I'm so discouraged! Major lifestyle changes no results.

afflatushead

Hello! On Feb 1st I decided to completely change my diet/lifestyle. I went from no exercise to working on in the morning 5 days a week, spending a half hour on the cycle or elliptical machines and another 20 using weight machines. I stopped eating take-out and cut my drinking and sugar intake and this morning, i weigh the exact same as when i started! I'm trying not to pity party but why am I getting up at 7am and walking 2 miles to a gym if nothing is happening. I've been logging religiously. I don't know what the problem is.

SideSteel

It could be a number of possibilities.

It's possible that you're retaining fluid and it's masking fat losses. In fact, usually when you begin a resistance training program this happens for a few weeks.

It's possible that your average body weight is going down but you're only looking at single day weigh-ins so you're not seeing that trend.

It's possible that you're not in a calorie deficit and not actually losing.

JeromeBarry1

Please open your diary for people to see what you've been logging as your food and exercise. No-one can decipher your story without knowing your food. If your sodium is quite high the day before you weighed, you could have retained 2 lb of water and completely masked your weight loss.

timmy9613

good things take time stick with it

booksandchocolate12

So, you're not eating take out. But what are you eating? Do you weigh it on a food scale? Measure it in measuring cups? Eyeball it?

MommyL2015

If you're logging your calories through exersize and eating them back, it could be that you are overestimating your burn. Try eating about half back. I find that the numbers that both the machines and MFP give you are way too high.

milseyy

Try and swap any snacks to fruit, try not to stray from eating low fat foods/fat free foods such as natural yoghurt, limit bread and oats (anything with wheat) to 2 portions (1 slice of bread, 30g oats) or (2 slides bread etc) as this is a common error because even though it contains fibre, it is a carb that the body stores as fat (especially white bread as it has 0 health benefits) and of course, balance out carbs with veg and meat, protein is so important, apart from that, just keep going and be proud of what you're doing, you've come so far, well done!

Muscleflex79

milseyy wrote: »

Try and swap any snacks to fruit, try not to stray from eating low fat foods/fat free foods such as natural yoghurt, limit bread and oats (anything with wheat) to 2 portions (1 slice of bread, 30g oats) or (2 slides bread etc) as this is a common error because even though it contains fibre, it is a carb that the body stores as fat (especially white bread as it has 0 health benefits) and of course, balance out carbs with veg and meat, protein is so important, apart from that, just keep going and be proud of what you're doing, you've come so far, well done!

disregard almost all of this!! you need a deficit, not to limit your bread and oats to a certain amount!

emmycantbemeeko

milseyy wrote: »

Try and swap any snacks to fruit, try not to stray from eating low fat foods/fat free foods such as natural yoghurt, limit bread and oats (anything with wheat) to 2 portions (1 slice of bread, 30g oats) or (2 slides bread etc) as this is a common error because even though it contains fibre, it is a carb that the body stores as fat (especially white bread as it has 0 health benefits) and of course, balance out carbs with veg and meat, protein is so important, apart from that, just keep going and be proud of what you're doing, you've come so far, well done!

None of this is necessarily correct for the OP depending on his nutritional needs and size. Some of it just isn't correct at all.

Fruit is great but does not necessarily make a filling snack that will help someone adhere to their plan, and it is low in protein and fat, two important macros that any individual person may need and want to work in to their snacks. I personally feel a whole lot better if I have an egg or a protein bar as a snack than an orange, even though I love oranges. Many kinds of fruit are also fairly calorie-dense.

Excess calories of any kind are stored as fat, not specifically just carbs. Many kinds of white bread have micronutrients as well as calories and fiber, and ARE DELICIOUS, all of which are health benefits.

A large person may well need more than two portions of carbs and there is nothing wrong with wheat unless a person has an actual wheat allergy, which the overwhelming majority do not.

There is nothing especially healthy about low fat/fat free foods and actually pretty ample evidence that healthy fats are an important part not only of nutrition but of achieving a sense of satiety. If you look, you'll also notice that these foods are often not much or not at all lower calorie than full-fat versions, as improving the taste after removing fat usually requires the addition of considerable sugar. Personally, I grew up eating a lot of low-fat and fat-free foods, both dairy and processed foods, and while they tasted "normal" to me because of that, when I switched to full-fat versions of those foods at a doctor's suggestion to address some nutritional imbalances she suspected, I found I felt full after much smaller portions.

Meat is not necessarily important. It is totally possible to achieve adequate protein intake without it (I've been doing it for decades) and though we don't know the OP's story, the average western diet contains much MORE meat than is nutritionally needed, not less.

OP- there's some really good advice in this thread, but ignore these random nutritional demands. They're baseless.

ziggy2006

This sounds more like you are on a diet focused on obtaining weight loss results rather than making a lifestyle change.

Why are you getting up at 7 am and walking to the gym? Why are you logging all of your food? Is the number on the scale your only measure of success?

What is the difference between going on a diet and making a lifestyle change to you?

4leighbee

When I start back again after being a slug for a while, I ignore the scale for a while ... it takes time. Drink plenty of water and there are other excellent suggestions above. Exercise and an improved diet are bound to make you more fit over time - be proud of your new commitment and don't expect immediate results.

Another thought: if you are small to begin with, any weight you lose should be very small per week. You can't expect the scale to show a loss with your new exercise regime in the first week or so, so you shouldn't be expecting much of a move in three weeks' time.

Cryptonomnomicon

afflatushead

Thank you for the replies and flow chart! I do not use a food scale and the thought that MFP could potentially be an inaccurate way to judge my caloric intake indicates to me I should be more diligent in my attempts to regulate what I'm eating. Starting a HIIT program tomorrow and buying a food scale. Will check back in.

booksandchocolate12

Great! I guarantee that using the food scale will be an eye-opener. Good luck!

bisky

You have made progress even though you don't see it yet. Did you take any measurements before? After 4 weeks are your clothes looser? With the exercise you are making healthier choices. But all the exercise won't make up for a bad diet either for weight loss. Just a few extra calories here or there can ad up. Measuring will be a big help.

seahorsepenguin

The food scale does not lie!!! I was shocked by how much more cereal I was eating when I was just using measuring cups. Plus it is so easy to overfill too.

booksandchocolate12

seahorsepenguin wrote: »

The food scale does not lie!!! I was shocked by how much more cereal I was eating when I was just using measuring cups. Plus it is so easy to overfill too.

Right?! When I saw how much a serving of peanut butter actually was, I almost cried.

BigBigBertha

booksandchocolate12 wrote: »

seahorsepenguin wrote: »

The food scale does not lie!!! I was shocked by how much more cereal I was eating when I was just using measuring cups. Plus it is so easy to overfill too.

Right?! When I saw how much a serving of peanut butter actually was, I almost cried.

Even how much milk I was actually putting in my tea... Totals about 150 calories a day!

CollieFit

I bake my own bread and the flour mix has a barcode, which when scanned, tells you the nutritional data for a 50g slice. The other day I weighed my normal slice out of curiosity. Let's just say it wasn't 50g......

PurpleOrchid531

I totally agree that the calories that MFP says you burn is overestimated. I don't eat them all back, I try to eat only half back. I also found, as I too started on Feb 1, that it took a couple of weeks for my body to figure out what it was doing. It was like "WTF is going on????" I need to take my measurements but I can tell my clothes feel looser already. A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat, but because muscle is more dense, it takes up less space, so you very well could be "gaining" muscle yet the scale stays the same.

I would also be careful that you're not doing too much too fast. If you went from nothing to working out 5 days a week, you're more likely to get injured, especially if you're trying to get a fast workout in before work.

I too get super discouraged if I don't see the scale move as I need that visual cue to know I'm on the right track. It's more a mental thing for me. I think the food scale will help.

ninerbuff

It's usually going to come down more to accuracy than anything else. Also, it's only been a month. I've had the same happen with clients many times, but with consistency, they see the changes a couple of months later.

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