Not losing when I SHOULD be!

Skinnylittlesunflower

I am so frustrated. I have been diligently eating 1200 calories everyday and working out for 30 minutes per day doing cardio and I am not losing weight at all. I'm 5'6 and 186lbs. I had my second child a month ago and I've managed to lose about 7lbs in the last 3 weeks but now I'm at a standstill. Infact I gained 2lbs two days ago and it's stayed that way.

I'm just so frusterated. I drink 3-4 liters of water a day. I count every single thing that goes into my mouth and measure my food. Since I'm at such a high weight for my height I feel like I should be losing Atleast 2lbs a week right?

Does anyone have any suggestions? Please I will try anything I am so annoyed with forcing carrot sticks and lean chicken down my throat when all I want is junk food and still not seeing any results.

DataSeven

Don't focus on the numbers day-to-day. I would recommend weighing in once a week to get a better picture of your weight loss over time and minimize the daily fluctuations due to water weight. True, long-term weight loss doesn't happen in a couple of weeks or a month.

If you're unhappy with lean chicken and carrot sticks, then eat something else. I know I am probably much heavier than you and can get away with eating more calories anyway, but my motto over the past year has been... I still eat crap, I just eat less of it. There's no way I would be able to stick to this for over a year and not go bananas or chew my own leg off if I was eating chicken breast and salad every day. My diary is open if you want to have a look at the changes I made over the past year as my calorie allowance has declined.

brianpperkins

Your ticker indicates that you have 35 pounds to lose. If that is true, then two pounds per week is too aggressive. With a closed diary and a lack of your basic stats, it is difficult to give informed advice.

Phrick

Relax! Weight loss is not linear. There are SO MANY things that can slow/mask weight loss. Your menstrual cycle - or for you, the fact that you just pushed a human being out of your body 4 weeks ago, if you're breastfeeding, your level of exercise, your sodium intake on any given day, how much you ate the day before and how much of that you've pooped out yet; what time of day you're weighing in - on and on and on. You ARE seeing results, 7 pounds in 3 weeks is OVER your targeted 2lbs a week, and you're mad you're not losing fast enough? At your weight & height, you're actually losing faster than what many would say is safely sustainable. Patience, patience is the key. It took months, maybe even years to get to 186 pounds, it isn't going to come off overnight no matter how badly you wish it would. Breathe...relax...you're doing fine.

TheBitSlinger

How are your clothes fitting? Are they looser?

Skinnylittlesunflower

brianpperkins wrote: »

Your ticker indicates that you have 35 pounds to lose. If that is true, then two pounds per week is too aggressive. With a closed diary and a lack of your basic stats, it is difficult to give informed advice.

I'm confused what you mean by its too aggressive? Can you explain? Also my stats are age 22, height 5'6. I don't know what else you'd need?

graeme0201

Reduce your water in take 2/3 litres as your probably holding a lot of water, to much water is just as bad for you as to much food, other then that maybe the stress of it all is preventing you losing weight? Try a variety of foods, plenty of ways to cook lean chicken, or change from chicken to a different lean meat, also long term of eating to few calories can make the body begin storing fat instead of shedding it try increasing you calories to account for your exercise, if your burning 300 calories, you should be eating at least 200 more

There are just to many factors to really determine why your not losing, depends on your body, try a few different things and you will start losing again, but best thing to do is not worry yourself so much and just try to relax a bit, get rid of that stress

Skinnylittlesunflower

Phrick wrote: »

Relax! Weight loss is not linear. There are SO MANY things that can slow/mask weight loss. Your menstrual cycle - or for you, the fact that you just pushed a human being out of your body 4 weeks ago, if you're breastfeeding, your level of exercise, your sodium intake on any given day, how much you ate the day before and how much of that you've pooped out yet; what time of day you're weighing in - on and on and on. You ARE seeing results, 7 pounds in 3 weeks is OVER your targeted 2lbs a week, and you're mad you're not losing fast enough? At your weight & height, you're actually losing faster than what many would say is safely sustainable. Patience, patience is the key. It took months, maybe even years to get to 186 pounds, it isn't going to come off overnight no matter how badly you wish it would. Breathe...relax...you're doing fine.

In the past when I lost a large chunk of weight before kids, it came off much faster in the beginning and then slowed. So it's just confusing to me I suppose that I'm losing so slowly even at such a high weight and all the drastic changes I've made to my lifestyle in the last month.

Sued0nim

You had a baby a month ago?

Give your body a chance - your hormones will be all over the place

Are you breastfeeding?

healthybodyhealthylife

I feel like that too. Granted I only have 10lbs to lose but I weigh everything I eat and stay in my calorie allowance but I'm not losing!

Skinnylittlesunflower

TheBitSlinger wrote: »

How are your clothes fitting? Are they looser?

Only slightly.

Skinnylittlesunflower

rabbitjb wrote: »

You had a baby a month ago?

Give your body a chance - your hormones will be all over the place

Are you breastfeeding?

I'm not breastfeeding.

brianpperkins

Read ... learn ...
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

With 35 pounds to lose, two pounds per week is too aggressive. The recommended rate of loss at that point is about one pound per week ... that drops even further as you get closer to goal weight.

LyssaJ1

rabbitjb wrote: »

You had a baby a month ago?

Give your body a chance - your hormones will be all over the place

Are you breastfeeding?

^^^This!

rebeccaisafish

You lost 7lbs in the last three weeks? So what stall are you talking about? Seems like you're losing just fine.

lexbubbles

Weightloss is not linear. After two weeks of bouncing around between 150.5 and 151.5, this morning I finally clocked in below 150.




(Feb chart not yet complete, obviously, and December has gaps. These two are accurate)

Either switch to weighing once every 1-2 weeks (preferably at the same time, like each Saturday morning) or use something like MyWeighTracker (pictured) to keep track of daily fluctuations and observe your own downward trend. Different strokes, etc.

But I also agree with the others that 2lb a week might be a little much right now and bumping it down to 1-1.5 would be easier on you, deficit wise. It's still gonna come off, and you'll have a greater chance of it staying that way!

ETA: this is what October-December last year looked like, when I started daily logging SO MUCH ZIGZAGGING but still overall downwards.

brightsideofpink

You just had a baby. Like just.
I don't know about the other women on here, but for the first 8 weeks post-partum, I was seemingly gaining and losing 7lbs in blood alone.
Eat reasonably. Go easy on your body. Give it a few more weeks before you touch that scale again.

TrailBlazerMN

1200 calories seems low for someone your weight. Low calories isn't always the answer. Losing weight doesn't mean you are losing fat. Plus, your body is trying to recuperate after having a kid. That requires moar calories. I'm sure you are producing breast milk as well for your child. Again, moar calories.

lifeskittles

Wait. WHAT?! You can't work out a week after having a baby!! You have to wait AT LEAST A MONTH! Of course you aren't going to lose weight! Your hormones are still all over the place and your body is still healing!

RoxieDawn

My question is how long have you been on your new weight loss plan? If in reality you only started one or two weeks ago, your body needs time to physically adapt to the changes you are putting it through... Eating less calories -- the body will resist lower calories and eventually will stop fighting it.

Plus, your hormones are not in check yet. Plus I bet you get little sleep... So you see a lot can be going on in your situation..

Set a really slow goal like 10% deficit while your body is getting back to normal.. Exercise will help some, but don't look at it like your are trying to exercise your weight off. If you want to exercise most of off you have to increase or change to a different level of exercising and I bet being new mom right now there is not much time for that between baby bottle, changing diapers and being up most nights and days!

Give your self time to make this work... OH track your calories every day and make sure you are honest with what you are consuming.. This will help you see where changes can be made..

RoxieDawn

brianpperkins wrote: »

Read ... learn ...
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

With 35 pounds to lose, two pounds per week is too aggressive. The recommended rate of loss at that point is about one pound per week ... that drops even further as you get closer to goal weight.

And DO THIS.... I point most people who are new on MFP here!

lifeskittles

Actually I was told 6 weeks...but I know some physicians are different

Liftng4Lis

You just had a baby. Enjoy the time and worry about weight loss later.

annavalente

I had a little look at your diary...some of your food is weighed using cups- these are never accurate and I *think* (this is just my opinion) you might be over estimating ur calories burned :-/ I use an elliptical machine and burn 300 calories per hour!

However..here in the UK and Ireland we are strongly advised to refrain from rigorous exercise until 6 weeks postpartum ...give your body time to adjust and heal and maybe you might see a movement on the scales then?

brianpperkins

It doesn't appear that the food entries are accurately weighed ... the workout burns appear inflated ... and there is almost no liquid intake logged at all. No water, one 12 oz Red Bull, and two entries of 1/4 cup (2 oz) of milk totals 16 total ounces of liquid intake since starting to log last week. According to that, not one single cup of coffee ... not one soft drink ... not one full glass of milk ...

What it looks like to me is a rush to start losing weight after the baby with an overly aggressive weekly goal and inaccurate logging ... the perfect storm for disappointment as a healthy rate of loss doesn't meet expectations.

Skinnylittlesunflower

annavalente wrote: »

I had a little look at your diary...some of your food is weighed using cups- these are never accurate and I *think* (this is just my opinion) you might be over estimating ur calories burned :-/ I use an elliptical machine and burn 300 calories per hour!

However..here in the UK and Ireland we are strongly advised to refrain from rigorous exercise until 6 weeks postpartum ...give your body time to adjust and heal and maybe you might see a movement on the scales then?

My calories burned are accurate I have been using a HRM. Also how are cups not accurate? I'm confused.

Skinnylittlesunflower

brianpperkins wrote: »

It doesn't appear that the food entries are accurately weighed ... the workout burns appear inflated ... and there is almost no liquid intake logged at all. No water, one 12 oz Red Bull, and two entries of 1/4 cup (2 oz) of milk totals 16 total ounces of liquid intake since starting to log last week. According to that, not one single cup of coffee ... not one soft drink ... not one full glass of milk ...

What it looks like to me is a rush to start losing weight after the baby with an overly aggressive weekly goal and inaccurate logging ... the perfect storm for disappointment as a healthy rate of loss doesn't meet expectations.

I was using the fitbit logging app for a long time and recently switched to this one. Also I always forget to log my water intake so it is inaccurate. What do you mean my workout burns appear inflated?

SergeantSausage

Skinnylittlesunflower wrote: »

brianpperkins wrote: »

Your ticker indicates that you have 35 pounds to lose. If that is true, then two pounds per week is too aggressive. With a closed diary and a lack of your basic stats, it is difficult to give informed advice.

I'm confused what you mean by its too aggressive? Can you explain? Also my stats are age 22, height 5'6. I don't know what else you'd need?

It means you want to lose too much too fast. What's wrong with, say, a half pound a week?

segacs

You lost 2lbs/week since having a baby a few weeks ago? And now you're worried since you fluctuated back up a couple of pounds?

Dude, you just had a BABY! Your hormones are all over the place. Your body is still healing. You really need to take a step back and get more realistic.

You didn't mention if you're breastfeeding but you need to be eating WAY more calories than 1200 for that.

I know a lot of women worry about losing the baby weight, but don't you think you're being a bit hard on yourself? Give yourself a month or two, then get back into an exercise routine once you've been medically cleared.

Skinnylittlesunflower

lifeskittles wrote: »

Wait. WHAT?! You can't work out a week after having a baby!! You have to wait AT LEAST A MONTH! Of course you aren't going to lose weight! Your hormones are still all over the place and your body is still healing!

I didn't start working out until last week, 4 weeks postpartum. I have been taking it easy. I have been eating clean and going on daily walks for exercise before 4 weeks postpartum.

See that doesn't make any sense to me. People keep saying my hormones after having a baby arnt letting me lose weight but what is the science behind that? I fail to understand how the two coorelate.

elphie754

graeme0201 wrote: »

Reduce your water in take 2/3 litres as your probably holding a lot of water, to much water is just as bad for you as to much food, other then that maybe the stress of it all is preventing you losing weight? Try a variety of foods, plenty of ways to cook lean chicken, or change from chicken to a different lean meat, also long term of eating to few calories can make the body begin storing fat instead of shedding it try increasing you calories to account for your exercise, if your burning 300 calories, you should be eating at least 200 more

There are just to many factors to really determine why your not losing, depends on your body, try a few different things and you will start losing again, but best thing to do is not worry yourself so much and just try to relax a bit, get rid of that stress

More water does not equate to more water weight. In fact the opposite is true. More water intake decreases water retention. Yes, there is such a thing as water intoxication, but it requires a lot of water in a short time frame. It basically causes you electrolytes to get too diluted. It is rather rare.