cant lose weight!
kimgab1
Posts: 11 Member
I am a 53 Year old woman and i started dieting Sept 5 and i have only lost 7 lbs!! i eat 1200 calories or less and exercise 90 minutes 6 days a week. I have gained 2 lbs and it seems like i cant lose those or ANY more weight. I weigh 165 right now. I got done to 163. i want to weigh 140. Why cant i lose weight if i am eating 1200 calories or less and exercising!!!
2
Replies
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Do you use a food scale whenever possible? Measure all liquids with calories?
How many calorie counting gray areas do you encounter in a week? Do you keep a food diary?2 -
This^
Also - 7 pounds may be a little slow......but it's not nothing. With 23 pounds to lose you should be trying for at most, 1 pound a week. When you get close (like 15 pounds to lose) you want to dial it back to 1/2 pound a week.
Learn to ignore the "I gained 2 pounds overnight" type situations. That's just water weight which fluctuates for many reasons.....higher sodium, sore muscles, and waste cycle.4 -
agree with the above:
- Food scale. x1000
- log all intake (food and liquid with calories) and ensure to carefully select what entry you pick as they are user created and some are incorrect.
- your weight fluctuates day to day. and "increase of two pounds'" is likely just temporary water retention. that happens for a long list of reaons. time of the month for females, eating fattier-salter (even within goal calories). It's temporary. I HIGHLY recommend a weight tending app, it has really helped me relax about increases that happen as I know the tend is going in the right direction and the water retention weight will just go away with time and not impact my actual weight loss.
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i keep a food diary and try not to eat anything if i dont know the calories it has in it. i have a food scale but i dont seem to use it much because everyyhing i eat is listed in MFP.
I have just had these 2 extra lbs. for over 2 weeks. i dont want to go over my 1200 calories. most days i dont even eat the extra calories i get back from exercising.0 -
i keep a food diary and try not to eat anything if i dont know the calories it has in it. i have a food scale but i dont seem to use it much because everyyhing i eat is listed in MFP.
I have just had these 2 extra lbs. for over 2 weeks. i dont want to go over my 1200 calories. most days i dont even eat the extra calories i get back from exercising.
How do you know how big the portions are that you're eating?9 -
I understand your frustration. I was going through exactly the same feelings. This may sound silly, but after months of not seeing the scale move I made a decision. I knew that I was feeling better with the foods I was consuming, so I just stopped weighing myself. I continued weighing my foods on a daily basis. I made a choice to like myself better and not be staying awake at night kicking myself for eating that piece of cheesecake. Truth be told I wasn't eating enough. My sleep patterns improved once I increased my calories. I also tried that stupid 1200 calories a day. Jeez I must have been driving everyone around me crazy. I upped my calories by a few hundred. Once my clothes started to loosen a little, I then weighed myself. I'm 58 next week. I started my new eating lifestyle when I was 53. I choose not to say I'm on a diet. My starting weight was 165lbs. My current weight is 118lbs. I know everyone is different, but what worked for me is simply by not stressing out about it. I wish you the very best.9
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if you are not using a scale you cannot know know how much you are eating unless you only eating individually packaged food.
as asked by TravistockToad - if you don't weight the food how can you know how much to log? you need to know the weight (or if that is not possible measuring cup-spoon) to be able to log. I weight my carrots to know i am eating 50gram of carrot to know how much to log (and pick an entry with info by weight).
would you be interested in opening your diary so we can take a peak and offer more tips.5 -
Luv2eatSweets wrote: »I understand your frustration. I was going through exactly the same feelings. This may sound silly, but after months of not seeing the scale move I made a decision. I knew that I was feeling better with the foods I was consuming, so I just stopped weighing myself. I continued weighing my foods on a daily basis. I made a choice to like myself better and not be staying awake at night kicking myself for eating that piece of cheesecake. Truth be told I wasn't eating enough. My sleep patterns improved once I increased my calories. I also tried that stupid 1200 calories a day. Jeez I must have been driving everyone around me crazy. I upped my calories by a few hundred. Once my clothes started to loosen a little, I then weighed myself. I'm 58 next week. I started my new eating lifestyle when I was 53. I choose not to say I'm on a diet. My starting weight was 165lbs. My current weight is 118lbs. I know everyone is different, but what worked for me is simply by not stressing out about it. I wish you the very best.
^^ This. I know it's frustrating when you watch the scale and it feels like it's not budging, but I agree with the commenters who say 7 lbs in 2 months isn't nothing. That's almost exactly on track with 1 lb a week, and I'll add here that research shows that the slower you lose the weight (and the more you adopt the mindset of Luv2eatSweets - not a diet, but a lifestyle, and with permission to "cheat" here and there) the more likely you are to keep it off for good rather than getting caught in the cycle of yo-yo dieting. One pound a week seems to be about the magic number for this, depending on how close you are to a healthy BMI.
Seriously, give yourself a break. You're doing a great job!4 -
TavistockToad wrote: »i keep a food diary and try not to eat anything if i dont know the calories it has in it. i have a food scale but i dont seem to use it much because everyyhing i eat is listed in MFP.
I have just had these 2 extra lbs. for over 2 weeks. i dont want to go over my 1200 calories. most days i dont even eat the extra calories i get back from exercising.
How do you know how big the portions are that you're eating?
This^
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p14 -
Commit to actually using your food scale for a month double checking all food entries used (many are rubbish!) and my guess is you will see you are eating more than you think.7
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No such thing as can't in my vocabulary
You have lost, it's just slower than you would have liked.
The others have already gave you pointers - start using a food scale, it's eye opening. Oh and have patience, it takes a lot longer than we ever think to lose but stick with the CICO, it works
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so, its been about a month with no weight loss . im not gaining either (yay!)...its just frustrating because im eating 1200 calories, working out 90 minutes every day! im hungry all the time! It just seems i should be losing weight. I dont want to give up but WTH?!!1
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Use your food scale. Check out this thread...
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
And reference your 2 lb gain, read this article...
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/2 -
so, its been about a month with no weight loss . im not gaining either (yay!)...its just frustrating because im eating 1200 calories, working out 90 minutes every day! im hungry all the time! It just seems i should be losing weight. I dont want to give up but WTH?!!
food scale. 100% try a food scale for all things for 2 weeks and then see.3 -
.0
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so, its been about a month with no weight loss . im not gaining either (yay!)...its just frustrating because im eating 1200 calories, working out 90 minutes every day! im hungry all the time! It just seems i should be losing weight. I dont want to give up but WTH?!!
Have you actually started using your food scale though?3 -
RelCanonical wrote: »so, its been about a month with no weight loss . im not gaining either (yay!)...its just frustrating because im eating 1200 calories, working out 90 minutes every day! im hungry all the time! It just seems i should be losing weight. I dont want to give up but WTH?!!
Even things that are pre-packaged need to be weighed, at least a first until you can judge the accuracy of the numbers they're listing. Manufacturers tend to err on the side of more when it comes to food (putting more in than what's listed on the packaging) because people will definitely feel like they're getting ripped off if they're shorted. For us, though, that means that we may be eating more than we think if we're just going by the packaging and not weighing the food. Some companies are more accurate than others, so once you get an idea, you can continue to use that without having to weigh every single time.
This isn’t necessarily true. Maybe if you have your weight loss goal set to 0.5 lb a week so your deficit is really small or you eat a lot of pre-packaged foods but I’ve lost 24 lbs so far and never weigh pre-packaged foods. More power to you if you do but you don’t have to to lose weight.
3 -
so, its been about a month with no weight loss . im not gaining either (yay!)...its just frustrating because im eating 1200 calories, working out 90 minutes every day! im hungry all the time! It just seems i should be losing weight. I dont want to give up but WTH?!!
As you get closer to goal--20 lbs or less, you have to be very precise, hence the digital food scale. Try it, what have you got to lose? Except 20 lbs.2 -
Running2Fit wrote: »RelCanonical wrote: »so, its been about a month with no weight loss . im not gaining either (yay!)...its just frustrating because im eating 1200 calories, working out 90 minutes every day! im hungry all the time! It just seems i should be losing weight. I dont want to give up but WTH?!!
Even things that are pre-packaged need to be weighed, at least a first until you can judge the accuracy of the numbers they're listing. Manufacturers tend to err on the side of more when it comes to food (putting more in than what's listed on the packaging) because people will definitely feel like they're getting ripped off if they're shorted. For us, though, that means that we may be eating more than we think if we're just going by the packaging and not weighing the food. Some companies are more accurate than others, so once you get an idea, you can continue to use that without having to weigh every single time.
This isn’t necessarily true. Maybe if you have your weight loss goal set to 0.5 lb a week so your deficit is really small or you eat a lot of pre-packaged foods but I’ve lost 24 lbs so far and never weigh pre-packaged foods. More power to you if you do but you don’t have to to lose weight.
Or you are like the OP and aren't losing and can't figure out why. Weighing pre-packaged food might help.
Edited for clarity.3 -
Luv2eatSweets wrote: »I understand your frustration. I was going through exactly the same feelings. This may sound silly, but after months of not seeing the scale move I made a decision. I knew that I was feeling better with the foods I was consuming, so I just stopped weighing myself. I continued weighing my foods on a daily basis. I made a choice to like myself better and not be staying awake at night kicking myself for eating that piece of cheesecake. Truth be told I wasn't eating enough. My sleep patterns improved once I increased my calories. I also tried that stupid 1200 calories a day. Jeez I must have been driving everyone around me crazy. I upped my calories by a few hundred. Once my clothes started to loosen a little, I then weighed myself. I'm 58 next week. I started my new eating lifestyle when I was 53. I choose not to say I'm on a diet. My starting weight was 165lbs. My current weight is 118lbs. I know everyone is different, but what worked for me is simply by not stressing out about it. I wish you the very best.
I agree with this post. 1200 calories a day, not counting all the exercise you're doing is probably not enough! If you starve yourself your metabolism slows down. It helped our ancestors make it through times of famine or hard winters with little food. It's in our DNA to slow down the metabolism when you are starving. I believe you that you know what you are eating. I have been there before, frustrated, trying everything, adding additional exercise and cutting calories with no result. My obsessing and negative self-talk did not help either. I DON'T think the answer is to blame you for not having a food scale. I think there is a possibility you ARE doing everything you say you are but your body thinks you are starving. I would try different eating programs that emphasize types of food (veggies, lean proteins, unprocessed, high fiber) and up your calories to what is recommended for your weight. Eat good fat so you feel full. Your body needs fat and protein and fiber and vitamins. Experiment with different macro breakdowns until you find what makes your body happy. Logging will help with figuring out what your body needs.10 -
An excellent article detailing every possible reason you're not losing weight, and what to do about it:
https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/3
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