Dieting but no success...where to next?

mayoboyo · 30-09-2015 10:11pm #1

So as a bit of background, I'm in my early-mid twenties, weighing 14st 10lbs and 5'10" tall. I'm probably classed as well built, as in my weight is spread out so I'm not overweight in any one area but I can recognise that I do need to lose some weight right across my body. I have tried to lose weight on previous occasions without much care or attention to calories but it has never given any results. I often thought it was just my carelessness in not recording everything I ate and going over my allowance.

I'm now fed up of trying and not seeing any results so for the last four weeks I have really managed what I eat, counting calories each day using the My Fitness Pal app, exercising three times a week, both running and using weights. Every day I have had a calorie deficit of between 500 and 1000 not including the exercise and I am still weighing the same as I did four weeks ago, with not even a visible difference to my body. I understand that muscle weighs more than fat but there has been no recognisable increase in that either.

My diet is pretty good I think, breakfast of porridge, yoghurt and coffee with a splash of low fat milk. Lunch can be chicken salad wrap, dinner would be chicken, veg and potato or a stir-fry of beef and vegetables. I also take Kinetica Thermo Whey after exercising and some mornings before breakfast. My meals varies from day to day but it all seems pretty good to me.

Have I any other options left or is it advisable to go to a doctor and seek their advice?

OU812 · 30-09-2015 10:25pm

Male/Female?

What worked for me was cutting my calorie intake to 2,000 a day & then walking up to an hour every day. I do about 6-7km in the morning with the dog & then get to work.

I've pretty much don 10,000 steps by mid afternoon & am drinking about 2.5l of water a day.

I eat what I want, just less of it. Very VERY rarely do I feel like I'm hungry & I'v dropped just over 2st since the start of August [was 15.5]. Pushing for another .5st [it's really hard] & then maintain.

Simple rule to losing weight: Burn more calories than you eat.

mayoboyo · 30-09-2015 11:06pm

Sorry, should have said male in the first post!

I know it seems pretty straightforward regarding burning more calories than what you take in but even if I averaged a deficit of 700 a day thats still nearly two pounds of fat a week before any exercise. It seems like I'm not getting any movement of weight no matter what I try.

Alf Veedersane · 01-10-2015 12:04am

Where did you calculate your calorie intake for maintenance to base your deficit off?

Also, how honest are you with tracking on MyFitnessPal? Does everything go down?

Do you weigh your foods to input into MFP?

OU812 · 01-10-2015 12:05am

How much whey are you taking ? Just looked it up & that stuff is 135 calories per 35g. I'd cut that out for a couple of weeks. I'd say you're eating more than above on a normal day, you'd be surprised how quickly calories add up.

How are you cooking your chicken for example? There's a lot of hidden calories in food prep [oils/sauces etc.]

Do ou drink alcohol? If so, what & how much? You could be adding hundreds of calories to your weekly intake without realising.

What about a bar of chocolate every couple of days? One every second day doesn't seem like much but that's nearly an additional 1,000 calories a week without realising.

Eat fruit ? A medium size pear is about 100 calories, I used to have a couple of them a day, every day - 1,400 calories cut out just be not snacking on fruit [the healthy option] & instead building it into my meal plan.

How do you make your porridge ? 50g porridge [not a lot in the bowl] with 300ml milk is 366 calories while made with water is 142 calories.

There could be a medical issue, but it's unlikely. Try keeping a proper food diary [or myfitnesspal], but make sure you log absolutely everything accurately, I bet you'll be surprised.

Zillah · 01-10-2015 12:07am

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Where did you calculate your calorie intake for maintenance to base your deficit off?

Also, how honest are you with tracking on MyFitnessPal? Does everything go down?

Do you weigh your foods to input into MFP?

This, and also are you counting exercise calories when you're calculating your daily net?

fussyonion · 01-10-2015 1:55pm

The body works in mysterious ways! I was ill recently and lost 2kg without even trying, yet this week I'm back on top form, had a great week of good food and exercise and I've stayed the same weight as the week before.

Your diet sounds alright to me; like a previous poster mentioned, it could be the little things adding up extra calories without you realising.
The odd bar of chocolate here, bag of crisps, few pints maybe, not enough water...these things all add up.

I have an egg and a slice of wholegrain toast for breakfast OR yogurt, fruit and nuts.
Lunch is usually a large mixed salad with protein, piece of fruit.

I drink 3l of water every day, plus green tea and other herbal teas.
Dinner is usually bolognese with veg instead of pasta, fish with veg or other sources of protein with veg.

For me personally I have cut out spuds, rice and pasta in the evening because it bloated me and made me feel over-full.
For me it has worked wonders for my weight-loss and I don't feel hungry because eating so much veg with my protein fills me up.

I exercise 4-5 times a week; mainly cardio and strength exercises and I have one treat day a week where I'll have a few glasses of wine and chocolate or maybe some crisps.

Limiting treats to one day (without going overboard!) really helps keep me focused because I know there's no guilt then.

I have lost just over 2 stone since July and I'm thrilled.
Hope some of the things I've said can be of some use to you...and good luck!

PS: MyFitnessPal is really handy..keep using it.

honestbroker · 02-10-2015 5:53pm

Hi Mayoboyo,
I'm 6.0 tall weighed 98 kilos a year go. (Similar to you)
Did some research, consulted with my GP and developed a diet (not a weight loss diet) to improve my health.
One interesting I noticed in my "research" was that if you look at what all approaches to weight loss have across the spectrum from Macrobiotic vegetarian to Atkins is that they all cut out processed food. That's where I started.

Forget about counting calories, points, low fat nonsense etc.

Breakfast for me is one of:
Bacon, egg and avocado, small side salad (lettuce, tomato, scallion etc.)
Omelette made with 3 eggs turmeric, fresh herbs, mushrooms, kale chopped into it. etc
Smoked mackerel, sauerkraut , beetroot and some salad
Sardines, (sometimes I curry them), tomato, salad

Lunch:
Decent salad with chicken, smoked fish or other meat which I try and always cook myself.
Leftovers from previous days dinner.
Usually with with green tea or rooibos tea.

Dinner:
Meatballs with salad, small amount of pasta
Pan fried hake, cod or haddock with a salsa or side salad and a few chips
Roast beef or lamb with green veg, roasted root veg and onions
Stews with lots of veg and small amount of potato.
Curries with rice
Usually with with green tea or rooibos tea.

Eat fruit and nuts as snacks. Especially in season Irish fruit.

Eat the odd square of dark chocolate.

I exercise vigorously for 25 mins 3 times a week using the Tabatha timing method.
I walk vigorously nearly every day for 40 mins.
I cycle whenever I can.

I'm now 88 kilos, jean size and shirt size reduced, feel great, cholesterol and more importantly triglycerides are down.

seefin · 02-10-2015 7:35pm

Did you only start heavy weight lifting a month ago? From what ive read your body can gain upto 5lbs of water/glycogen as muscles repair(happened to me within a week of starting weight lifting ) Maybe this water etc is masking actual weight loss? Give it another month and see if any downward trend. If no joy i'd start weighing food religiously in case youre overestimating what you eat

mayoboyo · 05-10-2015 10:40pm

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Where did you calculate your calorie intake for maintenance to base your deficit off?

Also, how honest are you with tracking on MyFitnessPal? Does everything go down?

Do you weigh your foods to input into MFP?

Was basing the weight loss calories on the MFP app (2200) but maintenance should be 2700 according to a quick calculation on a website earlier.

Honestly, every last crumb goes into it, in fact, I'd be a bit overly generous when adding foods for the very reason of hoping to prevent under estimating.

OU812 wrote: »

How much whey are you taking ?

How are you cooking your chicken for example? There's a lot of hidden calories in food prep [oils/sauces etc.]

Do you drink alcohol? If so, what & how much? You could be adding hundreds of calories to your weekly intake without realising.

What about a bar of chocolate every couple of days? One every second day doesn't seem like much but that's nearly an additional 1,000 calories a week without realising.

Eat fruit ? A medium size pear is about 100 calories, I used to have a couple of them a day, every day - 1,400 calories cut out just be not snacking on fruit [the healthy option] & instead building it into my meal plan.

How do you make your porridge ? 50g porridge [not a lot in the bowl] with 300ml milk is 366 calories while made with water is 142 calories.

Taking one scoop after a workout and one every 2nd morning.

Chicken is grilled or fried in coconut oil. No alcohol as I'm not a regular drinker at all, had one pint 3 weeks ago!

Might have chocolate once a week, usually over the weekend, but it would only be a Snack with a mug of tea.

I'd have a bit of fruit in the morning, usually an apple and then a banana around 11 or 12.

I make the porridge with low fat milk if I can at all, failing that it's full fat milk and water 50/50.

seefin wrote: »

Did you only start heavy weight lifting a month ago?

I wouldn't even say it's heavy weights, just doing a few basic squats, deadlifts and arm/chest work in an effort to "tone up" for want of a better phrase. As I am, my chest is quiet broad so I really don't want to go adding muscle and bulking up even more. The weightlifting is just something to break the routine of running. Also I'm hoping squats and the likes will help the legs and joints strengthen themselves to avoid damage.

I've got an appointment with the doctor tomorrow just for a general check-up and to get an opinion on what I might be doing wrong. Hopefully there's nothing going on but I'd prefer to know if there was as my weight has been bothering me for the last number of years.

Thanks for all the help!

Alf Veedersane · 05-10-2015 10:45pm

Do you use MFP to calculate calories earned from exercise as well?

mayoboyo · 05-10-2015 11:13pm

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Do you use MFP to calculate calories earned from exercise as well?

Yeah, each time I run or exercise I add it in and it increases the allowance for that day.

Alf Veedersane · 05-10-2015 11:47pm

mayoboyo wrote: »

Yeah, each time I run or exercise I add it in and it increases the allowance for that day.

I wouldn't. MFP, and most others to be fair, will usually overestimate calories burned by quite a chunk.

That's not even including for people overestimating what they did without necessarily trying to

mayoboyo · 06-10-2015 8:11pm

I get where you're coming from, I try to allow for that overestimate in my calculations. Thanks for the help anyway

Macy0161 · 14-10-2015 11:44am

My tips would be not to eat into calories earned if you can help it (or maybe unless you've done something that's very high calorie burn, but not everything earned).

Another thing is to be totally honest about what you are recording on myfitnesspal. Get anal about weighing the portions and what you are actually eating. For me, that's more important that what you eat*.

One other thing to track is the protein intake, and see do you need the whey. What I found from my reading up was that you should be looking at the protein requirement at target/ ideal, rather than current weight. That cut my protein requirement, and gave me spare calories for other things. I've found I'm in the habit of taking whey now, when a lot of days I'm hitting my requirements (based on 0.7g per lb of body weight) through food, so the supplement is unnecessary.

*I've lost over 6 stone working to a 500 calorie deficit using the calculator that's in one of the stickies at the top to work out my maintenance, and tracking through myfitnesspal. I did try to earn 500 a day through exercise, but not to eat into it. I found I gradually made better food choices as I could compare options in mfp, and then make an informed choices in terms of calories.

mayoboyo · 14-10-2015 10:22pm

Thanks for the reply, I've kept up tracking my food intake and have given up the protein for the last few days. I'm still 500 - 800 calories below my RDA before any exercise. I'm going to intensify the exercise on the evenings I get a chance to work out and hopefully that will make some difference.

Congrats on your 6st loss by the way, that's a huge achievement.

Macy0161 · 15-10-2015 11:05am

Thanks. But just to say, it's pretty much all diet. If you're not losing weight, with a deficit over the week (based on maintenance, not adding exercise), then I'd still be looking at diet rather than stepping up the exercise.

Sisyphus Mark II · 15-10-2015 8:28pm

This method will definitely get you to lose a lot of weight. Eat eggs and rashers for breakfast. Two chicken breasts for lunch. And a steak in the evening. Vary your meats eating lots of fish ect. Essentially the Atkins diet. Look up Atkins induction. Go to gym 5 times a week:) run for twenty minutes each day. Do 4 different weight exercises each day. Concentrating on different body part each day. Guarantee you'll lose at least 7lbs in first two weeks. Takes discipline but it will work!!!!

Penny Tration · 15-10-2015 8:31pm

Sisyphus Mark II wrote: »

This method will definitely get you to lose a lot of weight. Eat eggs and rashers for breakfast. Two chicken breasts for lunch. And a steak in the evening. Vary your meats eating lots of fish ect. Essentially the Atkins diet. Look up Atkins induction. Go to gym 5 times a week:) run for twenty minutes each day. Do 4 different weight exercises each day. Concentrating on different body part each day. Guarantee you'll lose at least 7lbs in first two weeks. Takes discipline but it will work!!!!

of course op will lose weight eating just what you've listed - because it's maybe 1000 calories.

Paddy Dreadful · 15-10-2015 8:49pm

OP do you have a tape measure? If you do measure your waist around your navel(belly button) in a relaxed state and tell me what it is in inches?

Sisyphus Mark II · 15-10-2015 8:52pm

Yeah it's around 1200 calories but it can be done. And if your ever peckish scramble a few eggs. If your so frustrated with weight loss time to up the ante!!!

Penny Tration · 15-10-2015 9:37pm

Sisyphus Mark II wrote: »

Yeah it's around 1200 calories but it can be done. And if your ever peckish scramble a few eggs. If your so frustrated with weight loss time to up the ante!!!

Cutting out entire essential food groups isn't a healthy or sustainable way to lose weight, nor is starving yourself.

Sisyphus Mark II · 15-10-2015 10:30pm

Penny Tration wrote: »

Cutting out entire essential food groups isn't a healthy or sustainable way to lose weight, nor is starving yourself.

You wouldn't be starving yourself. I've done it and don't feel hungry. Also plenty of protein for muscle development. Good multi vitimin you'll be fine. Being able to see the weight fall off daily is great for motivation. A lot of serious gym heads avoid carbs like the plague.

Alf Veedersane · 15-10-2015 10:42pm

Sisyphus Mark II wrote: »

A lot of serious gym heads avoid carbs like the plague.

A lot, you say? Where did you do this research?

fussyonion · 16-10-2015 9:49pm

I think carbs are important and shouldn't be cut out entirely. Cut down maybe, but not out.

I know a girl in the gym who doesn't eat bread, spuds, rice, pasta, anything like that. She's so miserable and has a lot of cravings. When she gives in now and again, she goes on carb binges.

Last week she devoured five slices of pizza, half a loaf of Tiger bread, two Danish pastries, half a tube of Pringles and half a pack of cream crackers. In one day.

I find eating carbs, such as Weetabix or wholegrain toast with an egg in the morning really gives me energy for my gym work-out.

If I don't have carbs before the gym, I always have them afterwards.
Protein is important but nobody should feel the need to cut out entire food groups.
It's all about balance.

Dieting but no success...where to next?

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