Feeling Deflated
sonyambrown510
Posts: 30
I am fairly new to this but I have been exercising, calorie counting and have even quit my beloved wine!
Why am I seeing no difference on the scale?
Has anyone else had this issue and have any tips or suggestions please?
Why am I seeing no difference on the scale?
Has anyone else had this issue and have any tips or suggestions please?
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Replies
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how long have you been doing this for?
do you own a food scale?
Log/weigh/measure everything?0 -
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How new are you? This is a long term process and patience is important.
Are you weighing and measuring your foods? People, in general, are really bad at estimating how much they are eating.
What kind of exercise are you doing? A combination of cardio and weight training is ideal, but the most important factor is that you do something that you will want to do and keep doing.
Find something besides the actual weight loss to focus on from week to week. Are you eating 5 fruits and veggies every single day? Are you eating enough protein? How far can you run? How many squats can you do? These kinds of goals help you keep your focus.0 -
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Could be hormones or just the time of the month my love - persevere and you may well see those scales go 'whoosh' all of a sudden, then we'll all cheer with you! Meantime, what a beauuuuuuuutiful baby!0
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You have to keep doing it and trust in the process. To give you an idea of how slow it is, I've been doing this faithfully for a year and have finally lost just about 20 pounds. So yeah. Get a kitchen scale to weigh everything you eat, every day, log everything, measure everything, and keep going.0
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Thank you for the replies everyone
I have been exercising for about 5 months, but only started to get serious the past month. I quit wine about 3 weeks ago, still have the odd beer if my calories limit allows.
I bought a food scale 2 weeks ago to start weighing out my lunches.
I lost nearly 1.5kgs in the first week and now I have put 1kg back on, even though I have exercised like crazy the past week.
I know I am probably expecting to quick of a result - especially since I have opted not to do meal replacements (shakes) because I want to lost the weight long term and make healthier choices.
I am just feeling a bit disillusioned.0 -
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sonyambrown510 wrote: »Thank you for the replies everyone
I have been exercising for about 5 months, but only started to get serious the past month. I quit wine about 3 weeks ago, still have the odd beer if my calories limit allows.
I bought a food scale 2 weeks ago to start weighing out my lunches.
I lost nearly 1.5kgs in the first week and now I have put 1kg back on, even though I have exercised like crazy the past week.
I know I am probably expecting to quick of a result - especially since I have opted not to do meal replacements (shakes) because I want to lost the weight long term and make healthier choices.
I am just feeling a bit disillusioned.
If you are creating a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. Calories in - calories out. So if you're not losing weight, then there are three possibilities:
1. Your calories out are wrong. Perhaps you've overestimated your burns from exercise or miscalculated your normal daily burn. Sometimes we choose the wrong activity level in various calculators, and we're actually more or less active than we think we are. Also, the calculators are estimates, and calculate according to population averages. You might not have an average metabolism for various reasons to do with medical conditions, heredity, body composition, etc.
2. Your calories in are wrong. You have to weigh everything in order to know how much you're eating. Measuring cups only work with liquids. If you'd like to see proof, open a box of fairly large bits of cereal, like shredded wheat, and pour out one cup. Now crunch up the bag a little and pour out another cup. Weigh the two, and it's guaranteed that the second cup will weigh more than the first.
3. You are retaining water. This can be a very frustrating experience, when you know that your calories in and your calories out are exactly right, and the scale still isn't budging. Water retention happens for numerous reasons, including monthly hormonal fluctuations, increased sodium consumption and muscle repair after changing or increasing a fitness program. You can retain a pretty significant amount of water and you can retain it for a pretty long time. Sometimes people take a week or a few days off from their program and see a sudden drastic drop of five or more pounds overnight.
Check your calories out to make sure your calculations are all correct. Weigh all your foods so that your calories in are right. And if both of those are right, stop obsessing about the scale. You're better off using a tape measure and progress photos, as they are both way more informative than the scale.
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Thank you Snuggle - that gives me a few things to look at.
Also wondering if too much protein could be an issue, I have been using some Cellucor Whey Shakes to get me through to meal etc. - would that be an issue?0 -
SnuggleSmacks wrote: »sonyambrown510 wrote: »Thank you for the replies everyone
I have been exercising for about 5 months, but only started to get serious the past month. I quit wine about 3 weeks ago, still have the odd beer if my calories limit allows.
I bought a food scale 2 weeks ago to start weighing out my lunches.
I lost nearly 1.5kgs in the first week and now I have put 1kg back on, even though I have exercised like crazy the past week.
I know I am probably expecting to quick of a result - especially since I have opted not to do meal replacements (shakes) because I want to lost the weight long term and make healthier choices.
I am just feeling a bit disillusioned.
If you are creating a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. Calories in - calories out. So if you're not losing weight, then there are three possibilities:
1. Your calories out are wrong. Perhaps you've overestimated your burns from exercise or miscalculated your normal daily burn. Sometimes we choose the wrong activity level in various calculators, and we're actually more or less active than we think we are. Also, the calculators are estimates, and calculate according to population averages. You might not have an average metabolism for various reasons to do with medical conditions, heredity, body composition, etc.
2. Your calories in are wrong. You have to weigh everything in order to know how much you're eating. Measuring cups only work with liquids. If you'd like to see proof, open a box of fairly large bits of cereal, like shredded wheat, and pour out one cup. Now crunch up the bag a little and pour out another cup. Weigh the two, and it's guaranteed that the second cup will weigh more than the first.
3. You are retaining water. This can be a very frustrating experience, when you know that your calories in and your calories out are exactly right, and the scale still isn't budging. Water retention happens for numerous reasons, including monthly hormonal fluctuations, increased sodium consumption and muscle repair after changing or increasing a fitness program. You can retain a pretty significant amount of water and you can retain it for a pretty long time. Sometimes people take a week or a few days off from their program and see a sudden drastic drop of five or more pounds overnight.
Check your calories out to make sure your calculations are all correct. Weigh all your foods so that your calories in are right. And if both of those are right, stop obsessing about the scale. You're better off using a tape measure and progress photos, as they are both way more informative than the scale.
*golf clap*
If only ALL science were that simple huh?
The human body is much more complicated than that I'm afraid. It is more than possible to eat less than you use for weeks and weeks on end and NOT lose any weight. It can depend greatly on what you're eating as well.
But as I always say, the earth used to be flat too, right?0 -
"exercising, calorie counting and have even quit my beloved wine!"
This doesnt equal weight loss. Actual calorie deficit = weight loss.-1 -
if you are measuring and weighing all your food & drink, including your protein shakes. your food page will give you your protein requirement and consumption.0
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I've notice for myself, it depends on the type of exercises I'm doing, and how my body reacts to them. I can take fitness classes at the gym for an hour a piece 4 or 5 days a week, burning, on average, 700 calories per class. But I wasn't losing weight. I was eating well, measuring my food, and still not losing weight. My body doesn't like long workouts. However, when I do shorter (20 to 30 minute) workouts, my body is in HEAVEN. I lose around 3 lbs a week and I don't feel so physically exhausted. Try switching up your workouts, and make sure that you're eating enough green stuff.0
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sonyambrown510 wrote: »I have been exercising for about 5 months, but only started to get serious the past month. I quit wine about 3 weeks ago, still have the odd beer if my calories limit allows.
I bought a food scale 2 weeks ago to start weighing out my lunches.
I lost nearly 1.5kgs in the first week and now I have put 1kg back on, even though I have exercised like crazy the past week.
I know I am probably expecting to quick of a result - especially since I have opted not to do meal replacements (shakes) because I want to lost the weight long term and make healthier choices.
I am just feeling a bit disillusioned.
Exercise is for health and to help the deficit, but weight loss is ALL about that deficit. Weigh and measure everything. You said you're drinking protein shakes; how many calories do these have?0 -
stay serious for two more months, at least, and you will see great results. Weight loss and fitness aren't a straight line and don't move in regular, standard increments and you'll go up and down a lot. Accept that now, so you don't panic later 0
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Liftng4Lis wrote: »sonyambrown510 wrote: »I have been exercising for about 5 months, but only started to get serious the past month. I quit wine about 3 weeks ago, still have the odd beer if my calories limit allows.
I bought a food scale 2 weeks ago to start weighing out my lunches.
I lost nearly 1.5kgs in the first week and now I have put 1kg back on, even though I have exercised like crazy the past week.
I know I am probably expecting to quick of a result - especially since I have opted not to do meal replacements (shakes) because I want to lost the weight long term and make healthier choices.
I am just feeling a bit disillusioned.
Exercise is for health and to help the deficit, but weight loss is ALL about that deficit. Weigh and measure everything. You said you're drinking protein shakes; how many calories do these have?
To add to this, if you have increased your exercise intensity (your "even though I have exercised like crazy the past week") then it is quite likely that you are retaining water due to that. Your muscles will hold water to assist in repair and cushioning against the unexpected new exercise. It is super common and it goes away.0 -
Thank you everyone, sounds like a water issue.
My husband has said that I have slimmed and toned a bit - and he is not one to hand out compliments
It just doesn't seem to be reflecting on the scales. I will keep going 0 -
Liftng4Lis wrote: »sonyambrown510 wrote: »I have been exercising for about 5 months, but only started to get serious the past month. I quit wine about 3 weeks ago, still have the odd beer if my calories limit allows.
I bought a food scale 2 weeks ago to start weighing out my lunches.
I lost nearly 1.5kgs in the first week and now I have put 1kg back on, even though I have exercised like crazy the past week.
I know I am probably expecting to quick of a result - especially since I have opted not to do meal replacements (shakes) because I want to lost the weight long term and make healthier choices.
I am just feeling a bit disillusioned.
Exercise is for health and to help the deficit, but weight loss is ALL about that deficit. Weigh and measure everything. You said you're drinking protein shakes; how many calories do these have?
^^^^This * 1000000^^^^ Weight loss is roughly an 80/20 split between diet/exercise. It may even be closer to 90/10. That generally means eating less, especially calorie dense foods, and counting those calories. You can lose weight without any exercise at all however you cannot out-train a bad diet.
You lose weight in the kitchen. You get fit at the gym.0 -
peter56765 wrote: »Liftng4Lis wrote: »
You lose weight in the kitchen. You get fit at the gym.
I like this saying - thanks0 -
just dont confuse weighing less with looking fit! you gotta do both to get that body!0
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