Never successfully lost weight

asollif
asollif Posts: 3 Member
edited December 2024 in Getting Started
Hi. I have never lost weight I'm my life. I have always fallen within the health range, so it was never an issue. About 4 years ago I noticed i had put on about 10lbs within a short timeframe so I started working out and watching what I ate. Here I am still doing that, but now I'm up almost 10 more lbs!! I'm now bordering on "overweight" at 5'5" and 145. Any suggestions on what to do?
Currently:
- 10,000 steps a day minimum
- HIIT 3-4x week
- no drinking calories (milk/coffee exception)
- cardio 3-4x week
- Low intensity daily
- avoid processed foods
- stay within MFP calroie intake 90% of the time

I feel like the weight is piling on despite my efforts. Advice would be helpful.

Replies

  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
    edited April 2019
    here's a great thread on how to get sttarted
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

    my short form answer:
    1 - put your stats in my fitness pal and select a reasonable rate of loss ((with 20 or less i'd recommend no more than 1pd/week and 0.5 would be better). this will give you what amount of calories to eat daily to lose at the requested rate of loss.
    2 - get a food scale
    3 - use food scale for everything. anything and everything you put in your mouth
    4 - LOG EVERYTHING.
    5 - carefully select entries in database, they are user created thus can be erroneous.
    6 - eat back exercise calories

    a few more links
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1399829/step-by-step-guide-to-losing-weight-with-myfitnesspal

    why use a food scale?
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10697068/how-i-stopped-kidding-myself/p1
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
    Depending on how you take your coffee, those calories could be significant; a cappuccino is over 100 calories, for example!

    Avoiding processed foods is irrelevant. What is relevant is how accurate your count of calories in and expended is.

    Do you weigh all solids on a food scale, including fruits and vegetables? Measure all liquids including cooking oils and dressings? Is your diary open so we can see what you’re doing and offer advice?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    I agree with starting to weigh your food.

    Also, depending on how much you're over your calories on the other 10% of the time you could well be negating your deficit.
  • gallicinvasion
    gallicinvasion Posts: 1,015 Member
    Also go to a doctor to rule out any other health problems that might have caused a quick weight gain.
  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,434 Member
    Even when I started pouring my half and half using a Tablespoon, I was shocked at how many calories I was consuming coming from that alone. I made myself adjust to 3Tb total. Is your food diary open?
  • asollif
    asollif Posts: 3 Member
    I don't think so. I try to use a teaspoon of milk to not over do it. But yes, I too love half and half.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    You're in the optimal BMI range for your height, which means your calorie deficit is going to be small, and it will be very easy to wipe it out with a few logging errors here and there. Hitting your MFP goal 90% of the time will probably not be good enough if you're going very much over it the other 10% of the time.

    Set MFP to 0.5 lb/week loss. Then, get a food scale. Weigh all of your solid food. Consistently stay within your MFP goal. Make sure that you aren't overestimating your exercise calorie burn.

    Finally, be patient. You may experience an initial rapid loss of water weight, but after that, your pace of weight loss will likely be slow and you should not expect to see a consistent linear decrease on the scale. With a small amount to lose, it's common to see the scale go down a pound or so every few weeks, and then no change or even upward fluctuation for the next few weeks.
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    edited April 2019
    Of the 7 bullet points only the last one is directly related to losing weight. The rest either really don't matter or are more related to health and fitness than weight management.

    So lets tackle the last one "stay within MFP calroie intake 90% of the time"

    If this is correct and you're still putting on weight then it's 1 of 2 likely scenarios
    1. That 10% is wiping out the deficit that the other 90% is creating. If so then you either need to rein in that 10% so that you remain in a calorie deficit or make sure your 90% deficit is large enough to accommodate the 10%. Or
    2. That 90% isn't being tracked as accurately as it needs to be and you're eating more than you realise. In which case you might need to be a little bit more stringent with your logging. This means logging everything you eat by weight not volume (as in grams not cups/spoons).

    I'll leave it to you to decide which you think is the more likely culprit.

    G'luck
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