Not losing weight - help!!
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KimStapes
Posts: 4 Member
I’m two months in. I’ve only lost 1 lb. I had lost 4 very quickly right away and then I somehow gained it back and it won’t come off again. I recommitted myself two weeks ago and saw a small loss, which made me excited for my weigh in today, especially since I’ve amped up my workouts this week. I gained a pound since last week!! I don’t know what to do. I feel like giving up and that no matter what I do I can’t lose weight. I have my loss set to 1.5 lbs a week and if I go over it’s only by a few hundred calories once in a while. Not even once a week. I don’t know what else to do.
My husband tells me to go low carb but I feel weird cutting out a food group. I’m sick of being big, I just want this to work and it’s not.
My husband tells me to go low carb but I feel weird cutting out a food group. I’m sick of being big, I just want this to work and it’s not.
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Replies
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You are either eating more than you think or are burning less than you estimate.
Do you weigh everything you eat?
Can you open your Diary to be viewed by us so we can see what you are eating?6 -
Hi Kim, are you drinking alcohol? If so, take it out. I had a doc tell me one time many years ago to think about how much you have to exercise to burn 500 calories, vs how easy it is to not eat those 500 calories. Are you skipping meals? If so, don't. Try to spread your calorie intake across at least 3 meals and maybe one or two snacks. Getting in at least 8 glasses of water/day? If not, up your water intake. Are you logging ALL your food every day? If not, do it.16
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Hi Kim, if you're doing hard exercise like weights etc. then you'll lose inches rather than weight.
Maybe take photos along the way so you can see how you're doing 😀1 -
It doesn't matter if you drink alcohol and it doesn't matter how many times a day you eat.
What does matter is accurate tracking of calories. The end.
How long have you been logging food?
I agree, please open your FOOD page and maybe we can spot problems. Go to FOOD > Settings, scroll to the bottom and click Public https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
How tall are you? How much weight are you trying to lose, total?
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The biggest component of weight loss is diet. That is the place to start. Make sure all your calories are on point. It is very important to use a food scale and not estimate anything and to make sure you log everything that crosses your lips.
The number of times per day you eat and the amount of water you drink do not really matter. After you get your logging and calories on point, it helps to focus your diet 80-90% on whole foods, lean meats, veggies, good starches and fruits. Then working on good lifestyle habits like sleep, stress reduction, and exercise help as well.
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agree with the above. how carefully are you logging the food? using a scale? logging everything including non "pure water" liquids?
Heck, I am still finding logging errors after 4mts. I was significantly under logging my meats (first salmon, most recently chicken) using inccorrect entries but more importantly, not properly weighing raw and eating more (because, i can't BELIEVE how small one portion of chicken is!! )3 -
Weigh your food with a food scale every time, eat healthier food, watch watch your cooking with (i.e tons of butter or mayonnaise) many of those calories will add up. Up your cardio. Up your weight loss goal to 2lbs per week. Follow your calorie recommendations. Probably should only weigh 2x per month. Be very, very, consistent.
This should help. Try it for 1 month and see.0 -
I’m glad I came across your question because I’m having similar trials. I get really frustrated because I believe that I’ve made improvements but seeing no results. The replies here are helpful. Good luck.2
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I’m two months in. I’ve only lost 1 lb. I had lost 4 very quickly right away and then I somehow gained it back and it won’t come off again. I recommitted myself two weeks ago and saw a small loss, which made me excited for my weigh in today, especially since I’ve amped up my workouts this week. I gained a pound since last week!! I don’t know what to do. I feel like giving up and that no matter what I do I can’t lose weight. I have my loss set to 1.5 lbs a week and if I go over it’s only by a few hundred calories once in a while. Not even once a week. I don’t know what else to do.
My husband tells me to go low carb but I feel weird cutting out a food group. I’m sick of being big, I just want this to work and it’s not.
If you do not want to go low carb, don't. It makes no difference in weight loss.
I agree with the others. Start by tightening up your logging. Weigh all solids and semi solids (like peanut butter and mayonnaise) and measure all liquids (except water). Log everything that goes in your mouth. If you are exercising and either logging it or syncing to a tracker, start by eating back 1/2 of your exercise calories earned. Many trackers, exercise equipment, and the MFP database overestimate calories burned. You can adjust later (like after at least a month).
Start with those 2 things and see how it goes.6 -
It takes time to lose weight, a lot longer than any of us realise... tighten your logging, use a food scale - when you eat consistently at calorie deficit over time you will lose weight. It can take weeks to see some results so have patience.
All the best.
Ruth1 -
For reference, I currently weight 184, I’m 5’4”. I want to lose 40-45 lbs. my calories per day are set to 1,380 to lose 1.5 lbs a week. I do weigh everything on my food scale and measure things with measuring cups. I do think what gets me is sugar. I do go over my sugar goal so maybe that’s what I need to hone in on right now.
My workouts consist of lifting and cardio, like biking, spinning and group classes.
Maybe I just need to really focus on my sugar and not get frustrated that it’s not happening faster.4 -
Sugar? Nope!! I go over my sugars every single day and nope!! Salt perhaps? TOM perhaps? How often are you weighing yourself and is it at the same time?1
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For reference, I currently weight 184, I’m 5’4”. I want to lose 40-45 lbs. my calories per day are set to 1,380 to lose 1.5 lbs a week. I do weigh everything on my food scale and measure things with measuring cups. I do think what gets me is sugar. I do go over my sugar goal so maybe that’s what I need to hone in on right now.
My workouts consist of lifting and cardio, like biking, spinning and group classes.
Maybe I just need to really focus on my sugar and not get frustrated that it’s not happening faster.
Sugar is not important unless you mean you are overeating calories because of sugar.
Weight loss is related to calorie deficit period.
You can however, retain water from exercise. (water, not fat). Give it a few weeks and use a weight trending app like Happy Scale. Remember, your weight will fluctuate by several pounds a day, just related to exercise, salt intake, etc. If you use a weight trending app you will see what your trend line is..
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For reference, I currently weight 184, I’m 5’4”. I want to lose 40-45 lbs. my calories per day are set to 1,380 to lose 1.5 lbs a week. I do weigh everything on my food scale and measure things with measuring cups. I do think what gets me is sugar. I do go over my sugar goal so maybe that’s what I need to hone in on right now.
My workouts consist of lifting and cardio, like biking, spinning and group classes.
Maybe I just need to really focus on my sugar and not get frustrated that it’s not happening faster.
Sugar is not the problem unless it causes you to go over your calories. You need to learn patience. If you are not losing you are hovering around maintenance (or maybe there's a medical problem that needs to be addressed).1 -
you said you weigh with measuring cups. don't
use the scale with grams and oz
sugar doesn't matter.
calorie deficit does.5 -
It's hard to say without any details and a closed diary. These would be my general suggestions:
1. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.
2. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one and weigh everything solid. Everything. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.
3. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.
4. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.
5. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.
6. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.
7. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs. You might also be sure your scale is working and doesn't need new batteries or anything.
8. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.7 -
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You said you amped up your exercise thia week and strength training is one of your exercises. My money is on water retention. Sounds like you are only weighing yourself weekly, which won't allow you to see those fluctuations.
If you can handle the ups and downs on the scale, I recommend daily weight and use a trending app HappyScale (apple), Libra (android), or Trendweight (syncs with Fitbit). They will smooth the ups and downs and give you a trendline, but it really takes a couple weeks of data to start getting a good picture. If you don't want to weigh daily, then you need to realize that there will be fluctuations, and if you catch yourself on one of the higher days it will look like you aren't making progress.
I would also encourage you to review your logging. Are you weighing all solids, even prepackaged singles? If you are eating out often, there will be some uncertainty there. Sugar is only relevant if you are consuming so much tgat it prevents you from getting the needed nutrition. Sodium and TOM are the other two water retention culprits.2 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »You said you amped up your exercise thia week and strength training is one of your exercises. My money is on water retention. Sounds like you are only weighing yourself weekly, which won't allow you to see those fluctuations.
If you can handle the ups and downs on the scale, I recommend daily weight and use a trending app HappyScale (apple), Libra (android), or Trendweight (syncs with Fitbit). They will smooth the ups and downs and give you a trendline, but it really takes a couple weeks of data to start getting a good picture. If you don't want to weigh daily, then you need to realize that there will be fluctuations, and if you catch yourself on one of the higher days it will look like you aren't making progress.
I would also encourage you to review your logging. Are you weighing all solids, even prepackaged singles? If you are eating out often, there will be some uncertainty there. Sugar is only relevant if you are consuming so much tgat it prevents you from getting the needed nutrition. Sodium and TOM are the other two water retention culprits.
Alcohol is also a water retention culprit.
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