Can't lose to save my life

KalesBagel · June 2018

I'm 6 months postpartum and no, I'm not breastfeeding. My body doesn't produce.

I've been doing low carb and calorie counting and I have been gaining weight steadily. I started 3 months ago at 231 and I'm at 235 now. I haven't been exercising but I'm still low calorie so I don't understand. I have 3 kids total, and the 6 month old keeps me up all night so I'm just too tired to exercise. I know the whole "if you care you'll make time" thing is going to come up. I get it. I have even been eating clean for the past 2 months because I thought maybe that was the problem. Literally my diet has been nuts, veggies, eggs, meat, and occasional dairy. I have cheated maybe 6 times in 3 months because I've been so damn determined. I have skipped meals at bbqs and birthday parties and I have literally nothing to show for it. Is it stress? Lack of sleep? I'm really starting to hate myself.

KalesBagel · June 2018

I know how this works. Before I got pregnant I was at 180 after losing weight. Initially I started at 250. So I've lost before and this worked for me before.

kommodevaran · June 2018

I don't think you're in a calorie deficit. How do you log your intake?

sijomial · June 2018

Opening your food diary might help otherwise it's hard to advise a course of action except "eat a bit less".

malibu927 · June 2018

Eating “clean” has nothing to do with weight loss. If you aren’t losing, you’re eating more than you think and it’s time to tighten up your logging.

WinoGelato · June 2018

malibu927 wrote: »

Eating “clean” has nothing to do with weight loss. If you aren’t losing, you’re eating more than you think and it’s time to tighten up your logging.

This.

CarvedTones · June 2018

Saving my life, or at least increasing my odds of a longer, healthier life, is exactly why I lost the weight. If you are in a deficit, eating less than you burn, you will lose weight with or without exercise. Little things add up. Your oldest, and maybe both of your older kids, is probably eating sandwiches. Do you cut the crusts off and eat them? Do you ever have just a few nuts and figure it isn't enough to log? Are you finding good accurate matches for logging food? Do you weigh it? Are you sure you have an accurate estimate of how many calories you burn in a day? Something is throwing off the math.

annaskiski · June 2018

I am also 6 months post-partem. I'm not 'low carbing' or 'eating clean'. I log everything I eat.

I set my deficit to 1/2 lb/week, and I'm losing about this (some weeks more). I know this sounds slow, but I don't like to suffer.

Enjoy your baby. I work out at lunch (baby at daycare while I work). Are you back at work, and able to sneak to the gym at lunch?

nstott1 · June 2018

There's lots of good advice here..

my 2 cents would be to drink more water, and spend 20 bucks on a food scale, and crack down on your food logging

Nuts are a problem for me.. if I have nuts in the house then I will snack. Nuts are dense, and I can't eyeball an accurate calorie count from a small handful of nuts. I *always* overeat nuts

weigh everything, be patient.

annaskiski · June 2018

Just wanted to add that, if you can't get to the gym, weight lifting gives you the most bang for your buck. (it doesn't reflect on the scale, but your abs will reshape almost immediately).

Get a kettlebell and do some swings while the baby sleeps.

psychod787 · June 2018

CarvedTones wrote: »

Saving my life, or at least increasing my odds of a longer, healthier life, is exactly why I lost the weight. If you are in a deficit, eating less than you burn, you will lose weight with or without exercise. Little things add up. Your oldest, and maybe both of your older kids, is probably eating sandwiches. Do you cut the crusts off and eat them? Do you ever have just a few nuts and figure it isn't enough to log? Are you finding good accurate matches for logging food? Do you weigh it? Are you sure you have an accurate estimate of how many calories you burn in a day? Something is throwing off the math.

Yup.... same story for me..... or gastric bypass.....

DomesticKat · June 2018

Some advice based on your post:

If you aren't using a food scale, check out the sticky posts on how to use one. Plenty of people lose just fine without, but once you start to experience difficulty with losing and tracking your intake, it's a good idea to start using one in order to be more precise with your logging. It's also not the type of food or the "cleanliness" of the food we eat that causes us to lose or gain weight, it's how much. I've been using a food scale since around 2015 or so and it's the best (small) investment I ever made.

Secondly, as a mom of five, I can understand being busy and tired. Moms with littles are often told that sleep needs to be replaced with food for energy. It makes sense, but not so much when you're trying to lose weight. Stress and lack of sleep can absolutely make it difficult to adhere to a calorie deficit. I would not worry about the gym for now. I would concentrate on incorporating a really small deficit and getting more precise with your logging. Get comfortable with doing that and allow yourself to see some progress there before building on it with other small changes.

DomesticKat · June 2018

Also, please don't hate yourself. Try to be proactive here instead of reactive. Think about the advice you would give your children in a difficult, frustrating situation. Try to find solutions for why this isn't working right now and how you can make it work for this time in your life.

KalesBagel · June 2018

Hey everyone, thanks for replying. Here are some answers to questions:

I will definitely lay off the nuts then. I measure with a meaauring cup for them and its probably not as accurate as a food scale.

I am a stay at home mome.

My other food is easily measured because meat always has the ounces on the packaging and eggs are pre-measured.

I'll start weighing veggies. I was resisting it because I cook for everyone so its an extra step to also weigh it and keep it marked off so I know my portion. I will have to buckle down though.

I started eating clean because I wasn't losing weight but I still feel better and have nicer skin etc so I'm probably going to stick with it. It's also good for the kids.

I will drink more water. I forget to a lot.

KalesBagel · June 2018

Thanks for everyone's responses

musicfan68 · June 2018

KalesBagel wrote: »

Hey everyone, thanks for replying. Here are some answers to questions:

I will definitely lay off the nuts then. I measure with a meaauring cup for them and its probably not as accurate as a food scale.

I am a stay at home mome.

My other food is easily measured because meat always has the ounces on the packaging and eggs are pre-measured.

I'll start weighing veggies. I was resisting it because I cook for everyone so its an extra step to also weigh it and keep it marked off so I know my portion. I will have to buckle down though.

I started eating clean because I wasn't losing weight but I still feel better and have nicer skin etc so I'm probably going to stick with it. It's also good for the kids.

I will drink more water. I forget to a lot.

Yeah, you will be shocked at how many extra calories you are eating in nuts by measuring with cups as opposed to weighing. I don't think they're worth it for the extremely small amount you get for such a relatively huge amount of calories. I would weigh meat also. Weigh everything that is solid or semi-solid.

Weigh your portion of vegetables as you serve them to yourself. Put your plate on the scale, tare it, put the first food on it, weigh it, tare it, add the next thing, weigh it, do this for each food you have for your meal. It doesn't take very long and then you add up the calories.

TeaBea · June 2018

If you don't have time to weigh everything, start with the most calorie dense things. I don't weigh veggies real often, but fruits I do. Package weights aren't required to be spot on, they are expected to be within a weight "range."

paulstalter · June 2018

Lots of great advice here. After losing 40 pounds between March 9 and May 31, I actually gained a pound in June. I track relentlessly, always hitting between 1200-1500 calories per day. I swim anywhere between 1 and 3 miles 5 days a week, which burns a ton of calories, and I have a Schwinn Airdyne that I ride for an hour 2 or 3 times a week. All I can figure is that I'm building muscle and losing fat. I wish I had measured my neck, waist, etc. at the beginning, because it is quite discouraging to eat so little (I'm 6'3" and 250lbs) and still not lose. But, we're all doing MFP in this house, so I'll be all right. I hope you check back in with us over the next few weeks, because I know you're going to start seeing some success if you try to follow the great advice above! Tanti auguri!

callsitlikeiseeit · June 2018

Psychgrrl · July 2018

KalesBagel wrote: »

Hey everyone, thanks for replying. Here are some answers to questions:

I will definitely lay off the nuts then. I measure with a meaauring cup for them and its probably not as accurate as a food scale.

I am a stay at home mome.

My other food is easily measured because meat always has the ounces on the packaging and eggs are pre-measured.

I'll start weighing veggies. I was resisting it because I cook for everyone so its an extra step to also weigh it and keep it marked off so I know my portion. I will have to buckle down though.

I started eating clean because I wasn't losing weight but I still feel better and have nicer skin etc so I'm probably going to stick with it. It's also good for the kids.

I will drink more water. I forget to a lot.

Eggs may seem pre-measured, but they can really vary and I mean vary in a larger/heavier way.

I weigh my eggs. I’ve had a couple come in under the stated grams for an egg, but most are at least 1/3 over that. The biggest one I’ve had was 3.15 eggs in one (Trader Joe’s Jumbo). REALLY jumbo!

Dee_D33 · July 2018

You can cut carbs, you can “eat clean” (still haven’t figured out what that even means) or jump on any diet trend your heart desires, but at the end of the day the only thing that matters is going to be a calorie defecit. The most accurate way to determine and maintain that defecit is going to be by weighing all of your food, especially the calorie dense ones such as nuts. Here are just two examples I through together out of my pantry to show the importance. While a 35-42 calorie difference may not be a lot, if your diet is composed of primarily these foods like you say then it can have an effect on weight loss if your defecit is small or your eating “1/4 cup” fulls of nuts multiple times a day.

HNWTikk · July 2018

dont drink your calories, only drink water. eat more so your metabolism speeds up (atleast 1500 cal a day), and walk for 30 mins a day and try strength training the more lean and tone the muscles get the less unwanted weight. good luck!

MichelleSilverleaf · July 2018

Jandersonyce wrote: »

dont drink your calories, only drink water. eat more so your metabolism speeds up (atleast 1500 cal a day), and walk for 30 mins a day and try strength training the more lean and tone the muscles get the less unwanted weight. good luck!

There's no reason to discourage anyone from drinking calories if they can make it fit. Also you can't speed up your metabolism in any way that is meaningful.

Flyingfingers51 · July 2018

Lack of sleep and stress can also affect weight loss. If you get a few minutes to yourself, try walking in place and watch some TV or listen to music to relax a little. The easy exercise will relax you and also help to up your calorie burn. Go for mostly lean meats and fish. Eat lots of vegetables to help you fill full and carefully weight and measure your portions as everyone is suggesting. Be kind and patient with yourself. If you do all the things everyone is suggesting and it's not working, then it's time to see your family doctor to see if there could be a thyroid issue or some other medical problem. Good luck!!

Goldrusher · July 2018

Dollar Tree has individual packs of Pistachios with the shell that are 100 calories and cost $1 Great way to control the nuts!

ShandaLeaS · July 2018

Weigh every morsel that goes in your mouth. Measuring cups and packing weights don't mean squat. I've not once weighed a prepackaged food and it be spot on. If you're off only 40 calories per day that's 1200 for the month. For someone of my stature that's almost a whole day not counting exercise calories.

Can't lose to save my life

Replies

Categories