Not losing weight or inches, Professional advice please!

k3ll385 · June 2019

So February 2019 I joined the gym and changed my eating habits. I do 2 Pilates classes a week ( this is for my lower back injury) , I also do 2 Body conditioning classes . I also try to get in the gym for at least 2 hrs a week , and do 30mins HIIT at home .
The scales are not moving, the tape measure isn't moving the stats on the scales where I weigh at the gym aren't changing. I'm literally losing the will to carry on.
It was so much easier in my early 20s before children, I went from 17st to 9st 3lb !
I only want to lose around 14lb and it's just not happening!!

mamadon · June 2019

What did you do to change your eating habits? There's a saying you might have heard. Weight loss happens in the kitchen, you gain good health in the gym. The workouts are great for you health, but to lose weight you need to be eating at a caloric deficit, which is not necessarily the same thing as eating healthy.

kimny72 · June 2019

These posts might help:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear/p1

Twiley510 · June 2019

Make an appointment with your doctor and have all the bloodwork done to make sure there isn't something else going on as well.

MT1134 · June 2019

As previously stated, caloric deficit is where the weight comes off. Diet is about 90 percent of the battle. Eating "clean or healthy" is great but not enough if you're not eating the recommended amount to achieve your goals.

Getting blood work done is a good idea, as also mentioned. Rule out any dysfunction in the metabolic system or autoimmune system.

apullum · June 2019

How many calories does MFP give you to lose 0.5 lb/week?

Do you consistently eat that number of calories?

Do you weigh all solid food using a food scale?

How do you calculate exercise calories burned and what proportion of those do you eat back?

vollkornbloedchen · June 2019

For case-specific professional advice there is by far too few information, so this graph will have to suffice:

tarun_yadavA · June 2019

k3ll385 wrote: »

So February 2019 I joined the gym and changed my eating habits. I do 2 Pilates classes a week ( this is for my lower back injury) , I also do 2 Body conditioning classes . I also try to get in the gym for at least 2 hrs a week , and do 30mins HIIT at home .
The scales are not moving, the tape measure isn't moving the stats on the scales where I weigh at the gym aren't changing. I'm literally losing the will to carry on.
It was so much easier in my early 20s before children, I went from 17st to 9st 3lb !
I only want to lose around 14lb and it's just not happening!!

Hi,
Are you counting calories/aiming for cal deficit?

k3ll385 · June 2019

Thanks for the feedback & questions 😁
So I'm trying to get my head around it all , as it's so controversial. Do this , don't do that.
I'm researching all the time and contemplating going to study fitness .

So I'm in a calorie deficit, my BMR is 1462 cals , so I've dropped to 1300 cals.

I'm not eating what I burn at the gym though. I really struggle to eat a huge plate of food. My 9 year old eats more than me!
For example
Breakfast- yogurt , raspberries, blueberries, honey. Protein shake.
Mid AM snack - nuts
Lunch- salad ham / prawn / tuna
Mid PM snack -banana
Dinner - sea bass , salmon, vegetables, potatoes.
Drink plenty of fluids.

On a cheat night, it's normally a takeaway, but I always go for the healthiest option I can.

ceiswyn · June 2019

And are you measuring all those things using a food scale? Protein scoops are pretty inaccurate, and nuts are very calorie dense.

How many calories in your takeaway meal? ‘Healthy’ isn’t always the same thing as ‘low cal’, and you could be undoing a lot of your work in your ‘cheat’.

apullum · June 2019

k3ll385 wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback & questions 😁
So I'm trying to get my head around it all , as it's so controversial. Do this , don't do that.
I'm researching all the time and contemplating going to study fitness .

So I'm in a calorie deficit, my BMR is 1462 cals , so I've dropped to 1300 cals.

I'm not eating what I burn at the gym though. I really struggle to eat a huge plate of food. My 9 year old eats more than me!
For example
Breakfast- yogurt , raspberries, blueberries, honey. Protein shake.
Mid AM snack - nuts
Lunch- salad ham / prawn / tuna
Mid PM snack -banana
Dinner - sea bass , salmon, vegetables, potatoes.
Drink plenty of fluids.

On a cheat night, it's normally a takeaway, but I always go for the healthiest option I can.

If you’re eating below your BMR and are not eating any exercise calories, then you’re likely undereating. However, if you don’t use a food scale to weigh all solid food, then you don’t know how many calories you’re taking in.

Beyond that, we are not going to be able to help very much without answers to the questions that were posted.

L1zardQueen · June 2019

That is your typical day? You are not calculating your calories very good. By the way, I calculated your calorie intake in my head and you are mostly definitely eating more than 1300 calories. Get a food scale and weigh everything.

JBanx256 · June 2019

Quite frankly, you're either:
A. eating more calories than you think you are
B. burning fewer calories than you think you are
C. some combination of A & B

You know you're eating cheat meals and you don't actually weigh/measure the foods you consume, so...yeah. You can't really say you're in a calorie deficit because you don't know. That's like saying, "oh I've got enough gas to get to where I'm going..." but you don't know how much fuel is in your tank or how many miles it is to get there. You're just guessing.

Panini911 · June 2019

repeating the key message above to reiterating it's importance:

get a food scale, use it on all foods and ensure to use correct entries. odds are quite high you are eating more than you think you are.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

Buff_Man · June 2019

You're in a plateau so you need to change things up. Try low carb higher protein and do some resistance/weight workouts regularly. Be patient, take regular pics too

sammiejroo · June 2019

That does seem like a lot of food for 1300 calories.

I’m on the same amount and an example of my daily intake is:
Breakfast:
Probiotic drink (yogurt based)
Huel shake (this isn’t a protein or weight loss shake)
(540 calories)

Lunch:
Huel shake
(450 calories - about the same as a store bought sandwich)

Dinner:
Salad leaves with spring onions, bell peppers, cucumber, with half a chicken breast or a little feta and a little dressing
(300 calories)

I drink water or black coffee without any sweetener (avoid drinking your calories!)

On my exercise days, I usually burn around 400 to 600 calories, so instead of the salad, I might have home-made spaghetti Bolognaise (I use brown rice pasta) or a small jacket potato with tuna and soft cheese... this is to ensure my total calories doesn’t fall below 1300.
I also listen to my body, if I’m feeling run down or weak, I eat; usually I aim for something high protein and low carb. There’s no point aiming for 1300 if I then can’t function.

This is currently working very well for me (6lbs lost in 2 weeks) but I know I’m likely to hit a plateau soon so I’m planning ahead now

sarabushby · June 2019

You may also find your calorie burn from the exercise is actually not that much, coupled with the phrase ‘try to get in the gym’ you probably just are not burning that much. Eg a Pilates class for me, challenging as it is, only burns say an extra 75cals, easily wiped out if you don’t weigh your foods or logged the wrong yoghurt entry for example. Even if I was 100% accurate on my diary I’d need to do something like 9 weeks of 5 classes a week to burn off just 1lb of fat! (3500cal per 1lb fat/75 calories per class then /5 classes per week).
It’s extraordinarily easy to overestimate calorie burn and underestimate what you eat. Even when people say they spent 1hr at the gym, usually they were only ‘working’ for say 40minutes when you exclude time taken changing or cleaning machines, getting a drink, setting up equipment, chatting to ppl etc. Or swimming - they log 1hr swimming but actually, excluding changing, showering, pausing between sets, fiddling with goggles & getting a drink etc they maybe actually only swam for 30-45minutes.

k3ll385 · June 2019

We're off on a family holiday, so I'm going to take a break and reassess when I get home.

I'm going to take all the advice on board, and possibly look for a PT. Definitely going weigh my foods , and possibly try batch cooking.
A busy mum of 3, working , and studying doesn't make it easy for me.

Thanks so much , it's really appreciated!

pontious11349 · June 2019

3500 kcal = 1lb Fat.

If you are only eating a 100Kcal/day deficit it will take +1 month to lose 1lb. Probably why you have taken to this as you want faster results.

Chuck in the fact that you are not accurately weighing / logging your intake and having cheat meals you are definitely eating in a surplus. All that exercise probably counters the surplus hence why you are not seeing a change on the scales.

Just chill out, do the math and enjoy the process. You can't *kitten* this up

.

nooboots · June 2019

k3ll385 wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback & questions 😁
So I'm trying to get my head around it all , as it's so controversial. Do this , don't do that.
I'm researching all the time and contemplating going to study fitness .

So I'm in a calorie deficit, my BMR is 1462 cals , so I've dropped to 1300 cals.

I'm not eating what I burn at the gym though. I really struggle to eat a huge plate of food. My 9 year old eats more than me!
For example
Breakfast- yogurt , raspberries, blueberries, honey. Protein shake.
Mid AM snack - nuts
Lunch- salad ham / prawn / tuna
Mid PM snack -banana
Dinner - sea bass , salmon, vegetables, potatoes.
Drink plenty of fluids.

On a cheat night, it's normally a takeaway, but I always go for the healthiest option I can.

I bet because you're only a stone away from your goal, you're fairly active with lots of activity and you mention you had a previous back injury (some inflammation sometimes), and that your daily deficit is 162 calories its just very slow. If you really are sticking to 1300 calories then you will lose weight on the scale (and will have done so in real life). But if you're going over your deficit then you will be maintaining which might be why you cant see the loss (plus any water weight from the exercise).

You would be amazed at takeaway calories despite tryingg to choose the least worst option in terms of calories.

This was my food yesterday - 6 m+s cheese mini muffins for breakfast, on the road, 300 calories, so far so good

Then my only meal of the day, mussaman curry with beef, no rice, some sushi to start, and a small tiramisu pot (like you get in marks or asda) for afters. Half a pint of milk to account for cups of tea. 4 sugars in a coffee.

I was a thousand calories over my deficit, so 500 over maintenance. Luckily I know I can make that up and had some extra calories left over from Saturday anyway.

nooboots · June 2019

By the way that food I just wrote out for yesterday was nearly 3000 calories.

Not losing weight or inches, Professional advice please!

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