Advice

jessicafetter

Hi everyone.
I was hoping for some advice. I'm a 31 year old woman. I have a very sedentary lifestyle. I sit at a computer all day for work and my hobbies include sitting all evening.

Three weeks ago, I began meal prepping vegetables and lean meats and I dropped my daily calorie intake from around 2800 + calories a day to 1700 or less a day.
Two weeks ago, I began doing cardio exercise at the gym. This week was a mixture of cardio and resistance training thanks to the assistance of a trainer developing a workout plan for me.

My question: Why, in these three weeks have I not lost any weight? Not only that, but I've gained a pound. I'm currently about 80 lbs overweight. I thought I would have lost at least a little bit. Has this happened to anyone else? How long did it take for you to start losing? I'm starting to feel defeated already and I know I shouldn't.

estherdragonbat

How are you measuring your food intake? If you aren't using a food scale, you should; measuring cups and spoons can be inaccurate. If you're dealing with low-cal items, like cherry tomatoes or mushrooms, it's not a big deal. And then there's:




The other thing is that increasing physical activity can lead to temporary water weight gain as your muscles repair themselves.

jessicafetter

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jessicafetter

estherdragonbat wrote: »

How are you measuring your food intake? If you aren't using a food scale, you should; measuring cups and spoons can be inaccurate. If you're dealing with low-cal items, like cherry tomatoes or mushrooms, it's not a big deal. And then there's:




The other thing is that increasing physical activity can lead to temporary water weight gain as your muscles repair themselves.

Hi! Thank you for responding. I use a good scale for solid foods and measure cups for everything else.

I didn't know that about the water weight. I've definitely been sore, even from just the cardio...I've always notoriously held onto water like crazy prior to exercising so that's an interesting point for me to consider.

estherdragonbat

Another possibility could be TOM (time of month). Most of us women tend to take on a bit of extra water weight somewhere in our cycle. If that's the case, you should see a significant loss soon.

JnelMcNelly

If you didn’t already, google and use a TDEE calculator online to get an idea of where your calories should be. Also, your macros may play a role. If you’re trying to cut fat its often effective to have higher protein and lower carbs, with moderate to high fat intake. I’ve dealt with this similar situation, but it should subside. As stated above, you will gain a few pounds almost instantly when you begin resistance training as your body is holding onto things like water and recovering. If you had simply lowered your calorie intake and started doing cardio, its certain you’d be seeing more weight loss. Of course, this still isn’t ideal, because to maintain more fat than muscle loss you will want the benefit of at least a little resistance training like you’re doing.

With that said, you still would be seeing a loss by now of no more than 2-4 lbs, and patience is your friend here. Make sure you weigh yourself at the same time every day, most people prefer in the morning on an empty stomach, so you get a very accurate reading. Hold out for a few more weeks and as long as your calorie intake is less than your daily expenditure you will see weight loss.

NovusDies

Take a look at this article:

http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

The good news is that if you have been in a calorie deficit you have lost fat weight. The loss is just being masked by water retention. Eventually it will subside and you will see a new low weight on the scale.

I have to wait all the time. It would be nice if it was linear losses but it is not.

Make sure you are being kind to yourself to help improve your patience. Don't be too strict on food choices. If you want a treat remember a calorie is a calorie and 150 calories of ice cream affects weight loss no differently than 150 calories of vegetables. It just has to fit in your day or week.

kimny72

It's probably water retention from the increased exercise or your hormonal cycle, it will wear off.

If you are in a deficit, you'll lose fat, but not necessarily weight, due to natural fluctuations in all the other stuff in your body

In addition to making sure you are weighing out your portions (yay!) make sure you are double checking that the entries you're choosing in the database are accurate. Many are user entered and not correct or complete.

Otherwise just ride it out. Unfortunately for women with a hormonal cycle, it can take a couple of months to get a feel for the ups and downs of water weight throughout the month

Pickle107

Yup. You definitely need to give yourself at least a month, preferably several. I know I go up a couple of pounds every TOM.

You don't say how tall you are. I'm 5'3", pretty sedentary and have to be at 1200 a day to lose. I'd then eat back my exercise calories, or most of them.