Please take a look at my diary - Not losing weight

amberbekolay
amberbekolay Posts: 16
edited November 10 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys,

I have lost about 48 pounds since Aug. 2011 and have just recently started counting calories again in the past couple of months. I am 24 years old, 5'5" and currently fluctuating between 150-154 pounds. My goal weight is 135. I just can't seem to get below 150lbs.
I've been stuck here for a few weeks now and I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or not? I am logging everything I eat and all my workouts and I'm always under my calorie goal... Should I be eating more?

I would really appreciate any advice you can offer! Thanks in advance!
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Replies

  • ahinski
    ahinski Posts: 200 Member
    You're really doing well. I can see why you'd want to know what you're doing wrong, as whatever it is, it's not obvious at all. Thus, you're not doing anything "wrong," but we might just have to figure out how you can improve.

    What kind of exercise are you doing?

    What is your weight loss goal set to on My Fitness Pal (MFP)? Is it a pound a week? If it's at a pound a week and since you haven't lost any weight, try making it a pound and a half a week or even 2 a week (which means you have to eat less, but after you've lost about 8-10 pounds, you'll need to set it back to one pound a week because losing 2 pounds a week after 10 pounds isn't realistic anymore). If it's already at a pound and a half or 2 pounds a week, try making it one pound a week, which means you'll be eating more. It sounds strange (and it kind of is), but It seems that some people need to eat more and some seem to need to eat less in order to lose weight. Basically, since what you're doing isn't working, let's try experimenting. What have you got to lose at this point? (bad pun)
  • cal1973
    cal1973 Posts: 306 Member
    Do you weigh your food? Only, one thing I noticed is that for instance you have one apple logged at 100g. Not sure what they're like where you are, but here, one medium sized gala apple is more likely to weigh around 180g. Small things like this can make a big difference when they are all added together.
  • mrsgoodwine
    mrsgoodwine Posts: 468 Member
    Eat back your exercise calories. You should be hitting your mark, not under. Try it and see how that works.
  • Hummingbird82
    Hummingbird82 Posts: 79 Member
    After looking at your diary although your calories are great, it looks likeyou are eating a lot of simple carbs at every meal which can cause insulin spikes which causes your body to retain and convert calories to fat. Maybe try tweaking your percentages to eating a little less carbs and including more complex carbs like fruits and vegtables and increase protein. Just an idea.
  • lstellaj
    lstellaj Posts: 2
    I'm wondering if you are not losing because you are trading fat for muscle. If you are doing more weights and less reps you are gaining muscle. To just tone and lose body fat you want to do less weight and more reps. I used to be a personal trainer and my goal was to get you over that hump. Your cardio should be short stints between walking and running to get your heart rate up. Hope this helps! Good luck!!
  • RCSimmonds
    RCSimmonds Posts: 22
    I notice that you do eat quite a lot of grain products and this may be what is holding you back...
    I lost 40kgs over 2 yrs and then for the last year 1 put back on 7kg. I found that for me eating grains (cereal, bread etc) is what has been holding me back from losing weight. I have cut all those foods and over the last 3 mths I have lost 10kg. Try it .... I generally eat fruit and yoghurt for breakfast; a salad, protein (usually egg or fish), fruit and yoghurt for lunch; meat, vege and fruit for dinner. I find the yoghurt keeps me satisfied for ages.
  • greeneyedaries
    greeneyedaries Posts: 45 Member
    I think you may be eating to many fruits at dinner. Daily sodium needs to be around 1500mg a day or less. Your sugar for the day is way to high. More mixed veggies and lean proteins. I see you don't log your water. Hope you are drinking plent of water due to the high sodium intake. Good luck hope this helps.
  • Quickster34
    Quickster34 Posts: 209 Member
    take a look at your carb to protein ratio, i think you could definitley increase your protein significantly and lower your carbs and make them complex like mentioned above,

    good luck!
  • lstellaj
    lstellaj Posts: 2
    I also noticed that you are on a pretty high calorie diet. I just joined a beyond diets class and they put us on a 1,200 calorie diet if we want to lose weight. And a 1,400 if we want to maintain our weight. But if you are very active then you need more calories then that!
  • cdnclovr
    cdnclovr Posts: 65 Member
    Ya, I agree...
    I think you may be eating to many fruits at dinner. Daily sodium needs to be around 1500mg a day or less. Your sugar for the day is way to high. More mixed veggies and lean proteins. I see you don't log your water. Hope you are drinking plent of water due to the high sodium intake. Good luck hope this helps.
  • nixirain
    nixirain Posts: 448 Member
    I have heard on the forums that alot of people have has sucess from change their goals to 0.5 a week. The closer you get to your goal, the less of a deficit you need.
  • offramp
    offramp Posts: 2 Member
    Try taking a week or a couple of days off. Don't go overboard, but up your calorie intake by 200-300 calories for a couple of days. Then resume back on the lower caloric intake. This might jump start your metabolism without causing you to gain a lot. ( A week at an extra 300 calories is 2100 calories which amounts to 3/5 lb.)

    Also, if you are doing long slow cardio, try mixing it up with some intervals and different types of exercises to which your body isn't accustomed. Recent studies show that you can actually lose more weight with shorter intervals of higher intensity workouts. You can do it with weight intervals, calisthenics, or what ever cardio you are doing. You just need to make sure you are up in your 70-85% HR. Do the interval 1-3 times a week. Depending on your fitness level, for cardio you can do 1 min hard work followed by 1 min easy work. For calisthenics/streght intervals you can do 4-8 stations of 1 minute each for 3-5 rounds. (Try crossfit.com for some extreme interval workouts. I also like P90X DVDs.) Since you have lost 48 lbs, I assume you are in great shape. That is a great accomplishment.

    These approaches should help kickstart your metabolism and shake up your routine.
  • msliu7911
    msliu7911 Posts: 638 Member
    Just taking a look at a couple of your previous days and the carb to protein seems kind of off. Like others have mentioned, it appears you might be eating a little too many white carbs. If you feel like its going to be hard getting away from it then try maybe eating only half of a bun or one piece of bread with your sandwich.

    I don't know what your exact numbers should be, however I heard somewhere that you need to have at least 1.0 grams of protein per lb of lean body mass. If I were you I would up my protein a little and then reduce your carbs and see how that works.

    In addition, for someone your size and with the goals you have- it appears as though you're calories are pretty high. Have you tried to re-calculate your needs once you lost all the weight you did? Now that you've lost all that weight, your calculations will be much different than when you were heavier and if you haven't gone in and re-adjusted your goals, you are technically still eating at the levels you needed for weight loss when you were heavier. vs. now that you are lighter (hope that makes sense).
  • nixirain
    nixirain Posts: 448 Member
    I have heard on the forums that alot of people have has sucess from change their goals to 0.5 a week. The closer you get to your goal, the less of a deficit you need.

    Sorry I meant to include this:
    rom this number, you create a deficit. The more weight you have to lose, the higher the deficit (see below).


    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.
  • amberbekolay
    amberbekolay Posts: 16
    Thanks for all the responses everyone! I'll try and answer everyone's questions!

    ahinski: Right now my weight loss goal is set to lose 1lb per week. Currently I am power walking for 30 mins a day and I also do Zumba 3x a week.

    Before this week I was doing one of Jillian's DVDs every night (Ripped in 30 or Killer Buns and Thighs), plus the 30 min power walk and usually another 1 hour power walk in the evenings. I thought maybe I was doing too much exercise and not eating enough so this week I decided to drop down the exercise and try eating a bit more to see if that helps.

    cal1973: I don't weigh my food. Maybe I should invest in a scale and that would help. I usually just go by what's in the MFP database already or I'll estimate what I think I had.

    And everyone else, Yes it does look as though I'm eating too many carbs and maybe even too much fruit. Maybe I should eat more veggies and less fruit? I'm not sure how to cut back on carbs though. I only eat whole wheat pasta and brown rice, and whole grain breads/wraps. Should I cut back even more?

    I also don't have a HRM so maybe I'm over-estimating my calories burned and under-estimating calories consumed?
    But I did lose these 48 lbs without a HRM... That's why I'm so flustered that I'm not losing weight anymore. I'm doing everything the same as I always have been.

    Thanks again for the help guys! :)
  • STurbs33
    STurbs33 Posts: 134 Member
    I have heard on the forums that alot of people have has sucess from change their goals to 0.5 a week. The closer you get to your goal, the less of a deficit you need.

    I agree with this. I'm 5'5" 140lbs (want to get down to 130) and was eating 1400 a day. I upped my calories to 1600 just this past week and I lost double the weight that I did last week. It felt really weird to do because I felt like I was eating way more than I normally would, but so far its working for me. Try it out and see how it goes.
  • mirgss
    mirgss Posts: 275 Member
    Eat more.
    Eat more veggies.
    Eat less fruit.
    Make sure you get enough protein.
    HEALTHY FATS ARE IMPORTANT. Butter, avocado, nuts, seeds.
    Limit carbs (ish).
    Lift weights.
  • amberbekolay
    amberbekolay Posts: 16
    I have heard on the forums that alot of people have has sucess from change their goals to 0.5 a week. The closer you get to your goal, the less of a deficit you need.

    I agree with this. I'm 5'5" 140lbs (want to get down to 130) and was eating 1400 a day. I upped my calories to 1600 just this past week and I lost double the weight that I did last week. It felt really weird to do because I felt like I was eating way more than I normally would, but so far its working for me. Try it out and see how it goes.


    Thanks! I will have to try this. I was planning to do that this week but it felt so weird to up my calories to so much more, but it doesn't hurt to try.
  • dug_e_fresh
    dug_e_fresh Posts: 4 Member
    Your carbs and sodium seem pretty high.
  • paulamarsden
    paulamarsden Posts: 483 Member
    Eat more.
    Eat more veggies.
    Eat less fruit.
    Make sure you get enough protein.
    HEALTHY FATS ARE IMPORTANT. Butter, avocado, nuts, seeds.
    Limit carbs (ish).
    Lift weights.

    THIS ^^^^^
  • heatherterp
    heatherterp Posts: 239
    check your activity level. I know my husband was not moving on the scale and after talking about it we had different views of what they meant. he dropped it down one activity level and now the pounds are moving for him.
  • TeresaWash
    TeresaWash Posts: 283
    Well, I am having the same problem. I have a lap-band. I lost 140 pounds and have come to a complete stop. I just seen my nutritionist and asked about eating back my exercise calories. She doesn't agree with that (I'm not sure I agree with her) She told me, You're body is saying enough... it thinks I am supposed to weigh XXX because I always have and it is doing every thing it can to stop me from losing more weight. She looked at my food and exercise logs and thought everything looked great. She strongly suggested changing up my exercise. (by the way i went to the gym for 26 days in January for 1 to 1 1/2 hours each time and ate around 1200 to 1400 total calories each day - I lost nothing, not even 1 oz.) Anyway she has me doing interval training, she thinks that will "trick" my body. I haven't stepped on the scale since Feb 1 cuz it is just too discouraging. I'm doing the interval training and hopefully when I finally do get on the scale I will see a change.

    not sure what I think about any of it.
  • dipsl19
    dipsl19 Posts: 317 Member
    you should eat breakfast. also i notice you do alot of walking and low-impact exercise. youre going to have to shake up your routine and add some weight-training, and also do cardio that gets your heart rate up. if you do weight-training, eat more protein:)
  • Ely82010
    Ely82010 Posts: 1,998 Member
    As others said, and in my opinion, your sodium, sugar, and carbs are too high and your protein is too low for your body weight. Maybe if you change those ratios for few weeks or a couple of months, you will see a difference.

    Congratulations on your weight loss so far!
  • laursey
    laursey Posts: 307
    Hey Amber! Great success story already. I'm 5'4, 34 yrs old. I started at 171 and am now 129. I had a look at your diary. I would say definitely eat those exercise calories back. Your body needs the extra calories and watch that sodium intake. Try to keep it below 1500 mg per day. Good luck girl! If you want extra support, add me.

    6143704.png
  • DiannaMoorer
    DiannaMoorer Posts: 783 Member
    Eat more.
    Eat more veggies.
    Eat less fruit.
    Make sure you get enough protein.
    HEALTHY FATS ARE IMPORTANT. Butter, avocado, nuts, seeds.
    Limit carbs (ish).
    Lift weights.


    Simply said and true!!!!
  • Abbdul
    Abbdul Posts: 103 Member
    you need to change ur exercise , make it more intense
  • michellecatherine71854
    michellecatherine71854 Posts: 15
    How are your clothes fitting? Can you tell a loss in inches or centimeters?
  • laursey
    laursey Posts: 307
    One more suggestion. Change up your macros to 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. The protein will keep you full longer and help build sexy muscles with your Ripped in 30 DVDs. I'm a Jillian Michaels addict. Those are what got me to goal.

    6143704.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
  • amberbekolay
    amberbekolay Posts: 16
    One more suggestion. Change up your macros to 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. The protein will keep you full longer and help build sexy muscles with your Ripped in 30 DVDs. I'm a Jillian Michaels addict. Those are what got me to goal.

    6143704.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

    Thanks, I'll try this. I love Jillian Michaels too! Her DVDs got me to where I am now!
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