Frustration

K1ddo wrote: »

Hello
I am looking for some advise on how to proceed. I started in earnest with MFP in January. I've been tracking honestly daily. I aim for 1500 calories a day. However I am not loosing weight.
I lost approx 18pounds over 25 weeks. I thought it would be more. I was working out 3-4 times a week. Also It was not consistent - 1 pound, half pound, nothing nothing nothing 4 pounds etc. For the past while I have not lost any weight.
I'm wondering do I increase or reduce the calories? Is it the combination of food? Is it lack of water?
I keep hearing that if you are in a calorific deficit you WILL LOOSE WEIGHT that it's impossible not to!!!!

I am 45, F, 230pounds and I'm 5ft 1. I have used the manual calculations that puts me at 1539 to loose 1.5 pounds a week. Again.......... that's not working for me.

ANY IDEAS - please.
Bear in mind I'm still learning so if this is obvious to some more experienced folk... be kind!

Thank you

I would really really like to find out from you in what time frame you lost the 18 lbs and how many weeks you've had no scale movement.

In semi random order because the pixel-thieves ate my previous reply!

--how are you measuring your weight level change? It doesn't sound as if you're using a weight trend app or web site to do so!

--ups and downs during weight loss are NORMAL. VERY Normal. Extremely normal for a woman with a hormonal cycle, and even more so for one engaging in exercise.

--did you mention that you USED to exercise when you were losing (were you eating back the exercise calories?) but you're currently neither losing nor doing that same level of exercise?

--selecting an ESTIMATED 1.5lb loss and eating per those estimates does NOT GUARANTEE a 1.5lb loss. It is an ESTIMATE of what it would take for a 1.5lb loss to occur.

--the fact that you can select a 1.5lb a week loss does not mean that the deficit this requires is suitable for you given your current circumstances. It also doesn't mean that it is sustainable for you.

Furthermore the estimate can be affected by things both inside and outside your control.

Inside your control:
==log by weight.
==select valid database entries.
==don't buy into fake zero calorie promises (see zero calories for 1/8th of a second spray / zero calories for less than one teaspoon / zero calories for a quantity designed to come up to 4 calories so we can claim they are zero)
==log licks, bites, condiments, pills and capsules with calories, every-thing that crosses mount--by preference before it does so
==come up with reasonable estimations of additional activity. Make sure you are engaging in AT LEAST the level of activity you've selected.

Outside your control:
==These estimates are based on an average person. There exists no guarantee that you're average. Some people track AT average. Some above. Some below.

Assuming 18lbs in 25 weeks was a WEIGHT TREND (please switch to using your weight trend instead of scale weight for calculations), this represents a CALCULATED BASED ON YOUR OWN REALITY, effective deficit of 360 Cal a day.

It really doesn't matter if you were AIMING for a deficit of 750 Cal a day... your body ACHIEVED 360 Cal a day.

This tells me two things.

a) you should be adjusting your goals based on this information BUT ONLY SELECTING GOALS THAT ARE LIKELY TO ENSURE LONG TERM COMPLIANCE. If you're having a hard time achieving -750, trying for -1000 would be counterproductive, and achieving -360, or EVEN ZERO, is a hack of a lot better than going for -1000, giving up in disgust, and starting to over-eat and regaining everything you've lost!

b) you are probably unrealistic in attempting to lose at 1.5lbs a week. Aiming for -500 a week seems more likely to produce results.

In all this I am also wondering: Have you adjusted your goals at all since you first started logging? If you're eating now the same as you did when you started a bit heavier and if you're not exercising now when you used to exercise before and if your activity has reduced in the house because you're sheltering in place... well.... 360 Cal a day is not that difficult to disappear, especially if you tack in a couple of logging errors!

I know that with less going outside due to avoiding the "crowds" I have probably dropped a good 3-400 Cal from both my expenditure and eating...

Let's do some math to get to the bottom of this.

TDEEcalculator.net says the TDEE (break even) for a 45 yr old female, 5'1", 230 lbs, sedentary is ... 1950.

You are eating 1540, which is a deficit of 410 calories per day, or 2870 per week, or 0.82 of a pound. So, you should've lost 0.82 of a pound per week ... ***IF*** you ate those 1540 calories 7 days per week, no off days, no off meals, no binges, no time outs, no underestimating of calories whatsoever.

Now let's compare that to your actual scale data.

In 25 weeks you lost 18 pounds. That is 0.72 lbs/week.

You woud've lost 0.82 pounds per week if you: measured everything correctly and never, ever took an off meal. Instead, you lost 0.72 per week.

So you lost 87 % of the weight you should've lost, which is a normal, everyday variance based on the fact that no one hits the target everyday for 25 weeks. Now, your workouts perhaps should've added some additional weight loss but I can't tell from your post whether those workouts are high calorie workouts, and/or if you're eating those calories back, so I'll put the workout issue aside for now.

Basically, everything is going well. Except for the part about having expected to lose 1.5 lbs a week! Let's address that.

To lose 1.5 lbs/week you need a deficit of 750 calories per day, which for you, with a TDEE of 1950, should be 1200. But MFP gave you 1539. The only explanation for this I can think of is that you put in Lightly Active instead of Sedentary. You shoulda used Sedentary. Why? Because you are losing weight at a Sedentary pace. In other words, you are losing weight at 87 % of the pace of a Sedentary person with your age/gender/height/weight who measures everything correctly and never takes a break, which means you're right on track ... as a Sedentary person, not a Lightly Active person.

To sum it all up, 1450 calories per day should get you 1 lb per week of loss. You're eating a bit more than that and losing a bit less than 1 lb per week, which is as it should be. If you want the full lb per week lost, try 1450 cals.

Finally, congrats on losing the 18 lbs in 25 weeks. You're doing great & as time rolls on that weight loss will grow into a huge accomplishment, so I'm not sure what the problem is here other than some normal and understandable impatience that we all have to work through.

Takeaways:

- You're doing great!
- Calorie counting works, and is definitely working for you
- You probably miscategorized yourself which gave you an unrealistic expectation that a 410 calorie deficit would produce 1.5 lbs per week. This is an expectations issue, not a weight loss problem.
- Weight fluctuates and is very mysterious. I wouldn't sweat the "lose 4 lbs one week, lose nothing the next week" for a nanosecond. It's like that for everyone.

Not working? You've lost a lot of weight in that time how can you say its not working? Weight loss does get slower and lower as you get closer to a healthier weight.

How long is the past while you mention?