Maybe a little impatient?

Seraxil

Hi guys

I started my journey a week ago and have been quite enjoying it. MFP gave me about 1700 cals a day and I am usually a little under that. I have been exercising and occaisionaly eating those calories back but have been hesitant as many say MFP over estimates what you burn so wouldn’t like to eat back too many!

After seeing some posts around here, I have only just (last two days) started weighing EVERYTHING I eat - hopefully the fact that I haven’t eaten my ex Cals should even that out.

I weighed myself this morning and I have actually put on about 2lb! Surely there’s no way I’ve eaten through my exercise cals and 100-200 daily cal buffer by not weighing everything I eat?

I’m 220 lbs ish so expected a big loss in the first week and am extremely disappointed. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?!

Thanks for the help.

kommodevaran

It is normal to be impatient when you're new, it's okay. You've weighed your food for 2 days. Your weight fluctuates normally a couple of pounds from day to day. Take it easy, you'll get the hang of it.

Seraxil

Thanks for the support!

So you think the rest of the week when I was guesstimating and not weighing it could have caused the weight gain?

I ate so terribly before and didn’t exercise at all, so I find it hard to get my head round that even if I was going over my cals a little, I’m still gaining weight quicker than when I was eating crap all day every day!

Thanks again 😊

88olds

If you’ve just started or increased exercise, it’s water. Recently stressed muscles retain water.
Unless you have crossed the line from exercise into training, I wouldn’t add food because of exercise.

Take heart. Calorie counting has a significant learning curve. You really don’t know where you’re at without a food scale, so you’re just getting started. Also, there are always going to be calorie counting gray areas. It takes time to figure out how you will deal with those.

Just my view, but I think it takes several weeks just to get up and running. 2-3 months makes a good initial test. Keep working. Don’t fall into the short term trap.

Seraxil

^ thanks for that!
I’ll keep going and will hopefully see the results to keep me going soon.

Great support like this on these forums will hopefully get through frustrating times 👍🏻

kommodevaran

No, you don't have enough data to establish whether the higher number on the scale is weight (fat) gain or (water) weight fluctuation. Weight changes are really slow, so it's important that you are patient, and to be patient you need to know what you're doing, and how to measure results, so you can relax and trust the process and do what you have to do, for as long as you have to.

Zoejohnse91

Like the others have said; Water weight. I know other programs like to make out that the weight loss over a week will be consistent and then weighing weekly will be the same but it's just not true it's murder- give it another few days maybe even a few weeks and it'll straight to come off.
Also, and this may be TMI, time of the month is a real kitten! I know you haven't mentioned that but just letting you know that the week before and during can be upsetting on the scales. I retain 5-7lbs during the run up and until it's over.

Seraxil

^ thanks for that really detailed info! 😁 and I don’t think time of month should be affecting me atm but that’s a good thing to look out for. Over the next few months I’ll keep an eye on any patterns- thanks for the heads up!

Spliner1969

The best thing you can do is be consistent for a few weeks then adjust as necessary. Gaining 2lb in a week is nothing to be worried about. I have even gained up to 7lbs in one stinking night and it was all water weight after a tough workout and eating a ton of BBQ (high sodium) the days prior. Drink more water, and keep on weighing and being accurate. It'll work. If, after about six to eight weeks it still isn't working, drop by 100 cals and stay with it for another few weeks. My wife had the same issues, she started with MFP, dropped a pound or two right away, then stopped losing for almost five weeks. Made no sense at all, we were very accurate with her calculations and weighing food. But she kept at it, put the scales aside and eventually the weight started dropping without doing anything different. Counting calories works, the problem is, your body will fight you sometimes, and you may even be losing the weight but it may be masked by water weight. Just remember, every time you lose 5 lbs or more, you need to re-calculate your calories if MFP isn't doing it for you (I don't trust it to do it for me). As you lose weight your body will use less calories so your daily cals will go down to continue losing the same amount of weight per week.

Be consistent, accurate, and patient. CICO works.

psychod787

If you have not, start lifting hard. Plenty of pro. Preserve muscle mass. Best of luck.

AnvilHead

Worth a read to help you along the way: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1

hesn92

Don't let it discourage you! If you've been logging your food, even if you haven't been weighing everything, there's hardly any chance that you've been eating enough to gain weight. It's just water retention. Keep going, it'll come off.

kdbulger

I agree with those who said that if you just started exercising, it's likely water weight. It took my body a couple of weeks to adapt to the new stress I was putting on my muscles and release that water weight. Keep with it! You really will start seeing results soon.

middlehaitch

Just want to touch on the exercise calories.

MFP is designed so you eat back exercise calories.

If, with no data at the moment, you feel you are getting too many calories for your exercise, eat back 50 or 75% consistently. Don't do 100 extra here, 325 there, it gives you no reliable data to look back on. If you are doing a number of different exercise routines decide to eat back 75% (or whatever) of all of them.

After 4-6 weeks of consistent weighing food, weighing yourself, and logging exercise, evaluate through your own data if you are losing at the rate you expected.
Review and adjust you're logging practices first, if that isn't the cause, drop your exercise cals by the percentage needed to keep you on track.

Why do I think this is important?

During your weight loss things happen. You get a cold, break a toe, go on vacation, decide you need a break from exercise, decide you want to increase your exercise, etc, etc. How are you going to be able to adjust your intake when you don't know how many calories you are burning.

ie: in the winter I do a yoga class. It burns 250 cals for 90 min.
In the summer I tend to go for long-ish walks they burn 150cals.
Knowing the 100cal difference, I can adjust either my activity or calories to keep me on track.

I have been maintaining for about 9 years and knowing my exercise calorie burns has helped me keep on track even when exercise has had to be totally abandoned for a couple of months at a time.

Knowledge is power. The more you know about how and when you burn calories, the more you can control your weight, and problem solve, long term.

Cheers, h.

lorrpb

>>Surely there’s no way I’ve eaten through my exercise cals and 100-200 daily cal buffer by not weighing everything I eat?<<

Since you say you are not weighing everything you eat, that would be the first change to make.

Seraxil

Spliner1969- thanks for that. And I wouldn’t have even thought to make sure my cals reduce as I lose weight (duh!) thanks!
Hesn92 and kdbulger - thanks a lot for the encouragement
Middlehaitch- I suppose I kind of just though exercise cals were a bonus so wasn’t too specific with them, but you’re right. Just like you can’t lose weight without knowing exactly what you put in, I suppose you can’t have complete control unless you know exactly what goes out etc. Thanks for that! I do have a sports watch on the way too so I plan to cross reference calorie burnt estimates with a google search calculator, my watch and MFP. I think I was worried that the cals burnt weren’t accurate so was too scared to touch them.
Lorrpb- yes definitely. I’m on maybe day three? Of weighing my food now and I feel much more in control. Quite enjoying it actually ha! Although it’s shocking to see how many cals are in ‘treats’. My hubby had some dolly mix sweets so I weighed myself 50 cals worth. It was about 6 sweets 🙈

cheryldumais

I completely understand your frustration. So many things can affect it and at this point it's really hard to say what it is. Lots of great advice here but one last thing I would offer up. When you set your activity level did you take into consideration your exercise? For example I get 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day but my job is a desk job. I chose sedentary and then I take full credit for my exercise. If I said I was moderately active then used the exercise calories I would be counting them twice. Another thing that you most likely already thought of is premenstrual water weight. Other than that just keep logging and be patient it really does work.

Vonny198334

You've had some amazing advice already but I'd just like to add my quick 2p. No idea if it's applicable to you but thought I'd throw it out there just in case!

I only know what I actually weigh 2 weeks out of 4. I "gain" about 5lbs of water during ovulation & again during actual TOM. In the weeks between I get a "whoosh" with the scale number revealing the water weight has gone as well as whatever fat loss has been masked. Used to drive me crazy in the beginning but it's just what my body does - I'm stuck with it haha!

I personally get round it by weighing daily & recording on a simple weight app. Understand it's not a helpful solution for everyone, but for me it meant I could pinpoint this trend from early on. I can almost anticipate the whoosh down to the day now...
I also happened to start my new lifestyle during week one of my cycle in July last year. Had I not, I'd have been in the exact same position as you are now with no idea why...can totally understand how disheartening that would be!

This month I haven't "lost" anything at all. Ive recently increased my weight training so I have no idea what my "true" weight is... I do notice my clothes are looser compared to this time last month though.

It's a long haul of a road with many things to learn about your body but as others have said, only way through is to keep going as accurately as you can!

Best best luck!

Seraxil

cheryldumais wrote: »

Lots of great advice here but one last thing I would offer up. When you set your activity level did you take into consideration your exercise?

I actually think I set it to lightly active as I’m a teacher (but on summer hols at the moment!!) so that’s something I could change! Thanks you.

Vonny198334: I’m so glad you said this. I’m currently in my ovulation ‘week’ atm and had no idea I could be retaining water due to that. I’ve felt really bloated the last couple of days. I can’t say I’ve noticed a trend as I used to be always bloated with the crappy food I ate! I’ll see how I feel once it’s over!

Vonny198334

Sounds like you may also suffer from being a lassie...it can be a real joy haha!

When I say spot the trend early on though, I meant from logging my weight every day for about 3 months. It's almost like clockwork but I had to weigh for a few cycles to actually see the data. It's absolutely not necessary to do, but it helped me understand personally. Even though I use it daily, the scale really isn't my friend though because for half the month, it isn't "accurate" as such. The measuring tape/clothing on the other hand are always reliable!

Though water retention does have its own indicators...I always feel bloated & look more "squishy" when I have it, to the point my husband knows just from hugging me. Weird thing is, the weeks I'm carrying it are the ones folk usually ask me if I've lost more weight!! Go figure...

The cycle has always been that way, it's just that when I weighed 6 stone more it wasn't quite as evident & because I wasn't scrutinising my body (quite the opposite) I just never really noticed. Like you, I thought it was just the food...the amount in my case!
The things ive learned about my body this past year have been more than I can count...
You'll get there

Seraxil

Vonny198334 wrote: »

Sounds like you may also suffer from being a lassie...it can be a real joy haha!

When I say spot the trend early on though, I meant from logging my weight every day for about 3 months. It's almost like clockwork but I had to weigh for a few cycles to actually see the data. It's absolutely not necessary to do, but it helped me understand personally. Even though I use it daily, the scale really isn't my friend though because for half the month, it isn't "accurate" as such. The measuring tape/clothing on the other hand are always reliable!

Though water retention does have its own indicators...I always feel bloated & look more "squishy" when I have it, to the point my husband knows just from hugging me. Weird thing is, the weeks I'm carrying it are the ones folk usually ask me if I've lost more weight!! Go figure...

The cycle has always been that way, it's just that when I weighed 6 stone more it wasn't quite as evident & because I wasn't scrutinising my body (quite the opposite) I just never really noticed. Like you, I thought it was just the food...the amount in my case!
The things ive learned about my body this past year have been more than I can count...
You'll get there

Confession- I’m yet to buy digital scales for weighing myself! :0 we have normal scales that I took from my parents when we moved out. That’s next on my to buy list! Then I’ll weigh myself more regularly as you say and maybe get an average once per week instead of just weighing once a week.

I can’t wait to notice when I get squishy- right now I’m always squishy haha.

We’ve been ttc so I’ve learnt a lot too, but I’m hoping to learn more now in on my weight loss journey too!

Felix2678

Some Tips:
1. Work on being more discipline with your nutrition.
2. I used to think checking weight was helpful but in fact I found check your waist is better. Since the results will show up their 1st.
3. Once nutrition is controlled start a vigorous cardio workout or some HIT programs.
4. Trust the process!

Seraxil

Felix2678 wrote: »

Some Tips:
1. Work on being more discipline with your nutrition.
2. I used to think checking weight was helpful but in fact I found check your waist is better. Since the results will show up their 1st.
3. Once nutrition is controlled start a vigorous cardio workout or some HIT programs.
4. Trust the process!

Thanks! Guess another item on my ‘to buy’ list is a tape measure

As for HIT training, I’ve been doing the 30 day shred a few times a week along with a couple of long, moderately paced walls with the dog and a long swim. Although I’m still only on level 1, will that workout give me the HIT benefits?

Thanks 🙏

Snowflake1968

Felix2678 wrote: »

Some Tips:
1. Work on being more discipline with your nutrition.
2. I used to think checking weight was helpful but in fact I found check your waist is better. Since the results will show up their 1st.
3. Once nutrition is controlled start a vigorous cardio workout or some HIT programs.
4. Trust the process!

I agree with the measuring over the scale, but just so you don't get discouraged @Seraxil, the waist for me is slower than a snail on crutches to show anything. I have lost as of August 1, I only measure on the 1st of the month, 15 inches. Only 3 of them have been on my waist. I have gone down 2 band sizes and a cup size in my bra, my hips and butt are making all my pants look baggy, my rings are loose, my face is narrower. That darned waist is still just about the same though. I haven't had to switch out pants yet although they are looser they still stay up.