Working hard and not losing weight :(

Would you be willing to temporarily make your diary public? There are common logging errors many of us made when we first started logging, and sometimes fresh eyes can spot issues for you.

1000-1200 calories per day - if you did nothing, would be enough of a deficit to lose significant weight. As a matter of fact, it would not be enough to eat even if you were 60 pounds lighter (and still did nothing).

If you have not already - invest in a food scale. Use it for everything - even packaged food that says it's 1 serving size.

If you've been steady for 2.5 months with that activity, there's most likely something off with your logging. Start there.

Your food scale is way more important than your bathroom scale.

AwesomeOpossum74 wrote: »

Could be you're converting fat into muscle, which weighs more?

Make sure you log all your food, in the proper amounts. Incorrect logging was a big factor when I was getting started.

And if you haven't already, join a dance group and get your swing dancing on! Plenty of calorie burn in dancing.

Unfortunately, it's pretty much impossible that a woman eating at an almost 1000 calorie deficit would be gaining much muscle at all, certainly not enough to mask fat loss on the scale. Building muscle is slow work, especially for women, and especially especially for women eating at a steep deficit.

if you haven't seen scale movement, you are eating more than you think...

wal3qx wrote: »

Take your measurements, arms, waist, etc., and use that as a gauge on progress instead of just what the scale says. You could be making progress in muscle gain and fat loss both, making the scale number stay put. I went 2 months with the scale sitting in the same spot but in that 2 months, I went down a size in both pants and top.

Usually solid advice, but the OP has already mentioned that her clothes are not fitting any differently. Also, running (i.e. steady state cardio) and eating at a significant deficit is not going to build a noticeable amount of muscle. Far more likely that caloric intake is higher than realised.

No one ever appreciates being told that they are eating more than they think but it is likely the case here. Several folks have given you ideas where to look. I wanted to just add a couple of items. The first is the "cheat day". Often people admit to them but don't realize how they can derail your progress. Chances are this is not your whole issue if at all but I wanted to mention it just in case it's a factor. Next is what some call BLT (Bites, Licks and tastes). I just had an eye opener the other day as I was preparing something for my hubby. I weighed before and after reheating and found I had consumed 100 grams of it just tasting as it heated. Watch those things as well. They can really add up.

Last thing is to check on some of your recurring items to ensure you are using the correct calorie count on them. Some of the items in the lists are wrong and can really mess you up if it's something you eat often and are underlogging the calorie count accidentally. You can go to the USDA website for clarification if you are unsure.

AwesomeOpossum74 wrote: »

Could be you're converting fat into muscle, which weighs more?

This is not physically possible. And muscle doesn't weigh more than fat.

PO, like cheryldumais said, you're eating more than you think. Weigh and log everything. Don't rely on the entries in MFP, because they're notoriously wrong. Enter your own foods.

Don't go by what the app is telling you you burned, those are always wrong too. If you want to eat your exercise calories back, I would eat half back to make up for the inconsistencies the app says you're burning.

Lets take a look at your post bit by bit.

You've been running and trying to stay active and on your feet during the day.
That's great for your health but your progress from this will be measured in your fitness, not weight loss. You can be as active and run as much as you want but if you're not eating fewer calories than you burn then you'll not lose weight.

You've been eating healthfully.
Again, that's great for your health but no matter how 'healthy' you label the food you're eating if those healthy foods contain more calories than you use you'll not lose weight.

You don't eat after 2pm
This is completely irrelevant to weight loss. When you do or don't eat doesn't matter. What time of day you start and stop eating doesn't matter. If you eat more calories than you use before your 2pm cut off you'll not lose weight.

You're eating 1000-1200 cal
This is very low to begin with and extremely low for someone as active as you're reporting. Most of the time when I see posts with reported calorie consumption this low and there's no weight loss occurring there's usually one of a few things going on.
- The person is logging inaccurately using poor database entries, inaccurate measurements (cups instead of grams) or guessing/estimating their serving sizes and is eating far more calories than they think
- The person is overly restricting and bingeing but writing off the excess binge calories as 'just falling off the wagon'. So they say their eating 1000 cal per day but twice a week they're overeating but not counting that as it's not part of their plan to eat 1000 cal per day
- The person isn't ready to be honest with themselves and fudge their logging to be what they want it to be rather than what it actually is.

Cut out dairy and bread
Unless you've been diagnosed with a medical reason to avoid a particular food or food group elimination won't make a difference beyond perhaps satiation. Eating or not eating particular food doesn't matter if the foods you're not avoiding provide more calories than you use you'll not lose weight

The other thing to keep in mind is that weight loss isn't linear and the scale shows more than just body fat. This means that fluctuations in undigested waste, water and other stuff can mask fat loss. If the scales not budging has gone on for less than 3 or 4 weeks it might just be a case of needing a little bit of patience.

G'luck