Seeing no progress, am i doing something wrong?

cfgreear · April 2018

Hey guys, I was wondering about if I am in too much of a deficit or not enough, or if my macros are not being balanced enough. I have been at the same weight and bodyfat percent for over a month and feel like im kinda stuck. I weight 210 lbs and have around 17% bodyfat. Should I just wait it out? on mytdee.com I get around 3200 for the tdee and it said the energy spent when i dont do anything is around 2200. I eat around 1800 calories per day and workout 5 days a week. 3 days weight training with 2 days abs and core and at least 8,000 steps a day as well. I think my calories burned in workouts goes between 600 and 1100 per day according to this site. My diary is public so its view-able.

Any ideas? Questions? Should I try to do a calorie surplus to build up some more muscle before losing again?

xLyric · April 2018

If you're not losing weight then you're definitely not in too much of a deficit.

MelanieCN77 · April 2018

I just looked at today's diary and first thing that jumps out to me is those are all nice, clean round numbers. Are you actually weighing the peanut butter? Are the recipes for ribs or the home made spaghetti your own? Did you not have milk with you cereal?

kimny72 · April 2018

All the numbers in your post include "around" and that's probably your problem. Weight loss comes down to calories. Commit to logging accurately and consistently for at least 4 -6 weeks, and that includes using a food scale to weigh out your portions. We are generally really bad at eyeballing portions, and while the grams serving size on packages are accurate, the volume serving size is estimated. You are most likely eating more than you think.

An accurate log should shine a light on where you are missing or over estimating calories and make it easy to fix. Good luck!

cfgreear · April 2018

Ok, ill get a food scale to bring with me to work after I get paid. I know the peanut butter is accurate though cause I bring a tablespoon measuring spoon with me to work for that. Yes the ribs and spaghetti are homemade but I dont have a food scale so I did estimate the size. And no I dont have milk with the cereal. Just dry. And protein shakes are mixed with water. I will get a scale and be more strict on my measuring then, thanks everyone.

JMcGee2018 · April 2018

I'd suggest using a scale for your peanut butter too once you get it. Peanut butter is a black hole of calories, and weight is always more accurate than volume.

MelanieCN77 · April 2018

Report back when you weigh what you have been logging as a tablespoon of the PB - I'm curious!

brznhabits · April 2018

I see you logged 8 cups of water, with all the exercise you probably need more water. It'll just flush out water weight but at least you'll see the difference.

jemhh · April 2018

How long has it been since you've seen movement on the scale? If it's been more than 3-4 weeks, eat less.

It doesn't matter if you use a scale or not. Take what you are eating now and eat less of it. Whether you are using an actual weighed amount of food or not, eat less. I mean, if you measure your 2 tablespoons of PB with a measuring spoon, measure out your first tablespoon, put that on your plate (or bread or whatever), measure the second tablespoon, and then take out half of that and put it back in the jar.

BattyKnitter · April 2018

A good tip for weighing things that will be spread on bread, like peanut butter, is to put the container on the scale, hit the tare button and once you are done spreading on your toast log the negative amount on the scale. That's what I find to be the least fuss.

DanaDark · April 2018

I have found measurements by volume to be no where near as accurate as weight.

An example is cereal, the serving size in volume it lists is not the weight it claims it is. I find that generally, cereal serving size by volume weighs about 50% more than listed.

briscogun · April 2018

cfgreear wrote: »

Ok, ill get a food scale to bring with me to work after I get paid. I know the peanut butter is accurate though cause I bring a tablespoon measuring spoon with me to work for that. Yes the ribs and spaghetti are homemade but I dont have a food scale so I did estimate the size. And no I dont have milk with the cereal. Just dry. And protein shakes are mixed with water. I will get a scale and be more strict on my measuring then, thanks everyone.

Spaghetti is usually in 2 oz serving sizes if you look at the back of the box. Ever measured/weighed out 2 oz of spaghetti noodles? Its not even the size of your fist. Most people fill up a bowl with 2-3 times a "serving" without realizing it, and that equates to 100's and 100's of extra calories.

If you aren't losing weight than you aren't eating at a deficit, and if you aren't measuring/weighing everything then you really don't know where the issue is.

Lastly, are you using MFP's estimates for your exercise calories when you log those? And are you eating those calories back? 600-1100 calories burned a day seems like a lot for me anyways.

cebreisch · April 2018

Whenever I’ve gotten stuck, it’s because I’ve gotten too lax with my logging....that I’m not as diligently logging the correct amounts of things. If I buckled down and really logged every little morsel down to the condiments what I was eating, the scale would start moving again.

fitoverfortymom · April 2018

MelanieCN77 wrote: »

Report back when you weigh what you have been logging as a tablespoon of the PB - I'm curious!

Then we can all have a good ugly cry about the sadness that is peanut butter portions.

cfgreear · April 2018

Ive been drinking water and measuring it by the glass recently but ill go back to just forcing a gallon a day at least, maybe ill flush that water weight out. And I will definitely get a food scale. Do they have portable durable versions of those to bring in my bag to work?

JeromeBarry1 · April 2018

https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Weigh-ZIP600-Digital-Counting/dp/B00GTX3LAI/ref=sr_1_3/135-2731587-0248657?ie=UTF8&qid=1523634956&sr=8-3&keywords=portable+food+scale

rbfdac · April 2018

fitoverfortymom wrote: »

MelanieCN77 wrote: »

Report back when you weigh what you have been logging as a tablespoon of the PB - I'm curious!

Then we can all have a good ugly cry about the sadness that is peanut butter portions.

Ugh, peanut butter portions

(it was a sad day when I figured out years ago that I was essentially eating 600-1000 additional calories when I would get little "spoonfuls" of peanut butter to snack on throughout the day)

lisa0527 · April 2018

Myfitnesspal often over estimates the calories burned in exercise, but it sounds like you’re saying you’re not losing with a 1000 to 1500 calorie deficit/day. Hard to believe that’s all measurement errors...but it’s definitely possible. So start by measuring more accurately, but I’d also have a closer look at your estimated exercise calorie burn. An internet search can often give you a more accurate estimate than myfitnesspal. Resistance training is great, but it’s not a massive calorie burner.

kshama2001 · April 2018

BattyKnitter wrote: »

A good tip for weighing things that will be spread on bread, like peanut butter, is to put the container on the scale, hit the tare button and once you are done spreading on your toast log the negative amount on the scale. That's what I find to be the least fuss.

This, plus then you don't have a tablespoon to wash, just the knife

Blackwatch2000 · April 2018

kshama2001 wrote: »

BattyKnitter wrote: »

A good tip for weighing things that will be spread on bread, like peanut butter, is to put the container on the scale, hit the tare button and once you are done spreading on your toast log the negative amount on the scale. That's what I find to be the least fuss.

This, plus then you don't have a tablespoon to wash, just the knife

After you lick every last bit of pb residue off.

L1zardQueen · April 2018

Blackwatch2000 wrote: »

kshama2001 wrote: »

BattyKnitter wrote: »

A good tip for weighing things that will be spread on bread, like peanut butter, is to put the container on the scale, hit the tare button and once you are done spreading on your toast log the negative amount on the scale. That's what I find to be the least fuss.

This, plus then you don't have a tablespoon to wash, just the knife

After you lick every last bit of pb residue off.

Solid first post! High five!

jdog022 · April 2018

What are you doing that's burning 600-1100 calories? It's probably a quarter of that. that's also quite a range

Silentpadna · April 2018

cfgreear wrote: »

Ive been drinking water and measuring it by the glass recently but ill go back to just forcing a gallon a day at least, maybe ill flush that water weight out. And I will definitely get a food scale. Do they have portable durable versions of those to bring in my bag to work?

Don't worry about "flushing out water weight". That's now that works. First, water is not fat, and if you are hydrated, there is nothing wrong with retaining it at times. The body is designed to use it for various reasons, including and especially for muscle repair. That's a good thing. It has no bearing on your fat loss - other than to mask it when you retain water, or exaggerate it when you are dehydrated. Plus it'll fluctuate every day by more than 2 times your deficit.

You could be seeing some of that now.

No need to "force" water. Just drink an adequate amount. By the way, you can actually drink too much if you're not careful.

Work on the calories. Drink enough water to be hydrated. Other than that, don't worry about it. It'll fluctuate on its own. It always has and it always will. Most people don't notice it until they start paying attention to their weight and seeing that their weight doesn't follow their preconcieved schedule.

cfgreear · April 2018

Hi everyone, I ordered a food scale thats portable for work that will arrive on saturday and got a hold of one for home so ive started measuring everything and the weight has started going down like you all said. Ive been drinking more water as well. I was indeed having too many calories without noticing it and have lost a pound and a half in the couple days since i started weighing everything.

As for how I am burning that many calories, I just have google fit set to add my steps and calories burned to my diary and usually get 4 or 5 miles in of walking a day that includes a lot of jogging up and down stairs carrying computers plus my usual 45 minute workout and a 1 mile jog to the gym with interval running on the way home. 3 gym days a week and 2 days of at home ab workouts and heavy bag and jump rope.

I am greatful for everyones advice and am so happy to see progress starting again, I will keep you updated on results after I go through a couple weeks of measuring foods properly and doing things correctly.

kimny72 · April 2018

That's awesome :drinker:

fitoverfortymom · April 2018

So glad to hear you are having success! Small change = big results.

LivingtheLeanDream · April 2018

Good job on buying the food scale - best buy of the week/month/ year

this will be your answer.

Do come back in a few weeks time to update us

GOT_Obsessed · April 2018

To the original poster: great to see you got to the bottom of this so fast. So many people fight the whole "weighing" foods things but it really is a difference maker. Good luck on meeting your goals.

cfgreear · May 2018

Just reporting back to tell you all the progress. So I was stuck around 210 before I was weighing everything, got a food scale that I can bring to work and started weighing everything. Now im at 203.8 lbs and losing a bit every day. Thanks for the advice, im gonna keep it up til I get down to 190.