First Week Back - No change - Ideas?

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MlleDee
MlleDee Posts: 90 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So it's my first week back after a long hiatus. I have maintained my current weight for about 9 months (+/- 5lbs), I easily have much more to go.

For the last week I have done 20-30 minutes of treadmill, at 3.0 mph. For the rest of the day I wear a FitBit and get 5000k steps in.

My diary is open. It's my first week, so I am not really proud of it, but I have stay under 1700 calories.

1 week with no change is upsetting after trying so hard. Any tips for better success? I'm open to harsh criticism, so no need to sugar coat it!

Thanks!

Replies

  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
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    1 week with no change is not enough time to determine if what you're doing is not working. Give it a couple more weeks!
  • WendyZ82
    WendyZ82 Posts: 44 Member
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    One week isn't much time. Keep at it and reevaluate in another week or two.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    It's only one week. Give it another 2-3 and if you still aren't losing, then it's time to tighten up your logging.
  • MlleDee
    MlleDee Posts: 90 Member
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    MB_Positif wrote: »
    1 week with no change is not enough time to determine if what you're doing is not working. Give it a couple more weeks!

    I know, I'm here for the long haul. I'm down 75 lbs from my SW. I just expected to see some movement the first week back. But I'll take your advice to heart and be more patient.

  • MlleDee
    MlleDee Posts: 90 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    It's only one week. Give it another 2-3 and if you still aren't losing, then it's time to tighten up your logging.

    I'm afraid logging might be where I am going wrong. That or my sugar/sodium intake. I just noticed the milk I log doesn't have the sugar in it's nutritional info. Also I ate a 14 serving size bag of chips over the week and only logged 10 servings. Even though I measured it out, I know those 4 servings didn't just disappear. I'll have to hit it hard next week, what's the point in using this tool if I don't use it correctly.
  • cynlindsey11
    cynlindsey11 Posts: 4 Member
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    Start incorporating some fresh food, your sodium intake can't look good with so many processed foods making up your calorie count. I would say to start by subbing an apple for any of the things you have to "unwrap", and easy veggies like carrots. Learn to like water. I trust you're drinking it and just not logging it? Good place to start. :)
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
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    Rice crispie bars, fibre one bars, vanilla wafers, veggie straws, cinnabon cashews....... maybe stop eating so much junk and try and eat real food...30g of protein and most of your carbs and fats from refined carbs is not going to give you stunning results...
    I see no vefetables, fruit, actual lean protein (chicken, fish, red meat thats not saturated with preservatives...)
  • Dragn77
    Dragn77 Posts: 810 Member
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    Indeed, the sodium and water retention from eating a lot of packaged foods might be why you arent seeing any progress that might otherwise show up on the scale. Are you drinking the amount of water required for your height / weight? Super important to do anyway, but it *really* helps when your diet is high in sodium.
  • dietstokes
    dietstokes Posts: 216 Member
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    I don't know how to say this without coming off like a *kitten*. I've now written and erased a few times. Please keep that in mind while reading this. I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just struggling with my words today.

    You do not have a lot of wiggle room with your calories at 1700. You also have admitted to not logging 100% accurately ( we all do that from time to time). On top of that, you have relatively low activity (5,000 steps per day is pretty low; recommend trying to get at least 10,000).

    I honestly think you need to bump up the activity/intensity, and become much stricter about your calorie accuracy.

    I also agree though that one week is not a long enough time to really know. We all have a tendancy to want quick results, as it helps keep us motivated!

    Lastly, you stated you lost 75 pounds and have managed to keep that off, so while your not at goal you must be doing something right! Congrats on your loss so far!
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
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    Yeah, definitely agree with the upping your activity....You are young and seemingly healthy, 5000 steps a day is really just living, not exercise. Try to get a lunchtime walk in, a quick early morning walk before you go to work, or do a 20 min bodyweight workout before bedtime.... And eat food, not cookies and chips and candy (fibre 1 bars is just candy) all day long.....
  • MlleDee
    MlleDee Posts: 90 Member
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    dietstokes wrote: »
    You do not have a lot of wiggle room with your calories at 1700. You also have admitted to not logging 100% accurately ( we all do that from time to time). On top of that, you have relatively low activity (5,000 steps per day is pretty low; recommend trying to get at least 10,000).

    I honestly think you need to bump up the activity/intensity, and become much stricter about your calorie accuracy.

    Thanks for the advice. I know I could be doing better. And I'm not looking for strangers on the internet to lie to me and tell me I'm doing fabulous, when I'm not.

    1700 calories is the biggest deficit MFP would calculate for me ~2lbs/week. So I guess I need to tighten it up on my own. I do 5000 steps minimum plus 20-30 mins on treadmill, but I know that isn't an excuse. I've seen my diary, I logged it, and I ate all that crap. Thanks for the motivation!
  • Timorous_Beastie
    Timorous_Beastie Posts: 595 Member
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    MlleDee wrote: »
    MB_Positif wrote: »
    1 week with no change is not enough time to determine if what you're doing is not working. Give it a couple more weeks!

    I know, I'm here for the long haul. I'm down 75 lbs from my SW. I just expected to see some movement the first week back. But I'll take your advice to heart and be more patient.
    First off, congrats on the 75 pounds lost and kept off!

    I'm sure there'd been times while losing that first 75 pounds that you didn't have perfectly linear weight loss. Same applies here. Sometimes we have larger drops, sometimes smaller ones, sometimes no loss at all and sometimes, despite doing everything right, the scale goes up for a while.
  • MlleDee
    MlleDee Posts: 90 Member
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    astrampe wrote: »
    Rice crispie bars, fibre one bars, vanilla wafers, veggie straws, cinnabon cashews....... maybe stop eating so much junk and try and eat real food...30g of protein and most of your carbs and fats from refined carbs is not going to give you stunning results...
    I see no vefetables, fruit, actual lean protein (chicken, fish, red meat thats not saturated with preservatives...)

    I think I just don't trust myself to cook too much. Frozen and prepacked food is portioned and much harder to overeat. Friday was a junk day for me, and my protein was terrible because I was trying to avoid meat. But I was somewhat better the rest of the week, I cooked some chicken breasts, and had a ton of cabbage and cucumbers.

    I'm super embarrassed at all the junk food you listed. I really did try and control it, by eating very controlled portions, but I know I can't expect to lose weight eating junk food. My only excuse is that most of it happened in an attempt to avoid a higher calorie sugar option.

    But thanks for the motivation, I'm going to worker harder to get better at this!
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
    edited March 2015
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    Hey, good for you for logging it..... Personally I don't buy the veggie chips anymore, as I find it impossible to eat just one serving.... Maybe try some cut up watermelon or canteloupe or other fruit instead of the fibre 1 bars, and some avo on a slice of multigrain toast for something salty.... It will keep you full for longer too..... Start small, maybe with just one "good" meal a day, then add healty snacks like greek yogurt instead of fibre one bars....
    My breakfast this morning was half a flour & corn tortilla, a banana and a tablespoon of just pure peanutbutter...It satisfied my craving for something sweet ( that time of the month!) and filled me up completely....
    Good luck!
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
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    It's not unusual to not see a change in the first week or two. Keep it up and as long as you make steps in the right direction, you'll get there.
  • Dragn77
    Dragn77 Posts: 810 Member
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    MlleDee wrote: »

    I think I just don't trust myself to cook too much. Frozen and prepacked food is portioned and much harder to overeat. Friday was a junk day for me, and my protein was terrible because I was trying to avoid meat. But I was somewhat better the rest of the week, I cooked some chicken breasts, and had a ton of cabbage and cucumbers.

    I'm super embarrassed at all the junk food you listed. I really did try and control it, by eating very controlled portions, but I know I can't expect to lose weight eating junk food. My only excuse is that most of it happened in an attempt to avoid a higher calorie sugar option.

    But thanks for the motivation, I'm going to worker harder to get better at this!

    To help with cooking too much...heres what I do, and maybe it will help some?

    Its just me and kiddo...so when I make a meal, I create a recipe card for it in MFP along with the amount of servings its to be...usually its 4, to help with tracking. Once Im done, I divide up all the servings...one for me, one for kiddo then I put the rest into the fridge, already divided into single servings, for kiddo and I to have for lunch the next day. If its more than 4 servings, then I put the additional single servings into the freezer.

    I also use muffin tins whenever possible to already split things up into single servings before baking...stuff like meatloaf or casseroles are awesome this way.

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