Week 1 on 1200 and only one 1lb lost
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amusedmonkey wrote: »Well, according to MFP, at 1200 I should be losing 2lbs a week. That's why my confusion.
MFP would never put you at less than 1200 calories even if you tell it you want to lose 2 pounds, because based on your loss you would need to eat 700 calories to lose that much which is not enough nor healthy.
It's actually misleading and I have seen it cause many misunderstandings. They should post a warning like "based on your stats, your expected weekly weight loss is xx and not 2 pounds".
Yes, people get confused. If you go to update diet and fitness profile and put in your stats at the bottom it should say what you are projected to lose based on them, no matter what you asked for.
For example, I have my activity level in as active right now, but even so if I ask for 2 lb/week (which is not realistic for me), it gives me 1200 calories and says at the end that I am projected to lose 1.4 lb/week.
(I don't do that, it's just an example.)0 -
Thanks everyone. The math of this is so confusing but I try to estimate my activity level very conservatively to leave a margin of error. I'm dialing back my rigorous exercise too because I heard it causes water retention.
I'm 5 foot 10 and in the past my weight at this height has sat confortably at 140 (8 years ago) and gone as high as 177 (5 years ago when I broke my foot). I'd like to get back down to around 150-155 but it's so hard to offset all the time I spend at my desk for work with activity. I've been taking 1 to 2 hour walks every night which helps expend calories while not bulking me up with water weight. So frustrating.0 -
I had my calorie goal set to 1200 per day also (I am a woman, 51 years, 5'9" 180lbs), and my weight would go down a pound, up a pound. Everybody kept telling me to make sure I was weighing and measuring (and I was). I finally had my BMR checked and it is pretty low (1307). So my first instinct was to reduce calories even more but I was so miserable it just wasn't okay. Then yesterday I did a bunch of reading/investigating and in some cases when there is a history of starvation diets/eating disorders your BMR slows way down to protect the body and provides fat stores very readily (my fat percentage is also higher than to should be). What I understand so far is that if this applies to you the answer may be increasing your calories and increasing your exercise, specifically adding resistance training to your routine. So, with much trepidation, I have increased to 1500 cals per day and will add weight /resistance training and see how it goes. This scares me to death (the calorie increase, not the weight training) but I feel so frustrated by my body's response to trying to lose that I must try something else! I don't know if this is the case with you but thought I would throw it out there. And, of course, if you have trouble losing it is best in general to stay away from foods that are high on the glycemic index scale (white flour, processed sugar) because they store more readily as fat, especially in people with slower metabolic rates.
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It's only a week
keep at it. Some weeks you lose more, some times less, some times nothing, some times a gain! It all averages out (though probably not to exactly 2lb/week)!
Did you lower your exercise because you observed a gain on the scale? If you're happy with less exercise, that's great, but exercise is a great way to preserve your muscles while you're on a (pretty big) deficit and it's good for so many thee things.
Good luck!0 -
If you just started to exercise, or if you bumped up the inensity, your muscles will retaiin water in order to repair themselves. That should level off fairly quickly.0
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Yes, I did bump it up and saw a gain right away so I sort of panicked and decided to cut back on the intensity though I'm still walking a lot.
I guess it comes with age but I can't help think back to my younger days when is lose weight so easily and quickly. Now it feels like one wrong move bumps me up two or three pounds instantly. I have to travel next week and I'm already worried about the irregular eating pattern setting me back in my already slow progress0 -
This is incorrect. Muscle doesn't weigh more than fat. It's more dense than fat, and that's what confuses people into making statements like that.
More importantly, nobody is going to be gaining muscle (a) in the first week of anything and (b) when eating at a deficit. Finally, even for people who are eating at maintenance and focused specifically on increasing lean muscle, it's a very slow process.
Obviously you don't understand the meaning of density. 1 cubic inch of muscle definitely weighs more than 1 cubic inch of fat. Just like water weighs more than snow. I guess one could say 1 lb of muscle is smaller in volume than 1 lb of fat but that just sounds weird.
As far as the first week of anything is concerned you did not read the OP correctly. She stated that it was her first week at 1200 calories. Not her first week of anything.
I know there is a lot of information out there that says you can't build muscle at a deficit but there is also contradictory information. I can't see how you don't build some muscle at a deficit as how do you get stronger to be able to lift more or bike further up a big hill with out stopping if you are not building some muscle.
The main point of the message was not to use weight as your only indicator of success and to that point I hope we can both agree.
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Yes, I did bump it up and saw a gain right away so I sort of panicked and decided to cut back on the intensity though I'm still walking a lot.
I guess it comes with age but I can't help think back to my younger days when is lose weight so easily and quickly. Now it feels like one wrong move bumps me up two or three pounds instantly. I have to travel next week and I'm already worried about the irregular eating pattern setting me back in my already slow progress
With only 10-15 lbs to lose, 2lbs a week is not realistic. A more realistic goal is .5 lb a week, honestly. The slow and steady route is the way to go!0 -
Because a group of muscle fiber cells can become more efficient at a task you make it repeatedly do. But in a deficit it's tough to actually create additional muscle fiber cells.I can't see how you don't build some muscle at a deficit as how do you get stronger to be able to lift more or bike further up a big hill with out stopping if you are not building some muscle.
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Your goal might be a little too aggressive. Generally, it's recommended to lose .5 pounds per week for every 25 pounds you have to lose. You want to preserve muscle and give your body the nutrition it needs. The weight didn't come on fast, no need to rush to take it off. You want to build sustainable habits.0
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You should give it more than a week! The first week, especially, you're probably retaining water from exercise. Don't worry, it could easily be water weight, or hormones, or whatever else. It will go down if you stick to the plan, just be patient.
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Don't forget that you could be replacing fat lost with muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat, causes you to burn more calories and is generally a good thing.
You're telling this lady that 1lb of granite weighs more than 1lb of feathers? How is that possible?
Actually, fat in general is less dense than water, hence fat swims on water. Going with the whoosh-theory, I wonder if the same is true for body fat. If fat in a cell is replaced by the same volume of water you'd see a weight gain. Just speculating here.
Of course, one week is far too short to see any effects. Please give it time, TO and try to lose slow. You'll also retain more needed muscle mass if you lose slowly. Losing fat and muscles will make you look wiggly, losing fat and keeping the muscles will make you look gorgeous.0 -
MicheleStitches wrote: »Potential pitfalls:
--Overestimating calorie burn.
--Underestimating calorie intake.
Are you using a food scale? I can promise you, there is a great difference between measuring your food with cups and spoons and weighing your food. You may be eating more calories than you think.
Lastly, if it is any encouragement at all, I NEVER lose at the rate MFP says I should be based on my food and activity. I am like you in that I am only losing a pound a week even though MFP's estimates say I "should" be losing 2 or more.
Trying to embed a Youtube video but MFP is being difficult. Here is a link in case I can not get it to work! https://youtu.be/XpHykP6e_Uk
I am using the exact food scale in this photoMicheleStitches wrote: »Potential pitfalls:
--Overestimating calorie burn.
--Underestimating calorie intake.
Are you using a food scale? I can promise you, there is a great difference between measuring your food with cups and spoons and weighing your food. You may be eating more calories than you think.
Lastly, if it is any encouragement at all, I NEVER lose at the rate MFP says I should be based on my food and activity. I am like you in that I am only losing a pound a week even though MFP's estimates say I "should" be losing 2 or more.
Trying to embed a Youtube video but MFP is being difficult. Here is a link in case I can not get it to work! https://youtu.be/XpHykP6e_Uk
I am using the exact food scale in this photo
I use the same scale too & I love it. Easy & accurate!
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With only 14 lbs to lose, two per week is way too aggressive. Chasing instant gratification weight loss will only lead to disappointment and rapid regain. Reset your goal to 0.5 lb per week. Also, yes get a scale. Your goal will require a calorie deficit low enough to be quickly negated by even a moderate margin of error in logging.0
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This is incorrect. Muscle doesn't weigh more than fat. It's more dense than fat, and that's what confuses people into making statements like that.
More importantly, nobody is going to be gaining muscle (a) in the first week of anything and (b) when eating at a deficit. Finally, even for people who are eating at maintenance and focused specifically on increasing lean muscle, it's a very slow process.
Obviously you don't understand the meaning of density. 1 cubic inch of muscle definitely weighs more than 1 cubic inch of fat. Just like water weighs more than snow. I guess one could say 1 lb of muscle is smaller in volume than 1 lb of fat but that just sounds weird.
As far as the first week of anything is concerned you did not read the OP correctly. She stated that it was her first week at 1200 calories. Not her first week of anything.
I know there is a lot of information out there that says you can't build muscle at a deficit but there is also contradictory information. I can't see how you don't build some muscle at a deficit as how do you get stronger to be able to lift more or bike further up a big hill with out stopping if you are not building some muscle.
The main point of the message was not to use weight as your only indicator of success and to that point I hope we can both agree.
Building muscle takes energy. Energy your body doesn't have readily available since you're in a deficit.
Say you're in a 500 daily deficit to lose 1 pound per week. In order for you to lose that pound of fat but also gain a pound of muscle to make it look like you didn't lose anything, your body would need another ~300 Calories daily or so (I don't think there's exact numbers on calories for building a pound of muscle, except that it's less than losing fat).
That means you're actually at a 800 Calorie deficit daily because those 300 Calories your body uses to build muscle can't be used for something else, which means you would have lost 1.6 pounds and gained 1, which means to mask that loss you'd have to gain another 0.6 pounds of muscle in the same week, that's another ~175 Calories deficit per day, coming up to 975 deficit daily, which is 1.95 pounds lost, which is another 0.35 muscle gain if you were to not lose anything for that week because of "muscle gains", that's another 100 Calories, that's another 0.2 pounds you'd lose, that's another 60 calories your body would have to use to build muscle, that's another 0.1 pound and so on for as accurate as you want to be, making your deficit more than twice as big as it actually is.
Your body doesn't do that. Besides it's hard/impossible to gain that much muscle even when you're eating plenty and actively trying to gain muscle.0 -
MarziPanda95 wrote: »Don't forget that you could be replacing fat lost with muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat, causes you to burn more calories and is generally a good thing.
Don't let the scale be your only measure of success. Measure your arms, legs, hips, waist, chest, neck etc. to see if you are losing inches. Then use the combination of measurements along with how you feel and look to determine success.
It's not possible to gain muscle in a calorie deficit.
OP, don't worry. 1lb a week is good! Plus it's only your first week.
P.S - organic food doesn't have any less calories and isn't actually any better for you.
I disagree. I have been in a calorie deficit for the last 5 months (lost 46 lbs) and have been doing HIIT training... I have very obviously built muscle and lost fat.
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Yes, I did bump it up and saw a gain right away so I sort of panicked and decided to cut back on the intensity though I'm still walking a lot.
I guess it comes with age but I can't help think back to my younger days when is lose weight so easily and quickly. Now it feels like one wrong move bumps me up two or three pounds instantly. I have to travel next week and I'm already worried about the irregular eating pattern setting me back in my already slow progress
With only 10-15 lbs to lose, 2lbs a week is not realistic. A more realistic goal is .5 lb a week, honestly. The slow and steady route is the way to go!
This.
With so little to lose, you should be aiming for .5 lb a week loss. Anything more and you'll be losing more muscle.
Redo your MFP goals with .5lb a week loss, keep weighing your food, eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories, and be patient.0 -
heatherlewisis wrote: »MarziPanda95 wrote: »Don't forget that you could be replacing fat lost with muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat, causes you to burn more calories and is generally a good thing.
Don't let the scale be your only measure of success. Measure your arms, legs, hips, waist, chest, neck etc. to see if you are losing inches. Then use the combination of measurements along with how you feel and look to determine success.
It's not possible to gain muscle in a calorie deficit.
OP, don't worry. 1lb a week is good! Plus it's only your first week.
P.S - organic food doesn't have any less calories and isn't actually any better for you.
I disagree. I have been in a calorie deficit for the last 5 months (lost 46 lbs) and have been doing HIIT training... I have very obviously built muscle and lost fat.
You didn't build muscle in a deficit. Your opinion doesn't change science.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpHykP6e_Uk
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