Is it weird not to have a big drop the first week?

shaunjadon

Hello all,

I just started MFP last week. I have made dramatic changes to my diet and physical activity level. I only drink water and have avoided fast foods (which I used to eat Daily). I have tried to exercise an hour a day for the last week and have succeeded all but one day. I tried not to become obsessed with the scale wanting to focus more on how my clothes begin to fit. I FEEL GREAT. I love exercising especially the elliptical. I've actually been motivated by Instagram and Facebook because I snap pics of my readings after I finish on the elliptical, this has helped me endure the 60 mins each day.

But anyway I hopped on the scale today hoping to see at least 2-3lbs gone and was disappointed to only see 1lb dropped. I was looking forward to losing the water weight. Now I'm questioning if I am not drinking enough water because this is the only thing that I've been lacking with this week. I work night shift and sleep most of my day away especially if I am going back to work that night. Drinking water throughout the day has been hard and I've had headaches a few days which was new for me. I sweat a lot during exercise and wondered if maybe my water intake was not enough to actually shed the excess water weight because there is no excess. OR should I be looking for better results going into week 2? Has anyone else had a slow start and if you had, what did you do?

DancingMoosie

Its not that weird. I find that if I have a really small or no loss week, the next week is better. Just give your body time to adjust to the new activity and food intake. You don't have to do everything all at once. Upping your exercise too fast and decreasing your calories drastically can lead to injury. Make sure you take a rest day.

cmriverside

Headaches are often due to dehydration, and any new exercise program is going to cause your muscles to retain water - so yes, drink a lot of water!

scottaworley

Instead you should focus on the positives - you lost a pound in a week! That's a great start.
I would recommend more water, because more water is always a good thing. You may or may not see pounds coming off after you do so. Don't worry about it. Just keep focused on losing fat weight.

ETA: You only want to do as much cardio as you're comfortable with doing for the rest of your life. Your metabolism will adapt to the cardio and take it for granted. When you stop your metabolism will drop and you will not be able to eat as much to maintain your weight.

ahavoc

You should share your diary so we can look and see what and how you are eating. It would enable us to give you better advice.

But if you're working out, you may be replacing fat with muscle, and that's good! Muscle turns up your metabolism. It takes up less room than fat. Perhaps you ate something salty the day before you weighed yourself and your body retained more water.

The important part is that you feel better, you feel good about yourself, and there's the bonus that the scale went down and not in the other direction!

shaunjadon

Thanks so much for the advice guys. I am going to rev up my water intake, any advice on consuming enough water each day?

cmriverside

A common recommendation is drink half your weight in ounces of water a day - so for instance, if you weigh 180, drink 90 ounces a day.


I find I feel better and lose weight more consistently at even more than that - but that's a good starting point - especially if you exercise.

morethanthis0

Totally feel your pain. I used to not workout at all, eat whatever I want and I was staying pretty much the same weight...still overweight but the same. I started working out 3-4 times a week and eating healthier and less...and it's been about 2 months and I haven't had any real change...so discouraging, some days I do just give up cuz I don't see the point. Just gotta stay focused/motivated/and loook at different ways to try and lose weight.

coral_b

Hey; take measurements! I've upped exercise, including starting strength. Only 2 lbs down in a month- but 7.5" down across my body x
Good luck- great motivation!

cmriverside

Those who say they aren't losing after two months - that's a record-keeping error.

Either you are under-reporting food, over-estimating exercise calories, OR you have set your goals too aggressively and need to reevaluate. (Assuming any metabolic issues have been explored, such as thyroid or insulin resistance.)

morethanthis0

Those who say they aren't losing after two months - that's a record-keeping error.

Either you are under-reporting food, over-estimating exercise calories, OR you have set your goals too aggressively and need to reevaluate. (Assuming any metabolic issues have been explored, such as thyroid or insulin resistance.)

Well I wasn't keeping record before (only until about a week and half ago) but I expected some change seeing as I did start to exercise and eat healtheir options and less than before. But that's why I started keeping track on MFP for the past couple weeks because I figured I should monitor it closer. So now I am just trying to see what happens.