Not seeing results

Britsydavidson

Hello there! I started my weightless journey in September. I wanted to lose 30 lbs by the end of April for a vacation I am going on. It was going well until the weghtloss stopped. I decided to start working out last month and started with just yoga. About three weeks ago we got an elliptical which I use 6 days a week for at least 30 minutes and I added dumbbells and resistance bands to my workout. I do yoga 3 days a week and my resistance bands 3 days week. I have also reduced my calories to 1200-1400 a day. I know not to expect drastic changes but I was hoping to feel better in my clothes. I got on the scale and I have only lost 1 lb in a month. Is there anything else I can he doing to help my process?

janejellyroll

How much did you lose before the weight loss stopped? How long has it been since you've lost weight?

Are you using a food scale and avoiding generic database entries?

Britsydavidson

I lost 10 lbs which was probably just water weight. The last time I lost weight was 2.5 weeks ago. I use a scale for meat so I don't eat more than 4 oz and I use a small plate and bowl so I don't go over my portions. I know I'm probably not losing weight because I am building muscle but I was really hoping to fit in my clothes a little better by now.

janejellyroll

Britsydavidson wrote: »

I lost 10 lbs which was probably just water weight. The last time I lost weight was 2.5 weeks ago. I use a scale for meat so I don't eat more than 4 oz and I use a small plate and bowl so I don't go over my portions. I know I'm probably not losing weight because I am building muscle but I was really hoping to fit in my clothes a little better by now.

Do you weigh anything besides meat?

Britsydavidson

I don't weight my veggies but I do use a measuring cup

Redordeadhead

Britsydavidson wrote: »

I know I'm probably not losing weight because I am building muscle but I was really hoping to fit in my clothes a little better by now.

Unfortunately, that's almost certainly not it. It's very hard for women to put on muscle and it's unlikely you are doing so on 1200 calories and 1 month of yoga.

It may be increased water retention from the new exercise, more salt, hormones, under-estimating your calories if you're not weighing food or a combination of things.

diannethegeek

Britsydavidson wrote: »

I lost 10 lbs which was probably just water weight. The last time I lost weight was 2.5 weeks ago. I use a scale for meat so I don't eat more than 4 oz and I use a small plate and bowl so I don't go over my portions. I know I'm probably not losing weight because I am building muscle but I was really hoping to fit in my clothes a little better by now.

The average woman doing everything she can to build muscle (progressive overload, surplus, etc) gains something like 1 to 2 pounds of muscle a month. It's very hard to gain enough muscle to offset the amount of loss you should be seeing in a deficit.

Your diary is closed to us. Any chance you'd feel comfortable setting that to public for a little bit? It might help to get some extra eyes on it to see what might be happening.

10 pounds lost is nothing to sneeze at! I'd bet that not all of it was water weight, but it does mean you might see a little stall while your body adjusts to such a big change. 2.5 weeks without a loss is still within the realm of perfectly normal water weight fluctuations. Especially for women with a cycle. I'd double check your logging (seriously, use the scale for everything) and give your body some time to adjust.

diannethegeek

Britsydavidson wrote: »

I don't weight my veggies but I do use a measuring cup

Weighing would be better (and ime easier). And be sure you're choosing good entries in the database (it's full of some nonsense) and that you're using the recipe builder for homemade food rather than relying on generic or homemade entries.

janejellyroll

Britsydavidson wrote: »

I don't weight my veggies but I do use a measuring cup

Have you considered using a food scale for all your solid foods (not just meat)? It's a more accurate way of measuring. I found that I was cycling through gaining and losing the same 5 pounds until I began using a food scale to understand how much I was really eating.

Britsydavidson

Okay! I will do the food scale with everything from now on. Hopefully it works. 😊

Panini911

use that scale for everything. all solids. even veggies.

note that meat is best weighted raw as well. how you cook it and how long will impact the final weight.

as you get closer to goal, there is less wiggle room. so while things worked at first, they stop working and thus we need to become more careful and accurate about our diaries.

natedogg076

Right back at no results but doing what i need to do. I am confused l. And very insecure

gradchica27

The food scale is key. With everything—cereal, butter, cheese, nuts...even packaged things like rolls (the packaging might say 95g/1 roll and you weigh the roll and it’s 130g!). Add all those extra 20-50 calories all day and you can easily be 200 calories over budget. Weighing everything can be hard to get used to but it can get you out of a stall.

andykaag

With all the good advices you received here about food, also try to change your workout routine. Introduce a new exercice, aerobic or any cardio training you might like. Maybe your body got used to your routine and doesn't respond as much as it did at the beginning. Best of luck

Phirrgus

gradchica27 wrote: »

The food scale is key. With everything—cereal, butter, cheese, nuts...even packaged things like rolls (the packaging might say 95g/1 roll and you weigh the roll and it’s 130g!). Add all those extra 20-50 calories all day and you can easily be 200 calories over budget. Weighing everything can be hard to get used to but it can get you out of a stall.

For sure. There are a couple of threads about the discrepancies between what the package says and what a serving really weighs with some products. Real eye opener.

savithny

Also: You mention meat and vegetables, but that can't be all your eating?
Lets talk beverages: Tea? Coffee? With sugar? with milk? Other beverages? Wine? Beer?
Condiments: You've gotta count them. Butter on your bread, mayo, sauces, etc. Do you butter or sauce your veg?

Mostly, you have to be 100% honest as you log. You literally are only cheating yourself if you decide "oh, I don't need to log that, or that, or that."

whathapnd

Lots of great advice above. I agree using the food scale for everything really helps. I also suggest taking measurements since you've started working out. But I would take them no more frequently that every six to eight weeks.

You said you'd like to lose 30lbs. What is your starting weight? If you're already close to the weight a BMI chart would consider "normal/healthy," the weight tends to come off more slowly. Tightening up your calories using a food scale becomes even more important once you're close to/inside "normal/healthy" weight.

Good luck!

AnnPT77

andykaag wrote: »

With all the good advices you received here about food, also try to change your workout routine. Introduce a new exercice, aerobic or any cardio training you might like. Maybe your body got used to your routine and doesn't respond as much as it did at the beginning. Best of luck

Your body doesn't burn materially fewer calories because "your body got used to an exercise". For most common activities, the efficiency difference between a fit person and an unfit person of the same size is a minor fraction of the calorie burn. The calorie burn depends primarily on the work being done, in the physics sense of "work".

It takes X amount of fuel to do Y amount of work, and the amount of work doesn't change because one is fitter, it just feels easier when fitter, and a heart rate monitor may (inaccurately) produce a lower calorie estimate (because of limitations in usefulness of heart rate as a proxy for calorie burn).

Adding exercise can burn more calories, of course; and if one is getting bored with the routine and skipping exercise sessions or phoning in the intensity as a result of boredom, that can be a problem. If that happens, switching the routine is good advice. It's also true that as you get fitter, we need to increase exercise intensity, duration, or frequency of exercise in order to keep challenging the body, if we want to continue progressing in fitness. But the calorie burn for the same exercise stays about the same, as fitness increases.

Organizations like Beachbody and their kin like to talk about this "muscle confusion and calorie burn" or "getting used to exercise so need to switch it up for calorie burn" . . . because it helps them sell more fitness products.

If it were true, the standard research-based METS-oriented ways of estimating exercise calories would be completely useless . . . but they aren't (yeah, they aren't perfect, either). If it were true, the Tour de France cyclists would not require many thousands of calories daily to fuel their ride . . . but they do.

OldAssDude

Did you stop losing weight when you started exercising more?

If so, it could be partly do to your muscles holding onto more water.

Also, make sure you are logging your food accurately, and only count half of your exercise calories.

lin_be

OldAssDude wrote: »

Did you stop losing weight when you started exercising more?

If so, it could be partly do to your muscles holding onto more water.

Also, make sure you are logging your food accurately, and only count half of your exercise calories.

Was going to say the same. Your loss has stalled a bit from your new workout routine which is very common.

vindidj

You have received an abundance of good advice here. I would underscore that accounting your calories accurately (weighing food and exercise burn) is critically important. Maintaining a calorie deficit is key to progress, especially in the face of a weight loss plateau. The other side of this equation is that you MUST appropriately fuel your body to fully take advantage of your exercise.

Our bodies are constantly trying to maintain homeostasis and will quickly fall into a metabolic routine that blunts progress unless we provide stimulus to do otherwise. I would suggest exploring intermittent fasting as a possible option to shake up your eating routine. Taking a whole 24 hours off can be challenging, but I have used 8/16 fasting to disrupt stalled weight loss and found it much more approachable. Some people maintain an 8/16 fasting routine all the time. The other suggestion I would add is to reassess your hydration. It sounds like you have a frequent physical activity routine. Be sure to aggressively hydrate during and after exercise to maximize the benefits of exercise in terms of both strength/endurance and weight loss.

Above all, don't give up! Ten pounds of weight loss is solid progress. Keep up the good work! Thanks for posting! Good luck!