I'm very depressed as I write this...so just a warning.
Here is an update from my previous thread about how I am not finding myself able to lose any weight.

Since my previous thread, I have been walking more (a least an hour for 5/7 days of the week), eating more fruits, eating less cheese, and drinking skim milk (I try to drink about 2 cups a day). I learned today that skim milk has calories...so..that's depressing (I don't know how I missed it, there are a lot of 0's on the label...I feel so stupid). That's 180 calories unaccounted for in my food journals.

The milk was an experiment--I was trying to eat foods with more protein so that I felt hungry less and I found that milk has protein for what I thought was 0 calories from skim milk. I feel really stupid...

I have found myself still unable to lose weight after about month and two weeks. This has left me feeling very depressed. I have gained 3 lbs since last week. I have been putting a lot of effort into this, and it feels as though nothing is working.

I will be looking for a new job soon and I wanted to at least have a tangible weight loss to go along with that--a confidence helper. Now I just have no idea what to do.

I wonder if this video might help you. I know many who've watched this and something 'clicked' for them. Hope it helps you. Best of luck!
Sugar: The Bitter Truth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

I'd advise everyone to watch this.

I hear ya on the milk thing. I had a hard time giving up my morning cereal. But when I counted how many calories I was eating between the cereal (because sorry, their idea of one serving of cereal is preposterous!) and the skim milk, it wasn’t worth it. So now I’m enjoying those Weight Watcher breakfasts with some fruit. It’s all a matter of substituting and finding what you enjoy. Just because you can’t have as much milk as you want doesn’t mean you should give up entirely. And I sure hope you don’t! It took me dozens of different diets to finally find one that clicked for me. Was it depressing and frustrating? Absolutely! But when I found what clicked for me, I was off and running. And in hindsight, those trials and tribulations actually gave me an appreciation for what I am doing.

I count calories and carbs. I learned that my body does not burn off carbs very easily when I am not moving so I joined a gym. I burn off the small amount of carbs in my system (apprx 100-150g/day) and then it goes right for the fat stores. It’s been successful for me. Perhaps it might be for you too?

Don’t give up. It is NOT impossible to lose weight unless you have an undetected medical condition or are on certain meds that hinder weight loss. I know you can do this sweetie!

Ariselle,

If you are exercising more than before, you are probably putting on muscle. That is a desirable thing, but muscle weighs more than fat, so you won't see a change on the scale even though you are losing fat. Where you probably will see a change is if you take your measurements with a tape measure.

When I started my eating plan and going to the gym, I actually gained weight, according to the scale. But taking my measurements showed I had lost 2.5 inches from my stomach as well as substantial amounts from other parts of my body.

The same thing may be happening to you, so don't get discouraged.

I'm a little confused.....after reading your other post, it looks like you have been doing this for about 6 weeks and have lost about 13 pounds in that time.

If that is correct, you are already losing at a pretty darn decent rate. To expect more than about 2 pounds a week loss is just setting yourself up for disappointment.

Don't give up!!! You can do this and it WILL happen, you just have to stick with it, have reasonable expectations, and keep going no matter what the scale says on any particular day. We all fall off the wagon at some point. It isn't a failure unless you choose not to get back on.

Don't feel stupid. There is a lot to know about food, calories, carbs/proteins/fats, etc. The important thing is that you are trying and learning.

In general, one gram of protein or carbohydrates has 4 calories, and one gram of fat has 9 calories. So if something has protein, it has to have calories.

Is it possible to see a nutritionist to maybe help you out to form a plan?

Fiddler, you gave incorrect information. Muscle and fat weigh exactly the same. A pound is a pound no matter if it's feathers, muscle or fat. Muscle takes up less volume than fat and it takes more calories to maintain muscle.

Unless you are lifting weights hours a day, I doubt you have gained enough muscle in 3 weeks to make a difference. Walking builds little muscle unless you are training for a marathon.

Could you post a typical day's menu so we might be able to help you more?

Sad to say, the only zero calorie food is plain water.

This shouldn't make you feel stupid- everyone who has ever calorie counted at some point realizes they (myself included) were eating a LOT more than they thought! Whether it's the calories in something or the portion size, we've all had that forehead-smack moment of "Ohhhhhh so THAT's why I wasn't losing weight!"

For you I hope it doesn't make you depressed, it should be a RELIEF to see that you were intaking 200+ more cals a day from milk and that was reducing the deficit you thought you were creating. That's a good thing! You now know one thing that you can do better and you are already fixing it. It's not like your body didn't realize you were intaking those cals and now all of a sudden that you log it's like "ohhh shoot, I guess I have to gain that weight that I thought I wasn't gaining." Your body already knew it, gained the weight, and that's what contributed to your stall. Now your mind knows it and you can fix it.

Skim milk is awesome and loaded with proteins and nutrients, so there's no reason to cut it. Just accommodate for it with your other portion sizes. You're doing great, and every day learning something new. I think all of us are still learning something new about dieting and health, and that's awesome because it means we're constantly bettering ourselves and our journey

just one point to remember and keep in mind in the future-- EVERYTHING HAS CALORIES.... even if the packaging says zero cals, its not true.. the FDA ges away with it be cause if something has less than 5 calories per whatever the designated serving size it, they can say it has zero calories.. noe, 4 or 5 cals might not seem like they make much differece, but if you are pouring in the splenda/equal packets into a lot of foods, using I cant believe it not butter spray, using PAM to coat your pots/pans, chewing sugar free gum... well, that can all leas up to a ssignificant amount of calories, unnaccounted (and unknown( in a day.... hundreds, even.

The best advice-- if you dont already have one, go buy a DIGITAL kitchen sclae. Try for two weeks to measure/weigh EVRRYTHING THAT goes into your mouth, to the gram. WEigh your glass of skim milk, dont eyeball it. WEigh your veggies (most hve a serving size of 85 grams (3 ozs). You will probably find you are eating way more than you realizem on accident... i guarantee you will start losing agin if you start WEIGHING ALL YOUR FOOD. NO exceptions

I'm another who has to jump in on the exercise thing. While we are creating a calorie deficit, we are actually fighting the loss of muscle. When we lose weight, as much as 40% of that weight could actually be muscle loss, not fat loss. Exercising (specifically lifting) helps us to RETAIN that muscle, but it is actually quite a difficult process to gain it.

That said, exercise makes the scale go wonky. It just does. It makes it stall, gain, drop...all of it. It's very frustrating and many of us have been there. I'm fighting a 5 pound gain myself right now over the past month and a half for absolutely no logical reason I can thinking of. Eating 1200 calories a day, hitting the gym hard 1.5 hours every day and gaining 5 pounds is frustrating! But I have to just keep going. Eventually the body will give in and I have to trust that.

Would love to see some sample menus from you! I wonder if perhaps there are some more calories or sugars you have missed.

I don't want this post to sound mean, but I really think you are underestimating your calories.

Our bodies are machines. A calorie is a unit of measurement for fuel for those machines. Unless you have specific medical conditions, the rules simply do not change for you.

Calories it vs calories out.

That is why dieter's that are successful tend to obsess a bit on nutrient values. You HAVE to know what you are consuming in order to achieve a true deficit.

Truth is, the skim milk thing (while we have ALL done it!) probably just stands to show that you aren't as in touch with what you are consuming as you think you are. It's time to face facts, and have a good long, constructive talk with yourself.

It does no good to get on here and read all the awesome testimonials from people that have successfully lost weight, if you just use that as a pity party tool to tell yourself 'well, it may work for them, but it doesn't work for me'.

I think you are going through that mental stage where you want it to be easier than it is. You want what you are doing to be enough, and not have to reevaluate from there.

It's time to buckle down and do it! You have the tools in front of you.

We look forward to reading YOUR testimonial.


**Also, I'll add in that, I know some people don't like reading posts from those of us that have not as much weight to lose. But I come from a family where I am the only one under 200+ pounds. I deal with heavy genetics every day of my life, so it's not like it's out of my realm of normal. I really can relate.

Hey! well thats alright you figured it out! it does take time.

One thing that helped me is..Fit day! I could log all my food and you can see the %'s and the "pie ratio" of what you are eating. I personally need a higher protein % than anything else. But it really helped me keep track of my food and get the best general estimate i could.

I hate when everyone assumes there is under estimation of calories. While that can be true I KNOW I was doing it right and was HONEST with myself. No bites during cooking. No tastes here and there. Everything was calculated, weighed and measured.
I was just insulin resistant. That's why I wasn't losing weight. I'm not doing a single thing differently other than a couple natural supplements known to help with blood sugar spikes and I'm steadily, finally, losing weight.
It might not be everyones reason for not losing...but it was mine. So just remember that when you guys say, "losing weight is easy" or "you're under estimating." Things that look good on paper don't always work.


And...about the skim milk, I remember when I was younger thinking it was calorie free, but nope. Just FAT free!

I agree with you to a point. The immediate jump to "you must not be counting correctly" urks me a touch too. It took me a long time to figure out what my problem was. I had a hard time losing weight despite ridiculous exercise and perfect eating.

HOWEVER, on this site I have discovered that MOST people really are missing things in their calories, so it's always worth mentioning, in my opinion. And yeah, missing the calories in milk could happen to anyone, but it's still kind of a red flag that MAYBE there's something else being missed.

I would just like to see every stone uncovered so as not to lose this one.

Lucyford, you're right that it isn't always underestimating calories, but when that's the easiest thing to check and when that's the case 95% of the time, it makes sense to examine calorie intake first.

That doesn't mean that folks shouldn't also get tested for medical issues or shouldn't try varying their carb/fat/protein ratios or shouldn't look at their quality/quantity of exercise. I have a hypoactive thyroid and have to go in for my regular blood-work to check it out tomorrow. I understand fully what it's like to have physical impediments to weight loss.

But when someone isn't aware of the calories in skim milk, it's probably safe to assume she's not recording her food on an online calculator that automatically adds stuff up and probably not reading nutritional labels assiduously.

I'm not laying blame or casting aspersions here. For the first few weeks of my counting calories, I ate Pepperidge Farm bread and counted it at 70 calories a slice. Well, it turns out that unlike other breads, Pepperidge Farm's bread is freakin' HUGE and has 120 calories a slice. That was an extra 100 calories added onto every sandwich I ate and an extra 50 calories on every piece of toast. I was horrified when I found out about it--but it taught me a valuable lesson about reading EVERY package.

I felt dumb, but it wasn't dumb; it was just habit to go with what Fitday said "bread" should cost. So please don't feel dumb about the skim milk thing, Ariselle; look at it as your call to arms to read, read, read every label. You really might want to look into something like Daily Plate or Fitday that counts everything for you as you enter it in.