Why am I not losing weight?

como066
como066 Posts: 2 Member
edited November 2024 in Introduce Yourself
I am very overweight, but I m active. I walk 5 miles every day plus do workout videos. I do not eat sweets because I don t like them. For over the past 10 years I've only eaten 1 meal a day, occasionally on a special day like birthdays or something i may eat 2 meals. I'm 28 and this has been going on since I was about 13. I keep track of my calories and it s only about 800-1000 calories for the past 3 years, and my diet hasn t really changed. I eat mainly chicken and eggs, I also like pasta with it occasionally. If I eat something like chicken and a potato with green beans I can lose 3 lbs in a night, or at least the scale goes down. If I eat it with broccoli instead of green beans my weight went up 5 lbs. I ate 4 eggs and 4 pieces of rye toast and that was it and I gained 3lbs. I have tried everything including diets that worked for my family, no dice. I have IBS-D and I m lactose intolerant and I cant really eat breakfast or lunch because almost everything makes me sick, which is why I have to wait till dinner to finally eat. So my question is why am I eating 800-1000 calories a day and burning anywhere from 500-900 calories every day, why am I gaining weight?

Replies

  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,153 Member
    When you gain weight after eating something it's not fat, it's water retention.

    A pound of fat is equivalent to 3500 calories, so to gain 3lbs of fat you would have to eat around 10500 calories, which 4 eggs and 4 pieces of toast are not.

    With your digestive issues a lot of the weight you see on the scale is probably from bloating. Have you discussed your IBS with a registered dietician, they might be able to talk you through trying a low FODMAP diet to find out what exactly all your triggers are.

    Chances are you're undestimating your calorie intake and overestimating your exercise. You have also potentially lowered your TDEE below that of someone else of your own stats by eating so low calorie for so long.

    How long have you been actively trying to lose weight?

  • Rincewind_1965
    Rincewind_1965 Posts: 639 Member
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  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    No, it doesn't add up, but your story doesn't hold water, so start again:

    Your body burns a certain amount of calories every day. If you go to setup and pick "maintain my weight" as goal, you'll see how much you need and how much you expend, on average, per day, without exercise.

    Exercise doesn't burn that many calories, not compared to what you can stop from entering your body by eating less.

    It doesn't matter what you eat and like, and how many meals you eat, it's all about calories. If you're overweight, you've consistently eaten too much for some time. "Too much" isn't a moral judgement, it just means "more energy than your body can use up, so it stores it as fat".

    You can't just keep track of calories, you have to do it correctly, in order to get the desired effect. If you're interested, ask for details.

    Ups and downs on the scale from day to day, is the weight of the food and drink you've ingested, not fat. Weight trends are seen over weeks and months.
  • catherineroberts87
    catherineroberts87 Posts: 27 Member
    Could you try to possibly up your intake of water? as I think it sounds a bit like water retention. Im no expert but I’ve heard that broccoli can cause bloating so choose veggies that don’t cause so much bloating...and pile your plate up with veggies to bulk up your meals and to add a few more calories as maybe your calorie intake seems a bit low especially with all the walking you are doing. Lean chicken and eggs are good staples but maybe adding the veggies will help.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,153 Member
    catherineroberts87 wrote: »
    Could you try to possibly up your intake of water? as I think it sounds a bit like water retention. Im no expert but I’ve heard that broccoli can cause bloating so choose veggies that don’t cause so much bloating...and pile your plate up with veggies to bulk up your meals and to add a few more calories as maybe your calorie intake seems a bit low especially with all the walking you are doing. Lean chicken and eggs are good staples but maybe adding the veggies will help.

    Piling up a plate with veggies when someone has IBS is not necessarily a brilliant idea, a lot of vegetables are high FODMAP.
  • como066
    como066 Posts: 2 Member
    I have actively been trying to lose weight for 2 years. I have lost 30lbs since August. However, my dad had surgery exactly 2 weeks ago and since I have steadily gained 7lbs back and nothing has changed. I measure every single thing according to the package measurements and calorie code. For the past 2 years, I use food scales as well. I do workout DVDs so I don't measure calories burned for those but I track my walks with GPS tracking and three different step counters. The s huh ortest walks I ho on are 5 miles and the longest are 12. I also live in the mountains so half of the walls are uphill, and the road I live on, I live in the middle part, is a step 80° angle. No matter how hard I try I cannot bring myself to eat more than one meal a day, it's been that way since I was thirteen and I don't see it changing. The most I've eaten in one day was 2800 calories and t by at was once when my family went to TGIFridays for my dads birthday back in January. Other than that my calorie intake is between 800-1000 a day. I also drink about 1- 2 bottles of water a day and they are 20fl oz each.
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