Need a boost - logging food, exercising, not losing

rebeccamcdonald214

Hey all,

About 2 weeks ago, I started a weight loss journey. At first, I was doing great and lost 7lbs in a week. I gained it all back in week 2.

I'm logging everything I eat (I eat suggested servings - even have a food scale to avoid estimations), I'm walking about 10kms/daily and spending about an hour a day with my heart rate in the fat burning zone.

I'm staying well under my 1900 cals daily. I'm eating relatively healthy foods.

What am I doing wrong?

JohnnyPenso

Stick with it at least a month before evaluating. Be 100% sure you are accurately measuring all your food. Keep the faith, the math always works.

amtyrell

Also could be water weight are you near time of month?

rebeccamcdonald214

JohnnyPenso wrote: »

Stick with it at least a month before evaluating. Be 100% sure you are accurately measuring all your food. Keep the faith, the math always works.

Thanks I have a very hard time not monitoring progress and such, and right now it just seems like my body hurts for nothing lol

rebeccamcdonald214

amtyrell wrote: »

Also could be water weight are you near time of month?

I should be about 2 weeks away from my cycle

AnnPT77

If your body hurts, you're holding onto water weight for muscle repair. It won't keep adding and adding, so fat loss will out-pace it after an initial pseudo-plateau.

As far as time of month: Some women gain around their period, some at around ovulation - it varies. Once you've been at this for a couple of months, you'll have a better idea how your body works, especially if you're weighing daily. That experience will also help you to see that a little extra sodium, or a little extra carbs - even if a totally healthy level of either - can add a little water weight very temporarily. Water weight fluctuates. It's not a big deal.

For now, the best plan is to stay on course, patiently and persistently. Most people who do this can eventually succeed. Those who panic and start changing things wildly . . . they seem to be more likely to fall off course, not sure why.

LucasWilland

It could be that you are eating more than you think. Though I by no means advocate measuring and recording every once of food that touches your lips, a lot of people are shocked when they find out just how much a serving of peanut butter or pasta actually looks like. If you are just eyeballing it or going by memory, chances are that you could be off by 300 to 500 calories, which eaten on a daily basis could cancel the deficit entirely.

It also could be that you are under stress or perhaps have a cycle coming up. In this case, the female body is notorious for holding as much as 7 pounds of water. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do about this. Having a dry carb refeed every week might help, as carbs help absorb the extra water being held by the tissue, but as with most things, it will boil down to a matter of time.

In other cases, think of taking different measurements other than weight on a daily basis. While weight is one indicator, it certainly isn't the biggest indicator. Take daily weigh ins first thing in the morning after using the toilet, and compare the averages week after week. You can also take waist, hip, and neck measurements and average those out. This will help determine if you are losing fat in periods of extreme water retention.

If nothing is happening within at least 3 weeks, preferably four, then you must increase the deficit by adding in more activity or decreasing calories (doing both is not recommended). Decreases should be as small as possible to minimize metabolic adaptation, no more than an 8 to 10% reduction.

Remember to take diet breaks, periods of maintenance calories, to help restore some hormonal function lost being in a deficit. Though there is no general guideline, every 8 weeks is not a bad idea.

LucasWilland

Contrary to what some people will tell you, females are not just smaller men with periods. This article on JPS Fitness has some scientific reasons why it is harder for females to lose fat:https://www.jpshealthandfitness.com.au/female-fat-loss-different/

jamesha100

1900 calories per day seems quite a high allowance. I weigh 250, am 5'11" and my allowance for losing 2lb per week is 1530.

I set my activity level to sedentary even though I am fairly active as I do not really find that eating back exercise calories works for me.

My weekly calorie deficit is 10,000+ but this week I have only lost 2lb. On some days my weight has increased so I feel your pain.

rebeccamcdonald214

jamesha100 wrote: »

1900 calories per day seems quite a high allowance. I weigh 250, am 5'11" and my allowance for losing 2lb per week is 1530.

I set my activity level to sedentary even though I am fairly active as I do not really find that eating back exercise calories works for me.

My weekly calorie deficit is 10,000+ but this week I have only lost 2lb. On some days my weight has increased so I feel your pain.

I thought it was high as well...i feel like it takes effort to eat 1900 cals! Perhaps I'll switch my activity to sedentary as well...

Afura

Depends on the weight. Mine is sedentary and at 2lb/week I'm at around 1500, at 1.5 I'm at 1700.

OP, 2 weeks in the grand scheme of things is a small slice. A really annoying one, don't get me wrong, when you want to see a loss. If you keep looking around the forum you'll find many similar posts like yours, or where people haven't seen any fluctuation for weeks. Weight loss is unfortunately not linear, and it takes time.
A more accurate option of success as well is either measuring yourself, or seeing how well your clothes are fitting at least.

Gozomalta28

AnnPT77 wrote: »

If your body hurts, you're holding onto water weight for muscle repair. It won't keep adding and adding, so fat loss will out-pace it after an initial pseudo-plateau.

This is so interesting to me....sorry jumping on someone else's thread....I have been very diligent this week...worked out all week; including an 11 mile run, 6 mile run, 4 mile run and 3x 60 min cardio and strength workouts since Sunday. I have eaten well and tracked my food. My body this morning was telling me to take a break, well I did not since I am planning a rest day tomorrow. The scale has gone up all week! and it has been frustrating!! What do you mean by if your body hurts you are holding on to water weight? Hoping that is what is going on in my case?? Thank you!

crb426

What are you stats that give you 1900 calories as a female?

Did you set your activity level to highly active or something?

mmdavid13

amtyrell wrote: »

Also could be water weight are you near time of month?

I always hold onto about +5lbs during and I've notice about a week after

rebeccamcdonald214

crb426 wrote: »

What are you stats that give you 1900 calories as a female?

Did you set your activity level to highly active or something?

The one step above lightly active - I go for a brisk walk for a minimum of an hour every day and spend most days on my feet.

rebeccamcdonald214

rebeccamcdonald214 wrote: »

crb426 wrote: »

What are you stats that give you 1900 calories as a female?

Did you set your activity level to highly active or something?

The one step above lightly active - I go for a brisk walk for a minimum of an hour every day and spend most days on my feet.

I've since dropped it down a level to lightly active and it's now giving me 1540 cals/daily

charlieandcarol

By stats people are asking for height and weight as well as activity level

AnnPT77

Gozomalta28 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

If your body hurts, you're holding onto water weight for muscle repair. It won't keep adding and adding, so fat loss will out-pace it after an initial pseudo-plateau.

This is so interesting to me....sorry jumping on someone else's thread....I have been very diligent this week...worked out all week; including an 11 mile run, 6 mile run, 4 mile run and 3x 60 min cardio and strength workouts since Sunday. I have eaten well and tracked my food. My body this morning was telling me to take a break, well I did not since I am planning a rest day tomorrow. The scale has gone up all week! and it has been frustrating!! What do you mean by if your body hurts you are holding on to water weight? Hoping that is what is going on in my case?? Thank you!

Muscle repair can cause the body to hold onto some water weight as part of the repair process. Having worked out vigorously enough that one has sore muscles is a decent indication that muscle repair is going on (but healing can be happening even without obvious soreness).

New workouts - different activity, higher intensity, or longer duration - can lead to water weight gain. If you're losing fat, the fat loss will outpace the water weight soon enough.

And don't cut back water consumption to try to avoid the issue: Oddly, that could make things worse, not better.

Patience!