My weight isn't budging even after doing most things right

My weight isn't budging since two weeks eventhough I do believe I've been maintaining a calorie deficit throughout the week. I read somewhere once that if your body has stayed on a weight for a long time its harder to lose/gain weight. I have maintained this weight for about 2 years (on and off tries for weight loss) and I think that that might be the reason. I also heard that in that order it may be a good idea to give your body a 'shock' and maybe increase the deficit by taking in fewer calories than recommend. I'm willing to give that a try and eat 1000 calories this week. But I'm not sure if health wise if thats safe or not. I'm only 5'2 and mfp currently recommends me 1340 kcals in order to lose 0.5kg (1 lb) per week. I don't think reducing it to 1000 is unsafe, however I'm not an expert and would like to know if you have any opinions.
However, I know that sticking to 1000 kcals is not gonna last long term (knowing myself) and I want to do it to give myself a kickstart as i've only lost 1 kg in the past 3 weeks and its not very motivating.
So I want to do it for only a week then go back to eating 1340 kcals, but I'm scared that if I manage to lose weight this week, i will put it on when i return to 1340 kcals, eventhough thats still a deficit.
I would like to hear if anyone here knows more about this topic. Most peoole hit a plateau halfway (or atleast some way) along the journey. But the weight comes off easily in the start for most people and that isn't the case with me :(
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Replies

  • Isra_1
    Isra_1 Posts: 44 Member
    Panini911 wrote: »
    Do you use a food scale and log everything religiously, no skipping, cheating or forgetting? If no, start there.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

    x100

    also, have you started a new exercise?

    has the scale not budged AT ALL? or just not as much as you want?

    Not AT ALL
  • musicfan68
    musicfan68 Posts: 1,143 Member
    Sre you using a food scale?
  • Isra_1
    Isra_1 Posts: 44 Member
    apullum wrote: »
    How much weight are you trying to lose? Two weeks is generally not enough time to know whether or not a weight loss plan is working, especially if you a) have a menstrual cycle, b) have a small amount to lose, and/or c) have just started a new workout routine.

    You should be eating the number of calories MFP recommends, making sure that you are using a food scale to log all food accurately, and you should absolutely not be going below 1200 calories per day.

    Your body does not need a "shock." This is a myth. It is also not true that it's easier or harder to lose weight depending on how long you have been at that weight.

    Im trying to lose about 70lbs. I am menstruating at the moment though. And haven't started a new workout routine. I'm only 5'2 so i thought maybe a 1000kcal would not be too much of a deficit? Please correct me if im wrong.
  • flutes2
    flutes2 Posts: 11 Member
    it took 4 weeks of MFP logging everyday before I lost my first 2#, then over the next 2 weeks I lost another 2#. I can take time for your body to release the weight. Just stay on program don't weigh yourself every day (I weigh my self every 2-3 weeks), and you will loose weight over time. it may be slow but that's better than gaining over time
  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
    edited March 2019
    are you using a food scale? if not that is your most likely issue, you are eating more than you think you are.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

    a normal women should never eat below 1200 in order to get the base nutritents they need unless closely supervised by a doctor. and even 1200 is pretty low. At 5'1 i lose at 1400cal/day (0.5lb/week)
  • jlp1994
    jlp1994 Posts: 28 Member
    Just to look at it another way, in the last 3 weeks, you have lost 1kg (2.2lbs) which averages out to .33kg(.73lbs) per week. Even if the scale hasn't moved in the last 2 weeks, that's a great rate of loss - especially as you were going for only .5kg/week. Keep going with what MFP has you doing, it's working!
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,111 Member
    Isra_1 wrote: »
    apullum wrote: »
    How much weight are you trying to lose? Two weeks is generally not enough time to know whether or not a weight loss plan is working, especially if you a) have a menstrual cycle, b) have a small amount to lose, and/or c) have just started a new workout routine.

    You should be eating the number of calories MFP recommends, making sure that you are using a food scale to log all food accurately, and you should absolutely not be going below 1200 calories per day.

    Your body does not need a "shock." This is a myth. It is also not true that it's easier or harder to lose weight depending on how long you have been at that weight.

    Im trying to lose about 70lbs. I am menstruating at the moment though. And haven't started a new workout routine. I'm only 5'2 so i thought maybe a 1000kcal would not be too much of a deficit? Please correct me if im wrong.

    If you’re menstruating right now than not losing weight at the moment is normal for most of us, even a slight gain around this time due to water retention is completely normal. I typically gain 4-7lb the week leading up to my cycle and it doesn’t disappear until the last day of it.
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    Isra_1 wrote: »
    apullum wrote: »
    How much weight are you trying to lose? Two weeks is generally not enough time to know whether or not a weight loss plan is working, especially if you a) have a menstrual cycle, b) have a small amount to lose, and/or c) have just started a new workout routine.

    You should be eating the number of calories MFP recommends, making sure that you are using a food scale to log all food accurately, and you should absolutely not be going below 1200 calories per day.

    Your body does not need a "shock." This is a myth. It is also not true that it's easier or harder to lose weight depending on how long you have been at that weight.

    Im trying to lose about 70lbs. I am menstruating at the moment though. And haven't started a new workout routine. I'm only 5'2 so i thought maybe a 1000kcal would not be too much of a deficit? Please correct me if im wrong.

    You shouldn’t eat less than 1200 calories for a very sedentary petite woman. Especially when you won’t be able to maintain it long term.
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    Also as stated above you need to weigh your food. There’s no way you can eye measure your food (unless you’ve been doing this for a long time and been weighing your food on a scale) especially if you just started. You haven’t answered whether you use a food scale so I’m assuming you don’t. Serving sizes are much much smaller than you’d think.
  • ruqayyahsmum
    ruqayyahsmum Posts: 1,513 Member
    I'm going to guess that you're still eating more than you think. Very often, the recommended serving size is considerably less than you'd imagine. Cereal, for example, is probably less than half of what most people would tip into their bowl. So if you read the box, and it says 150 cals/serving, most people actually eat more than 300.

    The first time I weighed out what a portion of cereal actually is, I remember saying, "You've got to be kidding me. That's IT?"

    It was an eye opener, for sure. ;)

    It's insane. I think a lot of products are deliberately misleading. They tell you the calorie count per portion, but the image on the package shows much bigger portions. No wonder people struggle!

    Cookies get me. "200 calories per portion" and it turns out to be for half
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    zeejane03 wrote: »
    Also as stated above you need to weigh your food. There’s no way you can eye measure your food (unless you’ve been doing this for a long time and been weighing your food on a scale) especially if you just started. You haven’t answered whether you use a food scale so I’m assuming you don’t. Serving sizes are much much smaller than you’d think.

    Heck, I'm 7 years into this process and I still use my food scale regularly, it really is a fantastic weight management tool :)

    This is almost my 3rd year into it, granted I took like 5-6 months for pregnancy away but I still use my food scale for EVERYTHING.