New to diets

ValerieHope300

Hi my name is VAl, im 27 years old.. I used to weigh 140lbs, but over the past 5 years Ive went up to 284 lbs. I could go on all day about why but needless to say I got lazy and I let it go to far. Ive been on a diet since July 3rd, and until today I started trying to get my info into MFP.

My question is.. Im on a diet, of just watching calories.. I take in anywhere from 1200-1400 a day. I work out on a inside bike 10-30 minutes 5 days a week. I consume 6-10 glasses of water a day and I do ab crunches and lift weights for arms and chest. My first week of my diet I lost 7.2lbs the next I lost 4.8 and the past week I lost 3.2 lbs. As you can tell this number keeps going down and im doing the exact same thing.

What could be causing the number drop and is there more I can do to keep the numbers rather high? I set a goal for myself to lose at least 2.5 lbs a week. So far so good but Im seeing the numbers go down each week and I don't understand why...

Any suggestions?

neil4ad

Has your diet been consistent? In addition to watching calories, I would think that paying attention to where the calories are coming from would be important. Are they fat calories? Calories from sugar?

Also, I think that to some degree, it's expected that you'd see a slowdown in weight loss as your body adjusts to exercise. Have you tried varying the types of exercise you do? (Within what's comfortable/healthy for you, you can vary intensity, duration, or try intervals.)

grimendale

Weight loss isn't linear. Your retained water and biomass in your digestive system can fluctuate by 5 lbs either way over the course of a day. When you first start eating at a deficit, you burn through your glycogen stores. Glycogen is bonded to water, so you drop a lot of water as well. This usually leads to large early losses that taper down. Losing more than 2 lbs/week after the initial period is not generally recommended as it can be unhealthy and unsustainable. Expect your weekly losses to drop a little farther and possibly to fluctuate. Don't stress over individual losses too much and don't try to push too fast. Slow and sustainable is better for your health and your long-term sucess.

ValerieHope300

All my meals ( 6 a Day ) Consist of veggies, fruits, whole grains, dairy, protein ect. Most of my snacks are cut cucumbers with some pepper.. salads with low fat balsalmic dressing. I eat NO sugar other than what naturally comes in some foods. I eat a rice with most dinners and its always brown rice and chicken mostly. I measure all my foods.. my snacks vary day to day
Low fat pringles
Pretzels
cucumbers
Salads
fruits
rice cakes
low fat frozen yogurt
All these things are serving sizes and never go over 100 calories per snack.
I drink only water ( sometimes I sqirt some MIO in it ) and green tea.

DavPul

Any suggestions?

reset your goal to 2 pounds per week as your expectations are too high. the initial weight you lost was primarily water weight and that rate was never going to be sustained. 1-2 pounds is about all of the fat a person can expect to burn safely and effectively. As you get closer to goal 1 pound a week will be more likely.

you're working abs, arms, and chest which are some of the smallest muscle groups in your body. if you would like more bang for your buck, you're gonna want to work your entire body, especially your two largest muscle groups, legs and back. If you spend the majority of your exercise efforts on legs, back, and chest, you'll find the rest of your body comes in line. seek out a good full body resistance training routine and follow it at least 3x per week.

MakingAChoice

Something else you should do is track your measurements. Some weeks you might see no movement in the scale, but your jeans get looser. So don't expect everything victory to be reflected in numbers on the scale. Your diet look great, stick with that and you will be golden. Just do not expect overnight results, that is unrealistic. It took you 5 years to put it on, it will take time to get it off.

sexymuffintop

Your weight loss won't continue at that kind of rate. It never does. It's perfectly normal to lose 2 lbs a week at your kind of weight. If you cut your deficit too much you risk losing excessive amounts of muscle too. Everyone loses some muscle whilst dieting, but you can help keep what you have by following a decent strength training routine and keeping that deficit at a reasonable level.