Scale not moving despite trying EVERYTHING! HELP!!!

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EllyAHJ
EllyAHJ Posts: 27 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey folks,

I am getting really frustrated: my weight will not shift.

I track every day (have done consistently since March), I exercize 4/5 times a week (running, strength, and yoga), I average about 7-12k steps a day, and I have been generally low carb.

Not. A. Pound. Has. Shifted.

I am currently about 30 pounds over weight (according to my doctor), but, honestly, I would be happy to lose 10 and keep it off. I am 5'5" and currently 176lbs. I don't know my BMI. My BMR is 1537 calories/day.

CAN ANYONE HELP?!

Gratefully,
E
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Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    How long have you not lost weight for?

    How many calories are you eating per day?
  • EllyAHJ
    EllyAHJ Posts: 27 Member
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    Orphia wrote: »
    Do you use a digital food scale, and are you weighing/measuring your food in grams and millilitres?

    Have you read the Most Helpful Posts?

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300319/most-helpful-posts-general-diet-and-weight-loss-help-must-reads

    If you make your diary Public we can have a look and see if you need any help with calorie counting.

    A lot of times, people log things like "1 avocado" which can vary by hundreds of calories.

    Yeah, that is a really good point...I think I have gotten complacent in my exact measurement.

    Is there a better/worse digital scale you'd recommend/avoid?
  • EllyAHJ
    EllyAHJ Posts: 27 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    How long have you not lost weight for?

    How many calories are you eating per day?

    It's been since May...completely stalled.

    I eat between 1300-1800/day, I think.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    elizabethahj wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    How long have you not lost weight for?

    How many calories are you eating per day?

    It's been since May...completely stalled.

    I eat between 1300-1800/day, I think.

    That's a big range, do you weigh everything you eat with scales?
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    elizabethahj wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    How long have you not lost weight for?

    How many calories are you eating per day?

    It's been since May...completely stalled.

    I eat between 1300-1800/day, I think.

    And this is why you are not losing weight. Good thing is that it can be easily fixed by weighing all solids that you eat and using measuring cups and spoons for all liquids.

    Good luck.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    You have received really great answers - now you can stop trying everything, and just do what works: eat less, for real, and consistently. To do it for real, you have to know how much you are eating, and a food scale is necessary for that. To do it consistently, you have to muster patience and maybe tweak some habits. Exercise is good for your health, but makes but a minor contribution to your calorie deficit.

    I was just going to tell you abut BMI - it's your weight (in kilograms), divided by your height (in meters) squared. Or you can use an online calculator, one is here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmi-calculator

    About the scale - buy one that displays both ounces and grams, and 1 gram increments, and has a tare function. It should hold 2 kilos. Do not pay extra for any functions beyond that - some scales claim to "measure" fluids, but they can't - volume is not the same as weight, and they just display "ml" instead of "gram" - water is the only fluid that has "1 gram = 1 ml"; other fluids can come close, and it's usually accurate enough for the purpose (losing weight), but it's not correct. (You can indeed weight liquids, but if you do, use calories per gram, not per ml.) Also avoid "intelligent" scales that will "calculate" calories for whatever you put on it - you have MFP and food labels for that.
  • EllyAHJ
    EllyAHJ Posts: 27 Member
    edited September 2017
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    I measure with cups and measuring spoons already. But sounds like a digital scale for greater accuracy is necessary.

    The calorie range is due to the fluctuation in my 'earned' exercise calories for each day, hence this "I think". I track everything, and have done for months.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    It's no use tracking if you don't log the amounts you actually eat, and you don't know what amounts of the items you eat unless you weigh them.
  • EllyAHJ
    EllyAHJ Posts: 27 Member
    edited September 2017
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    Thanks. These BMI calculators are always relatively inaccurate for me. I think I need to have it done properly with body fat/lean mass, as I am very muscular and don't actually have much to 'pinch'.

  • EllyAHJ
    EllyAHJ Posts: 27 Member
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    It's no use tracking if you don't log the amounts you actually eat, and you don't know what amounts of the items you eat unless you weigh them.

    Yeah, I never thought of how significant the difference between cups/spoons measurement and a scale could be.

    I think a scale may unlock a lot! Thanks.
  • MatthewRuch
    MatthewRuch Posts: 165 Member
    edited September 2017
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    elizabethahj wrote: »
    I measure with cups and measuring spoons already. But sounds like a digital scale for greater accuracy is necessary.

    The calorie range is due to the fluctuation in my 'earned' exercise calories for each day, hence this "I think". I track everything, and have done for months.

    The general piece of advice I give to anybody wearing an activity tracker, myself included, is that you set your MFP activity level to sedentary to make sure you are not "double dipping" on your activity calories as well as enabling negative calorie adjustments. That is the way you can make sure you are being as accurate as possible in your calorie tracking

    Now if you want to up your game when it comes to activity tracking, I recommend Polar products which have continuous 24/7 heart rate monitoring so you get the most accurate activity tracking possible. Others may prefer different brands, but I have used polar for years and couldn't be happier. YMMV
  • EllyAHJ
    EllyAHJ Posts: 27 Member
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    MatthewRuch wrote: »
    elizabethahj wrote: »
    I measure with cups and measuring spoons already. But sounds like a digital scale for greater accuracy is necessary.

    The calorie range is due to the fluctuation in my 'earned' exercise calories for each day, hence this "I think". I track everything, and have done for months.

    The general piece of advice I give to anybody wearing an activity tracker, myself included, is that you set your MFP activity level to sedentary to make sure you are not "double dipping" on your activity calories as well as enabling negative calorie adjustments. That is the way you can make sure you are being as accurate as possible in your calorie tracking

    Now if you want to up your game when it comes to activity tracking, I recommend Polar products which have continuous 24/7 heart rate monitoring so you get the most accurate activity tracking possible. Others may prefer different brands, but I have used polar for years and couldn't be happier. YMMV

    That's really helpful about the 'double dipping'. That's been my sense, but I hadn't been able to find any consistent views on calorie counts in this way.
  • EllyAHJ
    EllyAHJ Posts: 27 Member
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    Thanks everyone! Really helpful already. Here's to making some minor but major tweaks I hope! :)
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Minor but major tweaks

    My kinda gal! You too want maximum results from minimal effort :D
  • savvymommy13
    savvymommy13 Posts: 18 Member
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    I am a big fan of Polar products as well. I have H7 heart monitor and M400 activity tracker. The watch only comes off to charge and the H7 only comes off for bathing and bed. Another tip is to turn off the exercise calories. It's just confusing. Hit your macros. If you burn 500 calories more than you eat per day for seven days, you should lose at least 1 pound. Good luck. It's hard work.
  • Javagal2778
    Javagal2778 Posts: 74 Member
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    I was amazed at how inaccurate my measuring cups were when I made the move over to a digital scale. I would put my half cup of rice in to the measuring cup then weigh it to see the difference. Sometimes, it was almost 3/4 cup in weight!
  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    MatthewRuch wrote: »
    elizabethahj wrote: »
    I measure with cups and measuring spoons already. But sounds like a digital scale for greater accuracy is necessary.

    The calorie range is due to the fluctuation in my 'earned' exercise calories for each day, hence this "I think". I track everything, and have done for months.

    The general piece of advice I give to anybody wearing an activity tracker, myself included, is that you set your MFP activity level to sedentary to make sure you are not "double dipping" on your activity calories as well as enabling negative calorie adjustments. That is the way you can make sure you are being as accurate as possible in your calorie tracking

    Now if you want to up your game when it comes to activity tracking, I recommend Polar products which have continuous 24/7 heart rate monitoring so you get the most accurate activity tracking possible. Others may prefer different brands, but I have used polar for years and couldn't be happier. YMMV

    MFP won't double-dip even if you are at a higher activity level. People with a higher activity level begin "earning" adjustments after more movement that people at a lower level. This is specifically to prevent double-dipping. MFP only begin adding adjustments after someone has moved more than their activity level setting would have predicted for the day. So someone at "active" has to move a lot more than someone at "sedentary" to begin earning adjustments.

    The only way you'll double dip us if you are logging your exercise on both Fit bit and MFP.

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