Ugh....why didn't i lose??

pennypuffkin

My weight fluctuates every other day depending on my water intake. Sometimes I'm bloated, and sometimes I'm not. Actual weight loss takes time. Don't stress. Open your diary and others will try to help find the issue(s).

amy8400

OP, an open diary and a bit more information would help the community give you some guidance. In the meantime, don't let the scale ruin your day:

http://www.shape.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-strategies/help-why-does-my-workout-cause-weight-gain

http://www.livestrong.com/article/351391-water-retention-in-muscles-after-exercise/

Childfree1991

pennypuffkin wrote: »

My weight fluctuates every other day depending on my water intake. Sometimes I'm bloated, and sometimes I'm not. Actual weight loss takes time. Don't stress. Open your diary and others will try to help find the issue(s).

YES, VERY good point. Weight can fluctuate up to a few pounds, daily. It can be from water, poo, and/or period. There was a time (TMI) where I was very constipated (don't ask why lol) and had gained 3-4 pounds. I took laxatives and after they were done doing their "job", I was back to my original weight. Also, muscle weighs more than fat. If you have built any muscle then that may be the answer to your question. Focus less on the scale and more on the inches/measurements.

999tigger

Am with camos approach on this. OP it would help if you opened your diary so people can have a look at whats going on. People have already suggested:

Its water weight and explained the reasons. Flyctyation, water retention etc.

On a different tack I would suggest you need to forget about the exercise for the moment or at least set aside some time to get the basics right, its an area where many new dieters fail, even though they think they are doing it correctly. Learning about how weight loss works and accurate logging could save you a lot of frustration in the future. People tend to eat more than they think.

The second point is that you need to work on your mindset, its a geat thing you are doing for yourself, but you will need to learn to look after yourself, so getting angry at a setback is pointless and undermining, similar to getting fristrated. If you are doing things right then the next thing you will need is some perspective and patience. It will serve you well on your journey and you need to expect it to take some time.

Finally be cautious at what level you think exercise will help. It helps with health and it will help with weight loss, but you have to do enough of it. Dont get discouraged as ots reasonably straightforward, do get smart and be patient. Good luck.

Mr_Knight

10,500 over for a week is pretty easy to do. But it's all idle speculation until OP comes back and opens the diary....

catchtheislands

Hola. If you eat simple carbs they are stored in water. 1 gram of carbs is stored in 3 times as much water. Try to limit simple carbs to immediately after a tough workout only. This is why when you fast you lose a lot of water, the energy is spent and the water it is stored in is let go. Once you realize this they become not worth it--at all. Also and unfortunately you may not notice this until you try to lose weight but females gain up to 8 lbs of water weight TWICE a month. Ovulation and period. Get some Xpel pills on Amazon and slam tons of water. Remember water doesn't move without salt and fat doesn't move without water. Pink Himylayan sea salt is a nice touch to a gallon of water a day. Lots of minerals in there. You could also be estrogen dominate have estrogen stored in your fat cells and need to begin taking some DIM (the lazy form of cruciferous vegetables) to flush those toxins out of your system. If you are pre diabetic your hormone levels will be so high you will gain fat no matter what you do. Try some berberine and see if that works. Also cortisol is highest in the morning when we drink coffee and raise them 30% which last 6 hours. You can't lose fat with high cortisol levels. Try slamming water in the am, then moving coffee to later in the day say 2pm when your levels have fallen. Getting your omega 3's over your Omega 6's can really help. Pure fish oil that is date stamped with a mega antioxidant like alpha lipoic, atralagus or axanthium could also do wonders. You just want to see what is working best for your body because everyone is different. Now makes a nice liver detoxifier, easy to take and has a lot of pricey ingredients in it. Detoxing your liver is a good way to start flushing estrogens and toxins. Your liver holds onto things so you don't get poisoned and if there are toxins in your fat cells, if will refuse you to lose them.

Camo_xxx

April fools right ?

That's like a who's who of diet marketing spin.

SnuggleSmacks

OP, it's quite possible that you have done nothing at all wrong, but also possible that you did. If you aren't losing weight, then there are three possibilities. It's calories in/calories out, so either one or both parts of that equation is wrong, or else it's water.

1. Calories in: Make sure that you are entering absolutely everything that you consume. That includes any liquids that have calories (herbal tea, alcoholic beverages, soda, iced tea, etc.) That includes late-night snacks, candy that you get for free at work, and tastes of things while you're cooking. Make sure that you're weighing your food on a digital scale, not just eyeballing or using measuring cups. You'd be shocked at how different 28 grams of salad dressing looks from 2 tablespoons. Solids that have small pieces of varying sizes, like cereal, are even worse. Weigh it.

2. Calories out: Make sure that you have input your stats correctly and chosen the correct activity level to get your correct goal. Understand why that is your goal. If you add in exercise, know that MFP's calorie estimates are high. Use a heart rate monitor, if you can, and don't eat back all of the calories.

3. Water: If you've checked the other two possibilities and everything appears to be in order, this is the most likely culprit. You've probably lost the bodyweight, but your body is retaining water, which masks the weight you lost. Water weight can be pretty significant, up to 10 pounds or more. This can happen for several reasons, including hormonal fluctuations, increased sodium or carbs in a meal, or muscle repair after a workout.

It's a good idea to track for at least 4 weeks before you make any adjustments, unless you know for sure that you actually did something wrong in your calculations. It's also a good idea to not rely solely on the scale. Take your measurements with a tape measure about every 2 weeks or so, and take photos from the front, side and back, arms up and down, wearing something tight or skimpy (swimsuit, underwear, shorts and tank, whatever you're comfy with that will show your form). Do this every 4 weeks. Since the scale lies to us when we retain water, try to rely more on the tape and photos (especially the photos.) Putting a photo up on your computer side by side with a previous one will tell you way more than the scale.

Good luck!

Camo_xxx

Bravo !

cubschick005

Remember that as you're working out you're likely gaining muscle and losing fat. While you may weigh more on the scale, you'll actually be leaner and more toned because you've lost fat and gained muscle. A pound of fat vs. a pound of muscle is a huge difference. Don't get discouraged!

http://bamboocorefitness.com/one-pound-of-fat-versus-one-pound-of-muscle-clearing-up-the-misconception/

ninerbuff

Water retention from adding exercise. Not uncommon and will balance out.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Unknown

This content has been removed.

malibu927

cubschick005 wrote: »

Remember that as you're working out you're likely gaining muscle and losing fat. While you may weigh more on the scale, you'll actually be leaner and more toned because you've lost fat and gained muscle. A pound of fat vs. a pound of muscle is a huge difference. Don't get discouraged!

http://bamboocorefitness.com/one-pound-of-fat-versus-one-pound-of-muscle-clearing-up-the-misconception/

Actually, it's highly unlikely that would have happened, and since she hasn't reported back in the 7+ weeks since this has been posted, we really don't know what it was

snickerscharlie

catchtheislands wrote: »

Hola. If you eat simple carbs they are stored in water. 1 gram of carbs is stored in 3 times as much water. Try to limit simple carbs to immediately after a tough workout only. This is why when you fast you lose a lot of water, the energy is spent and the water it is stored in is let go. Once you realize this they become not worth it--at all. Also and unfortunately you may not notice this until you try to lose weight but females gain up to 8 lbs of water weight TWICE a month. Ovulation and period. Get some Xpel pills on Amazon and slam tons of water. Remember water doesn't move without salt and fat doesn't move without water. Pink Himylayan sea salt is a nice touch to a gallon of water a day. Lots of minerals in there. You could also be estrogen dominate have estrogen stored in your fat cells and need to begin taking some DIM (the lazy form of cruciferous vegetables) to flush those toxins out of your system. If you are pre diabetic your hormone levels will be so high you will gain fat no matter what you do. Try some berberine and see if that works. Also cortisol is highest in the morning when we drink coffee and raise them 30% which last 6 hours. You can't lose fat with high cortisol levels. Try slamming water in the am, then moving coffee to later in the day say 2pm when your levels have fallen. Getting your omega 3's over your Omega 6's can really help. Pure fish oil that is date stamped with a mega antioxidant like alpha lipoic, atralagus or axanthium could also do wonders. You just want to see what is working best for your body because everyone is different. Now makes a nice liver detoxifier, easy to take and has a lot of pricey ingredients in it. Detoxing your liver is a good way to start flushing estrogens and toxins. Your liver holds onto things so you don't get poisoned and if there are toxins in your fat cells, if will refuse you to lose them.

This made my brain hurt.

arditarose

cubschick005 wrote: »

Remember that as you're working out you're likely gaining muscle and losing fat. While you may weigh more on the scale, you'll actually be leaner and more toned because you've lost fat and gained muscle. A pound of fat vs. a pound of muscle is a huge difference. Don't get discouraged!

http://bamboocorefitness.com/one-pound-of-fat-versus-one-pound-of-muscle-clearing-up-the-misconception/

No. I wish people would stop spreading this. Newbies should know that if they're in a deficit, even with exercise, even with HEAVY WEIGHT or body weight training, you should see the scale drop.

blankiefinder

So much crap, bro science, and bull in this thread, I feel bad for the OP. There are some diamonds in here, but it's hard for someone new to know which is which. @SnuggleSmacks and ninerbuff are on point, to start with.

It could be water weight from training.

It could be water weight from sodium.

It could be water weight from TOM.

Maybe you're retaining solids. Maybe you overate. Maybe it's a combination of 2, 3, or even 4 of the above. There's no way to know exactly what it is, all you can do is wait and see what the future brings. In the meantime, look at what you are doing and make sure it's on point.

Here is my generic MFP advice:

Buy a food scale, weigh and log everything.

Do cardio if you want, and if you do, only eat back 50% of your calories (if you are losing faster than expected after logging for a few weeks, then up the % you eat back). Lift weights and hit your protein goal to help maintain muscle mass while losing.

Cheat meals that take you over maintenance will sabotage your efforts. Log the cheat meals too (falls under the 'log everything' rule).

Eat anything you want in moderation, keeping in mind that your diet will be easier to stick with if you chose foods that make it easier to stay under your calories without feeling hungry.

Also it would be a good idea to read some of the stickies at the top of the various forums such as:
Calorie Counting 101
Logging Accuracy, Consistency, & You're Probably Eating More Than You Think
A Guide To Get You Started on Your Path To Sexy Pants[/quote]

lemurcat12

Machka9 wrote: »

I know that the usual thinking is that you should only weigh in once a week, but I actually find it informative to weigh in every day ... at least for a few weeks. My weight ebbs and flows in a pattern throughout a week.

Maybe try weighing in every day for a little while and see what your pattern is.

This is my experience too.

Also, if you just started it's normal for the numbers to go up and down kind of wildly. You might have a starting weight from a low point or have monthly fluctuations going on.

It also sometimes takes a while to get the right calorie number.

Edit: also didn't notice it was old. Never mind then!

elphie754

catchtheislands wrote: »

Hola. If you eat simple carbs they are stored in water. 1 gram of carbs is stored in 3 times as much water. Try to limit simple carbs to immediately after a tough workout only. This is why when you fast you lose a lot of water, the energy is spent and the water it is stored in is let go. Once you realize this they become not worth it--at all. Also and unfortunately you may not notice this until you try to lose weight but females gain up to 8 lbs of water weight TWICE a month. Ovulation and period. Get some Xpel pills on Amazon and slam tons of water. Remember water doesn't move without salt and fat doesn't move without water. Pink Himylayan sea salt is a nice touch to a gallon of water a day. Lots of minerals in there. You could also be estrogen dominate have estrogen stored in your fat cells and need to begin taking some DIM (the lazy form of cruciferous vegetables) to flush those toxins out of your system. If you are pre diabetic your hormone levels will be so high you will gain fat no matter what you do. Try some berberine and see if that works. Also cortisol is highest in the morning when we drink coffee and raise them 30% which last 6 hours. You can't lose fat with high cortisol levels. Try slamming water in the am, then moving coffee to later in the day say 2pm when your levels have fallen. Getting your omega 3's over your Omega 6's can really help. Pure fish oil that is date stamped with a mega antioxidant like alpha lipoic, atralagus or axanthium could also do wonders. You just want to see what is working best for your body because everyone is different. Now makes a nice liver detoxifier, easy to take and has a lot of pricey ingredients in it. Detoxing your liver is a good way to start flushing estrogens and toxins. Your liver holds onto things so you don't get poisoned and if there are toxins in your fat cells, if will refuse you to lose them.

I didn't realize it was possible to combine that much malarkey into one post. Holy bro science batman!

PeachyCarol

blankiefinder

mamapeach910 wrote: »

Haha I missed that it was from April 1! That's not bad though, I've seen ones revived from years ago

TimothyFish

maidentl wrote: »

Camo_xxx wrote: »

What did you do wrong ?

You ate 10,500 more calories then you burned.
Watching what you eat is not the same as accurately weighing and logging every bite of food that you eat.
Exercising is great for your fitness but doesn't make you lose fat if you do not eat at a calorie deficit.

She said she counted calories and came in under goal every day.

I took it that he was being facetious.