not losing weight

ella18036
ella18036 Posts: 1 Member
in Getting Started
Im about 42 pounds overweight and am on day 16 of doing fitness pal. I've logged everything I've ate and drunk and every day except one have been in calories deficit. Im active and earn 600- 1000 extra calories a day but am not using all these. I have not lost any weight. Im female, menopausal and have low thyroid ( taking thryroxin) Im trying to keep low fat. Any hints?

Replies

  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    All I can say is that a calorie burn of 600-1000 is what athletes burn in high intensity exercise or competition. It's awfully hard for the average exerciser to hit those numbers. Off hand, I'd say your problem is an inflated calorie burn. You may have to look at that and at least cut them in half. Try that and see if you start losing.
  • delillolauren
    delillolauren Posts: 35 Member
    Are you using a food scale and logging accurately?
    Have you recently begun a new workout routine? (Can cause some water retention)
    Try eating less of your exercise calories back for a week and see if that helps.
    It’s still early days..
  • Xellercin
    Xellercin Posts: 924 Member
    I personally always stick with a routine for at least 6 weeks to assess how it is working. The human body, especially women's bodies don't tend to give very reliable scale data over short periods of time. If you stay exactly the same for 6 weeks, that's great, that means you are 99% of the way to losing, and just a small change should be sufficient to lose.

    Give it time and don't overcorrect. This is the biggest mistake I see people making. They get frustrated with unpredictable scale results and don't take the time to really assess what their new routine is ACTUALLY doing to their body.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,225 Member
    Xellercin wrote: »
    I personally always stick with a routine for at least 6 weeks to assess how it is working. The human body, especially women's bodies don't tend to give very reliable scale data over short periods of time. If you stay exactly the same for 6 weeks, that's great, that means you are 99% of the way to losing, and just a small change should be sufficient to lose.

    Give it time and don't overcorrect. This is the biggest mistake I see people making. They get frustrated with unpredictable scale results and don't take the time to really assess what their new routine is ACTUALLY doing to their body.

    ^^^ This, especially (but the other replies before it are useful, too).

    If you're female and not in menopause, follow a new routine long enough to compare body weight at the same relative point in at least 2 different menstrual cycles. It's not the most common pattern, but some women only see a new low weight once a month, at a particular point in their cycle - hormone-related water weight can be that weird.

    (Water weight for any reason can mask fat loss on the scale. Your body may be up to 60% water, so that's meaningful. Several-pound water weight fluctuations are part of how a healthy body stays healthy - they're normal and should be completely expected.)
  • joyputnam04
    joyputnam04 Posts: 14 Member
    Are you eating or drinking any added sugar? When I cut out added sugar my weight dropped significantly over a short period of time.

  • Indiri13
    Indiri13 Posts: 104 Member
    Day to day you may not lose because of fluctuations in water weight, etc. but you should see an overall trend of the numbers dropping (so the scale may stay the same or even go up a bit one day but go down more on other days). If you are not losing overtime then you are overestimating your deficit. Either you are not as active as you think you are and have set your calorie goal to high or you are not estimating the calories in your food and drinks quite right yet. Initially a food scale will help you to better determine what you are eating. 1 medium apple, for example, still has quite a bit of range but 2oz of apple is more exact. Also make sure that you are including cooking oils, condiments, drinks, and "just a bite" things. If it goes into your mouth it should be logged.

    That all said, you have only been doing this for 2 weeks. The changes you have made to what you eat may be masking progress. I once cried to my mother because I was eating so little and losing nothing. She asked me what I was eating and I showed her how many vegetables I was now eating that I didn't before. She then laughed at me because one thing I was now eating a lot of was celery. Yes, it's low in calories but it's also really high in sodium naturally and I was holding a lot of water weight. I stopped eating celery and 5 or 6 pounds dropped off in a couple of days. Long term I could have continued to eat celery and the scale would have still dropped but I just wasn't seeing that initial progress.
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited November 2022
    One thing you might consider is to weigh yourself several times a day and record the results in a spreadsheet. I am actually doing it myself right now. I was never very interested, but I realise that daily weight fluctuations can discourage people, so I am experimenting to see what I can do to ease that anxiety. I am weighing myself just before meals (because it is easy to remember it, no other reason) and then making a chart that shows my lowest, highest and average weight of the day, as well as the difference between the highest and the lowest weight of the day. I have only done it from 26 OCT through 10 NOV so far, but it does show how important these fluctuations can be. The highest fluctuation so far was on 10 NOV, at 2.2 kg, and the lowest was on 01 NOV at 0.6 kg:
    1hame9j03iu7.png
    In short, don't be encouraged and/or discouraged by daily fluctuations. For the rest, I agree with the advice you got from the other posters. In short: don't be in a hurry. The shorter the period of time, the less reliable your measurements will be. Time is your friend, not your enemy or as a friend taught me a very long time ago: time never forgives what you did without it.

    One rule of thumb you might want to contemplate is that if your highest weight on a day is lower than your lowest weight on any preceding day, that is a pretty good indication that you have indeed lost weight.

    Please note that I am unaware of randomised controlled studies of this. This is only an experiment I am doing as an attempt to help others. It may work, then again, it may not.
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 921 Member
    16 days isn't long enough to see real weight loss.

    Something also that jumps out at me is saying you are burning 600-1000 calories through exercise --- what are you doing? That's likely inaccurate. Unless you're an athlete....
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,841 Member
    edited November 2022
    OP hasn't been active since October 31st. Yet another 'one time poster' who unfortunately disappears just after asking for advice...
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,225 Member
    westrich20940 wrote: »
    16 days isn't long enough to see real weight loss.

    Something also that jumps out at me is saying you are burning 600-1000 calories through exercise --- what are you doing? That's likely inaccurate. Unless you're an athlete....

    OP didn't say exercise specifically. Yeah, 600-1000 calories of exercise is a lot. Depending on details of settings, a 600-1000 calorie adjustment (reconciliation to a fitness tracker for all-day activity) . . . that may not be as extreme an idea.
  • sugaraddict4321
    sugaraddict4321 Posts: 15,884 MFP Moderator
    Lietchi wrote: »
    OP hasn't been active since October 31st. Yet another 'one time poster' who unfortunately disappears just after asking for advice...

    Thank you for continuing to welcome new members even if they don't reply. I think sometimes people hope for THE magic answer to solve whatever problem, but the reality is that weight loss is very individual and it takes some trial and error to find what works.
  • KatieBeeNC
    KatieBeeNC Posts: 1 Member
    I was hoping to find some answers here. This isn’t my first rodeo or first frustration. I am counting and weighing every calorie. I am at or under calories every day. I am watching macros. I am not losing anything. This has been my experience before - even when I was under the care of a doctor and registered dietician. The weight just doesn’t come off of me. Yet, if I eat what I want on a single day (like a holiday or special occasion) I gain. I’ve gained 10 pounds this year and I can tell you what days it happened on. Almost 3 weeks into this diet and I’ve lost only 1.6 lbs. What gives?! I’m hungry and tired of this already.
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited December 2022
    KatieBeeNC wrote: »
    I was hoping to find some answers here. This isn’t my first rodeo or first frustration. I am counting and weighing every calorie. I am at or under calories every day. I am watching macros. I am not losing anything. This has been my experience before - even when I was under the care of a doctor and registered dietician. The weight just doesn’t come off of me. Yet, if I eat what I want on a single day (like a holiday or special occasion) I gain. I’ve gained 10 pounds this year and I can tell you what days it happened on. Almost 3 weeks into this diet and I’ve lost only 1.6 lbs. What gives?! I’m hungry and tired of this already.
    Welcome to reality. Weight loss may be simple, but it is by no means easy. The best advice you can get, is from a doctor, i.e. an MD. That said, the basic rule is this:

    The only way to lose fat weight is to ingest less energy than you need to stay alive.
    The only way to gain fat weight is to ingest more energy than you need to stay alive.

    As for the number you give, 1.6 lbs in almost 3 weeks, is a perfectly honourable weight loss of about 250 g a week, or 1 kg a month. If that number is correct, you have an energy deficit of about 275 kcal a day. There are two ways to speed that up: ingest less energy and/or expend more energy.

    You may want to have a look at the body weight planner of the NIDDK:
    https://www.niddk.nih.gov/bwp

    You can do this. It may be hard, and that is not pleasant, but it is *possible*. You just have to find a way that is compatible with you and your way of life. That may take time and effort. It sure did for me. It took me about 40 years to find a way that was compatible with me. But now, it is essentially smooth sailing. Sure, I am hungry, sure, I have cravings, but all I have to do is to say no. Sometimes, it works well, sometimes I fail, but I continue. Think of it: whether you try or not, time will pass. So, why not try and actually risk getting good results?

    Keep up the good work. You are getting results. At that speed, you will weigh 12 kg or 26 pounds less at the end of next year.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,225 Member
    edited December 2022
    KatieBeeNC wrote: »
    I was hoping to find some answers here. This isn’t my first rodeo or first frustration. I am counting and weighing every calorie. I am at or under calories every day. I am watching macros. I am not losing anything. This has been my experience before - even when I was under the care of a doctor and registered dietician. The weight just doesn’t come off of me. Yet, if I eat what I want on a single day (like a holiday or special occasion) I gain. I’ve gained 10 pounds this year and I can tell you what days it happened on. Almost 3 weeks into this diet and I’ve lost only 1.6 lbs. What gives?! I’m hungry and tired of this already.

    You have lost 1.6 pounds in 3 weeks but are not losing anything? Ummm . . . ? That's half a pound a week. I get that that may be slower than you'd like, but it's non-zero.

    Are you female, premenopausal but adult, as you appear? If so, you don't really have an accurate idea of your average weekly weight loss until you've been through at least one full menstrual cycle, so you can compare body weight at the same relative point in at least 2 different cycles. Hormone-related water retention changes can distort things otherwise. Though it isn't the most common pattern, some women only see a new low weight once a month - it can be that weird.

    Besides that, for many people (men or women) there's water retention weirdness up or down in the first few weeks of a new regimen even without the hormonal side of it. Water fluctuations aren't about body fat, and fat loss is what we care about, right? Water fluctuations, though, can mask fat loss on the scale for a surprisingly long time. Four to 6 weeks (whole monthly cycles where relevant) are likely tell a truer story.

    I'm tempted to believe you may not be in tune with the implications of fluctuations in either water weight or digestive contents (that are on their way to become waste evenually). If I eat freely on a holiday, I'll be up multiple pounds the next day or few, too. If I chill out, get back to my normal routine, I'll be back down to normal maintenance weight in a few days to a week or so (I'm menopausal) without doing anything special. The scale gain was water retention (from extra sodium and carbs, mostly) plus extra waste in my system. It's not fat (at least not mostly), so not worth worrying over.

    Here's a very specific example of that:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10603949/big-overfeed-ruins-everything-nope/p1

    This is a good read for more general understanding of how weight loss and fat loss (which are not synonyms) actually work:

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

    and other MFP-ers discuss their experiences with it here:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1

    If you cut calories too hard, it's not only hard to stick with (which it sounds somewhat like it could be your current situation, given "hungry and tired" in your post), but it can also increase water retention through stress.

    Give it enough time to get a reasonable average of your average weekly weight change on your new routine, then adjust as needed to lose at a sensibly moderate, sustainable rate.

    Best wishes!

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