Not losing weight

hedwardsb

Are you weighing at the same time every day under the same conditions--same clothes, etc.
How often are you weighing? My weight fluctuates from day to day depending on what I've eaten the day before even if I consume the same calories. I'm going to weigh more the day after Chickfila even if I stayed within my calories for the day. I weigh several pounds more later in the day than first thing in the morning.

Frankly, at a month, you're early days into healthy habits. The scale may not show it right away.
As a middle age woman who periodically gets out of control with eating and gains about 20-30 extra pounds every 5 years before getting back on track and down to my preferred weight range, 1200 calories a day does not work for me. It is too few even at my age. The first time I used MFP back the year I was turning 40 and wanted to take off the extra weight, I tried to eat around 1230 calories. I felt terrible even when I was hitting macros and eating healthy. And I didn't lose weight the first month-just an up and down on the scale. I decreased my goal to 1/2 a pound a day which gave me more calories, and I felt 1,000 times better, and at some point the weight started falling off. By falling off, I mean I started losing a couple of pounds a month, and some months more.

I suggest reminding yourself to be patient. You're already seeing results in your arms. Maybe your pants even feel better around the middle. Don't obsess over the scale. I do weigh almost daily because my weight fluctuates so much, that's the only way I know, if I am losing. Plus when I weigh daily, I am more accountable and motivated for some reason. But I remind myself, I didn't just wake up one day weighing 20-30 pounds more than a prefer. I got here with by making unhealthy food choices for more than a year just like 8 years ago when I was trying to take the same amount of weight off.

cerise_noir

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »

lydiaisaacs wrote: »

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »

How are you measuring your food intake?

I measure out my food, and input it into the Myfitnesspal food tracker.

That doesn't answer my question.

How? Are you weighing it? Or are you just going off the packet weights? Are you using cups?

Quoting because I didn't see an answer to this.

cerise_noir

Senrak66 wrote: »

When do you do your exercise??you should do them before your first meal. drink alot water. i was stuck at 150 for week and this morning im at 149.6. How many meals a day do you eat?? i eat 3 meals aday for 3 day then 2 meal for 3 days. my eating window is from 12 to 8pm every day. i eat 75% fat 20% protein and 5% carbs. I work out with weights one day then do cardio then next day.

1. It doesn't matter when one exercises.
2. It doesn't matter how many meals a day in every has- this is a personal thing.
3. Meal timing us also personal and irrelevant to weight loss.
4. Macros are also a personal thing. There is no magical weight loss macro split.

drawaimfire

Just to second another poster on the first page, take measurements! I have had the scale stay the same for a few weeks (Love the salt, then drink a bunch of water and throw in shark week and full scale stall or a 'gain') but my measurements showed the very real progress I was making. The scale self corrected after a week or so and the measurement numbers kept me positive.

Best of luck!

cerise_noir

^Thanks! Not sure how I missed that.

Sunna_W

What are your macros / ratios for carbs/sugar + protein + fat?

You may be feeling badly because you don't have enough carbs to match your cardio effort.

Here is a website that has some great information for women and explains cardio exercise and macros:

https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/alissa23.htm

Psychgrrl

It's also possible to build strength (i.e. increase the efficiency of the current muscle tissue) without increasing muscle mass (building additional muscle tissue).

You might want to try measuring, as that may help you see results in a different light. But I'd only measure once a month.

As most people lost fat, the muscle below becomes more visible, thus many folks think they're building muscle when they're actually able to really see it for the first time.

A woman, in a calorie deficit, not doing a progressive heavy lifting program is not going to build muscle in a month. A woman in a caloric surplus doing a progressive heavy lifting program could expect maybe .5-1 pounds of muscle gained per month.

TeaBea

lydiaisaacs wrote: »

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

lydiaisaacs wrote: »

Silentpadna wrote: »

lydiaisaacs wrote: »

Silentpadna wrote: »

lydiaisaacs wrote: »

Hi,

I've been counting my calories for almost a month now, trying to meet 1200 calories on days that I don't do exercise, and 1600 where I am exercising, as I cycle to work Monday to Thursday, which when logged burns 545 calories. Therefore, without increasing my calorie intake for the day, I am lethargic and tired, and at first experienced dizziness and nausea when cycling at 1200 daily calories. In addition to this, I follow the Kayla Itsines BBG work out programme, trying to tone up, in addition to my weight loss.

My diet consists mainly of proteins, vegetables and fruits. I also tend to have white rice every other day or so. I've cut out so much out of my diet, and although I feel much better, I have not lost any weight. I run a couple of times a week too, burning more calories, though it just doesn't seem to be working!

The only change I've seen is a little more muscle on my arms, from the fitness programme, but my main goal is to lose the weight around my lower half.

Any advice?

Need some context here. Age? Ht? Weight?

lydiaisaacs wrote: »

DM_78 wrote: »

Have you considered lowering your carbohydrate intake and increasing healthy fats and protein?

According to the app I am on track with my nutrients. I'll reconsider my diet, but it's hard when I'm already at 1200 and the nutrients I am getting are needed when the intake is so low.

Don't reconsider the diet just yet! It's only been a month and a lot of things could be happening to mask your progress.

If you truly are eating 1200 calories and eating up to 1600 on the exercise days, you likely should be losing fat (this is why the context matters) - but in such a short time that does not always equate to weight. What is your presumed calorie deficit?

Again, need more context.

I'm 18, 5"10 and weight 79.2 kg.

Even if you are sedentary, which you are not, you should be (and probably are if you are logging correctly) losing fat. A sedentary TDEE (i.e. no exercise) would have you burning close to 2000 calories per day, meaning you should be in the neighborhood of about 6 pounds of fat lost by now.

Just because the scale doesn't show does not mean that it has not happening. Fluid retention is notorious for masking fat loss. And...unfortunately it fluctuates as much as that 6 pounds in a single day for many people. That's the reason I highlighted the "only been a month" part of your post.

So either:

1) You really are making progress losing fat, but it's masked by other factors

-or-

2) Your logging is inaccurate.


Based on what I've read, I would not recommend adjusting your diet to eat less.

thank you, the number on the scales have gone up, and I've put that down to muscle gain. It isn't a diet as much for me anymore, I've taken it as a lifestyle so I'm not giving up anytime soon, it's just sad that I haven't noticed any weight loss, and can't tell by weighing myself since the figures have gone up! I'll stick with it and hope to eventually see some changes

you have not put on muscle mass in one month while eating 1200 calories and doing cardio. muscle mass gains (in women especially) is a looooong and difficult process that takes months/years - not 4 weeks. it also takes a calorie surplus and progressive lifting - two things you didn't mention.

even if you were gaining muscle mass (which you are not) it wouldn't be at a rate that would outpace fat loss.

It is much, much, much more likely that your logging is inaccurate.

so my inflated arms are not muscle? I find that very hard to believe.

It isn't cardio, It's a muscle training programme.

Well then, am I to suppose that the increase in mass that can be seen on the scales is weight gain? Because that's ridiculous.

No - your "inflated" arms are not added muscle, It could be with a new strength training routine and sore muscles.....you are hanging onto some water weight.

The best circumstances for adding lean muscle are - calorie surplus, and progressive lifting. Even then, women can only expect to add 1/2 - 1 pound of lean mass in a month.

MysticGoalie

gamerbabe14 wrote: »

I think you'vee gotten a lot of good advice (and some strange/bad woo advice) but I feel as though you're looking for something specific. I'd suggest remaining open to some of the people here who've taken the time to share what is usually the culprit when this happens: over estimation of calories burned and/or inaccurate logging. They're very knowledgeable and have experienced significant weight loss with some amazing success stories!

Woo can also mean Woohoo and be something positive

lydiaisaacs

Thanks all. I'll keep it up of course, just frustrauting to see no loss.

What does water retention mean for me?

DM_78

lydiaisaacs wrote: »

Thanks all. I'll keep it up of course, just frustrauting to see no loss.

What does water retention mean for me?

Do you know how much sodium and sugar you consume on average daily? How much water do you drink in a day? If your sugar and salt intake is high you may want to consider lowering your intake and see if that helps. Also, if you don't drink much water, consider drinking more.