:-( Less calories, more exercise ≠loose weight!! :-(

≠ means not equal to....

Just need to AHHHHAHAHH!!

Ok so I reduced calories.... upped my movement... loss very very slow.
Gained access to an exercise bike :-) found it easer to use up calories... lost a few more lbs...
then it stopped... thought ok been though this before where its a sticking point...

Carried on, used the exercise bike more than I thought I could :-)
Loose more weight - no

Friend looked into it and may need to up calories (roll eyes) the starvation mode thing
- so I am now gaining weight! and gaining more than is logical for what I am eating!

Why why why is this so complicated all I want to do is loose the excess fat, tone up and get in my old clothes.

This should be simple, eat less (cut out treats) and move more BUT its NOT that simple!!

Why do programs show that when they have a group of people and do this for them it works but when I try it, its a mess!

Any ideas.... could this be a
- not loosing for a while but keep strict
- starvation mode need to have more calories and it will drop off
- something else

REALLY fed up! Experienced help appreciated... esp if there is a 6 week plan as that is one of my key dates!

Replies

LLnotURmommaLL wrote: »

Didn't see one useful answer to her question. You automatically assume she hasn't logged her calories right. I lost 45 lbs in 9 months, hit a plateau and have now gained back 14 lbs. Yes I weight my food, I haven't changed the the type of foods I eat, don't snack & swim 3 days a week. My calorie is 1200 per day but often eat less. I've dieted for two years but have been at my current weight for the last six months. I have no intentions to change my calorie intake but have no expectations that my weight will change. So I would appreciate it if you have no useful suggestions for this lady don't say anything.

Did you even read the replies? There are FAR more suggestions and questions than just 'are you logging your calories correctly?' Let's go through them, shall we?

Questions:

How long haven't you lost weight for?
What are your current stats?
How long have you been trying to lose weight?
How many calories are you eating?
How do you estimate exercise calories burnt?

Suggestions:

It's not starvation mode, so eating more won't help.
Could be water weight from a sodium-rich meal or time of the month.
Just 'cutting out treats' isn't enough.
Don't remove all the food that you enjoy from your diet.
If you're exercising more you could be feeling hungrier than you really are.

It's not our fault OP isn't answering any of the questions being asked of her. Most of the time not logging correctly is the problem, and since OP didn't mention how she was logging in her post, of course people are going to mention it.

LLnotURmommaLL wrote: »

Didn't see one useful answer to her question. You automatically assume she hasn't logged her calories right. I lost 45 lbs in 9 months, hit a plateau and have now gained back 14 lbs. Yes I weight my food, I haven't changed the the type of foods I eat, don't snack & swim 3 days a week. My calorie is 1200 per day but often eat less. I've dieted for two years but have been at my current weight for the last six months. I have no intentions to change my calorie intake but have no expectations that my weight will change. So I would appreciate it if you have no useful suggestions for this lady don't say anything.

There are useful answers here. The majority of the time people who claim not to be losing are not tracking their calorie intake correctly. It's a safe assumption. I don't understand why you're getting all bent out of shape over it. The OP was asked if she weighs her food and logs accurately. That's the best way to tell how much you're actually eating.

Lastly, you're on a public forum on the internet, so what you appreciate or don't appreciate doesn't really matter.

My achilles heel is cheese, a slice here, a pinch there. Those calories add up FAST! Make sure that you log everything.

You have gotten some pretty good advice above. The one item I see missing are measurements. MFP supports measurements of several parts of your body to give you a well rounded picture of what is going on. Weight is only one aspect of the picture.

CarlFenech wrote: »

When going into starvation mode, your body signals that food is scarce and stores every piece of fat you eat, this is slow metabolism. When you eat healthy every three hours or so, the mind signals that food is in abundance and no need to store fat so you lose weight. This is a fast metabilism.

So those 8 hours of not eating when I sleep are what made me fat! It all makes sense now.

Firstly

Thank you to all those that have taken the time to reply :-) I can appreciate how busy every one is.

I cut my calories to 1200ish... I don't cook with oil etc, cant stand peanut butter. Learnt on the first day not to eat baked potato and butter lol!!

Using the exercise bike I managed to use up at least 1000 calories a day (give or take 10% what the bike said and what other info sites said varied) Some days I managed over 2000 ((give or take 10% ) a few days I missed (as per other posts caused terrible piles - thank goodness for medication).

I was just so pleased I had found something I could do, make it fit into my time and felt I had accomplished something.

No weight loss for a few weeks.
Yes it could be time of the month... addressed water retention and over night gained 4 lbs!! (the day before did about 1500 on the bike)

Amazingly I did not feel that hungry after doing the morning cycle (varied minimum of 500 calories and often used up 1000 give or take 10% ) so often did not eat until later which helped me keep the calories low. Have tried (pain in bottom depending) on doing at least 500 calories 2 - 4 times a day...

Yes I have scales and learnt how much was 50g of cereal and 80g of milk. Tend to keep to a big salad in the evening and can then easily weigh the protein. Yes I know a tomato is X and 6 slices of cucumber is Y etc :-)

Yes it may be medical as my body is very messed up - which will not help, and not going into details.

SO just back to the 1200 (ignore this starvation thing) and keep cycling and hope the plateau does not continue for much longer, surely something has to give! :-)

The scale is the devil IMO. Judge by how you are feeling, and how your clothes are fitting. I have a hard time excepting this too, but I'm working on it. Best of luck!!

Clothes fitting .... legs are now very toned which I love!
Measurements have NOT gone down at all. I found it very scary that I lost 10lbs and no measurements changed and there are no clothes that I can go back to fitting into.... that way I saw how easy it is to gain over 10lbs and not notice!!
In places a bit flabbier rather than firm so psychologically that is nice too.... but no, no real changes in clothes etc :-(
Thank you :-)

CarlFenech wrote: »

When going into starvation mode, your body signals that food is scarce and stores every piece of fat you eat, this is slow metabolism. When you eat healthy every three hours or so, the mind signals that food is in abundance and no need to store fat so you lose weight. This is a fast metabilism.

Wouldn't it be great if that's how it worked? I would be eating constantly, so my body wouldn't store fat.

I think people who post stuff like this are probably focused too much on fat instead of the purpose of food. We eat food so our bodies have energy to do stuff. When we are active, the body pulls energy from where it is available, because keeping us going short term is more important than long term. When food is in abundance, the body stores as much as it can, because it has no idea how much we will need when we are active later and how long it will be before we get more food.

onedayTHISYEAR wrote: »

Firstly

Thank you to all those that have taken the time to reply :-) I can appreciate how busy every one is.

I cut my calories to 1200ish... I don't cook with oil etc, cant stand peanut butter. Learnt on the first day not to eat baked potato and butter lol!!

Using the exercise bike I managed to use up at least 1000 calories a day (give or take 10% what the bike said and what other info sites said varied) Some days I managed over 2000 ((give or take 10% ) a few days I missed (as per other posts caused terrible piles - thank goodness for medication).

I was just so pleased I had found something I could do, make it fit into my time and felt I had accomplished something.

No weight loss for a few weeks.
Yes it could be time of the month... addressed water retention and over night gained 4 lbs!! (the day before did about 1500 on the bike)

Amazingly I did not feel that hungry after doing the morning cycle (varied minimum of 500 calories and often used up 1000 give or take 10% ) so often did not eat until later which helped me keep the calories low. Have tried (pain in bottom depending) on doing at least 500 calories 2 - 4 times a day...

Yes I have scales and learnt how much was 50g of cereal and 80g of milk. Tend to keep to a big salad in the evening and can then easily weigh the protein. Yes I know a tomato is X and 6 slices of cucumber is Y etc :-)

Yes it may be medical as my body is very messed up - which will not help, and not going into details.

SO just back to the 1200 (ignore this starvation thing) and keep cycling and hope the plateau does not continue for much longer, surely something has to give! :-)

This is all great info - and I'm sure people who know more than me will be able to give you much more detailed responses and advice.

All I would say, is that it sounds like you measure some of your food but not all. As much as you say you've learnt how much 50g of X is etc, it's really not accurate. While you're struggling just now, I would recommend weighing EVERY SINGLE THING you eat & drink. It's so easy to mis-judge the calories and if you do that a few times a day, you can be anything from 100 - 500+ calories out of what you think.

I know it sounds tedious, but it's the only way to be sure you're right with the calories going in.

When it comes to the exercise calories, where are you getting these numbers from? The only sure fire way to get calorie burn amounts is using a heart rate monitor- the numbers the machines give without a heart rate monitor are usually out - as are MFP recommendations, so a lot of people on here advise only eating back 50% of these.

LLnotURmommaLL wrote: »

Didn't see one useful answer to her question. You automatically assume she hasn't logged her calories right. I lost 45 lbs in 9 months, hit a plateau and have now gained back 14 lbs. Yes I weight my food, I haven't changed the the type of foods I eat, don't snack & swim 3 days a week. My calorie is 1200 per day but often eat less. I've dieted for two years but have been at my current weight for the last six months. I have no intentions to change my calorie intake but have no expectations that my weight will change. So I would appreciate it if you have no useful suggestions for this lady don't say anything.

If you haven't lost weight for six months, that means that you are eating at or above your maintenance level. Unless you are very light weight, 1200 per day is below your maintenance level. So, either you are eating more than 1200, or you are losing weight and don't realize it. Since we know you are eating more than 1200, but you think you are eating at 1200, that means there is food that you aren't logging. That may be because you are miscalculating portion sizes. That may be because there is food you are ignoring. That may be because you are misreading the calorie information on the labels or the calorie information in the database is wrong. Whatever the case, all you need to do is look at what you've been eating and eat less. Since your log entries are incorrect anyway, it might be better to not log at all, just reduce what you're eating.

LLnotURmommaLL wrote: »

Didn't see one useful answer to her question. You automatically assume she hasn't logged her calories right. I lost 45 lbs in 9 months, hit a plateau and have now gained back 14 lbs. Yes I weight my food, I haven't changed the the type of foods I eat, don't snack & swim 3 days a week. My calorie is 1200 per day but often eat less. I've dieted for two years but have been at my current weight for the last six months. I have no intentions to change my calorie intake but have no expectations that my weight will change. So I would appreciate it if you have no useful suggestions for this lady don't say anything.

Funny? So where is your answer to the OP question?
Why don't you worry about your own self and nobody else.
Also (bold) that is not how the real world works.

onedayTHISYEAR wrote: »

≠ means not equal to....

Just need to AHHHHAHAHH!!

Ok so I reduced calories.... upped my movement... loss very very slow.
Gained access to an exercise bike :-) found it easer to use up calories... lost a few more lbs...
then it stopped... thought ok been though this before where its a sticking point...

Carried on, used the exercise bike more than I thought I could :-)
Loose more weight - no

Friend looked into it and may need to up calories (roll eyes) the starvation mode thing
- so I am now gaining weight! and gaining more than is logical for what I am eating!

Why why why is this so complicated all I want to do is loose the excess fat, tone up and get in my old clothes.

This should be simple, eat less (cut out treats) and move more BUT its NOT that simple!!

Why do programs show that when they have a group of people and do this for them it works but when I try it, its a mess!

Any ideas.... could this be a
- not loosing for a while but keep strict
- starvation mode need to have more calories and it will drop off
- something else

REALLY fed up! Experienced help appreciated... esp if there is a 6 week plan as that is one of my key dates!

Do you weigh your foods on a food scale that measures in grams & ounces? If not then go buy one since it's the easiest way you make sure you're accurately measuring your food intake. You would be surprised at how small a portion is of certain things like cereal (used to fill it to the brim), ice cream, peanut butter, salad dressing (I actually don't mind not smothering all of my lettuce in dressing now), & accurately weighing pasta/rice.

How many calories do you eat?

Not to be mean, but I doubt you actually burn 1,000 calories by using your exercise bike. Machines are notorious at overestimating your burns since it doesn't know your height, weight, heart beats per minute, etc. If you want to be more accurate with your calorie burn then you should invest in a heart rate monitor with a chest strap (these are more accurate but not 100%). If you're eating your calories back & grossly overestimating them then that could explain why you're gaining some of your weight.

Starvation mode doesn't exist, because if it did then how do you explain people dying in Africa?

CarlFenech wrote: »

When going into starvation mode, your body signals that food is scarce and stores every piece of fat you eat, this is slow metabolism. When you eat healthy every three hours or so, the mind signals that food is in abundance and no need to store fat so you lose weight. This is a fast metabilism.

No. This is not true.

LLnotURmommaLL wrote: »

Didn't see one useful answer to her question. You automatically assume she hasn't logged her calories right. I lost 45 lbs in 9 months, hit a plateau and have now gained back 14 lbs. Yes I weight my food, I haven't changed the the type of foods I eat, don't snack & swim 3 days a week. My calorie is 1200 per day but often eat less. I've dieted for two years but have been at my current weight for the last six months. I have no intentions to change my calorie intake but have no expectations that my weight will change. So I would appreciate it if you have no useful suggestions for this lady don't say anything.

Yeah, no. You might have an underlying medical condition, or there's something wrong with your logging. There are only two possible answers to the scale failing to move. Something's wonky on the CI side of the equation, or something's wonky on the CO side of the equation.

onedayTHISYEAR wrote: »

Firstly

Thank you to all those that have taken the time to reply :-) I can appreciate how busy every one is.

I cut my calories to 1200ish... I don't cook with oil etc, cant stand peanut butter. Learnt on the first day not to eat baked potato and butter lol!!

Using the exercise bike I managed to use up at least 1000 calories a day (give or take 10% what the bike said and what other info sites said varied) Some days I managed over 2000 ((give or take 10% ) a few days I missed (as per other posts caused terrible piles - thank goodness for medication).

I was just so pleased I had found something I could do, make it fit into my time and felt I had accomplished something.

No weight loss for a few weeks.
Yes it could be time of the month... addressed water retention and over night gained 4 lbs!! (the day before did about 1500 on the bike)

Amazingly I did not feel that hungry after doing the morning cycle (varied minimum of 500 calories and often used up 1000 give or take 10% ) so often did not eat until later which helped me keep the calories low. Have tried (pain in bottom depending) on doing at least 500 calories 2 - 4 times a day...

Yes I have scales and learnt how much was 50g of cereal and 80g of milk. Tend to keep to a big salad in the evening and can then easily weigh the protein. Yes I know a tomato is X and 6 slices of cucumber is Y etc :-)

Yes it may be medical as my body is very messed up - which will not help, and not going into details.

SO just back to the 1200 (ignore this starvation thing) and keep cycling and hope the plateau does not continue for much longer, surely something has to give! :-)

I can appreciate you wanting to keep medical issues private. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that for some conditions, certain diets (like low-carb) are probably a good idea. Some people who eat that way, because of those conditions, have great difficulty losing weight any other way.

One thing that jumped out at me were your exercise burns. They seem... excessive. Are you eating back your exercise calories?

JSurita2 wrote: »

LLnotURmommaLL wrote: »

Didn't see one useful answer to her question. You automatically assume she hasn't logged her calories right. I lost 45 lbs in 9 months, hit a plateau and have now gained back 14 lbs. Yes I weight my food, I haven't changed the the type of foods I eat, don't snack & swim 3 days a week. My calorie is 1200 per day but often eat less. I've dieted for two years but have been at my current weight for the last six months. I have no intentions to change my calorie intake but have no expectations that my weight will change. So I would appreciate it if you have no useful suggestions for this lady don't say anything.

There are useful answers here. The majority of the time people who claim not to be losing are not tracking their calorie intake correctly. It's a safe assumption. I don't understand why you're getting all bent out of shape over it. The OP was asked if she weighs her food and logs accurately. That's the best way to tell how much you're actually eating.

Lastly, you're on a public forum on the internet, so what you appreciate or don't appreciate doesn't really matter.

Well said @JSurita2

90% of the time when people aren't losing weight, it's because they are eating too much.

Accurate logging is essential.

Whether you believe in Adaptive Thermogenesis or not is irrelevant. If it's true it might mean you have to eat 300-400 calories less a day.

Bottom line is, if you aren't losing, you've got to eat less, or exercise more.

Accurate logging is the key.

If you are insistent that you're accurately logging your foods, then I believe you're overstating your exercise burns.

Correct me if I am wrong, but you say you're burning 1000-2000 a day on top of your BMR?

ASKyle wrote: »

If you are insistent that you're accurately logging your foods, then I believe you're overstating your exercise burns.

Correct me if I am wrong, but you say you're burning 1000-2000 a day on top of your BMR?

I row 9.5km a day most days and barely crack 500 cals.

Also, I am losing weight still because I am burning more than I am eating. I must be a magic sneuxflake or something.

Yeah, I think your exercise burn estimation is easily double and then some of what you are actually burning...if you are eating back those cals, that may be part of your issue. I'd also suggest mixing up your workouts a bit as well, after all that cycling on a stationary bike, your body has probably become very efficient (as in, burns fewer calories) riding that bike. Add some strength training and perhaps some other kinds of cardio...jogging or brisk walking, swimming, dancing like an idiot when you think nobody's looking (maybe that's just me....)

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