Super Frustrated!!!

I don't know what to do anymore I've been working out everyday for a month straight and have been counting my calories, leaving myself a 500 calorie deficit a day so i can lose a lb a week, but I still weigh the same! Can somebody PLEASE tell me what I'm doing wrong? I don't understand, and I'm about to just give up because I feel like it's not worth the trouble if it's not getting me anywhere. Thanks guys!

Nikole

Your diary is locked, how do you suppose people can help you? Just guess?

Open up your diary, hon, or add me and I'll take a look

I know the feeling.........................i'm tracking well below my calorie intake for the day and exercising 3-4 times a week.....what am i doinf wrong????

I know the feeling.........................i'm tracking well below my calorie intake for the day and exercising 3-4 times a week.....what am i doinf wrong????

youre intaking less than you should be. you should eat all the calories allotted to you, mfp sets a deficit before exercise..so if you wanted to, you could sit on the couch and lose weight as long as you didnt go over your calorie goal

Same for me, muscle weighs more than fat. Get out the tape measure! That's how I keep track, never weigh myself.

Do you have your calories set to maintenance and trying to have 500ish remaining at the end of the day (The Olivia Method)? If not you are suppose to zero out your calories. You probably aren't eating enough.

Educate me What exactly is the Olivia method? I know about the effects of not eating all of your calories but never heard the name Olivia method? Sorry if it is a stupid question and THANKS

Thank you so much, I am going to try this Oliva method, I think it will make all the difference!

Ok sorry its open now, I've never gotten on here and socialized so it was just on the default setting, at the end of the day i try to have a net calorie of -500 but i add in my BMR to my exercise which is about 1500 on average. when i work out i burn about 500 calories depending on the day

ok - when you tell mfp you want to lose a pound a week, it does the math for you and tells you to eat however much to lose a pound a week. it looks like for you, that means 1300.
so when you eat 1300 and do 0 exericse youll lose a pound a week. if you exercise, you need to eat more so that the deficit doesnt get to big. if it gets to big and youre doing really intense workouts, youll end up burning more muscle than you know.
if you eat below your goal for too long it can cause a stall as well as other issues, and its really not healthy. theres no need to figure your bmr into anything, all the math is already done for you.
that said - if you are just using MFPs calorie burn numbers, you might not want to eat back all of your exercise calories. aim to net at least 1200 and you should be good.
OR you can manually set your calorie goal as your BMR, and eat exercise calories. you probably wont lose weight as fast, but you wont lose as much muscle either, and it helped me feel tons better, energy-wise.
eat more, hun your body needs it!

yeh it is about WHAT you eat

Also, I dont really pay attention to WHAT i eat but more of how much I eat, I just keep my calories under 1200 so maybe thats it? But I just figured you could eat what you wanted as long as you stayed under your daily caloric intake?

thats prettyyyyyy much true - weight loss-wise.
but if you actually want to be healthier and actually feel satisfied, you should eat as fresh and as much home made as possible.
i still eat pizza, and burgers, and fast food and cake.. i just make sure thats not ALL i eat.

how are you burning 2000 calories? Just a question.

Also try to stay away from fat donalds

A lot of people (including myself) have had much better results when making sure that we aren't just under calories, but also meeting our nutritious needs. Your diet is a lot of processed and fast food and while it's not too big a deal to have some of it, when most of your diet consists of it, it can be a big problem for weight loss (not to mention health). I know a lot of people stick to "calories in, calories out" but our bodies aren't that simple. They are adaptable and if neglected, they do what they have to in order to survive. I would recommend that you start moving toward getting about 3/4 of your diet from healthful sources. It takes time to get to a place of enjoying healthy foods and it helps to make small changes over time. Best of luck!

If you use the "search" function you'll get better details about the Olivia method, but the long and short is....


1. Set your calories to "Maintain" your current weight instead of "Lose 0.5, 1, or 2 lbs a wk." (Maintenance calories are your TDEE- total daily energy expenditure-- the calories you'll burn just by your normal daily activity)
2. Record all your exercises.
3. Aim to have 500-1000 calories remaining at the end of the day. (Try not to have over 1000 left because that's more than 2lbs a week loss and is considered to be unhealthy)

I use this method and LOVE it. But, I am a tax accountant so I know the whole number aspect attracted me lol. I like not having that "restiction" of Don't go over 1200 or 1500 or whatever your allotment is. I can see exactly how "fast" I'll be losing. If I have 500 left over every day for a week, I should lose a pound (500*7=3500 which is equal to one pound). I also know that as long as I don't go over my calories I won't gain. So if there is a day I just don't feel like working out and eating healthy, it's ok. It's just easier for me.

Like I said, if you use the "search" function you can get all the beneficial info and how its calculated and all that jazz, but this is a quick abbreviation of it. :-)

This sounds good, going to have to give it a try, Thanks for sharing

This is what I found:


Let me start by saying I've been successful with my weight loss journey. I'm 5'8, I went from 190 to 169 using Weight Watchers and then wanted a more accurate (and free) way of tracking what I was eating so i switched to MFP. I then went down to 158 with some bumps along the way - kept trying different things: eating more, eating less - and ultimately hit a plateau, and then gained 4 pounds - eek!

So I went to a nutritionist specialized for runners (as I run typically 35 - 40 miles per week) and I came back with some knowledge that suddenly just makes good sense. Thought I would share

I realize there are LOTS of ways to lose weight and I'm not saying one way is better than the other - but when you have less to lose it gets a little confusing and sometimes it's helpful to hear what's worked for other people - so here it is.

Rules:

1) Figure out your BMR
2) Figure out your maintenance calories before exercise
3) Set up MFP goals to maintain your weight
4) NEVER eat less than your BMR
5) NEVER create a deficit larger than 1000 calories.
6) Aim to eat the same calories every day (at or a little above your BMR) - unless you burn more than 600 calories with exercise, then eat more.

This will allow you to keep a small deficit on your off days, and create a larger deficit on your workout days. You can safely lose up to 2 pounds a week - even if you have less to lose, without being unhealthy and still giving your body the nutrients it needs.

This is how it worked for me:

BMR = 1500
MAINTENANCE CALORIES (without exercise) = 1970
Daily calorie goal for MFP = 1970.
Actual calorie goal = 1600.

If I don't workout at all, I create a 370 calorie deficit. If I burn 200 calories in exercise I create a 570 calorie deficit. If I burn 600 calories I create a 970 calorie deficit.

Anything over 630, I have to start eating more, so one day this week I burned 1200 calories working out (running 10 miles and walking my dog for an hour). My TDEE was 3170 (1970 + 1200). To follow my rule of never creating a deficit larger than 1000 calories, I aimed to eat 2170 calories that day.

By setting up my calorie goal for that maintenance level without exercise, my total remaining calories ends up being my total deficit for that day: For example, this is what my food diary looked like yesterday:

Goal Food Exercise Net Remaining
1970 2127 1123 1004 966

I, too, have heard that you shouldn't net below 1200, but my nutritionist told me that it is safe to net around 1000 on heavy workout days to create a larger deficit as long as I am meeting my nutrient goals.

This is what my day off looked like:

Goal Food Exercise Net Remaining
1970 1600 0 1600 370

I averaged a deficit of 870 last week and I lost 4 pounds (but I'm always a range so this could be more like 2, but I'm back where i was - 158). I'm having enough energy for my workouts, and feel like I have complete control of the deficit I create each day. On thanksgiving, I ate 2888 calories and still had a deficit of 657.

Anyway, it's working which makes me VERY happy It's just another way to work with MFP if you're looking for a change - that's nutritionist approved.