Help please -- why am I not losing weight?

W

wlf_dude

New member
Hi all,

New here. I've been generally (over the past several years) maintaining ~15lbs over my ideal weight (I'm about 165lbs currently). I generally eat mostly healthy and don't get much exercise -- grilled fish & chicken, no cheese, some salads, spaghetti made with 99% ground turkey and whole-grain pasta, not much bread, lots of lean deli meats, lots of water, don't care much for salad dressings, and I split my meals into 5 servings a day. I rarely drink (one drink a month or less), and don't smoke. But I have one serious problem -- ice cream. I can go through tons of this stuff. I typically go though two 1.5qt tubs in a week, but I've polished off one of those tubs in a single evening.

I recently decided to fix my weight, because the way I'm made, that little extra does not look good on me. It goes to my face and stomach.

Life is very difficult currently, so working out (I usually like to walk in a park or so) has been difficult, so I try to get whatever little I can by very parking far when I go to stores, or taking the stairs, etc. However, my big change starting a couple months ago has been to cut out the ice cream altogether. I snack on pickles instead. And I added a more salads. I lost about 5lbs within a couple weeks, but that came back and I'm stuck where I've been previously. Huh???

I've always said that knowing what to do to lose weight is no problem, and that it's the motivation to stick with it that's the problem. But now I'm confused. I'm not one for crash diets, but I'm frustrated now and will do whatever it takes. To help stop me from eating, last week I decided to take up smoking again (it's been over 15 years), but OMG cigarettes are now $8 per pack! And yes I know that's bad, so I need another way. Should I be looking into bulemia now? (Just kidding).

Seriously though, I know I'm not 20 years old again, so my metabolism has changed, but I figured that making the significant change of not eating ice cream would get me to lose weight, at least slowly. This is frustrating.

Any clues? Thanks.
 
Do you know how many calories you consume each day??? Is not eating ice cream the only cut you've made??? I'm glad you decided not to take up smoking!
 
I am not counting calories, but an honest estimate (from counting in the past) would be around 1500. I really don't eat much ... seriously, when I do go out to eat at a place like outback, I get something off the kids menu).

I am very sedentary nowadays, but I figured that any change (such as cutting out ice cream) should at least get the weight coming down slowly.
 
I know as soon as I start doing this, it'll become a chore and I'll get demotivated again. Really, one significant change should make a difference -- that's my real concern.
 
the problem is you can eat a lot more calories than you think even eating healthy food. also, while pickles are low in calories, they're really high in sodium
 
Jeff91 said:
the problem is you can eat a lot more calories than you think even eating healthy food.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. I used to blindly think whatever I get from Whole Foods was decently healthy, but apparently not from a weight perspective. It's amazing how much oil the cooked foods have.


also, while pickles are low in calories, they're really high in sodium
Click to expand...

Haven't thought about that, but now checking, I see that each pickle has 280mg of Sodium. I have to research what that means for me as I have never bothered checking sodium, knowing that I consume much less salt on average than most people... I tend to find many purchased foods to be salty while others think it's good or even add salt. In the past (over 5 years ago), I've been told by a doctor that I could consume more salt as my blood pressure has been a bit low, and still is.

FWIW, here's my day yesterday...
- 8am: Cup of coffee. 45 calories.
- 8:30am: grilled salmon (4 oz farmed atlantic grilled in a pan with Pam spray, sea-salt, black pepper, and red pepper), with a small can of peas (ate both servings of 60 calories each) with just black pepper on it. Should be under 300 calories total.
-12:20: Lean Cuisine chicken stir-fry something. I don't have the box anymore, but I know these are usually 290 to 340 calories.
- ~3:30: Granola bar (Nature valley crunchy): 180 calories.
- ~5:00pm: banana.
- ~5:30: Small can of V8 low-sodium. 30 calories.
- 7:30pm: 2 pieces of tofu (honey-sesame flavored) from whole foods, with some "cabbage crunch" (a non-mayo coleslaw like concoction that has cabbage, sesame seeds, vinegar, honey, almonds, green onions and canola oil). I'm not sure how much calories for this meal, but quantity was small as total weight was under 0.4lbs).
- ~10pm: handful of almonds (Blue Diamond "lightly salted" roasted). Fair estimate is 12 nuts, so 73 calories and 17mg sodium.
- During the day, I had 4 bottles of water (16.9oz each).

Most days are like this, except that I occassionally have to eat out when at work, so I go for 2 McDonald's grilled snack-wraps, honey-mustard, no cheese, and throw away part of the tortillas (as the chicken-to-tortilla ratio is generally low). Or I'd go for a grilled chicken salad with curry-mustard dressing. Yes, the dressing is mayo-based, but I have a very little bit of it.

Generally, low-carb, high-protein diets work very well for me, but I can't do that as much nowadays, because I got kidney stones last year (due to lack of water during a few-month period), and was put on an alkaline diet, which seems to eliminate most proteins. I do eat more bananas and watermelon nowadays, but I've put back some proteins in my diet. But I avoid rice and bread.

Thanks!
 
You're 165 lbs and not very active.

Therefore your maintenance, where calories in = calories out, is probably something like 12 calories per pound or 2000 calories per day.

When you're very large and/or very active, maintenance can be up around 3-4000 +. There's a lot more wiggle room there.

When you're limited to 2000 to maintain and 1500 or so to lose... things get a lot more "tight." This means the tiniest of overages can cause plateaus and frustration.

And that's why folks are suggesting you at least get a feel for how many calories you're currently consuming per day. That's not to say you have to count for the remainder of your life. But you need to get some sort of baseline understanding of what's entering your mouth.

If you're not losing over extended periods of time, 9/10 times you're eating too much.
 
+1 for counting calories. I went from 253-199 with a lot of counting but then stalled for 5-6 weeks. I've gotten back into the habit of counting and was eating ~400cals a day more than I'd estimated. Lo and behold I adjusted my diet and have now dropped a couple of pounds.
Steve's right that when your maintenance is lower then it's easier to be a couple of hundred over the line.

Good luck and keep progressing
 
I think I'll start doing that again (counting) -- it just adds another complication to my otherwise currently-overwhelmed life. I do think I have two answers now though -- sodium (as I noticed that each pickle is actually 2 servings, so 560mg Sodium), and lack of sleep -- as I get 4-5 hours per night, every night for the past 6-9 months.

Thanks.
 
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