can't lose weight?

kaighgurl9 · February 2018

I am a 21 year old female who weighs 170 lbs. I work out for about an hour six days a week and eat a healthy diet. I eat around 1,500 calories per day (recording everything, I promise), but I have lost no weight. How could this be?

MichelleSilverleaf · February 2018

Record isn't necessarily the same as weighing, are you doing that? If you are weighing and subsequently picking accurate entries in the database, how long have you been at this?

L1zardQueen · February 2018

kaighgurl9 · February 2018

@MichelleSilverleaf I have been at this for over a month now. I have always eaten healthy, but I have been doing a hard calorie count for five weeks. I have gained about a pound since mid-January.

Marilyn0924 · February 2018

Are you using a food scale to weigh all solids/semi-solids? Measuring all liquids?
If you're not, then you are most likely not logging accurately.

quiksylver296 · February 2018

Food scale.

kaighgurl9 · February 2018

@Marilyn0924 @quiksylver296 I eat in a dining hall and I eat chicken, which they have the nutrition on online, and I eat broccoli, which I can eyeball the size of. My yogurt is weighed and everything else I eat is prepackaged so I know its size.

L1zardQueen · February 2018

Sounds like you know your intake, drop your intake by 100 calories per day.

Lesscookies1 · February 2018

kaighgurl9 wrote: »

@Marilyn0924 @quiksylver296 I eat in a dining hall and I eat chicken, which they have the nutrition on online, and I eat broccoli, which I can eyeball the size of. My yogurt is weighed and everything else I eat is prepackaged so I know its size.

Do you know food labels can underestimate by 20%? I vote on the food scale as well, and that way you can have a. Errrr grasp on how much you're really eating.

kaighgurl9 · February 2018

@Lesscookies1 I eat yogurt in the morning (weighed) along with a protein bar and half a banana, chicken which is from the dining hall nutrition website, and broccoli. Sometimes I'll eat an ounce or two of eggs. That's about it. and I occasionally eat peanut butter with jelly. And string cheese. I don't have much to weigh.

MichelleSilverleaf · February 2018

Things like chicken breast though are not always going to be the same size. I'd still vote on weighing everything no matter how much or how small it is. You'd be surprised at the difference in a lot of things.

Lesscookies1 · February 2018

kaighgurl9 wrote: »

@Lesscookies1 I eat yogurt in the morning (weighed) along with a protein bar and half a banana, chicken which is from the dining hall nutrition website, and broccoli. Sometimes I'll eat an ounce or two of eggs. That's about it. and I occasionally eat peanut butter with jelly. And string cheese. I don't have much to weigh.

Have you been trying this for less than 3 weeks or more? One of the users gave a flow diagram That is amazing.

DevilsFan1 · February 2018

If you aren't losing weight, you're eating too much. If you insist on not using a scale to weigh your food like so many here have suggested, then start eating smaller portions of the things you already eat. Don't eat the whole serving of chicken. Don't eat the entire container of yogurt. Eat half a protein bar instead of the whole thing.

Bottom line is that you are not in a caloric deficit. You could get a food scale and do it the easy way or you can continue to guess. Up to you.

kaighgurl9 · February 2018

@Lesscookies1 I have been counting calories strictly for 5 weeks now. @DevilsFan1 I am only eating 1,500 calories per day..... I am not sure how much less I can eat... I work out every day.

DevilsFan1 · February 2018

kaighgurl9 wrote: »

@Lesscookies1 I have been counting calories strictly for 5 weeks now. @DevilsFan1 I am only eating 1,500 calories per day..... I am not sure how much less I can eat... I work out every day.

You mean you think you're eating 1500 calories per day. Actually, you're guessing you're eating 1500 a day because you don't really know how much food you're putting into your body if you aren't weighing it. Working out is irrelevant. You can't outwork or outrun a bad diet. If you want to lose weight, you need to eat less. It's that simple. No one said it's easy, but it is simple.

diannethegeek · February 2018

Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »

Sounds like you know your intake, drop your intake by 100 calories per day.

This is probably the easiest solution, especially with dining hall food. Either you're eating a little more than the nutrition labels predict or you're burning a little less than a basic calculator like MFP expects. Either way you end up with three options: 1. Eat a little less until you see weight loss 2. Exercise a little more or 3. See a doctor to check for any medical issues that need to be resolved first. We all hope the problem is #1 or #2 because #3 sucks.

diannethegeek · February 2018

kaighgurl9 wrote: »

@Lesscookies1 I have been counting calories strictly for 5 weeks now. @DevilsFan1 I am only eating 1,500 calories per day..... I am not sure how much less I can eat... I work out every day.

Have you been through the steps on the flowchart yet? I know if you use a screen reader type program you might not see it, so I just want to check that you've covered everything in it.

LINIA · February 2018

You really have to go for smaller portions, change is necessary or add running/jogging at least 3x a week. Cut in half the yogurt and the cheese

because chicken breast is high protein and relatively low cal....leave that as is. Peanut butter....eat exactly one-half teaspoon, it's very caloric.
You can do this*********
"Good Luck"

Linia

Lesscookies1 · February 2018

Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »

I'm not sure if the OP saw this amazing chart that Tiny Dancer posted, so I'm going to copy it here for the OP.

I think we've all told her she's eating more calories than she thinks, and she doesn't use a food scale to measure her full intake, and relies on food labels that can underestimate calories, so Op if you want change you're going to have to change what you're doing now and try something new. It's not like you have something to lose except for weight that is. Good luck!!

DomesticKat · February 2018

Those calorie guides for campus dining halls are estimations. They don't weigh every piece of chicken to determine how many calories each piece is. I had to have this conversation with my husband because he's faculty and thought he could get away with that as his guide.

Since it's going to be tough for you to weigh food in the dining hall, I would suggest trying to round out your meals with more fresh vegetables and slightly less of the higher calorie stuff. If you go through the MFP database maybe you can get some idea for stuff you can look for. Continue making adjustments to your diet until you start losing, it probably won't take much but remember that it is a gradual process and it doesn't happen overnight and will be tougher if you aren't weighing food.

yirara · February 2018

I did manage to lose weight with canteen food, which had completely illogical calorie/macro information. The cooked rice contained a massive amount of fat according to the macros, yet the chef said they don't put fat into the rice. Of course all pieces of meat have different sizes, and many curries available there various amounts of fat, depending on how much food was still in the tray. The only way to make sure I was losing weight was to take two portions of food: one in plastic cups that I would later weigh, and one for eating. Then repeat the weighing every few weeks, as portion creep is very common.

can't lose weight?

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