What am I doing wrong?

GO see if there is a bod pod at your gym (or anything alike) and see what your body fat is. You are probably eating too much, depending on your body fat. If you have muscle, you might be eating too little. I was told to NOT eat back my workout cals, to just maybe add in a protein shake (up to 200 cals) post workout. They might sugest you to start lifting weights. I was told to set my goals to 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% healthy fat. If you are not loosing, you are taking in too many calories or not feeding your body enough healthy food. Get rid of the scale for a while and focus on your body fat...the scale can say you loose 5 lbs but you might have lost 7 lbs of fat and gained 2 lbs of muscle. BUT this takes time. Good luck!

think of the settings on MFP as an average....an average of what works for most people. I know my body, weight, skin, mental all function better when I have lower carbs. Thats not the case for everyone...some are good at 100-150 per day....some are fine with 300+. you have to listen to your body and do what works for you. for me fats do not hurt...they help and i have a lot less joint pain and less dry skin...but its the carbs that make me feel and look like a marshmallow. so try a month where you reduce your carb intake...if you do it by 50% your normal then i think it would be enought to feel a difference...and see how your body repsonds. and a good rule of thumb that so often isnt pushed is to "stay as close to the earth as possible" if you are having an apple have a whole fresh raw apple and not applesauce....roast your own turkey breasts for your sandwich instead of buying cold cuts....make your own granola bars at home....dont open a package for one....this is where most of our sodium and intake of chemicals come from. if you follow the KISS method and try to keep to whole foods as much as possible then you wont need to rely on MFP as much...u know when u eat too much but if u do it on veggies or fruit it doesnt hold u back as much as an entire tray of Duncan Hines brownies! lol

even though mfp sets our cabs/fat/protein it is just a guide. some people lose weight very well with higher carbs - I don't. So I manually changed my settings to be 35/25/40 % in my goals. also try more veggies and fruit and cut back on the processed food. also try cutting back on not eating all of your exercise calories because mfp has calculated that on the high side unless you have a heart rate monitor. good luck you can do this.

It might be that you gained 4lbs of muscle hun! Don't freak out just yet, it could be a good gain -- if you cut your calories significantly and you are exercising like that, I'm certain it's muscle that you gained and not bad weight -- keep up the good work, you seem to be on the right track!!

Emily

Actually its not at all possible that its 4 lbs of muscle.
You can not gain muscle on a large calorie deficit.
And even with great genetic and heavy lifiting you are lucky if you can put on a pound of muscle in a month.

How are you calculating your calorie burn? I would not rely on what MFP calculates for activities because they are generalized for men/women and all age groups. I think they tend to overestimate calorie burn.

Whatever MFP estimated for how many calories you should be eating may also be too high. I am 27 and I know from wearing a legit metabolic monitor that my resting metabolic rate is around 1400 calories per day. This means If I eat over 1400 calories I will gain weight. If I go under or work out, I will lose weight.

Some tricks you can try:

1) Manually decrease the number of calories you can eat per day by 150 calorie incriments until you find the number that allows you to lose weight without excercising. Once you figure out your metabolic resting rate you can excercise and adjust from there.

or

2) Do not eat the calories you burn in excercise. In other words, do not let MFP credit you for the calories you burn OR cut the number of calorie credits you earned from excercise in half.

Either way would decrease your calorie intake.

I can't be happy with the small steps Ive taken though. Yes clothes do fit a little better, But I hate how I look when I see myself in a mirror, I don't have more energy at all, I'm exhausted all the time, and I guess I'm in a little better shape then I was before...
It's just, I've put so much emotional energy into this, and I feel like I'm getting no where and nothing I do works. I don't want counting calories, carbs, sodium and fats to control my life.

Why are you trying to lose weight?

Is it completely for vainity reasons? Probably not. There are a million other good reasons to lose weight however long it takes.

I agree with others....more fruit and veggies....and some protein with each meal may help too. One of my fave snacks is cottage cheese with strawberries sometimes with a tsp of honey. Sounds odd, but it's fabulous if you like cottage cheese. Don't give up, you maybe have gained muscle and keep switching up the workouts....it'll eventually show on the scale. If your clothes are fitting better, then things are changing. Good luck to you and keep up the good work.

I have been trying to lose weight since November, at least actively. In February I completely overhauled my diet and exercise program and have dropped 15 lbs and 2 pant sizes. I lowered my carb intake and increased my protein. I also eat 6 times a day with an average of 150-200 calories per meal. My diet consists of chicken or lean beef, complex carbs such as brown rice and sweet potato, fibrous vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli or green beans and almonds as well as oatmeal and eggs and egg whites. I mix in 2 protein shakes, usually one in the morning after am workout and one in the afternoon after cardio during lunch hour. Spices (in the dried herb/fresh herb variety) are free! If you find yourself bored with that chicken breast use a different flavor combination!

By splitting your meals into smaller portions throughout the day, you are constantly adding fuel to your body instead of forcing it to guess when it might get it's next nutrition and then go into panic mode and store those excess materials for later use.

If you combine weights with cardio it helps tremendously. Muscle uses more calories for energy than fat, so your rate of burn throughout the day rises the more lean muscle you build. You will not get bulky adding weight lifting to your exercise regime. As a female you simply do not have the testosterone levels in your body to get into that man-figure most people think of when lifting weights. I also do cardio for a minimum of 35 mins 2x a day. If I can not make this due to work and school schedules, I try for at least once a day. I do treadmill or elliptical and do a variance on my speed. By increasing my speed (intensity) for a period and then dropping down to a slower rate, my body is never sure what I am doing at a given time!

Cut the alcohol out! When you drink you negate the exercise you did for the day and it takes approximately 72 hours to acclimate back to your pre-drink mode. For example, if you exercise Friday morning and drink Friday night, you have ruined the beneficial gains received from the am workout and your body will not be fully back to its self till about monday!.

My diet is a little strict for most people and because you only live once, I allow myself 2 cheat meals per week. I plan it out ahead of time so that I am not just ordering a pizza, for example, and eating as much as I want cause I can justify it by saying it is my cheat meal. I go out and still make choices such as grilled over sauced etc.

I encourage you to research research research. I am now addicted to whatever I can find regarding changing my lifestyle.

** These are things that have worked for me. I am not trained in any nutritional programs or training. I only recently discovered this site so my diet and nutrition logs are not complete nor accurate. **

I can't be happy with the small steps Ive taken though. Yes clothes do fit a little better, But I hate how I look when I see myself in a mirror, I don't have more energy at all, I'm exhausted all the time, and I guess I'm in a little better shape then I was before...
It's just, I've put so much emotional energy into this, and I feel like I'm getting no where and nothing I do works. I don't want counting calories, carbs, sodium and fats to control my life.

You have to remember that it didn't take 2 weeks to gain the weight so it won't be gone in a short period of time. It will take dedication and more time to lose the weight. You are on the right path you just need to be patient with yourself and know that you are taking the steps in the right direction.

I know that when I reduce my carbs and eat the buld of them in the morning and afternoon I have better results... and perhaps doing this will help with your energy levels as well.

Give yourself some time... it will happen you just need to stay dedicated to it and make some little tweaks.

I am 57 days into my commitment to lose weight and I am doing better than ever. I have a long way to go. I'm obviously not an expert and truly can't predict what tomorrow brings, but this is what I think right now....

In my previous weight loss attempts, I have always been highly emotionally reactive to the scale. Now, I am focusing on the math. I weigh, measure and record everything I eat carefully and I use a BodyBugg and Fitbit to calculate my calories burned as accurately as possible.

So far, my weight loss is always within a couple pounds of where I should be based on my cumulative calorie deficit. It is making me a firm believer in the simple concept of calories in/calories out. It is a comfort to feel that I know what to do and if I do it, I will lose weight. I may simply need to wait out temporary weight fluctations.

That being said, I highly recommend tools to help you accurately measure calories in and out. A scale, measuring cups and spoons and a Bodybugg or similar device.

I think the BodyBugg is more accurate especially for strength training and other intense workouts. I paid $155 for device and display delivered. However, after the first free six months, there website costs about $10/month. I personally hate their website, but am willing to pay $10/month, just to update my weight and unload the data from my BodyBugg...if it is a reliable tool.

Fitbit has a nicer and free website. The device costs around $100. Results are comparable to the BodyBugg on lightly active days. However, it overstates my calories burned during drive times. I have learned to override this, but it would be too time consuming if I were in and out of my car all day.

Good luck!