Allready, if you are logging/measuring everything and going over by a tiny bit you should be losing because to lose a pound a week you need a 500 calorie deficit a day - you have a lot of play there, really, to lose at least a little if not a pound.  If you aren't losing at all there are two possible explanations: 1. you are either not logging everything accurately by either forgetting food (I almost forgot to enter the crackers I had this morning) or underestimating food amounts, or 2. you are measuring and entering everything correctly but your budget is too high; you are eating your maintenance amount and are, therefore, maintaining.

If you suspect the former might be the case, step up the measuring and log as you eat (not all at the end of the day when you can easily forget a snack).  I literally use a kitchen scale, measuring cups, and measuring spoons to ensure accuracy and usually log while I'm eating.

If you suspect the latter, sadly you must reduce the budget.  1100 should be the absolute least you eat, though, per day.  If you still do not lose on that you'll have to increase how much you burn every day by exercising more and not eat to make up for it.

ETA:  it really boils down to this, either you're eating more than you think you are or your budget is too high.

I don't like your answer, hahaha!!!  Just kidding.

I think a combination of a few things.  Yes I think I may not have meausurements always right.  I think most days I have been going over and yes sometimes probably logging at a maintanence level.  I also have a fluid imbalance/shift so scale does fluctuate quite a bit.

Please ask me next week if I retook my measurements.  Those are usually quite accurate and I did see a decrease.  But am pretty it is the same and no new increase.

I will be adding some extra calorie burning each night on top of what I have done at the gym.  Just a few extra things:)  Hope this  helps.

Kargiver, on Chronicle last night they were going over all the latest diet/lose weight programs.  LoseIt was founded right here in Boston, and they intereviewed people who had successfully used it.

Hee, hee, allready, that answer is NEVER very popular - go figure. ;)  Actually, you may have an imbalance, but everyone fluctuates by pounds up and down day to day due to fluid retention and bathroom habits.  That's actually why I'm officially weighing in after a full month on a new budget to evaluate it.  It would be impossible to correlate it in less time because of natural weight fluctuations that are non-fat related.  I'll be sure to follow up with you on your waist measurement next week.  Be encouraged - you ARE on the RIGHT TRACK being super mindful.  I still believe this will lead to your ultimate success once you fine tune it to what works...much like I am trying to do in maintenance.  If you have a problem with fluid retention you can weigh in once a week and be sure to restrict sugar and salt for 2 days before weigh in day while drinking a lot of water.  You should then be able to assess your "real" weight on the morning of the third day after you use the restroom.  That will weed out the daily fluctuations that throw you off as far as knowing what's really going on fat-wise.

tt, that is interesting, I had no idea it was developed in Boston!  Too bad I missed it...maybe it will be on, again.

CT-DC, I hope you're here, welcome!  There are many reasons we get fat, but they all boil down to this - we eat more than our body needs for fuel.  (Weight gain, though, can be water retention - it's important to recognize the difference.)  I have lots of reasons to be overweight.  I come from a heavy family of emotional overeating, adrenal gland problems, thyroid problems, diabetes (both sides), and morbid obesity (my grandmother was over 300 lbs when she passed).  I suffer from depression and anxiety, although not as bad as I did when I needed medication, and have a leg bone deformity that makes the top of my femurs not fit properly into my hip joints and the bottom of my femurs not fit properly into my knee joints.  But, a calorie is a calorie, and energy needs are what they are.  Given that, by counting calories I'm down to my high school weight of 110 lbs down from a non-recent high of nearly 150 and a more recent high of 133 (I was 127 when I started LoseIt).  If I hadn't put the kibosh on my weight gain at 150 12 years ago and gained 5 lbs a year after that, I'd be over 200 lbs right now.

Everyone I know who has done this has succeeded!  My 66 yo mother has literally cried for YEARS about how her very real adrenal gland problem made it impossible for her to lose weight until recently - she's lost over 10 lbs in LoseIt since January.  Her metabolism really is messed up, but that just means she has to eat less than most people to achieve the same result. My SIL had a hysterectomy and is a breast cancer survivor and insisted her slender days were over due to her hormones and effects of chemo, but she is counting calories and is very slender, again, despite her metabolism slow-down.  My brother has carried an extra 25 lbs for a decade and after seeing me use LoseIt at Christmas signed up and has lost 13 lbs this year and is excited to keep going (his main problem was mindless snacking!).  Pingo's lost 20, icer has lost 15 (maybe more at this point), and allready has put the brakes on gaining (a very real success imo).

If you WANT to count calories you will be ABLE to fit it in.   My friend who is the night nurse and takes care of two special needs (one developmentally, one elderly) adults during the day in her home (she can never get AWAY!) has been 70 - 80 lbs overweight her whole adult life.  She's a size 4/6 now.  Bow down to King Calorie and you'll be another slender subject in the Land of LoseIt in no time.  Just make sure you eat enough - like I said, manually increase it to 1200 if it gives you a budget under that, and do not bother entering your activity calories, just food.

Questions?  Concerns?  I've been doing this, logging every bite, since Nov. 11 and intend to keep logging (to maintain) for all of 2013.  So far, so good.

Best wishes!!  Like you said, you're not getting any younger - CARPE DIEM!!!!

JC, welcome to you, too!  You mentioned afternoon grazing in CC.  My brother (if you didn't slog through that gigantic post above) has lost 13 lbs since January in LoseIt because it showed him just how many calories a day he was chowing in snacks.  He's got 12 lbs to go and has no plans to stop now.  Can't wait to see him for Easter...he'll probably only have 10 to go by then.

Anyway, you'll find the red bar of over-budgetness to be a huge deterrent to mindless snacking, LOL - it's seriously discouraging to see the number go from green (under budget) to red (over budget), knowing you'll have to "undo" that soon.

Kar, you should start  your own Loseit! clinic. Honestly!
If it wasn't for you, I would never had lost nearly 20 pounds. The last two pounds has been really difficult. Maybe I just hit the weight that is right for me.
I weighed in at 110 pounds, when I got married. When I got pregnant 4 years later, the doc told me, "Just eat what you want, we will worry about getting rid of your gain later". The research showed, that you got healthier babies by not starving yourself. The 30 pounds I gained at that time - after delivery, never disappeared, no matter how hard I tried. With my second pregnancy, I took a different route. But pregnancy is difficult. I think your body goes into a baby savings mode. So another 10 pounds was added. And now getting older my metabolism has definitely slowed down.
Long story short. I have been on every diet on the market, but nothing has had me lose weight like Loseit! And I thank you, my friend Kar, for introducing me to it.

Pingo, I'm so happy for you I'm literally choked up at how happy you are and that I helped!  Medical pregnancy advice back then was different - you did what you thought you should do for your babies; who would have done any differently?  My mother, too, has tried everything (Atkins, Sugar Busters, Blood Type, this, that, the other thing) over the decades.  This, too, has finally been what works for her.  

CONGRATS and keep up the GREAT WORK!!!  You, too, are an inspiration because you have had children and are post-menopausal, neither of which I can claim.  So, you are the proof that calorie counting works at any age even when you can't exercise as much as you'd like (if any).  

I hope your PT change does prove to get your hips back in working order such that you can take advantage of the warmer weather and bump up your daily burn.  

I believe you can achieve any goal you set by doing the same thing until you are there.  I know you are frustrated with those stubborn 2 lbs, but they will bend to your calorie needs.  Keep to the budget, and they will have no choice but to be depleted from your body.  It will happen by April 1, I bet...no April Fool's joke!

Still loving the budget thing and how net calories matter, not daily perfection.  Good thing...I went out for fried clams and am 350 calories over budget after conserving all day in prep.  But, no worries!  I'll be in the green until I make up for all the red. :)

KMM, CT-DT, JC?  Are you here?

Pingo, be sure to give a big shout when you get your badge!!!

Got my work cut out for me next week as I seem to have figured out the secret to eating my whole budget - PMS!!!  Closing the week at 1600 over budget...sigh.  At least I know what I have to do now, since I logged all the damage.

pingo, any word on that badge?

OK, I'm reading.  I'll get the app, and then I'll start logging.  And when I start logging, I'll also start eating better, because I'd DIE rather than have to log in the 5 Girl Scout cookie thin mints I had after dinner yesterday... etc.

I should also weigh myself so I know what my starting weight is, although I'm not sure how accurate the scale is. 

Welcome, CT!

if the scale is precise and accurate relative to itself, you can use it to track progress.  However, if it gives you 5 different weights for the 5 times in a row you step on it it's trash.

also, I highky recommend you change your mindset about "bad" food, pronto.  It will foil you eventually to have that typical "dieter's" outlook.  The beauty of doing it this way is that you don't have to worry about having to add those 5 GS cookies...as long as you DO log them.  EVERYTHING is allowed making this program followable AND enjoyably SATISFYING in every way for the rest of your life.  If you approach it thinking you'd "rather die" than log a treat, you'll succeed in the short term, but regain later when decide you're tired of depriving yourself yummies.  Go back and read all the decadent treats I ate WHILE I was losing at a rate of 1.5 lbs a week!  It was right through Thanksgivng and Christmas that I did it. (It's in the original "LoseIt" thread below this one.)

best wishes!!!!

I did measure this AM and there are some positive results.  So although scale is not being nice I feel good.

Ok, 20 pounds lost this morning. Yea!!!!! And w/o much of a struggle. Truly.
Thanks to all my Loseit! friends here, who encouraged me all the way. I am now weighing, what I weighed pre-pregnancy with my second baby. Never in a million years thought that would happen.
Now on to maintenance. I don't think it will be as much of a challenge for me, as it was for you, Kar. I don't walk 4 miles everyday. But I will certainly keep all your notes in mind.
On to a new phase in my life.

So happy for you both - what great posts to return home to!!

allready, the scale is a cruddy tool for marking fat loss progress except over relatively long periods of time, monthly is best.  If you are noting changes in inches, THAT is as real as real can be, and the scale will catch up.  Keep doing what you are doing, and you will continue to see success!!  Great job.  Looser clothes don't lie.

pingo, welcome to Maintenance and CONGRATS on returning to your ideal weight!!!  You are an inspiration especially to mothers who are in your age group who have been told doing what you did is impossible for a number of reasons.  Start off with LoseIt's estimate for your new budget and start officially logging in your weight monthly so you can correlate your weight with the budget.  Of course, you can get on the scale as often as you like, but do not draw any conclusions regarding your budget except on a monthly basis (unless you note a significant trend in the meantime).  As you figure it out, remember above all else that 3500 calories consumed but not burned = a pound of FAT gain so if you are off a little you really can't do much damage very quickly.  You will fluctuate for reasons other than fat by a few pounds up and down.  If your maintenance budget is correct, though, you will average the same weight, and that is most easily seen monthly.

Again, great job allready and Pingo!  

Hi Kar! I am here now! I have wrangled fiance's niece into the site as well!!

I still have to get into the habit to log as I eat, because I feel I miss things (that half bag of peanut M&M's) if I wait to do it. 

What I noticed is difficult at times is if something you ate is not in the que. Like I had a roasted chicken thigh, some corn and like 5 roasted red potatoes last night. There really doesnt seem to be an easy way to measure? I googled calories in roasted chicken and red potatoes to get a rough idea. Which is good because I was 211 under budget yesterday ;)

Welcome, JC!!

Definitely, you have to log AS you eat - we all forget that extra scoop of rice or a snack and then the whole thing is thrown off.

Finding what isn't in the LoseIt database can be tricky, but with practice and a kitchen scale and measuring cups you've got it.  Pototoes (I found Russet in LoseIt) are 20 calories per ounce.  So, I weigh them and then put the fraction of the potatoes in LoseIt that equals the weight I had.  You can do that with lots of things - google "calories per ounce" and then weight and enter.  Myfitnesspal has FAR more foods in the database than LoseIt so I created an account there that I use simply to find food that I can't find anywhere else.  Also, I go to restaurant nutrition sites to find food that mirrors what I've eaten very closely, too.  

That's great you have an in-person LoseIt buddy in your neice - that will help you both!

Best!!!

How's everyone doing?  

Pingo, you are the star of the month for earning your 20 lbs Lost Badge!!!!!  Your big TX shopping extravaganza will be your great reward.  We are celebrating with you and wish we could post pics.  How dramatic your before and after photos must be!!  

I'm still maintaining and logging everything.  I'm reluctant to ever quit.  My friend who has lost so much just stopped logging (after having had a couple of weeks in maintenance), and now she feels totally out of control and in the dark.  She freaks out when she gains what is most certainly water weight (3 lbs overnight, for instance), and misses the assurance the numbers gave her.  I think she's going to go back to logging awhile until she can process that water weight happens, and it's OK.  I go up and down all the time, but have to admit I take comfort in reviewing my calories and being assured that I didn't eat 10,000 unburned calories without knowing it.  I think after my year of logging in Maintenace I'll have my patterns so well established I'll be OK, but who really knows what I'll do on Jan. 1, 2014, but I can tell you how much I'll weigh. ;)

KM?  JC?  Allready?  What's new?

Kar, I am doing ok on maintenance. Lost a bit in the beginning, but it has all evened out. I am still logging like mad. And I believe that is the success of this particular weight loss program. As much as I felt it was a big pain in the beginning, I don't feel it is any longer. All my recipes is already entered and so are the foods I eat the most.
Yesterday, DH and I took a friend out for lunch. She wanted Chinese. No problem for me. I knew exactly how much I could eat from past experience, and I truly didn't want to eat more than that.  Took a little over half home.
Too bad for your friend, that she stopped logging. I hope she starts again. She has been on this program so long, so I can understand, she must be sick and tired of logging by now. But she needs to do it.

Go, Pingo, go!!  I'm with you - I see this as a fun, easy game that slenderness is the prize for winning.  I wish we could post photos.  The mom of the trips sent one of me at the doc's office with all the kids (one in my arms) that showed me just how much weight I've really lost.  Something about photos really makes it obvious to me that the mirror does not.  Odd.

Yes, I'm sure she is logging, again.  She has a lot going on and was eager to ditch a responsibility, but it isn't working for her yet.  I think she could log for a couple of months more and then give freestyle a whirl, again.

Kar, with your help and support, your friend will succeed. How much did she lose all together?

We are great buddies and encourage each other. :)  She's lost approximately 70 lbs and is in maintenance happy as a clam.

Pingo, see?  Maintenance really IS harder than losing!  If you've lost another pound already and don't want to lose any more you must increase your budget or you'll continue down the path I travelled.  I'm 8 lbs under my original goal but am holding at about 109, now.  No one believes me and says "poor baby," but it really is a challenge to figure it out.

Of course, if you want to keep losing, you can keep the budget as-is.  Sounds like you're at your ultimate goal, though, so...

To figure out how much to increase it by, stay on this budget a month.  Take pounds lost and divide by 4 to see how much per week you are losing on average.  Then, multiply 3500 by that number to see how many more calories a week you need to eat to stop losing.  Divide that by 7 to get your increase per day.  If you've already lost another pound, you are eating pretty far under your actual energy needs just like I was at first.  I started at 1650 and am up to 2011 to maintain so don't be surprised if you end up increasing by 300 a day.  For instance, if in a month you lose 3 lbs, that's indicative of your needing to eat 375 more calories per day to maintain your weight.  You are very active compared to other women your age so LoseIt will very likely start you off with a budget that is too low.  They err on the side of caution regarding regaining.