Scale at standstill

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topazgal
topazgal Posts: 51 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
hello - need some input. I started my diet almost 3 months ago and doing very well. I keep my calorie intake at 1,200 a day. I have lost 10 pounds so far but for the last month havent lost anything but my clothes keep getting looser at the same weight but i do walk 30-60 mins a day 6 days a week. How is it that my clothes are looser but i weight the same? I know muscle is heavy but walking does not build muscles so why isnt the scale budging?

Replies

  • KyleeNicolle
    KyleeNicolle Posts: 43 Member
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    Walking definitely does not build significant muscle. If you're in a caloric deficit you will lose weight muscle gain or not, if your weight is stable you're just eating maintenance calories for your weight. This probably happened because when you were larger your body was using more calories, then you lost weight and your body now needs less calories so you're in a plateau. The other possibility is that you are starving yourself and your metabolism has slowed down to the point where your body needs less calories as a result of starvation mode, and you're eating those calories keeping your weight the same. Starvation mode usually becomes a concern if you're eating less than 1200 calorie
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    If your not losing weight, your not eating at a deficit.
  • morowinder
    morowinder Posts: 35 Member
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    Probably water weight or something, keep faithful to your diet, this is actually very common. If you are feeling that you really need that sense of progress try measuring you waist instead. Or you can get body fat calipers to actually track your fat.
  • PopeyeCT
    PopeyeCT Posts: 249 Member
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    KyleeNicolle wrote: »
    Walking definitely does not build significant muscle.

    Walking can certainly build muscle mass. It all depends on where you are starting at. If Michael Phelps did nothing but walk a couple hours a day, he'd lose muscle mass. If Roseanne Barr walked a lot, she'd gain muscle mass.


  • topazgal
    topazgal Posts: 51 Member
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    So another words i shld eat back my calories that I burn?
  • K_saine
    K_saine Posts: 58 Member
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    topazgal wrote: »
    So another words i shld eat back my calories that I burn?

    Not exactly, weight loss is when you lose more calories than you consume. If you start eating more then you're deficit may not be as big and the weight loss would decline, so you could possibly gain more.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    thorsmom01 wrote: »
    If your not losing weight, your not eating at a deficit.

    that... all day, every day..... your diary isnt open but i would hazard a guess you are not weighing your food properly and consistently with a scale.
    topazgal wrote: »
    So another words i shld eat back my calories that I burn?

    if youre not losing weight, why would you eat more?

    and, once you know your food logging is accurate, yes, you should eat back a portion of your exercise calories (most people eat back arouund 50-75%) of them. calorie burn estimates are overestimated on mfp, so most do not eat back all of them. Your body needs fuel and food is fuel.

  • topazgal
    topazgal Posts: 51 Member
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    I have a food scale and i measure my food everyday up to no more than 1,200 calories a day and plus i walk 6 days a week and burn 300-500 calories a day. I have lost inches for sure bec im down a size but just dont understand if im getting smaller how is the scale not showing smaller numbers. Just puzzled. I thought if i ate back my calories whats the point of exercising?
  • missomgitsica
    missomgitsica Posts: 496 Member
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    If you're getting smaller you're making progress, who cares what the scale says?
  • Dave55412
    Dave55412 Posts: 88 Member
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    The scale is not your friend (an old saying), the tape measure is.
  • topazgal
    topazgal Posts: 51 Member
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    Apparently. Im gonna just ignore the scale and just follow how my clothes fit.
  • topazgal
    topazgal Posts: 51 Member
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    Agreed! Gonna ignore the scale. It just puzzles me.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    topazgal wrote: »
    I have a food scale and i measure my food everyday up to no more than 1,200 calories a day and plus i walk 6 days a week and burn 300-500 calories a day. I have lost inches for sure bec im down a size but just dont understand if im getting smaller how is the scale not showing smaller numbers. Just puzzled. I thought if i ate back my calories whats the point of exercising?

    It's pretty common for people to lose inches but have the scale stall for a few weeks then woosh, they come off. It happened to me several times when I was losing and there are tons of threads with people having the same thing happen. It can be due to various things: hormonal changes, water retention, waste.

    Make sure you're logging your food accurately with a digital scale.

    And MFP is designed with your deficit built in to that goal number. When you exercise, it expects you to eat them back. As the other poster said, it's better to just eat a portion of them back too allow for any overestimates of calories burned. On the days you exercise it makes sense that you would need to give your body more fuel. You still get the fitness benefits while adhering to the deficit you set for yourself when you registered.

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