Help!!

jessicaherna40

I have started counting macros about 3 weeks ago. Myfitnesspal set me at 1650 calorie a day goal. 75 grams of protien, 188 grams of carbs and 45 grams of fat. I've been hitting my goals every single day without going over and I haven't lost any weight thus far, only gained 4 pounds. I got to the gym twice a day. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Please help!

TracyL963

4 x 3500 = 14,000 calories. If you truly gained 4 pounds of fat, you ate 14,000 calories over maintenance.

There's a lot of information here:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10642346/weight-loss-frequently-asked-questions-infographic-answers/p1

AnnPT77

Well . . . it's still a little too soon to tell, but it's possible that the number of calories you're actually eating is higher than the number of calories you're actually burning, no matter what some fitness tracker, calorie calculator or food diary suggests. The scale can lie, and may be doing that, but those other things can be misleading, too.

Let's start with an important fact: Weight isn't just about fat, even though fat is the part we're trying to lose. Our bodies can be up to 60%+ water. We also have muscle, bone, organs, etc., and we obviously don't want to lose those. On top of that, we normally have varying amounts of waste in our digestive tract on its way to the toilet, up to multiple pounds. There's also a few pounds of gut microbes that have weight on our scale, even though they're not even genetically us. We need them, though.

If your exercise is new, or significantly increased, that would tend to add water retention for muscle repair, up to several pounds of it. I'm guessing you're female from your ID, and though it's not the most common pattern, some women only see a new low weight once a month, at a specific point in their menstrual cycle. Those two sources of water retention can mask fat loss on the scale for several weeks.

I'd suggest reading this, especially the article linked in the first post, for more insight:

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

Water and waste are the many things that vary multiple pounds from day to day. How long that can continue depends on fat loss rate - actual, not estimated. A lot of people arrive here and shoot for fast loss, even in cases where that isn't the ideal choice.

Fast fat loss of 2 pounds a week is about 4.6 ounces of fat loss per day on average, less than a quarter pound. Both water and waste vary by multiple pounds daily. (I've seen a change by up to 6 pounds literally from one day to the next, morning weigh-in under consistent conditions. Some people see more.) Realistically, in a situation with new exercise and menstrual cycles, I think that could possibly mask fat loss for a whole menstrual cycle at least. (Would it always do that? No. But possible.)

If the target fat loss is slower, it could continue even longer. At one point when I was in a very small calorie deficit, there was a period of over a month where even my weight-trending app thought I was gaining or maintaining, but I was pretty sure (from long recent calorie-counting experience) that I was in a deficit. Sure enough, around 6 weeks or so out, there was a sudden scale drop. Go figure.

So: Wait longer, first. Hang in there. Losing a meaningful total amount of weight is a long game, not a quick project with a nearby end date. It takes patience and perseverance.

If one reason you're feeling stressed about it is that the process is really difficult and unpleasant for you, think about how you can make it easier and more tolerable, because like I said . . . long game. I'm talking about reasonable, enjoyable, non-exhausting exercise appropriate for current fitness level, and not restricting eating beyond what's necessary to hit close to calorie goal and get overall decent nutrition. Most of the popular press nonsense about needing to do extreme unpleasant things to lose weight is clickbait mythology. Making change in our lives is hard enough, without buying into the idea that we need to suffer for the "sin" of being overweight. "Easier" helps support the patience and perseverance.

While you're waiting for the 4-6 weeks/one menstrual cycle (or so) to play out, check your logging habits: Are you logging every bite, lick, taste, cooking oils, beverages, snacks, oil used in cooking, condiments, dressings, etc.? Are you checking that the calories on the MFP entry match what's on the box or package? Are you avoiding using other people's full-dish entries in the food database, things like "ham sandwich", "meat lasagna", or even "fried eggs"? We don't know what that person included in that dish - mayo, oil, cheese, etc. - so we don't know that the calories are accurate for what we ate. And so forth. Are you logging all cheat days or treat days or days that . . . didn't go according to plan? If not, do so, even if you have to estimate.

This is not a criticism. Most of us who've logged for a long time have had face-palm moments where we realized some systematic logging error we were making, maybe a major one(s).

If you'd like, open your diary to other MFP people, and come back here to say you've done so. Usually, some of the old hands will take a look, see if any common logging issues pop out. This is an offer, BTW, not a demand. You don't have to do it. But generally people are not going to be judge-y about what you eat, or even if you logged over-goal days and that sort of thing. We're all human here, too, y'know? Some people might make food suggestions to reduce calories or improve nutrition, sure, but the intent is to help, not to criticize. Mostly, if you ask folks to look for logging issues, they'll look for logging issues.

Finally, you're not doing anything wrong, in a personal-failure or character-test sense. You're trying to reach a goal, taking the best steps you know how in that direction, and not seeing the results you hope for, so you're seeking help. That's all success-path, good character kind of stuff, and you should feel good about yourself accordingly. You can make this all work, as long as you keep working on it, adjusting your plan to be even better as you learn. Keep going!

Wishing you the best!