Diet and Exercise Doesn't work!

prr88
prr88 Posts: 8
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a 5'7, 145 lbs, 30 yr old female. I have cut calories, switched to organic, cut out processed foods and chemicals, take supplements (vitamin B, fish oil, black cohosh, multi vitamin), exercise 5 days per week (cardio and weights),and cut carbs... I haven't lost an ounce. I have had my thyroid checked and my levels are normal.
I'm 25% body fat and would like to lose 5% to get rid of the muffin top.
Any advice?

Replies

  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
    If you open your diary people can give more advice.

    But in a general sense how are you feeling? Did you take measurements before? How many calories are you eating? How do you know your 25% body fat and have you measured that now to see if the fat has reduced?

    What weights are you doing? How much cardio?
  • ByrdMessy
    ByrdMessy Posts: 94
    How long have you been at it?
  • geoffjball
    geoffjball Posts: 9
    How long have you been at it?
    Exactly.
  • JodieElijah
    JodieElijah Posts: 136 Member
    Have you been losing cm's? I'd suggest measuring yourself either once a week or once a month.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    I'm a 5'7, 145 lbs, 30 yr old female. I have cut calories, switched to organic, cut out processed foods and chemicals, take supplements (vitamin B, fish oil, black cohosh, multi vitamin), exercise 5 days per week (cardio and weights),and cut carbs... I haven't lost an ounce. I have had my thyroid checked and my levels are normal.
    I'm 25% body fat and would like to lose 5% to get rid of the muffin top.
    Any advice?

    "cut calories" combined with "cut carbs" combined with "exercise 5 days per week".

    I sense a common theme about to emerge here.

    How many calories do you eat in general every day?
    How many calories of exercise do you estimate you burn?
    How many carb grams or calories do you do a day?

    Let me guess. Pardon if wrong, please correct me.
    You selected activity level of Sedentary.
    You selected weight loss goal of 2lbs a week.

    MFP set your goal to 1200.
    You eat 1000 - 1100.
    You estimate you burn 400 calories on cardio days, 300 on weight lifting days.
    You do not eat back your exercise calories.

    Just educated guesses, but if anywhere near the facts, your stall is completely understandable.

    Let me know.

    Did you know your BMR could be 1410, or if that 25% BF is accurate, BMR could be 1435?
  • auzziecawth66
    auzziecawth66 Posts: 476 Member
    Could be you have a gluten intolerance or maybe a lactose intolerance. If you were thinking problems with thyroid an it came back normal I would suggest looking into adrenal fatigue (figuring that out has totally changed my moms life)
  • jskaggs1971
    jskaggs1971 Posts: 371 Member
    Diet and exercise DO work, as I and a lot of other MFP success stories can tell you.

    However, you have to avoid some common traps, like underestimating the amount of food you are eating or overestimating the calorie burn from exercise. Either way, it's a long process. Weight loss happens in fits and starts, and it's not always easy, or fast.

    That said, you CAN do it. Start simply. Don't change anything at first, just track (accurately, as in with a food scale) exactly what you take in over a given week. Cut the estimated calorie burn from MFP guesses or the elliptical machines by 50% when you log them, unless you're wearing a heart rate monitor.

    Just track those thing for a week, THEN start looking at making cuts to kickstart your fitness efforts. You can totally do this, but you have to know where you're starting from.
  • Crystalchaos72
    Crystalchaos72 Posts: 531
    If you open up your diary so we can see it, and maybe offer helpful suggestions. You have been on here since 2010?
  • juliekaiser1988
    juliekaiser1988 Posts: 604 Member
    If you open up your diary so we can see it, and maybe offer helpful suggestions. You have been on here since 2010?


    Ditto
  • ejohndrow
    ejohndrow Posts: 1,399 Member
    Then urdoinitwrong. We can't even begin to help if we can't see your food diary and know what you're doing for exercise.
  • robynj88
    robynj88 Posts: 104 Member
    If you're carrying most of your weight around your middle it could be other hormonal problems other than your thyroid. Ask your doctor to do a blood test on your sex hormones, could be PCOS or other similar conditions that tend to pop up around your mid to late twenties.
  • strawberrie_milk
    strawberrie_milk Posts: 381 Member
    Are you actually counting your calories (accurately)?
  • VinVenture
    VinVenture Posts: 290
    Sort of in the same boat, can't get the last 10 lbs off, working hard, eating at a deficit - my plateau is most likely (I'm 83% sure on this) caused by overload of cortisol due to ungodly amounts of stress. Which lowers metabolism, lets the fat hang on and mainly centre around the stomach.

    Only -you- know both your diary and your personal life, so feedback would be nice to some of the questions asked here.
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
    You aren't that heavy for your height. The closer you get to a lean state, the harder it is to continue losing weight. Genetics and hormones need to be on your side in order to lose those last couple of stubborn pounds.
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    You only have 10 pounds to lose total and looks like you already lost 5.. so that last 5 is going to come off super slow.

    Set your goal for half a pound a week loss, Strength train, do some cardio, follow the MFP recommendations and see what happens.
  • secondring
    secondring Posts: 4
    If your caloric goal is 1400 per day and your net after exercise is only in the 300's you could be forcing your body into famine causing it to store what it can. Please correct me if I'm wrong but realistically we need to consume at least 1200 cals a day to sustain normal body functions right?

    Eat your exercise cals and meet your goal or just less and it will come off
  • LizKurz
    LizKurz Posts: 340 Member
    I don't mean this to sound flippant, but have you thought maybe you don't need to lose weight? It sound like you want to lose fat. That does not equate to number on the scale going down. I don't know how small you're bone structure is but for your height, your weight is fine.

    My suggestion to you is to eat to maintain your weight, up the cardio to HIIT cardio, add in full body strength training 3x a week and I bet in six weeks you lose most if not all of the muffin top.

    And for the record, I'm living proof as are many other people that diet and exercise does work. However, you cant force your body to lose weight it doesn't need to without an eating disorder. I really don't think weight loss should be your goal.
  • prr88
    prr88 Posts: 8
    I have been at it for over two years now. I have made several adjustments with diet and exercise. I used to do only cardio (40 minutes 6 days per week) then I cut it down to five days per week of HIT training.
  • prr88
    prr88 Posts: 8
    I was actually thinking it may be adrenal fatigue. How does one correct that?
  • Saruman_w
    Saruman_w Posts: 1,531 Member
    I have been at it for over two years now. I have made several adjustments with diet and exercise. I used to do only cardio (40 minutes 6 days per week) then I cut it down to five days per week of HIT training.

    Are you eating enough, and eating back your exercise calories? Normally, when you hit a plateau like this it means you aren't eating enough. Just because you eat less doesn't mean you will automatically lose weight. If you eat TOO much less you hit a brick wall. Your diary isn't open so it's tough to confirm this.
  • prr88
    prr88 Posts: 8
    I have put the 5 lbs lost back on since I recorded it. And YES, I am accurately recording the amount that I am eating. I have lost weight before and I know what I am doing. Unfortunately, I have been struggling the past 3 years with this. I used to be able to diet and exercise and drop the weight. And NO, I am not looking to lose lbs, just stubborn body fat. I don't care how much I weigh, I just want to lose some fat.
  • prr88
    prr88 Posts: 8
    I just calculated the amount of calories I need to maintain my weight using my BMR. My BMR is 1459.65. Based on this, I need 2,000 calories per day to maintain. If I cut back 500 calories per day, I should lose weight.
    Too bad it didn't work that way for me.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    I have been at it for over two years now. I have made several adjustments with diet and exercise. I used to do only cardio (40 minutes 6 days per week) then I cut it down to five days per week of HIT training.

    Unless those are different activities doing HIIT, you aren't really doing HIIT then.

    By the mere definition of what HIIT means, you would not be able to do it day after day. It's like doing weight lifting max lifts. If you do it day after day, it's not truly your max.

    So you are merely doing some interval training, going faster, and slower. Which I'm sure is useful, but not the same.

    If you truly want to do HIIT, you have to have a rest day inbetween.
  • ElPumaMex
    ElPumaMex Posts: 367 Member
    I'm a 5'7, 145 lbs, 30 yr old female. I have cut calories, switched to organic, cut out processed foods and chemicals, take supplements (vitamin B, fish oil, black cohosh, multi vitamin), exercise 5 days per week (cardio and weights),and cut carbs... I haven't lost an ounce. I have had my thyroid checked and my levels are normal.
    I'm 25% body fat and would like to lose 5% to get rid of the muffin top.
    Any advice?

    I checked your Food Diary, and it seems you have not logged ANY food at all for many days.

    I mean, if I read your Diary correctly, since 2010 you have only logged food for 53 days !! :huh:

    I have found that many times, the reason for not losing weight is not logging your food in MFP.
    Just estimating calories is a very easy way to over-eat.

    No matter what strategies we suggest to you, the main part is that you need to keep track of your food intake !

    If you log all your food intake, every day, and keep at below your calorie goals, you will lose weight. Guaranteed ! :bigsmile:
  • prr88
    prr88 Posts: 8
    I stopped logging because I got frustrated! I was logging for over a month and gained 5 pounds. I just recently weighed and have gained another 5 pounds. I am kinda boring and eat the same thing everyday (as what is on my log), so I know that the gain isn't because of not logging.
  • ElPumaMex
    ElPumaMex Posts: 367 Member
    I stopped logging because I got frustrated! I was logging for over a month and gained 5 pounds. I just recently weighed and have gained another 5 pounds. I am kinda boring and eat the same thing everyday (as what is on my log), so I know that the gain isn't because of not logging.

    I am not sure to when you refer to have logged for over a month, because I don't see that in your diary.

    MFP gives us a way to clearly control our food intake; after logging food almost every day since Nov 2011, I can now estimate calories in food, but I am sure I would be over my daily calorie limit if I stopped logging the food and just estimated.

    Try it. Log your food every day, and ensure you are just below your calorie limit (same one as to when you were losing weight).
    (Make sure that the calorie limit is correct)
    I can assure you will see results !!

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