Not loosing

karenmarcel85
karenmarcel85 Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am having the sam issues, not loosing but maintaining despite eating under 1300 calories, not intentional but I may be miscalculating in MFP idk. Help?

Replies

  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,155 Member
    karenmarcel85 wrote: »
    I am having the sam issues, not loosing but maintaining despite eating under 1300 calories, not intentional but I may be miscalculating in MFP idk. Help?

    There's a lot of things that can be going on. How long have you been stuck for? It can take a few weeks for there to be noticeable differences on the scale. It can also make a difference to know what you weigh now, what your goal weight is, and the rate at which you've told MFP you want to lose. If you only have 10-20 pounds or so to lose and told MFP you want to lose 2 lbs/week, that's going to be very hard on your body.

    How accurately are you measuring your calories? If you change your diary settings to public, there's many posters here who can help you. :)
  • Skyler103
    Skyler103 Posts: 121 Member
    It's really difficult to be accurate with calorie counting unless you're weighing your food. Then you'll know exactly how much you're eating. Some people don't like doing it, but I find it comforting to be able to be so exact. There are lots of videos that show how to use one correctly, and it's really easy once you get the hang of it!
  • FiberousJ
    FiberousJ Posts: 82 Member
    I told you guys it's more than just measuring your calories. One day maybe people will realize that it's a little more complex than you thought.
  • karenmarcel85
    karenmarcel85 Posts: 3 Member
    I sometimes forget to weigh and just estimate but try to use the barcode on some things. I have bee stuck for about 3 weeks now I usually exercise 5-6 days a week but have only been able to for the past two weeks 3 days I have cut back tremendously but that may be my problem as I have about 15-20 lbs to lose
  • karenmarcel85
    karenmarcel85 Posts: 3 Member
    I have made my diary public as well.
  • Steph_135
    Steph_135 Posts: 3,280 Member
    When I was eating 1300 cals all the time, I never lost, unless I had a higher calorie day about once or twice a week (usually the weekend). Around 1600 (generally speaking), I do well. You need to figure out the numbers that work for you. It might require a bit of math, and an online BMR calculator, etc, but with some trial and error, I'm sure you'll get there. :) Best wishes!
  • g2renew
    g2renew Posts: 155 Member
    FYI I eat a range of 1500 to 1800 cal per day with sedentary lifestyle, 165lb 60yr female 5'x5". Current standards for women to be able to sustain our eating patterns are to consume no fewer than 1500 cal per day. You can use internet search to see how many different medical journals/sites make this recommendation. Weighing foods helps to keep count accurate. I aim for 1500 per day and give Grace when i go over, as long as it is no more than 2 days per week.
    This allows me to drop calories by 100 to 200 cal when i hit a plateau.

    Personally, I have found a combo of additional things help:
    1. Drink lots of water
    2. Cut out artificial sweeteners
    3. Eat more leafy greens
    4. Get fiber intake of at least 21g daily.
    5. Eat during an 8hr window.

    Accurate tracking and calorie reduction are the bottom line. IMHO -the other things like IF just affect the ease/speed of loss.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    penguinmama87 wrote: »
    karenmarcel85 wrote: »
    I sometimes forget to weigh and just estimate but try to use the barcode on some things. I have bee stuck for about 3 weeks now I usually exercise 5-6 days a week but have only been able to for the past two weeks 3 days I have cut back tremendously but that may be my problem as I have about 15-20 lbs to lose

    Thanks for making your diary public!

    One thing to note about the barcodes - they really just enable fast searching of the database; so you might not be getting correct or thorough entries.

    I noticed for some of your items you're using volume entries instead of weight. I would highly recommend weighing out things like coffee creamer which are calorie dense. Some people also find that there can be variations in standard packaging sizes - one container of something may contain more or less than what it says precisely. This doesn't matter as much if you have a lot to lose, but when your deficit gets narrower and every calorie counts, it can play a role.

    If you're female and cycling, there are some natural water fluctuations too that might obscure fat loss, especially around ovulation and menstruation (roughly the middle and beginning/end, women and individual cycles may vary.) So three weeks might not be enough time to tell.

    The food aspect (calories in) usually matters a lot, lot more for weight loss than calories out. MFP gives you its calorie goal based on no intentional exercise. I would focus on that for right now, and if you do more exercise, that's great and it can give you some extra calories, too.

    Another vote for weighing.

    Re hormonal fluctuations - some years back I would retain about 2 pounds of water when I ovulated and 3 pounds premenstrually, but now that I am closer to menopause and things are really wacky, it can be 5-6 pounds at ovulation and nothing premenstrually.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    karenmarcel85 wrote: »
    I sometimes forget to weigh and just estimate but try to use the barcode on some things. I have bee stuck for about 3 weeks now I usually exercise 5-6 days a week but have only been able to for the past two weeks 3 days I have cut back tremendously but that may be my problem as I have about 15-20 lbs to lose

    Undereating can also cause you to retain water as it is stressful, which raises cortisol, which can lead to water retention.

    What's your weekly weight loss goal?

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  • MerryFit519
    MerryFit519 Posts: 43 Member
    g2renew wrote: »
    FYI I eat a range of 1500 to 1800 cal per day with sedentary lifestyle, 165lb 60yr female 5'x5". Current standards for women to be able to sustain our eating patterns are to consume no fewer than 1500 cal per day. You can use internet search to see how many different medical journals/sites make this recommendation. Weighing foods helps to keep count accurate. I aim for 1500 per day and give Grace when i go over, as long as it is no more than 2 days per week.
    This allows me to drop calories by 100 to 200 cal when i hit a plateau.

    Personally, I have found a combo of additional things help:
    1. Drink lots of water
    2. Cut out artificial sweeteners
    3. Eat more leafy greens
    4. Get fiber intake of at least 21g daily.
    5. Eat during an 8hr window.

    Accurate tracking and calorie reduction are the bottom line. IMHO -the other things like IF just affect the ease/speed of loss.

    Although it is difficult to give a range of calories to another person (hopefully they can use an online calculator to figure out the right amount for them)...I do agree with all of your personal notes that are helpful, and always appreciate seeing tips/tricks/methods others use that they have found worked well. :)
  • zebasschick
    zebasschick Posts: 1,071 Member
    if you eyeball your portions, that's probably the problem. last night, i weighed out 7 grams of pecans - it was 3 half pecans. when i eyeballed it, it was 14 grams. i've never been able to eyeball portions.

    btw, many things like bread are more than one portion per slice, so it's important to weigh AND to chose accurate listings from the MFP database.
  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 631 Member
    Funny article about real weight vs scale weight — https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

    Don’t worry about the scale. It will all come together over time.

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