Weight loss help

Active37
Active37 Posts: 43 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I wasn’t sure which category to post in but I have a question regarding my daughter. My daughter is an athlete and last year she had an injury that caused her to have to pull back quite a bit for some time and when she was released she had to do so slowly. Because of the extreme decrease in activity she had gained a little bit of weight. Well she has been back at her full sport for a while now, although she has to take a few days a weeks to rest her body. Basically 7 days a week of activity down to 4 or 5 in order to prevent reoccurrence of the injury. My daughter eats really heathy and obviously exercises regularly but the weight won’t budge...It is now jeopardizing her position in her sport. What would cause a lack of weight loss when someone is eating right and exercising regularly? She is two weeks from trying out for the next season and had been needing to drop like 11lbs. She is now worried that she won’t be able to do what she loves. Any advice?
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Replies

  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited May 2018
    She went from being highly active with her sport to partial active. When we do not adjust our daily calories need to maintain weight to compensate for the decrease in activity/exercise we will gain weight. To lose the weight she gained, she needs to be in a calorie deficit.

    Are you/she working using MFP tools to lose weight now? Using a food scale, logging all food/beverages that contain calories?
  • Active37
    Active37 Posts: 43 Member
    We have been logging in what she eats in mfp and food wise she is where she is supposed to be. She only drinks water no soda. To explain a little more she does competitive cheer. She was a flyer and a tumbler who between privates, classes and practice was in the gym every day of the week. Due to all the back extension she fractured her spine. So she had to stop tumbling for a few months and do pt. So from Feb to May last year she only flew. Starting in May last year she slowly started tumbling again and was up to four or five days tumbling/flying a week. She was taken out of flying end of summer due to her size.this really was a huge blow so she lost a lot of motivation. Well for the last several months she has been running an hour a day on the treadmill so she can still get exercise daily without extending her back on top of the days a week she’s in the gym. Just don’t understand why the weight is not moving. She is doing some form of exercise daily and eating within what she’s supposed too. She wants to fly again or will probably no longer be able to compete as she can’t base as its not good for her to lift and she still is small.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    tiffanylazo1 wrote: »
    We have been logging in what she eats in mfp and food wise she is where she is supposed to be. She only drinks water no soda. To explain a little more she does competitive cheer. She was a flyer and a tumbler who between privates, classes and practice was in the gym every day of the week. Due to all the back extension she fractured her spine. So she had to stop tumbling for a few months and do pt. So from Feb to May last year she only flew. Starting in May last year she slowly started tumbling again and was up to four or five days tumbling/flying a week. She was taken out of flying end of summer due to her size.this really was a huge blow so she lost a lot of motivation. Well for the last several months she has been running an hour a day on the treadmill so she can still get exercise daily without extending her back on top of the days a week she’s in the gym. Just don’t understand why the weight is not moving. She is doing some form of exercise daily and eating within what she’s supposed too. She wants to fly again or will probably no longer be able to compete as she can’t base as its not good for her to lift and she still is small.

    How long have you been logging in MFP?

    Using a food scale to weight all food/beverages i.e. home cooked meals, condiments, everything that has calories?

    How many pounds per week did you set her up to lose each week and how many total does she need to lose?

    Is she eating back exercise calories?

  • Active37
    Active37 Posts: 43 Member
    We have been using mfp a few months. I knew it was great because I used it a few years ago to drop 40lbs. Back in January we were hoping for her to loose 12lbs in 4.5 months. So we had plenty of time. Well she would drop like a pound and then gain it back. She is stuck at the same weight basically even adding in the extra exercise. She doesn’t exceed what mfp says she should be at food wise.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited May 2018
    tiffanylazo1 wrote: »
    We have been using mfp a few months. I knew it was great because I used it a few years ago to drop 40lbs. Back in January we were hoping for her to loose 12lbs in 4.5 months. So we had plenty of time. Well she would drop like a pound and then gain it back. She is stuck at the same weight basically even adding in the extra exercise. She doesn’t exceed what mfp says she should be at food wise.

    If she is fluctuating the same pounds for this length of time she is not in a calorie deficit to lose weight. Something is setup wrong as in her stats in MFP, you/she is not weighing food, you/she is not logging accurately from the food database, etc.
  • Active37
    Active37 Posts: 43 Member
    As of now she is eating 1200-1400 a day in calories. Keeping an eye on carbs, sodium, fat, and sugar. She is burning at least 500 a day in the treadmill alone not counting practices and privates where sometimes she tumbles for two hours in a day.
  • Active37
    Active37 Posts: 43 Member
    Our treadmill tracks the calories unless it’s off or something
  • magpie0829
    magpie0829 Posts: 23 Member
    tiffanylazo1 wrote: »
    Our treadmill tracks the calories unless it’s off or something

    Usually treadmill (or any exercise equipment) calorie counts aren't always accurate. The closest you could get to an accurate count would be if she would use a heart rate monitor.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    tiffanylazo1 wrote: »
    As of now she is eating 1200-1400 a day in calories. Keeping an eye on carbs, sodium, fat, and sugar. She is burning at least 500 a day in the treadmill alone not counting practices and privates where sometimes she tumbles for two hours in a day.

    Are you/she weighing all of her intake using a food scale?
  • Active37
    Active37 Posts: 43 Member
    We do measure things out like almond milk, vegan butter, cereal, veggies etc with measuring cups and spoons. I do not have a scale so maybe that’s the issue. What sort of things do you use a scale for? She does not eat meat.
  • Active37
    Active37 Posts: 43 Member
    What is the best kind of scale to get?
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    tiffanylazo1 wrote: »
    We do measure things out like almond milk, vegan butter, cereal, veggies etc with measuring cups and spoons. I do not have a scale so maybe that’s the issue. What sort of things do you use a scale for? She does not eat meat.

    Weigh everything she eats and drinks that contains calories. This includes if you make homemade meals, condiments, salad dressing, pads of butter, etc.

    There is not much wiggle room to be off xxx calories a day and still be in a deficit at the end of the day/week to lose weight.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    She's running an hour a day plus doing 2 hours of practice and only eating 1,200-1,400?

    Something is off here. Either there are inadvertent errors in her logging (which can come from using measuring cups or incorrect database entries) or she's actually eating more and not logging it.

    Someone that active eating 1,200-1,400 calories a day should be losing weight.
  • magpie0829
    magpie0829 Posts: 23 Member
    You need a digital kitchen scale. You can find them online or in stores. You don't need anything expensive but to get accurate counts measuring by weight is the way to go.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
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  • Active37
    Active37 Posts: 43 Member
    Thank you I will get a scale and try that. I seemed to do good with mine so I figured I was being pretty accurate with hers
  • Redordeadhead
    Redordeadhead Posts: 1,188 Member
    How old is your daughter? Is she still growing?
  • Active37
    Active37 Posts: 43 Member
    My daughter is almost 15 and her height has remained the same for over a year now and she has had her periods for over a year now as well. The doctors think she is at her adult height. I am sure the calculations have to be wrong somewhere. I just can’t figure out where as she really eats the same things almost every day and exercises regularly. For example today she ran and hour on the treadmill and has a 2 hour practice this evening. She had the same thing yesterday.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    tiffanylazo1 wrote: »
    My daughter is almost 15 and her height has remained the same for over a year now and she has had her periods for over a year now as well. The doctors think she is at her adult height. I am sure the calculations have to be wrong somewhere. I just can’t figure out where as she really eats the same things almost every day and exercises regularly. For example today she ran and hour on the treadmill and has a 2 hour practice this evening. She had the same thing yesterday.

    Being 15 and weight gain at her age is completely normal, she is still developing in all areas. Doctors *thinking she is at her adult height would be something I hold as a big 'IF'.

    What are her stats... current weight and height?

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