New to the weightloss, calorie counting and exercise regime.

Katz1105

Ive been staying in my calorie count, and do moderate exercises, but i dont seem to lose weight and sometimes pick up a few grams. Is this normal at first or should I be worried?
Ive been at this for 8 days now.

Lietchi

8 days is still very early. Our weight fluctuates daily from differences in water weight and food waste in our system: https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

If the exercise is new, that alone could be causing the scale to stay the same while you're losing fat (water retention for muscle repair).

Generally speaking, it's good to look at the longer term trend to determine whether you're on the right path or not: at least one month, or one menstrual cycle if applicable.
And depending on the weight loss rate you selected, a longer period might be necessary: I lost weight at the slowest rate (0.25kg/week) and there were whole weeks or sometimes nearly a month where I though I was gaining weight, and then suddenly 'whoosh' I lost a few lbs.

You might want to use a weight trending app to evaluate your weight loss: Libra for Android, or Happyscale for Apple. It's not a guarantee (sometimes even the trend seems to go upwards when in reality fat loss is still happening) but it gives a much better idea of your weight trend beyond daily fluctuations.

I would also suggest using complementary ways of monitoring your progress: progress pictures and measurements.

It also can't hurt to check if your logging is accurate: are you weighing your foods? Checking that the food database entries you're using are correct? Avoiding generic entries like 'one slice of cake'? Using the Recipe or Meal functions to log homecooked meals?

Katz1105

@Lietchi thank you for that information, I don't have a food weigh thingy so I use a cup measurement. Still learning all of this. Thank you so much, after I went to the bathroom I actually saw that I lost 200grams. I'm going for 1kg a week but because I weigh so much, the exercise is a bit hard right now so I do moderate exercise to start with. I was thinking maybe I should weigh myself every once in 2 weeks instead of once a week. Also, Fridays are my cheat days, so that's why I weigh every Friday morning before I ate anything.

AnnPT77

Katz1105 wrote: »

@Lietchi thank you for that information, I don't have a food weigh thingy so I use a cup measurement. Still learning all of this. Thank you so much, after I went to the bathroom I actually saw that I lost 200grams. I'm going for 1kg a week but because I weigh so much, the exercise is a bit hard right now so I do moderate exercise to start with. I was thinking maybe I should weigh myself every once in 2 weeks instead of once a week. Also, Fridays are my cheat days, so that's why I weigh every Friday morning before I ate anything.

If you aren't already, log the cheat days, even if you have to estimate.

We don't want to see you come back confused, asking "why am I not losing?". It might work out just fine, your cheat days. But if you log them, you'll know the impact.

Also, get the food weigh thingie. They're inexpensive, less than the price of a takeout pizza. You're probably eating fewer takeouts, or something like that - most of us do. Buy the thingie.

Not only is it more accurate, it's quicker and easier than cups/spoons, once you know the tips/tricks. If you're like lots of us, you'll learn to appreciate it. Despite the maybe-misleading clickbait thread title, this thread is about those tips/tricks:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10498882/weighing-food-takes-too-long-and-is-obsessive#latest

Best wishes!

kshama2001

Count me as another vote for getting a food scale. It was wonderful no longer having to stress about how much to pack a cup, plus no more measuring cups to wash!

Also, if the exercise is new, be aware that you could retain some water from that initially.

Furthermore, females with a menstrual cycle might retain a few pounds of water at ovulation as well as premenstrually. That is why I compare myself to the same point in last month's cycle, rather than look at my weight from last week.