Weight not shifting?

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xarra
xarra Posts: 128 Member
edited August 2018 in Motivation and Support
I've been eating around my calorie goal (1200 for 1kg loss) every day - never more than the .5kg loss amount, been going for brisk walks to get fitter, and while there's been a few dips, I've lost nothing in 21 days. It's really disheartening that I don't appear to have lost even water weight (having swapped from coke zero to squash and drinking over 2l a day)

Any support? Because I'm feeling like throwing in the towel ATM...
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Replies

  • sytchequeen
    sytchequeen Posts: 526 Member
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    there is a fabulous infographic I've seen a few people post, hopefully someone who has it will jump on and add it. It's a lovely troubleshooting flow chart.

    Generally the answer will be that you probably eat more than you think, and you should look at how accurately you measure your food.

    Do you use a food scale?
  • xarra
    xarra Posts: 128 Member
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    No - I go by what's on the packet generally... It's worked for me before, so I don't know why it isn't now! Even if I was eating slightly more, I would still be at a deficit...

    And yes, I'm eating the exercise calories back...
  • sytchequeen
    sytchequeen Posts: 526 Member
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    Ok, I found that I can buy a packet that says there are 220g in the pack, but when I weigh the contents it's actually more. So give that a try and see how it works out.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    xarra wrote: »
    No - I go by what's on the packet generally... It's worked for me before, so I don't know why it isn't now! Even if I was eating slightly more, I would still be at a deficit...

    And yes, I'm eating the exercise calories back...

    i would highly recommend weighing everything you eat.

    how are you calculating your exercise cals?
  • xarra
    xarra Posts: 128 Member
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    MapMyWalk for the exercise calories.
    I'll look into getting a food scale, but I have done MFP before and it's worked just going off the packets... :/
  • JacobNicolaus
    JacobNicolaus Posts: 34 Member
    edited August 2018
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    How long have you been dieting? - Your body would normally adjust after a time, and weight loss would get progressively smaller.

    I think a good solution for you would be to up your activity throughout the week (e.g. active dancing/aerobics/cardio in one day, something more strength-oriented in the next).

    I have certainly seen improvement with increased physical activity: over time my calorie intake went up, but my weight stayed down.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    xarra wrote: »
    MapMyWalk for the exercise calories.
    I'll look into getting a food scale, but I have done MFP before and it's worked just going off the packets... :/

    but if its not working now, then you need to change something...

    are you sure that your exercise calories aren't being overestimated using MapMyWalk
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    xarra wrote: »
    MapMyWalk for the exercise calories.
    I'll look into getting a food scale, but I have done MFP before and it's worked just going off the packets... :/

    MyMapWalk seems to give dreadfully high estimates for walking. Your counts are very, very high for short durations.
    Suggest you switch to using the formula for net calorie burn from walking.....

    Bodyweight in pounds X 0.3 X miles walked.
  • Aine_60
    Aine_60 Posts: 38 Member
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    xarra wrote: »
    MapMyWalk for the exercise calories.
    I'll look into getting a food scale, but I have done MFP before and it's worked just going off the packets... :/

    I don't really understand that, unless you only eat ready meals, how could you just work off a packet? For example cereal if you portion that, how do you portion that? Or a bag of potatoes, how do you portion that, sure you don't eat the full bag in one go.
    I would highly recommend the foodscale. Also wouldn't rely on apps to estimate calorie burn.
  • sytchequeen
    sytchequeen Posts: 526 Member
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    are you including the calories in your squash? You may be drinking more calories than you are expecting
  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
    edited August 2018
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    you only eat food in individually portioned packages? no fruit or veggies or even just meat? or things from larger containers like cereal?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Panini911 wrote: »
    you only eat food in individually portioned packages? no fruit or veggies or even just meat? or things from larger containers like cereal?

    or them individual tiny boxes of cereal?! we used to get them on holiday... i used to love them!!!!
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,088 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    sytchequeen wrote: »
    are you including the calories in your squash? You may be drinking more calories than you are expecting

    yep, squash is probably more calories than coke zero.

    It is more calories 200grams is around 45 to 50 cals raw.
  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
    edited August 2018
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    A scale is essential especially if you see you are not loosing much.
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

    Honestly, i've gone thru this a few years ago and lost 100lbs. I have again lost 20 or so pounds since April and I STILL find I've miscalculated some things. Recently i realized I was not accurately weighting my chicken breast and salmon. And that my tiny bonus chocolate treat was actually 80 calories. I've maintained the loss as I wasn't eating my "exercise calories" back but as I am trying to eat those back to slow my loss to something healthier, I need to tighten up my logging.

    Or I was using incorrect entries in MFP.

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    psychod787 wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    sytchequeen wrote: »
    are you including the calories in your squash? You may be drinking more calories than you are expecting

    yep, squash is probably more calories than coke zero.

    It is more calories 200grams is around 45 to 50 cals raw.

    not that sort of squash... :laugh:

    cordial? juice? the flavoured stuff you mix with water!
  • SabAteNine
    SabAteNine Posts: 1,866 Member
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    Well there's not much to do other than to double-check what goes in, double-check what goes out, and acknowledge that sometimes it's not just math.

    1. Start logging ridiculously accurate in what concerns intake (to the gram, everything weighed and measured).
    2. Look more critically at your MMW calorie burn output. Compare it with the formula sijomial provided above. But honestly, this is of secondary importance to point 1 if your planned intake is as low as 1200 cals... lower than your BMR, you should lose basically sitting anyway.
    3. Don't despair. Sometimes it takes a while. A big while. I always envy those who start off dropping a whooping amount in the first days. For me it doesn't work like that. Measuring everything with a food scale, on an aggressive 1,200 cal/day plan I have refused to scrap, I have lost zip between 4/01 and 3/02 this year. After that, everything started moving fast all of a sudden :)

    Good luck!
  • 88olds
    88olds Posts: 4,467 Member
    edited August 2018
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    Weight loss is a long term project and requires constant adjusting. Try to keep an attitude of experimentation.

    Seems like what the folks on your thread are gingerly trying to suggest is, you aren’t eating in a deficit. Likely our tendency to undercount intake and over count exercise. I could give you specifics, but I was making big under count errors when not weighing everything.

    Plus all these calculators and gadgets give the impression that they a spit out the exactly right numbers. They don’t. The calculators are based on averages. The only way to get a specific calorie target is hooked up in a lab.

    But the reason I’m posting is to suggest that if you’re just maintaining where you are, you only need some modest changes to get on a downward trajectory. Don’t fall into the pit of “it’s all wrong” weight loss despair. Get a scale and check some things. Maybe recalculate your walking.

    If you’re in for the long term, really looking for a new lifestyle, the tinkering and tweaking never stops. Good luck.
  • shi7934
    shi7934 Posts: 16 Member
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    shift yourself..weight will automatically shift
  • MadPirateFox
    MadPirateFox Posts: 7 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    psychod787 wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    sytchequeen wrote: »
    are you including the calories in your squash? You may be drinking more calories than you are expecting

    yep, squash is probably more calories than coke zero.

    It is more calories 200grams is around 45 to 50 cals raw.

    not that sort of squash... :laugh:

    cordial? juice? the flavoured stuff you mix with water!

    Probably American and never heard of squash.

    I'm American too, but have a few British friends so I've heard of it. At first I had no idea what they were talking about but then I realized it was like a version of Kool-Aid.

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