Always under my daily calorie total, walking most days but not losing weight

How much weight do you have to lose? If you're within 10-15 pounds of goal, a 1/2 pound a week loss would be good progress. As Steve pointed out you are losing, just not very quickly.

A food scale is a good idea. You might double check your food entries too. Plenty of entries in the database are flat out wrong.

CoastalGirl67 wrote: »

I’m 13 stone 12 and only 5 foot 5 so I’ve probably a stone and a half to lose at least. I have been quite particular about my entries and have scales to make sure my portion size is right.
When I look back at what I have been eating perhaps I’ve too many snacks that I need to substitute for healthier options but I’m not really sure exactly what I should be eating. I’m 53 with a digestive disorder so I don’t think that helps me either.

What you're eating doesn't matter; it's all about calories for weight loss.

That said, there are plenty of different foods that help people feel more satisfied or full than others. It's common guidance to also explore different macro ratios as some will have better adherence to a calorie deficit with higher protein or fat values, however that's all just a matter of preference.

As far as goals are concerned, losing 1.5 stone would be great but still have you as overweight by BMI standards. Getting down to 10 stone 10 (150lbs) would put you at the top end of "normal" by BMI.

As far as loss rate is concerned, the maximum recommended amount is often referenced at 1% of total body weight. However, I've personally found that aiming for closer to 0.5% is far more tolerable. However, it's worth noting that I'm at a stage where I'm closer to optimal weight for my height and trying to improve body composition. Though this approach of a more moderately aggressive target loss rate has shown to lead to more successful completed diets by the crew over at Renaissance Periodization and their user base (they have a paid diet app that functions like MFP but has a little more a coaching/prescriptive approach). They also found that limiting diet phases to 6-9 weeks is best for maximizing adherence and achieving overall loss goals. They're also proponents of undergoing maintenance phases lasting at least half as long as the dieting or massing phase before starting the next phase to minimize adverse hormonal and psychological impacts dieting for long periods of time can have. It's common to see folks able to maintain an aggressive loss phase for well beyond that but rebound hard. A better approach could be to string a number of these moderately aggressive loss phases together interspersed with diet breaks if it means a more sustainable and maintainable weight loss in the big picture. It often provides the benefit of practicing maintenance prior to getting to one's final weight loss goal which eliminates some of the mystery of how to adapt to life after losing weight.

Yes, this is a very long-game approach but following it OP could be down in the 150s in 15-18 months without ever being overly restrictive and already be well-practiced at maintenance.

CoastalGirl67 wrote: »

Thank you for that. If it doesn’t matter how I make up my calories I can’t understand why I haven’t lost very much. I’m quite an active person too so I thought that might have helped.
I’m trying to change the way I eat on a long term basis as a way of life rather than going forward through a temporary aggressive weight loss program. Thank you for your input though. 🙏🏼

Absolutely!

I will say if you're confident on the measurement of your input (calories from food) than the problem could be with the calories in your output (exercise/daily activity). How are you accounting for your activity?

CoastalGirl67 wrote: »

I use an Apple Watch now so I might be doing something wrong as I definitely did have an issue with double entry to start with but I think I sorted it out fairly quickly. I’ll give it another month and cut down on my naughties and see if that helps.

Are you eating all calories that you get from walking from your apple watch? how much do you walk and how many calories do you get?

@CoastalGirl67 we've asked you lots of questions but you've not really answered any of them but just jump onto something you picked up here. We want to help you, but in order to do that you need to help us with some information. We're just guessing here, and as such, all answers are based on guessing. MFP is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back, but it's easy to overestimate those, also with devices. Likewise it's easy to chose wrong database entries. But it's also possible that you're so stressed out from this whole process that your body is increasing cortisol, and with that holding a lot more onto water which hides weight loss. Maybe you're in fact undereating already!

I think you are being too hard on yourself. Let's say you stick with this for a year - you will have gotten more toned from the walking and dropped at least 18 pounds. That is realistic, healthy and smart. It will also be 2 pants sizes. For weight loss and new patterns to stick, you need to be committed to the long game. I think the flow chart someone posted is fantastic, but I'll add some comments if you want to lose weight in a healthy way and a little faster: If you are only walking, do not eat your exercise calories. If you are still above 1200 calories a day, then every week reduce by 50 calories a day (Not every day, by the week! So week 1 you are at 1600 per day, week 2 you are at 1550 per day). This will allow for slow changes and for your body to adjust. If you find one day you are not as hungry, then do what you would normally do and do NOT eat just eat because you have calories left over. Figure out what works for YOU. Are there vegetables which keep you full (zucchini noodles!) or something that makes you hungrier (Oreos for me). Try to eat mindfully and pay attention to how you feel afterwards - full/bloated/satisfied/cranky. Remember that weight loss may not be linear. You will eventually have a "hungry day" (as I call them) and might go over - this is ok, but keep it in moderation. Also, consider adding weight lifting because muscle mass is important. You can adding a weighted vest (like 5-8lbs) or light HAND weights while walking. While walking, try to pick up the pace at times, add 5 minutes to your walk when you can. Use a curb to do some step ups. Squat every so often. Make your walk playful and fun! (I like to jump logs) or hop over lines. So, if you want to lose weight a little quicker: Increase your cardio, increase your weight lifting and decrease your calorie intake slowly over time. And, just always do what is your personal best. You got this, girl!

Apple watch doesn't work well with MyFitnessPal.
You could try syncing via an intermediary app (such as Pacer) to get the correct data across. Or simply don't sync it at all.

Making your diary public helps people help you.

It seems you are in fact losing weight but just slower than you expect. You don't actually have to change anything if you are prepared to be patient. If you want to lose quicker you could simply adjust your calorie goal down a little.

I’ve found Apple Watch to be quite accurate- as long as you have your sharing permissions and settings done right,and have your activity level set correctly in MFP. I’ve been pretty pleased at the quality of the calorie data synced to MFP, but even so I don’t eat all of them back.

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

without opening your diary, really the only thing we can say is that you are not logging accurately or giving too 'credit' for workout calories

This graph is really helpful.
I started mfp 15 days ago and haven't lost anything, clothes still tight etc. I guess I've just got to sit tight and keep going.

I've done this before many times but the weight would come off much quicker.