: »
    Another fault that you may have is over estimating your exercise calories.

    Someone post the flow chart.

    Here you go:

    van6ouz7k5sw.jpg
  • Drf0394
    Drf0394 Posts: 6 Member
    Awesome, thank you guys so much. I'll start to tighten the logging. The reason I put oz and grams is because my scale does both, but I'll stick with grams from now on. Some of the exercise stuff is from like cardio where I'll read my numbers on the treadmill or whatever cardio machine I use that day and try to find the best matching number, but I don't know if those machines are a truly accurate count of what I'm burning. Then I'll lift after that, but the log never says what you burn when you lift, it's just the cardio part of working out. As fat as drinks go, it's been water expect for a glass of juice once or twice a week. I've stayed away from booze and sodas. Thank you guys so much, this has helped alot.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    One other thing I noticed, there are some foods listed in your diary like "chicken breast - 4 oz 120cals"; when you enter something like that search for "Chicken Breast, Boneless, Skinless, Cooked USDA" (assuming it was boneless and skinless). That way you can look it up, get a USDA value (which is 35 cals/oz by the way). So 4 x 35 calories = 140 calories for 4 oz of boneless skinless chicken breast cooked. Also, how was it cooked? If you use any oil you have to add it on, oil is notoriously high in calories. 1 tbsp of pretty much any kind of oil starts at 120 calories. Sure, some of it is left in the pan, but some of it is absorbed into the meat or vegetable you're cooking. So for instance, if I pan fry a piece of boneless skinless chicken breast in a tbsp of oil, I put at least .75 tbsp of oil in my diary. It increases the calories of that chunk of meat by somewhere in the tune of 100 calories. More food for thought. Another generic entry I noticed was 'hamburger', you should search for more accurate entries in the diary by searching for things like "80% lean hamburger" or "90% lean ground chuck usda cooked". If it doesn't say 'cooked' it generally means uncooked weight. It's all part of accurate logging. Good luck!
  • rdix333
    rdix333 Posts: 111 Member
    I scan the bar codes on the exact food I'm eating whenever possible. The wife keeps all the packages for me when she cooks. :). Foods like bacon, and side dishes can vary greatly from brand to brand.
    Also, is it possible that 2500 cal's may be a bit high for you activity level? I don't know, just thought I'd ask. It seems reasonable, but figure I'd bring it up.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    rdix333 wrote: »
    I scan the bar codes on the exact food I'm eating whenever possible. The wife keeps all the packages for me when she cooks. :). Foods like bacon, and side dishes can vary greatly from brand to brand.
    Also, is it possible that 2500 cal's may be a bit high for you activity level? I don't know, just thought I'd ask. It seems reasonable, but figure I'd bring it up.

    the OP is 5'8, 211, male and 23 - I would say 2500 is probably right in line with TDEE
  • rdix333
    rdix333 Posts: 111 Member
    deannalfisher wrote: »
    rdix333 wrote: »
    I scan the bar codes on the exact food I'm eating whenever possible. The wife keeps all the packages for me when she cooks. :). Foods like bacon, and side dishes can vary greatly from brand to brand.
    Also, is it possible that 2500 cal's may be a bit high for you activity level? I don't know, just thought I'd ask. It seems reasonable, but figure I'd bring it up.

    the OP is 5'8, 211, male and 23 - I would say 2500 is probably right in line with TDEE

    I only ask because I'm at 1600, I'm 5'11" and started at 215. Of course I'm 48. But thought it was worth asking
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    rdix333 wrote: »
    deannalfisher wrote: »
    rdix333 wrote: »
    I scan the bar codes on the exact food I'm eating whenever possible. The wife keeps all the packages for me when she cooks. :). Foods like bacon, and side dishes can vary greatly from brand to brand.
    Also, is it possible that 2500 cal's may be a bit high for you activity level? I don't know, just thought I'd ask. It seems reasonable, but figure I'd bring it up.

    the OP is 5'8, 211, male and 23 - I would say 2500 is probably right in line with TDEE

    I only ask because I'm at 1600, I'm 5'11" and started at 215. Of course I'm 48. But thought it was worth asking

    1600 for your height, age, weight is a bit aggressive but not terribly so. I'd wager the reason the OP is not losing weight is having his calorie goal set near his TDEE. If I were the OP I'd subtract 500 for starters, not add any extra exercise calories (because they are already figured in with a TDEE of 2500), and see what happens. He may need to drop it further.
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