Very disheartened- please help!

K6eod1

Restarted my journey 3 weeks ago after 8 years, logging everything that passes my lips, sticking to just below 1200 cals although mfp says I should be eating 1370cals. first week was great, lost 3lbs, 2nd week, lost nothing and just weighed in for the 3rd time and only lost 1lb!- 4lbs in total.
Since starting, I've been swimming alternate weekdays and I've done 3 or 4 aerobics/cardio classes at the gym..
I only drink water and the odd brew.
Can anyone help/advise?

Panini911

weight loss is a marathon not a sprint. your expectations are much too high and unrealistic.

4lbs in 3 weeks is FANTASTIC progress. you should be extremely happy with all the hard work you have done and fantastic results.

when you add exercise, your muscles also retain more water to repair themselves which can show on the scale as a "gain" but it's just water and it will go away.

which leads me to my next point, weight goes up and down daily and over the week based on random water retention, stuff still in your body and other random things. you need to see the number as one single datapoint and use that to see the TREND OVER TIME. Heck some days my weight goes "up" 2lbs! TWO! but I know that's just water and while I annoyed, I take a deep breath and keep at it. I am near my goal so I am at 0.5/lb a week rate of loss. this means water fluctuations mask much of that so I need to sorta look at the 2-4 weeks big picture to see trend.

lastly - stop under eating. it's not better or good to under eat. you should be eating ALL the 1370 calories PLUS EXERCISE calories. But also use a food scale to ensure you are accurately logging.

how much weight do you want to lose total?

TavistockToad

K6eod1 wrote: »

Restarted my journey 3 weeks ago after 8 years, logging everything that passes my lips, sticking to just below 1200 cals although mfp says I should be eating 1370cals. first week was great, lost 3lbs, 2nd week, lost nothing and just weighed in for the 3rd time and only lost 1lb!- 4lbs in total.
Since starting, I've been swimming alternate weekdays and I've done 3 or 4 aerobics/cardio classes at the gym..
I only drink water and the odd brew.
Can anyone help/advise?

First off, you've lost 4lbs in 3 weeks... in what way is that anything but good?

Second if MFP gives you 1370 cals, why aren't you eating 1370cals?

Scottgriesser

The previous two commenters pretty much nailed it.

Your progress is good. Healthy long term weight management takes a healthy long term commitment.

I was at one time a 295lb man, there were weeks where I would gain weight even though I was at my appropriate deficit. I couldn't understand it, and it was extremely frustrating. Next week I would weigh in again and all the weight from that week and the previous would drop off.

Weight loss will not be a straight decline in your graph. It fluctuates for all types of reasons. Just know that if you stick to the plan, your "real weight" will go down accordingly. Give it a couple months, not a couple weeks.

cmriverside

TavistockToad wrote: »

K6eod1 wrote: »

Restarted my journey 3 weeks ago after 8 years, logging everything that passes my lips, sticking to just below 1200 cals although mfp says I should be eating 1370cals. first week was great, lost 3lbs, 2nd week, lost nothing and just weighed in for the 3rd time and only lost 1lb!- 4lbs in total.
Since starting, I've been swimming alternate weekdays and I've done 3 or 4 aerobics/cardio classes at the gym..
I only drink water and the odd brew.
Can anyone help/advise?

First off, you've lost 4lbs in 3 weeks... in what way is that anything but good?

Second if MFP gives you 1370 cals, why aren't you eating 1370cals?

^^This. Also, you are meant to eat more on days you exercise. Eating too little is going to backfire on you in a big way.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10569458/why-eating-too-little-calories-is-a-bad-idea/p1

quiksylver296

88olds

Take heart. It’s working. Yes, it’s working. You say so right there in your post.

At some point in my 100lb loss. I posted a loss of .2lbs and fell into a funk. What went wrong? What could I do?

The answer was rethink. If I wasn’t going to be ok when losing, and yes that .2 was a loss, how was I ever going to cope with a gain? And, if I didn’t figure out how to cope with both disappointment (a matter of expectations) and actual set backs, I wasn’t going to make it.

Stand in front of the mirror and say out loud “I’m losing weight, it’s working.” Don’t stop because the voice in your head keeps saying it’s a disaster. You aren’t going to get rid of that voice. But keep saying It’s working until you can say it with conviction.

You don’t need to beat the negative voice. You only need to fight to a draw. That same voice will tell you talking to yourself in front of the mirror is stupid. Try it. You might be surprised. I was.