Why am I not losing weight? I'm doing everything right.

Micah_Johnson

I'll start with a bit of backstory. Ten years ago, when I was 30ish, I was in the shape of my life. I lifted religiously, ran the trails of eastern Kentucky on a daily basis, ate well, etc. I never got the six-pack that I worked so hard for, but I chalk that up to my body/genetics. Then two things happened: 1) I developed a bit of arthritis in my right hip which made it painful to run, and 2) I got married. I stopped working out, started eating out, and fell in love with craft beers. In the span of eight years, I went from a relatively lean but muscular 195 lbs. to the depressing 291 lbs. that I weighed when I first stepped on the scale four weeks ago.

Wanting to address this problem decisively, I downloaded myfitnesspal on my phone, and started eating well and lifting again. I can no longer run, both because of my hip and my concern for my knees, given my weight, but I walk approximately 50 minutes daily on a rugged trail near my house. I've limited my food intake to 1900 calories daily, and I try to avoid empty calories. It's usually granola with yoghurt for breakfast, soup for lunch (with no crackers or accoutrements. I haven't even had a slice of cheese in over three weeks now), and a responsible dinner, such as grilled salmon or grilled chicken breast on a bed of salad greens.

I lift five days a week, alternating between an upper body routine on Friday, Sunday, and Tuesday, and squats on Saturday and Wednesday. Like I said above, I walk daily. As is to be expected, I lost a lot of weight in the first week and a half, going from 291 to 285. I realize that a lot of this loss was water weight, and my goal is to lose an average of two lbs./week. Over the last two and a half weeks, though, I've plateaued (very early in the process), and when I weighed myself this morning, I was at 287.

Now for some more relevant detail. About the same time as I stopped losing weight, I started taking creatine again as a supplement to my weightlifting. I know that creatine causes water retention in the muscles. I expected to gain a pound or so after starting creatine, but I expected the weight loss to begin again after the water level in my muscles equalized. So now for a barrage of questions for those in the know . . .

Is it possible that I'm still losing fat, but offsetting that loss with muscle gain and/or water retention? If so, when will I start to see weight loss again? I mean, obviously, I'm not going to be the same weight but all muscle in a year from now. At some point, I have to start losing weight again. Are there measurement approaches other than weight loss that I should focus on, like waist measurement or something? I've thought about buying a scale that measures body fat composition, but based on customer reviews online, those things seem to be notoriously inaccurate.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. The scale serves as an effective motivator for me, when I'm actually losing weight. It's disheartening to work so hard for the last three weeks without any indication of progress.

crzycatlady1

Are you using a food scale, set to grams, and measuring out correct portion sizes of all your foods?

Micah_Johnson

I don't have a food scale, though I could certainly invest in one today. But I have been watching serving sizes closely. So, for example, I measure out one cup of yoghurt for my breakfast. Most of the time, the serving sizes are pretty self-explanatory. If I have a boiled egg for breakfast, for instance, or if I eat a container of single-serving soup for lunch. I may be wrong, but I don't think that I'm getting more calories than I'm recording in my log.

crzycatlady1

Also, are you happy eating the way you are now? A life without cheese is a sad one No need to make such drastic changes to what you're eating, you just need to be eating at the correct calorie deficit for your weight loss goals and you'll lose the extra weight. It seems like you've jumped in and are going a bit extreme, that's going to lead to burn out and make it hard to stick with long term. There's no need to cut out any of the foods you like, you just need to learn how to fit them into your calorie goals.

daniip_la

I second the food scale. It's easy to overeat beyond your goal, simply because measuring cups can be wildly wrong.

I'm also guessing that you have a good bit of water retention. You started all of this only four weeks ago. Keep doing what you're doing, tighten up your logging with a scale, and give it some more time.

Also, there's no need to give up cheese. No need to give up any food you like. Log the food, and as long as it's in your goals, you can eat it. I've lost 75lbs that way.

TavistockToad

Micah_Johnson wrote: »

I don't have a food scale, though I could certainly invest in one today. But I have been watching serving sizes closely. So, for example, I measure out one cup of yoghurt for my breakfast. Most of the time, the serving sizes are pretty self-explanatory. If I have a boiled egg for breakfast, for instance, or if I eat a container of single-serving soup for lunch. I may be wrong, but I don't think that I'm getting more calories than I'm recording in my log.

you're eating more than you think... food labels can be off by up to 20%

crzycatlady1

Micah_Johnson wrote: »

I don't have a food scale, though I could certainly invest in one today. But I have been watching serving sizes closely. So, for example, I measure out one cup of yoghurt for my breakfast. Most of the time, the serving sizes are pretty self-explanatory. If I have a boiled egg for breakfast, for instance, or if I eat a container of single-serving soup for lunch. I may be wrong, but I don't think that I'm getting more calories than I'm recording in my log.

I think you've figured out the culprit -it's ridiculously easy to overestimate portions without a food scale. Measuring cups and spoons are very inaccurate-when you get your food scale compare what you were doing vs measuring it out on a scale and you'll be shocked!

Muscleflex79

Micah_Johnson wrote: »

I don't have a food scale, though I could certainly invest in one today. But I have been watching serving sizes closely. So, for example, I measure out one cup of yoghurt for my breakfast. Most of the time, the serving sizes are pretty self-explanatory. If I have a boiled egg for breakfast, for instance, or if I eat a container of single-serving soup for lunch. I may be wrong, but I don't think that I'm getting more calories than I'm recording in my log.

you said you have granola for breakfast....but you aren't weighing that??? I love granola, but can never believe how quickly those calories add up! you are eating more than you think.

avskk

A cup of yogurt is likely to be more than the calories given on the package. Take a look at the label; you'll see something like "1 cup (145 g)" as the serving size. What this means is the given nutritional info is for 145 grams of yogurt; the volume measurement is just a loose estimate of how much 145 grams might come out to.

I eat cottage cheese that claims a serving is 1/2cup(113g). When I measure it to a half cup, it weighs almost 150 grams -- or 32% more than the label would imply. That's 32% more calories, 32% more protein, 32% more fat, etc.

If this is true of all solid foods -- and, for the most part, it is -- if I simply measured everything I eat, how much higher would my intake be than I assume? Not to mention whole foods like "one egg" or "one medium banana," which are essentially meaningless records without knowing the weight of the specific egg or piece of fruit you ate. The caloric difference between a 45g egg and a 65g egg is significant, and it's not one you can gauge with the naked eye. Ditto apples, ditto pretty much anything.

snowflake954

Buy a digital food scale and weigh and measure everything you eat and drink. Many people are amazed when they do that. Don't trust the serving sizes on packages. Weigh once and double check at least. If weighing yourself is so important, you should be able to see why weighing your food is too. It's as precise as you can get in this game. You may find that your calories are correct--at least then you know it's probably water retention. You are talking about arthritis. If you take any meds for it, that can also effect loss. Once there was a good thread on here about that. you could search it.

jgnatca

The only other element that wants considering is time. It's been four weeks. I suspect you are a naturally disciplined person so it won't take you long to offset the consequences of a happy marriage. Congratulations by the way.

trigden1991

You are not weighing your food therefore you have no idea how much you are eating each day. Buy a set of scales, weigh all your food and eat your calorie goal.

Micah_Johnson

I'll get a digital scale today, then. What's the verdict on scales that measure body fat composition?

Muscleflex79

Micah_Johnson wrote: »

I'll get a digital scale today, then. What's the verdict on scales that measure body fat composition?

wildly inaccurate.

VintageFeline

So in reality it's been two weeks without a loss on the scale and you just started lifting and exercising again. There's absolutely no harm in making sure your logging is good by using a food scale but I also think you're retaining water too masking some losses. Tighten the logging and just give it a bit more time.

Tacklewasher

Don't trust the food labels. Get a food scale. When I got one, one of the first things I measured was the Quaker Harvest Crunch I was having for breakfast. Label said 2/3 cup (45 grams) was 300 calories. I was eating 1 cup so was logging 450 calories. Put 1 cup on the scale and it was 97 grams, so ~650 calories. Every day, 1 meal I was under by 200 calories.

trigden1991

Micah_Johnson wrote: »

I'll get a digital scale today, then. What's the verdict on scales that measure body fat composition?

Not worth the money. Food scales, normal bathroom scales and a tape measure are all you'll ever need. Plus Excel to make fancy spreadsheets!

Spliner1969

Micah_Johnson wrote: »

I'll get a digital scale today, then. What's the verdict on scales that measure body fat composition?

Using a food scale will blow your mind comparing what you used to think was accurate to actual weights. When you get yours try this little experiment.. grab your favorite cereal, look at the serving size. If the serving size is 1/2 cup, grab a 1/2 cup measuring cup and fill it to the top and weigh it.. then look at the weight in grams on the box for serving size. You'll usually be over on weight. Solids are very hard to get accurate by volume measure, it's always best to use grams, or ounces if grams isn't available on serving size, to get your accurate calories. Also, weigh things raw unless specifically stated as "cooked" in the diary entry. Their weight will decrease as they are cooked from moisture loss.

As far as measuring body fat, use a set of calipers, you can find them fairly cheaply on Amazon.com the scales are not accurate at all. So just get a good digital scale, some calipers (not even necessary until you get lower in weight) to measure body fat, and if you want a tape measure, get those too but until your body fat is lower it's going to be mostly useless too.

DebSozo

Micah_Johnson wrote: »

...Ten years ago, when I was 30ish, I was in the shape of my life... In the span of eight years, I went from a relatively lean but muscular 195 lbs. to the depressing 291 lbs. that I weighed when I first stepped on the scale four weeks ago.

Wanting to address this problem decisively, I downloaded myfitnesspal on my phone, and started eating well and lifting again. I can no longer run, both because of my hip and my concern for my knees, given my weight, but I walk approximately 50 minutes daily on a rugged trail near my house. I've limited my food intake to 1900 calories daily, and I try to avoid empty calories. It's usually granola with yoghurt for breakfast, soup for lunch (with no crackers or accoutrements. I haven't even had a slice of cheese in over three weeks now), and a responsible dinner, such as grilled salmon or grilled chicken breast on a bed of salad greens.

I lift five days a week, alternating between an upper body routine on Friday, Sunday, and Tuesday, and squats on Saturday and Wednesday. Like I said above, I walk daily. As is to be expected, I lost a lot of weight in the first week and a half, going from 291 to 285. I realize that a lot of this loss was water weight, and my goal is to lose an average of two lbs./week. Over the last two and a half weeks, though, I've plateaued (very early in the process), and when I weighed myself this morning, I was at 287.

Is it possible that I'm still losing fat, but offsetting that loss with muscle gain and/or water retention? If so, when will I start to see weight loss again? I mean, obviously, I'm not going to be the same weight but all muscle in a year from now. At some point, I have to start losing weight again...

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. The scale serves as an effective motivator for me, when I'm actually losing weight. It's disheartening to work so hard for the last three weeks without any indication of progress.

You have lost 4 pounds in 4 weeks. That is a nice amount. If you were to lose 1 pound a week by this time next year you could weigh 50 pounds less.

At the beginning you will lose water weight as the available glycogen fuel us burned first. So in actuality you likely only lost a pound or so of fat and a couple pounds of water the first week and a half.

So now that it is 4 weeks later it is likely you gained some water weight back and lost some fat. It looks like you plateaued, but in fact you are still losing fat because of water fluctuations.

Your body has adjusted to the new diet and you will likely start losing again with your current deficit. Some people hold onto water for several weeks and then dump it off to start losing again.

Stay the course and don't give up. It seems like you got a good start. Weight loss is not linear. Sometimes it is lose, stall, lose, stall. In general it isn't considered a plateau until there has been a stall over 3 weeks. But overall you are doing pretty good. 1 pound a week loss AVERAGE is absolutely fine. Think of a stall as a victory. At least it is maintaining and not gaining!

The advice about weighing solid food in grams with a kitchen scale is good. That will help you to tighten up the logging so it is more accurate.

avskk

Hey, OP, I just wanted to say that the way you listened to people's advice and made a plan was great to see.

Micah_Johnson

I just ordered the Ozeri Touch III kitchen scale from Amazon. It should arrive on Saturday. Until then, I'll just keep doing the best I can. Thanks for all the advice, folks. It's nice to have a supportive community.