Weight loss

statsupply

I am so frustrated… followed my calories to a tee and in 2 weeks only lost 1.2 lbs ! I don’t understand how when with 1300 calories I’m supposed to lose 1.5 lbs a week . Anyone else with this problem ?

yirara

* How often do you step on the scale?
* And what about your food logging: do you use a food scale for everything with calories? Do you log every fluid with calories, incl drinks, oil, dressing?
* do you eat out a lot?
* do you have a menstrual cycle, and at what point are you now?
* New exercise?

loulee997

I'm so sorry that you are frustrated. Each person has to tweak things to fit their body.

The good news is that you are losing weight--even if it is slower than you want.

Some things to check:

• First, look at your menus over the last two weeks. Are you calculating portions and calories correctly? You probably are--but it is good to double-check. If you are eating 1.5 portion instead of a 1.0 portion, it can mess with things.
• Look at what you are eating--how are your macros? Are you getting enough protein? Are you eating too much sugar? You may be fine, but check out what you are eating. Hidden calories or poor nutrition can slow things down.
• Reevaluate your exercise. Is it a higher or lower level than you are tracking? If you are working out harder or lighter than you are tracking, your calorie estimation may be off. Too few calories will cause just the same amount of problems as too many.
• Your body just may lose slower. That stinks, but for some people weight loss is slower. But you ARE losing weight so you are winning.
• Are you eating the right calorie amount for your height/weight? I don't know what you weigh or what your height is but 1300 calories a day--I'm assuming you are just slightly overweight and trying to trim down. If you are heavier, this may not be the right deficiency.
• Last thought--for some people--not all-- what you eat (salt, fat, sugar) can impact your weight loss harder than others. You may have to play with your menu a bit.
• Medications, vitamin deficiencies, medical conditions (thyroid/diabetes and so on) and previous yo-yo dieting can sometimes make weight loss be a little slower. Do you have any of these issues? For example, low vitamin D3 or Magnesium can slow weight loss.

You are winning! You are losing weight. It's just a little slow.
Check out the suggestions above and see if you can find a gap/issue.

The deficit calculator below (SEE LINK BELOW) is great because it will give you ranges for weight loss--and it will give the macros as well (suggested protein, carbs, sugar) for best results.

See if it helps you check your range
LINK

Good luck!
Happy holiday!

ninerbuff

So usually a couple of things:

Are you weighing your food or guessing? Even using cups is inaccurate since they can be topped off.

Have you started exercising? If so, it's NOT UNCOMMON to actually gain weight when you first start working out.


A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Corina1143

I'm down to the last 9 pounds. Libra (weight averaging app) predicts I will get there February 31. Lol. Aaaargh! So slow. The first 10 took less than a month.
Sympathy!

AnnPT77

statsupply wrote: »

I am so frustrated… followed my calories to a tee and in 2 weeks only lost 1.2 lbs ! I don’t understand how when with 1300 calories I’m supposed to lose 1.5 lbs a week . Anyone else with this problem ?

Those aren't "your calories", they're "the average person with your demographic's" calories. You're an individual. You may vary from average, though most people are close.

Follow the same routine (eating, logging, exercise) reasonably closely for 4-6 weeks (whole menstrual cycles if you have them). Then look at your average weekly weight change over the whole time period. You can then adjust your calorie goal using a little bit of arithmetic, and the assumption that 500 calories daily is roughly a pound of body fat per week.

Also, as others have said, water weight fluctuations can hide the truth for a surprisingly long time at the start of a new routine. That's why the 4-6 weeks. Think of it as an experiment to determine your calorie level. While waiting, you might benefit from reading this, especially the article linked in the first post:

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

Most people are close to calorie "calculator" suggestions. A few are noticeably off, high or low. A very rare few are surprisingly fat off (still in either direction). That's the nature of statistical estimates.

I'm one of the rare weirdos, based on 8+ years now of calorie counting and weight monitoring. MFP is 25-30% off in its estimate of my calorie needs, which is around 500 calories daily. This is quite unusual, but it can happen. My good brand/model fitness tracker that I wear 24x7 except when charging (briefly) agrees with MFP; it's a tracker that others here report is reasonably close for them. Many people find MFP to be pretty close, too.

MFP or a so-called calorie calculator just give you a starting point. Your actual average experience over many weeks will tell a truer story.

As a bonus, if your logging (exercise or food) is off in some way, this method somewhat compensates, because most of us use methods that settle into an average-ish off-ness rate over multiple weeks, too . . . as long as our logging methods are consistent.

People who keep switching up their routine when they don't get the results they expect in a couple of weeks are likely to find it very difficult to figure out their actual calorie needs. I'd suggest consistency - even if you're finding loss frustratingly slow - long enough to see a rational average. It's not the most common pattern, but some women only see a new low weight once per month at a certain point in their menstrual cycle. Hormonal water retention can be that weird.

Hang in there, get a longer-term average, then adjust if necessary.

Best wishes!

tomcustombuilder

What is your height and weight?

How long have you been tracking? if less than 8 weeks your body is still acclimating with water retention. at 6-8 weeks see where you're at and if still slow loss you'll need to lower weekly calories.

You may think you have a 1,300 daily average however 90% of people under estimate their weekly amount. Many are at least 40-50% off.

Weekly fluctuations up and down are normal as loss isn't linear.

kshama2001

The likely scenarios are below. Do use a food scale, and if the issue persists after a month or a full menstrual cycle, if that's applicable, come back with your Diary Sharing settings set to Public. In the app, go to Settings > Diary Setting > Diary Sharing > and check Public. Desktop: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

Also use a weight trending app such as Happy Scale (iphone) or Libra (Android) and focus on the trend, not the individual weigh-ins. I have Happy Scale and use the “Moving Average” as my official weight.