Struggling to loose weight and feeling a bit down

beckijay29
beckijay29 Posts: 16
edited November 12 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm supposed to be consuming 1640 calories a day, and i'm exercising twice a week for at least an hour, and yet i'm loosing sod all. I hiked up my exercise this week to see if that would help, and yet i've still not lost anything. Can anyone help me figure out what i'm doing wrong? I'm consuming more calories on the days i do exercise, as apparantly I should do, but its not working. Peh.

Thoughts/comments/advice would be most appreciated.

Replies

  • Stormyyy
    Stormyyy Posts: 247 Member
    Not sure how to help but can tell u of when i first started Mfp. I was like u wondering why i wasn't losing weight as i had started exercising and followed Mfp to the letter (well number lol)and eating back all my exercise calories and i dropped and gained the same pound over a period of around 6 weeks and i logged everything (or so i thought at the time).

    I took a closer look at my diet and although i eat healthily most of the time i wasn't logging things like butter on toast or in veg and i always forgot to log milk in my coffee, things like these make all the difference, well they have to me anyway.

    Play around with the amount of calories u consume to suit u!!

    Goodluck on ur weightloss journey, alot of it is trial and error but we'll get there :flowerforyou:
  • seekingstrengthX2
    seekingstrengthX2 Posts: 771
    Looks to me like you are eating way too many calories. Not sure where the 1640 came from. If MFP told you that, I think your settings are wrong or something. 1) You dont look very big in your headshot. 2) Your profile shows you only have 26lbs to lose, which isn't a lot at all. I had 22lbs to lose when I started and MFP set me at 1200 calories/day. 1640 is usually reserved for people that are nearly 100 pounds overweight.

    Thats probably the main problem. In addition, exercising twice a week isn't that much.
  • mncardiojunkie
    mncardiojunkie Posts: 307 Member
    Sometimes it's not the calories in as much as it's what you're eating. There are things that will stall weight loss in diets. I KNOW each person is different. If people are seriously obese, it's different. Lowering caloric intake might work for a while.

    For me, refined sugar and wheat, "protein bars or diet bars", diet soda pop (seriously even the "Zero stuff", potatoes, rice, not eating five equal caloric meals a day, and anything but oatmeal stout and red wine stall my weight.

    I gained 23 pounds in seven weeks or so..YIKES. :noway: Because I thought I "deserved to eat all sorts of sweets". That weight gain was wheat and sugar intolerance. Once I dropped what I knew I was intolerant to I dropped weight like mad.

    Some people it's corn, some people it's wheat, some people it's sugar, some dairy (take my cheese away and die :grumble: ) ......I cannot see your diary so I don't know what it could be. It sounds as if you are at least under caloric value.

    If you're able, maybe add a day to the health club. If you can't change up your work out. Adding five more reps to a set in weight lifting, going one kilometer over what your normally run..etc. etc. I think it's super individual.

    Good luck! :flowerforyou:
  • lrd2010
    lrd2010 Posts: 161 Member
    1640 is a reasonable number as long as you've set up your profile right. I'm 176lbs with about 26lbs to go and i'm on 1730 cals a day to lose half a pound a week.

    Once you've got less than about 20lbs to lose you shouldn't be going too low with your deficit. Your body doesn't have enough in its stores to cope with that few!

    Back to the original posters point:

    I agree with the poster who said to check everything you're logging! I am guilty of leaving out olive oil and butter on toast too, I have to be careful now with every morsel that goes into my mouth now due to my lower deficit.

    The other thing that you could do is introduce an amount of strength training into your workout routine, build those muscles a bit and increase how your body burns when you just do your regular day to day activities!

    If you're already doing this and still don't see any difference then maybe you need to eat more.

    What do you have your deficit set to? How much do you have to lose?
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    1640 is not at all unreasonable, assuming that you have entered a reasonable activity level. I would suggest the following:

    If you have been eyeballing your portions, you may be misestimating portion size. It is also possible that you have been omitting things like milk/sugar in tea/coffee, butter on toast, etc., which really do add up after a brief time. If you only have a small deficit (say half a pound or a pound per week) it'd be easy for it to get swamped, especially if you're misestimating fatty things.

    You may also have been overestimating calorie burn from exercise. It's very hard to be accurate with that.

    I would suggest a scale if you don't have one, and for one week, weigh everything and make sure your portion sizes are 100% accurate and you're writing down every single thing. Also, I tend to round down with respect to calorie burn from exercise.
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 2,951 Member
    i also say make sure you log everything! when i started, my goal was 15lbs. I didn't think to log things like EVOO, etc but it all adds up. Plus for me the huge thing was i didn't have a hrm at the time and was going by mfp's numbers for calories burned. Well they were too high, so when i was exercising and logging it, i always ate back my exercise calories as i was on 1200 cal a day. but with the exercise numbers being way too high, i was eating too much food. so didn't drop a lb. once i got my hrm, i started to loose a consistent .5 lbs a week.
  • beckijay29
    beckijay29 Posts: 16
    Thanks everyone, these are some very helpful tips!

    I think you're right, i think it may be the little things like the butter or the oil - and, if i'm honest, i do drink a fair amount of milk! That's probably what it is. It's odd how you really don't think about these things. And calories lost through exercise is pretty much impossible to estimate so, i think i'll definately just be careful with that. I'm aiming to loose a pound a week - as i'm starting at 103kg i figured that's probably a sensible weight to aim for.

    And I have added two hours onto the exercise regime (i'd do more, but dissertations take up that much of my time i barely have the energy to do anything atm anyway). I refuse to chuck myself in at the deep end, working out two or three hours a day - what's the point. If i try and kill myself loosing weight, if i don't at least try and have some fun whilst doing it, i will reject the idea completely. I know myself too well to doubt it!

    mncardiojunki i do think you're right - maybe it is something i'm eating? I might cut out things, and see how that goes.

    Thank you everyone for your advice, i will take it all on board and hopefully i'll come out right in the end!!
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 2,951 Member
    i have the same outlook. i wasn't going to throw in hrs of exercising when i know i won't continue doing it for a life time/ lifestyle change. i wanted to be able to do something i can stick with for the rest of my life!
  • glassxballerina
    glassxballerina Posts: 1
    I never log my exercise calories - I am in the process of doing P90X, and, according to their meal plan guide, you're supposed to eat 1800/day. I'm also at 1660c. per day - I'm 5'9, 167, aiming for about 145.
  • jenmcdav
    jenmcdav Posts: 67
    milk could definitely be a major factor. it has a lot of calories, even skim has 100 cals in a small glass.
  • mallory3411
    mallory3411 Posts: 839 Member
    Are you measuring everything you eat and drink? With measuring cups, measuring spoons and with a ktichen scale?

    You could vary well be eating much more than you think you are. When we eyeball things we tend to overestimate the sizes.
  • Annadrews
    Annadrews Posts: 93 Member
    Looks to me like you are eating way too many calories. Not sure where the 1640 came from. If MFP told you that, I think your settings are wrong or something. 1) You dont look very big in your headshot. 2) Your profile shows you only have 26lbs to lose, which isn't a lot at all. I had 22lbs to lose when I started and MFP set me at 1200 calories/day. 1640 is usually reserved for people that are nearly 100 pounds overweight.

    Thats probably the main problem. In addition, exercising twice a week isn't that much.

    Exactly, what she said, I started out with 23 lbs to lose and MFP started me out with 1200 calories per day.
  • tlwdancer
    tlwdancer Posts: 2
    I completely feel your pain! Here's the deal: Some of us have to work a little harder than most to get the weight off. I am in this category lol. What worked for me is an amped up exercise plan. 2 days at a hour a day may work to maintain weight but in order to lose may I recommend 5-6 days? What are you doing for your workout? Are you burning enough cals? I aim for at least 700 cals burned each workout. I made that change about 6 weeks ago and my weight loss has been steady ever since :) Best of luck to you! Remember, you are not alone...you can do this!
  • beckijay29
    beckijay29 Posts: 16
    I completely feel your pain! Here's the deal: Some of us have to work a little harder than most to get the weight off. I am in this category lol. What worked for me is an amped up exercise plan. 2 days at a hour a day may work to maintain weight but in order to lose may I recommend 5-6 days? What are you doing for your workout? Are you burning enough cals? I aim for at least 700 cals burned each workout. I made that change about 6 weeks ago and my weight loss has been steady ever since :) Best of luck to you! Remember, you are not alone...you can do this!

    I've been swimming for an hour, medium speed breast stroke, and doing zumba for an hour. I'm kicking up the swimming for another two hours, and may do more zumba :) I'm not sure how many calories i'm burning, i may exercise longer to make sure i'm burning at least 700 calories. I shall take your advice, and i'll amp up the exercise! I'm just wary that i won't be able to keep all this exercise up when I'm done doing the weight loss thing. Mind you, i should really get to that stage first!

    I have been measuring everything, but i've been missing out key things like oil, and milk in my tea (take my tea from me, and i get cranky). All that really does add up!! Plus, i've not been noting my greenery (perhaps i'm trying to fool myself that i'm not eating healthily?) and even that adds up eventually.

    Thank you for the pep talks everyone!
  • 0EmmeNicole0
    0EmmeNicole0 Posts: 180 Member
    I had similar problems when i started on MFP. I would suggest buying a food scale. I was overestimating a lot of my calories, and now i weigh EVERYTHING!. It seems to be working. I also started to drink more water.
  • 0EmmeNicole0
    0EmmeNicole0 Posts: 180 Member
    Looks to me like you are eating way too many calories. Not sure where the 1640 came from. If MFP told you that, I think your settings are wrong or something. 1) You dont look very big in your headshot. 2) Your profile shows you only have 26lbs to lose, which isn't a lot at all. I had 22lbs to lose when I started and MFP set me at 1200 calories/day. 1640 is usually reserved for people that are nearly 100 pounds overweight.

    Thats probably the main problem. In addition, exercising twice a week isn't that much.

    Mmm. Idk about that. I'm allowed 1620 calories a day w/ one pound a week loss and i'm a waitress with a lightly active lifestyle. Depending on her activity level, and the rate at which she chose to lose the weight, this could be feasible. I am only 25 lbs overweight for my height. Idk how much she weighs, but you aren't really supposed to be eating less than your BMR so this could absolutely be an okay amount of calories.

    To the OP you just have to give your body some time to adjust. It wont happen instantly. Some bodies are just shocked by the sudden changes and it takes a couple of weeks for your body to beginning accepting and adjusting. Stick with it and you will see losses in no time!
  • deb83201
    deb83201 Posts: 7 Member
    I weighed in today and didn't lose but I didn't gain either. I know I have to watch my calories closer and pick better food choices. Maybe you need to decrease your calorie intake just a little. When I still close to my calories allowance I do lose. I haven't been doing much exercising either.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    Looks to me like you are eating way too many calories. Not sure where the 1640 came from. If MFP told you that, I think your settings are wrong or something. 1) You dont look very big in your headshot. 2) Your profile shows you only have 26lbs to lose, which isn't a lot at all. I had 22lbs to lose when I started and MFP set me at 1200 calories/day. 1640 is usually reserved for people that are nearly 100 pounds overweight.

    Thats probably the main problem. In addition, exercising twice a week isn't that much.

    Unless you are 5' and 120 lbs and dont' exercise, then 1200 calories isnt' enough for anyone. And making blanket statements like this is worthless. It's all about what your metabolic rate is (BMR) and your TDEE. And considering this person exercise alot, she is probably burning a lot of calories and may not be eating enough.


    OP,

    Since you aren't far from your goal, set your deficit to .5 lbs per week and eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories or include your exercise into your activity level (which is moderately to very active) and dont' worry about eat back exercise calories.
  • beckijay29
    beckijay29 Posts: 16
    I have to be honest, considering I really didn't do any exercise whatsoever before i started, even two hours is way, way more than usual. I have brought a new set of scales and have reset my weight loss aim to 1ib a week, i definately think that i was trying to loose too much too fast! I will try not too eat back all of the calories lost through exercise, i have been trying to eat them all back (boy, don't i feel silly now i really think about it). I realise it may well be obvious, but i'm still a novice! And, apparantly, an idiot. I spoke to my friend who is a sports teacher, and she suggested to start again and plan everything.

    It's all a learning curve i guess!!
  • jcalvert1964
    jcalvert1964 Posts: 2
    For what it's worth, I didn't lost weight until I cut sugar, fat and most carbs from my diet. Then the weight fell off like crazy. My diet consisted of lean meats (chicken, fish, shrimp) vegetables (no carrots - too much sugar), salad with fat free/calorie free dressings, and fruit, especially apples because they have so much fiber (no bananas or watermelons - too much sugar). Also, drink a ton of water each day. Your body releases fat through excrement.

    One last thing - don't eat past 7pm at night and you will increase the speed of weight loss. Good luck !!
  • mallory3411
    mallory3411 Posts: 839 Member
    For what it's worth, I didn't lost weight until I cut sugar, fat and most carbs from my diet. Then the weight fell off like crazy. My diet consisted of lean meats (chicken, fish, shrimp) vegetables (no carrots - too much sugar), salad with fat free/calorie free dressings, and fruit, especially apples because they have so much fiber (no bananas or watermelons - too much sugar). Also, drink a ton of water each day. Your body releases fat through excrement.

    One last thing - don't eat past 7pm at night and you will increase the speed of weight loss. Good luck !!

    Sorry but the don't eat after a certain time thing is a myth. No matter what time you eat your calories you will lose the same - as long as you are under/at your calories.
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 2,951 Member
    I have to be honest, considering I really didn't do any exercise whatsoever before i started, even two hours is way, way more than usual. I have brought a new set of scales and have reset my weight loss aim to 1ib a week, i definately think that i was trying to loose too much too fast! I will try not too eat back all of the calories lost through exercise, i have been trying to eat them all back (boy, don't i feel silly now i really think about it). I realise it may well be obvious, but i'm still a novice! And, apparantly, an idiot. I spoke to my friend who is a sports teacher, and she suggested to start again and plan everything.

    It's all a learning curve i guess!!

    good for you!!! and yes it is a learning curve for many of us!!!
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