Don't understand why I'm not losing weight
cazwillis99
Posts: 238 Member
I have been on MFP for nearly 60 days now and this week gained 1.5 lbs - leaving my total weight loss at 4.5 lbs (4 of which were the difference between my last SW weigh in dressed and in the evening and my first MFP weigh in naked and in the morning) so really I have lost a whole half pound in two months. As you can imagine I am pretty unimpressed about this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. My BMR is 1365 and my TDEE is 1876 based on me being lightly active. I walk every day for up to an hour and in the last 10 days have been putting in time on an elliptical trainer (now up to 30 mins). I clear 10000 steps most days but I don't count these as exercise I only count when I have physically been out and walked for a set time.
My diary is public so you can see what I eat - I have a gluten and wheat intolerence but I don't think that is why I'm not losing weight. My daily cals are set at 1340 and I eat back most of my exercise calories - in the last week my intake totals have ranged for 1500 cals to 1900 cals
I have recently ramped up my daily exercise to include the elliptical - this has probably been for the last 10 days and I have worked up to a 30 min session - however I have measured myself this morning and not lost any inches either :-(
I know I haven't over eaten by 5000 cals this week, I am very honest in my logging because I know that if I cheat I am only cheating myself so it is pointless - but am I messing up by eating back my exercise cals because they are the only cals over and above my dailies that I eat?
Thanks for any help and advice :-)
Just added up my exercise cals for the week and strangely enough they add up to 3500 which is enough to gain a pound - is there a connection here or is it just coincidence?
My diary is public so you can see what I eat - I have a gluten and wheat intolerence but I don't think that is why I'm not losing weight. My daily cals are set at 1340 and I eat back most of my exercise calories - in the last week my intake totals have ranged for 1500 cals to 1900 cals
I have recently ramped up my daily exercise to include the elliptical - this has probably been for the last 10 days and I have worked up to a 30 min session - however I have measured myself this morning and not lost any inches either :-(
I know I haven't over eaten by 5000 cals this week, I am very honest in my logging because I know that if I cheat I am only cheating myself so it is pointless - but am I messing up by eating back my exercise cals because they are the only cals over and above my dailies that I eat?
Thanks for any help and advice :-)
Just added up my exercise cals for the week and strangely enough they add up to 3500 which is enough to gain a pound - is there a connection here or is it just coincidence?
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Replies
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I feel bad no one is responding. I have no ideas to give you. Your diary is enviable. Wish I ate that well. Hopefully someone can respond sooner or later and give you some valuable advice. Good luck and keep at it. At the very least, you are eating healthier and getting exercise.0
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your carbs o protein ratios aren't good
In what way?0 -
What is your height and current weight?0
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When I first start dieting/exercising, the first two months my weight didn't change at all, but I lost 6 inches in that time and my body fat percentage dropped by 4%. In other words, I was replacing fat with muscle, which is why the number on the scale didn't change. You could be experiencing the same thing.
About your macros: try to consume at least 1g protein per pound total weight and no more than 0.5g fat per pound total weight.0 -
Here's a few tips I've learned this week from my trainer- I am no expert and I have just now gotten serious about losing weight within the past few weeks, however, maybe my advice might work for you. I try not to eat my exercise calories back because I feel like I've burned those calories for a reason. Some people on MFP will tell you that you need to eat these exercise calories back but others will tell you not to. Whenever I eat my calories back I seem to feel guilty so I don't do it much. Also, I'm not sure how much you walk a day or how long you have been doing this, but I do know that your body can get used to doing the same exercises so it is good to change up your routine to avoid plateaus- it's called muscle confusion.
More about exercise, my trainer says the only way to lose numbers on the scale is to do cardio (which is what you're doing by doing the elliptical). I think that's a great thing to do to lose weight, but my trainer told me for this cardio to actually work, you need your heart rate to be around 160-190 for your work out to actually count. Just walking at a normal pace will take much longer to lose the weight you want to. Other than that, if you are interested in doing some work out videos I know that Jillian Michaels has a program called 30 Day Shred and it works wonders I've heard! You can look at before and after pictures on here- there are some amazing results, however, I've heard that it's a program geared more towards losing inches rather than weight. Also, Zumba and cycling are a great way to do cardio also.
Let me know if you ever need anything! You can add me on here and I will definitely be here to motivate you!0 -
What is your height and current weight?
5 4 and as of this morning 161lbs :-(0 -
Possibly water retention, which is normal when on a prolonged calorie restricted diet. If that's the case, the weight will come off periodically in large amounts rather than gradually. You can stimulate this by having a higher calorie day with a decent helping of carbs (part of why "cheat days" are so popular I think).
Sounds like you are doing well. Here is what I would recommend:
Get your thyroid checked. Get you actual BMR from a doctor.
Start weight training. Cardio is great for conditioning, but not so effective for getting in shape (I'm sure I'll get flamed for that, but it's the truth)
Get your blood sugar levels tested. If they are normal and you have no insulin resistance problems/diabetes then look into intermittent fasting. Fasting is an unbelievably effective method for fat loss.0 -
I feel like I could have posted the same message about a week ago. I was incredibly frustrated after working out so hard and staying within my calories each day without any significant results. I decided to cut back on carbohydrates to see if that would help me lose some weight, and it has been amazingly successful. I'm down around 5 pounds in under a week, after working for between six weeks and two months with no noticeable improvement. I noticed that although you eat gluten free, you do eat a fair amount of carboydrates.
My suggestion is to cut out anything containing grains, and to add some protein to your menus and see if that helps you. It did for me. If not, you can try tweaking other things, but protein seems to be beneficial to weight loss.0 -
Maybe changing your exercise might help? Possibly more intense workouts maybe? Like 30DS or Zumba? Im not an expert on exercise by no means so I couldn't really give any real advice, I just wanted to offer some help for you!
Hope someone can offer more help! Good Luck
xxx0 -
Eat at least 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass. Lots of reasons for this. Too many to type on phone.your carbs o protein ratios aren't good
In what way?0 -
Drink as much water as you possibly can and make sure you're getting 8 hours of sleep every night.0
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Your eating under your bmr, hence your body is storing everything = EAT MORE.
Take 20% from your TDEE & NET that at day end
Russ0 -
I feel for you! I'm 42 and work in an office full of cakes and biscuits. I stayed the same for 5 weeks with no sign of any change in inches or weight. Then I made 2 small changes - I added some resistance training and I increased my protein levels. This week i dropped 2lb. Looking at your diary, your protein looks better than mine but you might want to try buying some whey powder and adding a shake once a day. It's got to worth a try! And I think you need to build muscle rather than just do cardio, so perhaps try squats, lunges, push ups a couple of times a week in place of some cardio. Good luck!0
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Possibly water retention, which is normal when on a prolonged calorie restricted diet. If that's the case, the weight will come off periodically in large amounts rather than gradually. You can stimulate this by having a higher calorie day with a decent helping of carbs (part of why "cheat days" are so popular I think).
Sounds like you are doing well. Here is what I would recommend:
Get your thyroid checked. Get you actual BMR from a doctor.
Start weight training. Cardio is great for conditioning, but not so effective for getting in shape (I'm sure I'll get flamed for that, but it's the truth)
Get your blood sugar levels tested. If they are normal and you have no insulin resistance problems/diabetes then look into intermittent fasting. Fasting is an unbelievably effective method for fat loss.
These are all very good suggestions (cannot comment on the IF comment though as I do not know enough about it but many folks have seen success with it).
I looked at your diary and nothing springs to mind as to why you are not losing weight. Calories burnt while exercising are often overstated so my initial thought was that you were actually at maintenance, but based on your calories eaten, you should still be at a deficit in any event - so I doubt it is this. I would suggest you upping your protein however and lowering your carbs at bit.
You should definately start to weight train - very important for women.
You could also try a 'diet break' where you basically eat at maintenance and cut back on the cardio for a week .
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Try maintenance for a short time, give things a kick and then slowly reduce your cals again. I've seen plenty of people on here say they've done that after a plateau and it's started off their loss again. Good luck, I know how frustrating it is!0
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Here's a few tips I've learned this week from my trainer- I am no expert and I have just now gotten serious about losing weight within the past few weeks, however, maybe my advice might work for you. I try not to eat my exercise calories back because I feel like I've burned those calories for a reason. Some people on MFP will tell you that you need to eat these exercise calories back but others will tell you not to. Whenever I eat my calories back I seem to feel guilty so I don't do it much. Also, I'm not sure how much you walk a day or how long you have been doing this, but I do know that your body can get used to doing the same exercises so it is good to change up your routine to avoid plateaus- it's called muscle confusion.
More about exercise, my trainer says the only way to lose numbers on the scale is to do cardio (which is what you're doing by doing the elliptical). I think that's a great thing to do to lose weight, but my trainer told me for this cardio to actually work, you need your heart rate to be around 160-190 for your work out to actually count. Just walking at a normal pace will take much longer to lose the weight you want to. Other than that, if you are interested in doing some work out videos I know that Jillian Michaels has a program called 30 Day Shred and it works wonders I've heard! You can look at before and after pictures on here- there are some amazing results, however, I've heard that it's a program geared more towards losing inches rather than weight. Also, Zumba and cycling are a great way to do cardio also.
Let me know if you ever need anything! You can add me on here and I will definitely be here to motivate you!
^^^^^ This is a great responce, i totally agree with it....everyone on here tells you to eat ur exercise cals back bbut for some it doesnt work, my cal gole is set at 1200 and i try to stay under that, sometimes i go over but i never eat my full exercise cals back as for me that works, if i was to eat them all back i would gain weight! Also i am doing the DVD mentioned 30Day shred and i can agree it does wonders for ur body, this is the 2nd time im doing it and the 1st time i did it i was losing an overall 4inches, 2% body fat and 2lbs PER WEEK! this time im doing 30 Day shred and Banish Fat, boost metabalism (another DVD by the same trainer) and hoping for the same results.....in no expert but you have to find whats right for you. but i used to walk about 6hours a week and never lost any weight so now i do jillian micheals dvds as i cant get to the gym because of having 2 young children. good luck!0 -
I am pretty much in the same situation as you, including weight and height. Take some measurements and ignore the scales for a couple of weeks. For the first few weeks I gained weight so really I have only lost about 2lb in 65 days BUT I have lost inches. I am booked on a body scanner next week to see what my muscle mass / fat ratios are. Dont loose heart, Im sure you will have lost some size and look how fit you are.0
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your carbs o protein ratios aren't good
your protein intake is ok for your size / gender but you are a carbohydrate addict
Just another example of how the low fat eating and exercise mantra doesn't work, sadly.
Change the low fat skinny versions of things to the full fat ones, eat less of them, lose the fruits (sugar in disguise) and avoid potato/pasta/crisps/chips/sweets/cake/chocolate.0 -
Any person who tells you to skip fruit is to be ignored. That is TERRIBLE advice.
Just of interest what do you have your weight loss set to per week? If it's 2lb per week it's too high for your goal weight. You should only be aiming for 2lb a week if you have over 75lb to lose.
Have you considered doing weight lifting? It only needs to be body weight for you to see benefits from it. Cardio is great but you'll get better results and a better looking body from lifting weights.0 -
I agree with a previous poster. I took a quick calculation from your diary and you are consistently NETTING under your BMR.
At the end of the day when you have that little calculation of food cals - exercise cals it should not be lower than your BMR. Your BMR is what you need to keep everything working if you do NOTHING!
Make sure that at the end of the day your food - exercise = BMR at the very least if not 100-200 over. Right now from what I see you are NET about 1000-1200 cals per day, that means you are actually undereating by 100-200 cals at least. You need to feed your body if your doing exercise.
Everybody is different so you do have to experiment a little too. I have eaten NET close to my BMR and losing, slowly, but losing. You just have to find what works for you but stay healthy at the same time.
I hope this is helpful.
Cheers0 -
You can have a perfectly balanced diet without fruit. What does Jenny say ?
Sugars from fruit are sugars and carbohydrates just like any other.
Society may have glorified some foods and demonised others, in doing so we got a massive obesity problem. Go figure.0 -
Just of interest what do you have your weight loss set to per week? If it's 2lb per week it's too high for your goal weight. You should only be aiming for 2lb a week if you have over 75lb to lose.
My weight loss is set to 1lb a week (I am very realistic about how much I am likely to lose regularly) I am not expecting a quick fix by doing this but I did expect to have lost at least some weight in 60 days (I don't consider half a pound much of a success even though it is a loss!!!)0 -
Drink as much water as you possibly can and make sure you're getting 8 hours of sleep every night.
What do I do if I can't get 8 hours sleep per night?0 -
I looked at your diary and your carbs seem high to me and the protein to low, but that's just my opinion.0
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I have the same problem. I started my journey middle of February, I swim 1h a day 5-6 days a week. I lost 4 pounds so far. It is very frustrating. I can´t even say I have a major NSV as my jeans still fit, I don´t fit in a smaller size.
I tried eating under my calorie goal, I tried eating my exercise calories back, I tried cut down on carbs...:sad: No difference.:mad:
I am going on holiday for 4 days now, no scales, good italian food, redwine. Maybe I am in a better mood after that and my body finally decides to let go.0 -
I agree with a previous poster. I took a quick calculation from your diary and you are consistently NETTING under your BMR.
At the end of the day when you have that little calculation of food cals - exercise cals it should not be lower than your BMR. Your BMR is what you need to keep everything working if you do NOTHING!
Make sure that at the end of the day your food - exercise = BMR at the very least if not 100-200 over. Right now from what I see you are NET about 1000-1200 cals per day, that means you are actually undereating by 100-200 cals at least. You need to feed your body if your doing exercise.
Everybody is different so you do have to experiment a little too. I have eaten NET close to my BMR and losing, slowly, but losing. You just have to find what works for you but stay healthy at the same time.
I hope this is helpful.
Cheers
^^^^
Good post, It's important to fuel your body properly.
If you have come from slimming world you will be used to eating low fat, 'diet' foods which are generally high in sugar, and free green day carbs which can be a bit much.
My sister is coeliac and I'm half diagnosed just waiting further tests - a lot of the gluten free 'replacement' foods are high in fat and sugar, try to choose more naturally gluten free foods like lean meats, cheese, veg, potatoes, brown rice, quinoa etc.
Try doing more home cooking rather than buying the premade gf stuff like pizzas, cookies etc.
There is a gluten free group on here with some great recipes.
I'd suggest tracking sugar, between the fruit, yogurt, canned soup and gluten free stuff, your intake looks pretty high.
Adjust your macros to a higher protein intake, maybe 25-30%.
Make sure you NET above bmr.
If you don't do it already try adding some weight training in order to increase muscle mass, which will burn more calories and lose inches :-)0 -
Thank you everybody for your comments and advice. here is my plan:
Up my protein - based on advice I should be eating 161g protein a day - going to work on this
Lower Carbs - will work on this - hopefully a few small changes will reduce my carbs, i.e. quinoa not rice or gluten free pasta
Exercise - bought 30DS on Thursday - will start it next week and see if that makes a difference
Calories eaten - will try to hit a minimum of my BMR each day after exercise - will go and reset my daily calories to 1600 (scary figure took me a moment to type that!)
Weights - I have been doing a bit with weights, nothing I would consider major however so I will try to increase the level of weights I am doing.
I already drink in excess of my 8 glasses of water each day so not much to change on that one
Forgot to add that I am not going to eat back any exercise cals either for a little while now that I have upped my daily cals to 1600
If anyone can see any glaring mistakes in my plan then please shout up and let me know.
thank you again for stopping by and reading my post and giving me advice :-)0 -
bump0
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Possibly water retention, which is normal when on a prolonged calorie restricted diet. If that's the case, the weight will come off periodically in large amounts rather than gradually. You can stimulate this by having a higher calorie day with a decent helping of carbs (part of why "cheat days" are so popular I think).
Sounds like you are doing well. Here is what I would recommend:
Get your thyroid checked. Get you actual BMR from a doctor.
Start weight training. Cardio is great for conditioning, but not so effective for getting in shape (I'm sure I'll get flamed for that, but it's the truth)
Get your blood sugar levels tested. If they are normal and you have no insulin resistance problems/diabetes then look into intermittent fasting. Fasting is an unbelievably effective method for fat loss.
What he said is what I was thinking when you said you had not lost . If you have a thyroid - condition that might be working against you.0 -
had a good look at your food intake what i can see is a bit of sugar u need to read the labels and see how much it has in it i hope this can help u0
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