HELP

I have been working out consistently for the last 2 months, according to FS I should be taking in 2300 cals, but I don't believe this to be true. I've done further research and the most consistant # I'm seeing for calorie intake is around 1800. I've been in a variety of ranges as you can see from my diet calendar. However, even if the calories I eat and burn are not correct, I should still be seeing a loss and I'm not. I've been working my butt off at the gym, eating lots of fruits, veggies, and lean meats, my portions are atleast 1/3 if not 1/2 of what I used to eat and I hardly ever drink alcohol. I've been drinking atleast 64 oz of water a day, I don't menstrate but every 3 months and its not that time and I've gained 3 lbs in the last week. I know your weight should fluctuate, but the 3 weeks before that I didn't lose or gain anything. I don't get it, what am I doing wrong?! I would love to hear your opinions. This happened to me before, and I had to realize that my calories burned or ate were not going to be right on, I know that now, but even if the #'s aren't spot on, I know there should atleast be a 500 calorie deficit per day and if 3500 cals = 1 lb I should be loosing 1 lb every 7 days, which is not happening.

A few things to look at from my experience...
-As far as calories go, make sure it is the right combination of carbs/lean proteins/fats. Not enough of one or two or two much of one or two can make a drastic difference in weight loss.
-I haven't looked at your exact diet but watch sodium intake to make sure it is not too high as that will hold water weight easily.
-Watch all sugars, processed and natural. Fruits are great but too many can be too much in the sugar intake department.
-Make sure if at all possible to eat 5-6 times a day instead of just the "normal" 3 meals.
-Eat something 1-2 hours before a workout and have a good recovery drink/meal within an hour of finishing your workout. Good carbs and lean protein before and after...for energy to get thru the workout as well as replenishment afterwards and this also helps keep your Glycemic Index at a more steady level instead of having it spike drastically.
-Make sure your body is getting plenty of rest.

I hope this may help at least a little bit, but feel free to send me a message if you have more questions.

Joe

I'd say if everything else is saying 1800 maybe you should try that. According to this site I'm supposed to eat around 1900 and I don't lose unless I am in the 1200-1500 range. I'd reduce your calories a bit and see if that helps, and keep up your workouts. Good luck!!

Increase your protein and drastically reduce your net carbs.

I didn't want to hear it when someone gave me that advice, but trust me - it did WONDERS once I finally started following it. I'm by no means at the Atkins end of the spectrum, but as a goal try getting your protein to around 30%-35% of your day. Try keeping net carbs to around 100g, maaaaybe 150g every now & then, daily. I don't always make it myself, but if my protein & net carbs numbers are fairly equal, I feel pretty successful.

Just in the past week or so that I glanced at your food journal, I see that you have very low protein % (20%, 17%, 22%, 11%) and very high carb % (50%, 57%, 40%) ...and trust me, I get it! But I will bet you a bajillion dollars that it's holding you back from your goals. FYI, I don't mention fat % because if you're watching the other two and staying within your calorie goals, it basically takes care of itself.

Once you make it something you pay attention to, it's surprisingly easy. If you have sugar coffee drink for breakfast, don't also have oatmeal and dried fruit; try Greek yogurt for breakfast instead. If you have ceviche for lunch, go for fewer tostadas with it, or eat it in a higher fiber wrap or flatbread instead - just change up a few things to match the new goals.

Hope that helps! I think you'll see a big change if you try it out.

Thank you all for your advice! When posting something here, I always try to take a little bit of what everyone says and put it to use and there are some definitely good ideas here. THANK YOU! =)

I took a look at your exercise and I wonder if you're not overestimating your exercise, perhaps? I try to be on the low side of my exercise counts and on the high side of the calorie counts because machines are not accurate. It just seems like you should be completely exhausted if you have a deficit of 2000 calories nearly every day.

rk4996a - Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, I have nothing to go on for the accuracy of my exercise calories except for what I find on here and other websites. However, I do believe you burn a daily amount just by sitting around, add my exercise and food calorie deficit I think you come up with at least 500 calories, which I mentioned earlier. So even if I took 500 calories away from both my food calorie deficit and exercise calorie deficit, it would still be at the very minimum a total of a 1000 cal deficit, which after 4 days, would be at least 1 lb. Does that make since?

Yes, it does make sense, assuming that your estimations are accurate for your food. It's really hard to estimate servings if you go out to a restaurant that doesn't have the nutrition information available or eat foods from bakeries that don't have nutrition information. In my own experience, it's really easy to underestimate those calories. Just a thought.

Errr... I read somewhere that the deficit should be a maximum of 500 calories not a minimum of 500 calories. That might be putting you in the starvation mode, ensuring that you don't lose weight.

Other than that, it could be thyroid. I have a friend who has it and it is very difficult to lost weight unless it stabilizes.

Here is are two articles that might help...

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/calorie-intake-to-lose-weight.php

http://www.builtlean.com/2011/01/18/how-many-calories-should-you-eat-to-lose-weight/

Thanks ambtreh, I will definitely take a look at these. But I work in a clinic so I get regular check ups and all my labs are good to go. Plus, I eat about an average of 1800 to 1900 cals a day, so that wouldn't put me in the starvation mode. Although, I do think I know what you're talking about. A 500 calorie deficit a day would have you loosing 1 lb a week, which is where a healthy weight loss should be. However, my calorie deficit is calculated by FS so I would have no idea really if its correct, I guess I just assumed a weight loss website would be pretty darn close. Not to mention I don't eat out very often and I get most of my calorie calculations right off the package. Although, like I've been saying I understand that these #'s as well as the #'s for my exercise could be off, however, I'm pretty sure there should still be at least a 500 cal. deficit. I tried deleting the "desk work" calories, the "sleeping" calories, but it wouldn't allow me too, so I assumed we had to have this info in. So at this point I'm gonna keep researching, try a few of the ideas I was given and stay the coarse, as eating healthier and exercising can't be doing me any harm.... =)

I looked at your activity and if I were you, I'd take off that sitting, standing, driving, and deskwork and just use the defaults of Sleeping and Resting. I think that FS estimates for this other type of activity is WAY unrealistic. You'll find that you'll get to your actual calorie deficits easier that way.

Good luck!

I have sedentary life style selected as default to calculate my RDI. I am not really sedentary, but I do not want to double dip by counting any activities twice. I also do not enter any daily activities other than default sleeping and resting. I occasionally enter exercise, but mostly just to keep track of what I am doing, not to calculate deficit. I try to stay bellow my RDI, I.e. bellow 100% most of the time. For me it gives me a narrow margin between 1200 and 1500 calories, and a slow weight loss. It is nowhere near possible weight loss based on FS calorie deficit. I would gain a lot if I would go with FS numbers. So I use FS only to track my food intake, mood swings, etc, not to calculate the deficit.

I thinkg, after reviewing the articles ambtreh sent me, I may not be eating enough calories on days that I work out! Which is like every other day, so this could be causing major damage. It looks like the research shows I should be eating around 1800 calories, except of course, on days that I work out, I should be eating about a 1000 more. That is too stay in the good calorie deficit range, which she was also close to, it should not be more than 1000 a day. On my exercise day, its been over 2000. I understand what the others are saying about the #'s not beeing right on, but I'm a firm beleiver that you do burn a lot of calories by just sitting around all day, so I think I'm gonna leave well enough alone, for now. If eating more calories on my work out days doesn't seem to be going so well, maybe I'll try some of the other ideas given here then. Thanks again everyone for all your advice and opinions!

I think FS is way overestimating RDI, mine said 1900 (and that was with me putting in that I work out less than I do) then I went to a nutritional clinic where I had my body measured for everything including muscle and bone density and it came back with 1440. When I showed FS to a nutritionist she said that's most likely an overestimate for anyone my height and age (5'6 and 27).

So I talked to my personal trainer, formerly body builder, and she said I should be consuming about 2200 cals on the days that I'm working out and around 1200 on the days that I don't. I don't necessarily like this plan, but she's the body builder, so I'm gonna give it a try. Eating 2200 cals, won't be a problem, its reducing to 1200 that I'm afraid of. Hmm, maybe I'll just work out every day and not worry about it..lol..it only it were that easy, cause there's nothing about her workouts that are easy....lol..wish me luck!

the 1200/1400 is not too bad...the huuge problem is that all your food that you do eat has to have a lot of protein and fiber, and you can't boredom eat or emotionally eat a lot.

Who woulda thunk it, my trainer seems to know what she's talking about. Its been 11 days since starting the 1200/2200 calorie plan and I broke the dreadful 230's! Down from 231 to 228! Got to admit it hasn't been easy trying to make these #'s but I've been giving it my all AND I said no to any alcohol this last weekend. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna be saying no to any alcohol for the next several months, if it helps. This is definitely a slow process, but its worth it. Can't wait to see how this next month treats me. OH and I also decided to delete any calorie burn for anything other than sleeping and my workouts. I still have quite a deficit, but if the weights moving again, I'm alright with that. Thanks again everyone!