Slow, slow, slow

cupcakes8kr

I started my journey Jan 23rd at 220# Tracking /watching what i eat and exercising 5 -6 day per week. When should I expect to see ANY results? Is it to soon? I want to be down 20 lbs by June 3rd.

kyladefranco

How many calories are you consuming daily? Have you seen any weight loss?

AllOutof_Bubblegum

What does "watching what you eat" mean? You can still overeat on healthy foods. Are you weighing/logging all your food? Do you know for sure that you are eating at a deficit, i.e. eating fewer calories than you are expending? Make sure that's nailed down, and weight will HAVE to come off. Science and math says so.

20 lbs by June is about 5+ pounds a month, which is a little more than a pound a week. Which is completely doable.

vivomagee

Um, hate to say it, but it's harder for our age group (I'm 57) to lose weight. My immediate goal is to lose 10 lbs by end of April, and I think that's WAY too optimistic (I'll be happy if I lose 5). I average losing 2 lbs/month, but sometimes I can go 2 months and only lose 1-2 lbs. (I've been yoyo dieting for 35 years; I've only been doing this session for about a month.) In our case, persistence pays off, and looking at the long game, not the quick fix. It's better anyway--you end up changing your lifestyle, the longer you're conscious of what goes in and what you burn.

vivomagee

Um, hate to say it, but it's harder for our age group to lose weight (I'm 57). My immediate goal is to lose 10 lbs by the end of April, but I think that's WAY too optimistic; I'll be happy if I lose 5. I average 2 lbs/month but sometimes I can go 2 months and only lose 2 lbs. In our case, persistence and looking at the long game pays off, rather than the quick fix. Taking longer is better anyway; you're more likely to change your lifestyle if you're more conscious of what you eat and what you burn for a longer period.

cupcakes8kr

Alloutof_Bub According to the reports on MFP i have been eating between 1190 or so and 1500 calories since 1/23 Exercise I have been doing 500 - over 1000 calories burned .
Kyladefranco - nope no loss.

Vivomagee - I know right. when I was younger all I had to do was skipp one meal and I lose 10 lbs. LOL

monib1213

How is your water intake? Make sure to increase that. I've done well also getting of soda (even diet) and cutting out processed sugar.

Pialove16

I started Jan 22 and lost 4.9# so far. I'm not a big exerciser, mostly walk my dog. I track everything and even go over some days. I was hoping to lose more but I'm not willing to drastically restrict my calories. So I'm happy with slow steady loss and yet feel satisfied. Big goal is losing the weight and learning moderate portions to maintain it. A big feat!! You can do it!! Like bubblegum said, the simple math of more burned than intake is the straightforward answer. I even gained a pound middle of one week as just too much over a few days negated any loss. It's a fine balance. But over time you must eat less calories to lose the weight. Especially if you're not into crazy exercise to offset your calories.
Decide what balance is tolerable for you and you will see results!!

Sara1791

Are you weighing your food and using accurate entries from the database? Logging every nibble, lick, & swipe?

rhileyschubbygranny

I am a 50 year old female, 5'2" tall, and would like to lose about 50 lbs of fat. I started on 1/3/17 lifting weights 3 x a week, 30 min of Cardio Dance DVD's 2 x per week, upping my protein a ton, I weigh and measure everything, am eating 1300 calories 6 days per week and eating anything my heart desires 1 day per week. I have lost 1 pound per week.

cupcakes8kr

^^ Isn't it just maddening !

cupcakes8kr

I do feel better, more energy, and tighter if that's possible and I should be happy with that. BUT I have always been a scale watcher and I need to break that habit. I DO NOT WANT TO BE A SIZE 16 for my daughters wedding, so I will continue with my program and hope for the best.

Spliner1969

rhileyschubbygranny wrote: »

and eating anything my heart desires 1 day per week.

It's ok to eat what you want one day a week, as long as you log it and stay under your calorie goal. You're probably undoing the entire week's worth of good work in one day. Try logging that "one day" and see how many calories you eat. You are likely going to find that instead of sitting at a 1-2lb/wk deficit that because of that one day you're at a <1lb per week (probably a lot less) deficit.

This is why cheat days do not work. I'm not saying you can't have one, but make yourself accountable for it. Log it, and make up for it the rest of the week.

vivomagee

cupcakes8kr wrote: »

Alloutof_Bub According to the reports on MFP i have been eating between 1190 or so and 1500 calories since 1/23 Exercise I have been doing 500 - over 1000 calories burned .
Kyladefranco - nope no loss.

You're not eating *enough*. 1190 calories is below the absolute minimum anyone should be eating, which is 1200 calories. But even at 1500 calories, with the amount you currently weigh and the amount of exercise you're getting, your body has gone into famine mode--it thinks it has to hang onto every little ounce of food/calorie because it's not getting enough fuel. Try upping to 1500-1800 calories for a week. Better yet, do that for a week and then on the day after that, eat *more*. You may just see a drop. I did that and every single time I weighed myself after the day when I could eat more, I'd lost weight.

cupcakes8kr

OMG really, that much. I dont know how to process that information. I'll read this again later to night ( at work right now)

bizgirl26

Not sure how tall you are ? 20 pounds by June 3rd should be doable as I am assuming you are most likely in the obese category? It is harder to lose weight when you are closer to your ideal weight . I agree you are not eating enough . I am eating around 1500 calories a day and I am losing 2 pounds a week consistently and I am a grandma who has had a full hysterectomy so although weight loss might not be easy it is doable at your age

3rdof7sisters

I think it may just be an individual thing, more than an age thing. I joined MFP 12/27/16 and started with the New Year (1/1/17). I am 65. Down -16 pounds, weighing, measuring, and logging everything I eat and drink, moving more, and staying within my calorie allotment. It is kind of maddening, as my husband, eats about 5X what I do and never gains an ounce. Just the way it is. I guess that a lot of this is trial and error. Finding what will work for each of us, and sticking with it.
Try not to get discouraged. Work at finding what will work for you. Best of luck!

PS I started at 220 too.

cupcakes8kr

Thanks everyone.

bizgirl26

Yes dont get discouraged . Keep going . You will need to tweak it as you go

WeTakeControl

Yeah I agree with everyone else here. I started on Jan 1 and I'm down 12, from 220. At first I wasn't getting any results only a couple pounds lost within the first few days which I soon learned was water weight. MFP recommended me to eat only 1100 calories, yet I am 5'11 and 220 pounds male(well was to start). I was waay under eating, I can't even imagine to what extent I was starving my body as I was going to the gym 4-5 days a week. I didn't start seeing results until I upped my calories to 2,000 after some research. Now I'm gradually loosing 1-2 pounds a week. Kind of ironic when I realized I wasn't loosing weight because I wasn't eating enough. Might be your case as well, you'd have to test it yourself. Maybe try a different DCE calculator('s) to figure out how much calories you should be eating instead of MFP, and that way you can add a custom calorie goal to the app.

vivomagee

I can't believe MFP is recommending 1100 calories/day to anyone! That's dangerous; the only time someone should be eating under 1200 calories is when they're losing weight under medical supervision.

quiksylver296

vivomagee

Spliner1969 wrote: »

rhileyschubbygranny wrote: »

and eating anything my heart desires 1 day per week.

It's ok to eat what you want one day a week, as long as you log it and stay under your calorie goal. You're probably undoing the entire week's worth of good work in one day. Try logging that "one day" and see how many calories you eat. You are likely going to find that instead of sitting at a 1-2lb/wk deficit that because of that one day you're at a <1lb per week (probably a lot less) deficit.

This is why cheat days do not work. I'm not saying you can't have one, but make yourself accountable for it. Log it, and make up for it the rest of the week.

I beg to differ, Spliner1969. For over a year I ate 1500 calories a day for 6 days and on the 7th day--my "carrot day"--I ate whatever I wanted to eat for dinner, and did not count calories. This helped keep me on track--knowing that I wasn't totally depriving myself of things I love to eat because I could eat them for my carrot day dinner made it easier to "deprive" myself through the week. And I consistently lost 1-2 lbs/a week doing that. So I shouldn't have said "cheat day" but rather, a "cheat dinner."