What am I doing wrong?

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khristiana
khristiana Posts: 131 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi All,

I need some advice. I've been on my weight loss journey for just a little over a month now. I'm sticking to a very healthy 1,200 calorie a day diet and working out (hard!) at the gym 4 days a week, and taking daily walks (40 mins) with 3 pound weights.

My issue is: I don't know why I'm not losing weight! With the amount of calories I torch daily, I'm definitely in the area of losing 2 pounds a week easy. I haven't weighed myself for two weeks, until this morning, and it said I only lost 2 pounds, and just to verify that it was correct I weighed myself again and it said I weighed the same!

What is going on? Am I building muscle by using my 3 pound weights every day, and that is counter acting my weight loss?

Confused....
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Replies

  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    It depends how much you have to lose? 1 pound a week is probably the average loss.
    I've got 8 lbs left till goal and I'm losing roughly 2.2lbs a month! !
  • higgins8283801
    higgins8283801 Posts: 844 Member
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    You won't build muscle on 1200 calories.

    How do you know how much you're eating?? If you're not weighing, you're probably eating way more than you think.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    higgins8283801 wrote: »
    You won't build muscle on 1200 calories.

    How do you know how much you're eating?? If you're not weighing, you're probably eating way more than you think.

    ^^^^ 100% yes^^^^

  • SandieM7
    SandieM7 Posts: 47 Member
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    Are you new to working out? You are probably building muscle which weighs more than fat. Don't give up, you will eventually see results. Also, if you haven't done so already, be sure to drink plenty of water. Water is one of the best tools in weight loss.

    When I first started this weight loss journey my body wouldn't shed the lbs. like I thought it should be. I had been such a yoyo person for so long I think my body was holding on to the lbs. until things finally leveled off. It's been a long journey, but nothing good comes easy.

    Keep up the good work and give yourself time. The weight will come off.
  • Mitchbay91
    Mitchbay91 Posts: 8 Member
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    Weight loss is more than a number on a scale.

    As long as you're feeling healthier and feel as though you're looking better isn't that the whole point of watching what you eat and exercising?

    Just stick with it, it'll all work out in the end if you keep working hard. :)
  • tflyswagg
    tflyswagg Posts: 52 Member
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    One question for you to think about and be honest with yourself and one suggestion.
    Are you drinking half your body weight in oz. Of water everyday? Suggestion: Go to YouTube and check out one of Adrian Bryant's workout videos. I currently do a 45 minute High Intensity Interval Training workout on my elliptical machine. Burns around 800+ calories. HIIT is way more effective than regular workouts. Basically you could use your 40 mins way more effectively in my experience. This is my first week doing ALL 3 (Healthy Eating/Drinking Enough water/Exercise) I see and feel results already and its not even Friday:)
  • tflyswagg
    tflyswagg Posts: 52 Member
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    Also cute saying:
    It takes 4 weeks for you to see your body chanhing.
    It takes 8 weeks for your friends & family to notice. &
    12 weeks for the world to see!
  • khristiana
    khristiana Posts: 131 Member
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    I'm fairly new to this yes, but I've lost weight before so I know what to do. I'm eating nutritious food and logging everything I eat on MyFitnessPal. I have a FitBit that helps me track my steps, and also I use Endamondo.

    I have over 100 pounds to lose. I drink SO much water everyday, probably more than I should, and I sweat a lot of it out as well. MyFitnessPal said according to my workouts and my 1200 calories a day, I should be losing 4 pounds a week, but that's not the case.

    I'll take your advice that I'm building muscle and it will soon even out. I just expected more weight to come off, seeing how I have so much to lose.

    I was living a sedentary lifestyle (working, coming home, dinner, watching tv) now I walk at work twice a day with my 3 pound weights, go to the gym 4 days a week with an hour of cardio. I was using the weights at the gym, but I stopped a week ago in hopes that it would help with my weight loss.

    :)
  • Metazoick
    Metazoick Posts: 96 Member
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    Even if you're new to working out you haven't put on pounds of muscle in a week or two.
    A few questions:
    Are you eating back your exercise calories? All of them or half? If yes to any of the previous how are you working out how much you're burning? Also are you positive you're weighing out everything accurately - no skipping the odd biscuit or rounding, guessing by sight, using cups etc?
    Plus it sounds like it's just been 2 weeks, which is a short amount of time. You can have huge weight fluctuations (especially if you're a girl, water weight can make a huge difference depending on the time of the month you weigh yourself). You're just not going to consistently lose exactly 2lb a week. It may look like 1lb a week for the last two, but if you keep going and outlast the fluctuations you'll probably find the average loss a lot closer to what you want it to be (not to mention 1lb a week is nothing to sniff at).
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    SandieM7 wrote: »
    Are you new to working out? You are probably building muscle which weighs more than fat. Don't give up, you will eventually see results. Also, if you haven't done so already, be sure to drink plenty of water. Water is one of the best tools in weight loss.

    When I first started this weight loss journey my body wouldn't shed the lbs. like I thought it should be. I had been such a yoyo person for so long I think my body was holding on to the lbs. until things finally leveled off. It's been a long journey, but nothing good comes easy.

    Keep up the good work and give yourself time. The weight will come off.
    muscle does not weigh more than fat(it weighs the same but takes up less space) and she wont build it on 1200 calories. you have to be in a caloric surplus to build muscle for it to make a difference on the scale(if at all) and it can take months or more for a female to build it.


  • khristiana
    khristiana Posts: 131 Member
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    I even track the butter I use. Yes, every little bite I take goes on my food tracker. I track my exercise with Endamondo and my FitBit.

    I started this mid-January.
  • khristiana
    khristiana Posts: 131 Member
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    I average 1200-1350 calories a day and burn much more than that.
  • khristiana
    khristiana Posts: 131 Member
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    Well great... If it's been a month and I'm NOT gaining muscle, why am I not dropping the weight quick enough?

    I'm being completely honest when I say I stick around 1200-1350 calories eaten every day and I burn at least 1000 at the gym, and that does not include calories for everyday things like walking, sleeping, etc.

    *stumped*

    I'm going to stick with what I'm doing, I'm just frustrated and could use the help.

    Thanks.

  • khristiana
    khristiana Posts: 131 Member
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    I should state that since mid-January I've lost 12 pounds.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    khristiana wrote: »
    I even track the butter I use. Yes, every little bite I take goes on my food tracker. I track my exercise with Endamondo and my FitBit.

    I started this mid-January.

    yes, but do you weigh everything (solids) on a food scale? ?

  • Metazoick
    Metazoick Posts: 96 Member
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    khristiana wrote: »
    I average 1200-1350 calories a day and burn much more than that.

    But do you eat back the calories you burn off, or are you aiming for an overall negative (aka eat 1200 but work off 1400 a day so your net is -200)? The latter is hugely unhealthy, and I just want to double check that isn't the case.

    If you're eating back the calories using the numbers that fitbit and the like give you, there's a decent chance they're overestimating (basically every calculator for this does, there's just way too many variables). If you aren't losing weight as quickly as you should be if the numbers were correct, maybe you could try only eating back half of the calories and see what difference that makes over a couple of weeks?

    Also if your weight loss has slowed down it's possible the early weight loss was just due to water weight coming off (it can happen when you move away from saltier foods), and not actual fat loss, which is what you're now seeing.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    khristiana wrote: »
    I should state that since mid-January I've lost 12 pounds.

    Far out!!!! I'm not exactly seeing a problem here. That is a great result!

  • khristiana
    khristiana Posts: 131 Member
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    I'm very sorry but I don't understand what you mean by "eat back" my burned calories? I strictly stick to a certain number of calories per day eaten, and my burned calories per day varies, dependent on if I go to the gym, if I walk with my weights, or just rest. I do not try and eat food to match the total number of calories burned per day.

  • khristiana
    khristiana Posts: 131 Member
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    Does eating back calories mean: If I burned 2000 a day, and ate 1200 a day, I needed to eat 2000 a day?
  • disneygirl626
    disneygirl626 Posts: 132 Member
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    khristiana wrote: »
    I should state that since mid-January I've lost 12 pounds.

    Weight loss isn't linear. You're not going to lose exactly two pounds every week. You should be looking at averages. And if you've lose 12 pounds in 4-5 weeks that's well over a 2 lb/week average. Basically you're not doing anything wrong.

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