49 and frustrated Can someone help?

I am 49, 5'4".  I have been trying to lose weight for months now and have gained and lost the same 2 or 3 pounds.  What is going on?  Here is an example of how it has been going for me.  For the past 2 weeks I really counted my calories and worked out.  The first week I lost 2 1/2 pounds the next week I gained 2 pounds.  I am so frustrated why can't I get the scales to move.  I even bought a HRM to make sure of how many calories I was burning.  I will at a miminal burn 250 calories per workout 5 days a week and most days I will burn more by adding a walk in the afternoon.  I eat 1500 calories more or less ever day, when I say more or less I mean I may go over or under 50 calories.  Anyway this weekend I was so frustrated I just ate.  I weighed this morning and guess what I gained the other 1/2 pound I had lost previously but what is new this put me back to my orginal weight of 173.  According to my burn meter I should burn 1749 because I set my activity at sedentary.  So if I am consuming 1500 calories and burning 250 shouldn't I lose at least a pound a week?  I would be happy with a consistent 1 pound a week.  Maybe I am not figuring how much I should eat correctly.  Will someone else take my stats and see what you figure?  I would appreciate any help, you just don't know how disgusted I am.  I just read the lady's posting of losing 100 pounds and that is such an inspration but Idon't know what else to do.  Even at eating 1500 calories a day I still sometimes starve.  I've wondered if my workouts are too much and that is why stay hungry.  Like I said I just don't know what do and I would appreciate any suggestions you guys can give me.  Thanks in advance.  I apologize for such a lenghty posting but I just need to vent to people that perhaps understands what I going through.

My calculations based on you doing 'light' activity would put you at 2050 a day to maintain your weight.   And 'moderate' activity would place you at 2300 to maintain.   So if we split the difference... 2200 a day.... at 1500 you should technically be losing about 1lb - 1.5lbs a week.

Usually the reason for not losing weight is that the food intake is higher than you think.  This can happen quite easily, especially if you if you eat out a lot ... don't know if that applies to you.... or if you guess rather than accurately measure portion-sizes.

Assuming you do measure your portions and you're not eating out too often then the next area to look at is the type of food you're eating.  Too many processed, ready-made and refined carbohyrate foods can make losing weight more difficult.  They can lead to hunger-pangs, blood-sugar swings, cravings and the salts they tend to contain can lead to water retention and weight-gain.  Wholefoods... fresh produce, meat, fish, wholegrains... are more satisfying in smaller amounts making losing weight easier.   Do you cook most of your meals from scratch?  Do you eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables?  Do you drink a good 1 - 2 litres of water a day?  Do you avoid things like alcohol?

If the answer to all of the above is a frustrated... "I'm doing that already you idiot!!!!"....  :-) .... then you might need to go the medical route and get checked out by your GP.  It's not particularly common but there are medical conditions that can impede weight-loss... metabolic syndrome, thyroid problems etc.

Best of luck.

I could have written this about myself. I'm in your same boat, minus four years and plus 1 inch in height. I am so frustrated at this point.

I feel your pain! I wish I had something really encouraging to say to you. But maybe it's enough to know that you're not alone?

Stay strong!

Sandy

 

 

Thank you for your calculations because that is about what I thought I should be losing.  The first week went great and then the 2nd week was awful and I really don't know what I did different because I eat about the same thing every day.  And as of know I think I am burned out on salads, I prepared one yesterday for lunch and had to force myself to eat it.  Now I don't know what I will have for lunch.  Today I brought cheese and crackers and a banana.  I am not sure how well that will hold me until my next meal.  However I did bring a bag of FF popcorn for a mid afternoon snack.  I had 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 2 cups cantaloupe for breakfast.

I do weigh and measure my foods.  I do cook from scratch and I pack my breakfast and my lunch everyday.  I have been eating more fruits and vegetables since they are in season here.  I do drink at least 1 litre of water a day and sometimes more.  I drink a couple of diet sodas a day also.  I stopped drinking them for about 3 months but so no change in my weight so I started back drinking a couple a day.  They seem to help hold my appetite back a bit between meals.  I had my thyroid checked about a year ago because I seemed to be so tired but all my blood work came back fine.  I don't even know what metabolic syndrome is.

You'd probably benefit by shaking up what you're eating a little.  There is more than salad out there and variety will really help a lot. :-)  How about some home-made soups, stir-fries, jacket potatoes with something on top, thick omelettes, pasta with sauces....  If you're tired make sure you're getting plenty of iron-rich and vitamin-c rich foods.  And also try taking a multivitamin supplement.  As we get older they often make sense.

Watch the salt content of your diet btw.  You mention cheese, crackers, cottage cheese and popcorn there...  If you tend to like savoury foods, salt can hamper weight-loss by causing water retention.  Do you run your food through the CC food log ever and get an analysis?  If your sodium intake is more than 2400mg then you may benefit from trying to reduce it.

Are you drinking enough water?  Sometimes the body will think it's hungry, when it's really craving water.

It seems you're doing everything else right.  I'm down to my last 8 lbs that I want to lose and I wasn't losing, so I actually had to up my exercise to get myself moving again.  My trainer says I don't have much body fat left to lose.  I do an hour of cardio every day now, burning 500 calories per session and in addition, I'm doing 2 days of an hour of weight training.

It's finally making the scale move again.

Plus, I drink a LOT of water...I try to drink most of my water between the time we get up at 5am and about 3pm, then I slow down so I'm not up all night going to the bathroom! LOL

Just a thought...try more water, it might help

R~

Quick question - are you a vegetarian?  You've mentioned salad, fruit, cheese, but no meat.  Are you getting enough protein?  That will help you to feel full for longer so you don't fee as hungry.  I try to eat some carbs and protein in each meal/snack so I get a boost of energy from the carbs, but then the protein helps tide me over when that boost ends.

Keep with it!  If you're doing the math right, your body is going to have to lose eventually.  Good luck!

I went through the same thing.  The advice I was given was to increase my breakfast and make sure I had breakfast every day with protein. 

My standard breakfast now is 1 cup Vanillla Source Yogurt (70 calories), 1/2 cup Fibre One Cereal (60 calories) with 1 cup fresh pineapple chunks (74 calories).  This is a very big breakfast and keeps me going until lunch time. 

I also make sure that I have a late afternoon snack -- usually a big Gala apple in the car on my way home from work so that I don't eat everything in sight when I get home. 

I pre-bag my portions of Fibre One Cereal and Yogurt so that everything is just grab and go.  I also cut up my celery and radishes on the weekend and put together enough bags to carry me through the week so I can grab a bag whenever I'm hungry.

Portion control is my enemy and I have a big appetite so these strategies have worked for me. 

Good luck to you.  I hope this has helped.

Cheryl

 

5'4", 49, 173#

At sedentary, I'm showing an RMR of 1680.  That's 11760 for the week + 1250 for the workout =13010  1500 x 7 = 10500.  That's only a deficit of about 2500 calories, not quite enough for a pound a week. I agree that the scale should be moving. There's definitely something going on here...

1) Make sure that you're logging the "licks, bites, tastes, nibbles", etc. 

2) Spend a week logging litteraly everything that passes your lips. 

3) Make sure that you're not over esitmating your burn

4) If none of that pans out, do see you doctor.  Show him your logs and what's happening. 

It sounds like you're doing all the right things, so I'll just give my support.  I'm 44, 5'4" and I started out at 172.  I've managed to lose 19 pounds since mid-Feb.  I was losing on 1600-1700 per day and averaging 300-400 calories burned per day.   I put myself down as sedentary, because I have a desk job, but I try to get up and move around and take the stairs at work, so I might actually be "light activity". 

Feel free to add me as a friend, I'll be happy to help you out with encouragement when I can. 

I don't know what you're eating, but it really helps me to eat protein at every meal or snack.  My blood sugar makes me ravenous if I eat sugary things (including fruit) without protein.  Also try not to drink any of your calories (juices, pop, milk, etc) because it's not very filling.  Get lots of fiber as well to help you stay full.   

Karozel, I would love to add you as a friend but I don't know how to do that.

I just had a horrible weekend.  I don't workout on Sat. or Sun. (unless I get a 2 mile walk) and I ate more than I do through the week.  I weighed this morning and had gained 4 1/2 pounds since Friday morning.  I did the math and for that kind of gain I would have had to eat 15,750 calories more than usual amount.  There is no way I did that.  I did splurge but I don't think I ate 6750 calories each day.  I am so sick of all this.  I don't even know why I try anymore. I used to believe a calorie was a calorie but I don't think it is. 

I started doing the weight watchers averaging 20 points (which is about 1500 calories or less) a day plus exercising, burning anywhere from 250 to 350 calories.  I just can't do any good.  I change my workout almost everyday doing different things and that still hasn't helped.  I think I might as well give up.  Thanks for listening.

If you are hungry, try eating more. up it to 1600/day for a weeek and see what happens. sometimes the hunger is the sign you are not eating enough. I'm going with calorie dense foods, i'm 49, 5'8 and about 202 (today) and at just 1500 I was too hungry. Give it a try and see if it helps. Don't change anything else because you won't know if the extra cals are helping or not.

Don't give up!  Sometimes it just takes trial and error to figure out what works for you specifically.

I think mkculs might be right - maybe you're not eating enough.  If your deficit is too big, you'd think you should be losing more, but sometimes your body will hold on to all your calories if it if feels you aren't feeding it enough.

The numbers on here are a guideline, but you need to listen to your body.  If you're hungry much of the time, that's a sign that you're not eating enough.  Do you use the burn meter on here for all your exercise?  Besides your workouts are you quite active?  Maybe you should be set to "light activity" instead of "sedentary".  That would explain the too large deficit.

Try eating more for awhile before you give up!  Good luck!