No weight loss

lirby1010
lirby1010 Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss

I have been tracking my food, religiously, for 2.5 weeks, exercise 5 days a week..cardio and weights, and I have lost no weight, no inches, nothing. What am i doing wrong

Answers

  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,529 Member

    as mentioned above, have patience. 4-6 weeks and no fatloss then you arent in a weekly calorie deficit even if your calculations say you are.

  • JLG1986
    JLG1986 Posts: 222 Member

    how much are you eating per day? What are your macros?

    if you are female, is there any chance that your cycle is affecting the scale? I bloat really bad at certain times of the month, but that’s just water weight, the weight from body fat could still be dropping in the background and suddenly show up in a week or two.

  • briscogun
    briscogun Posts: 1,248 Member

    Are you weighing and measuring everything you eat/drink or just searching existing entires in the MFP database and logging those? Most issues with new users arise from not logging correctly.

    Keep in mind, MFP is a crowd sourced database, so the entries listed are not always accurate (in fact most of them are not). In the beginning, you will need to measure and weigh EVERYTHING you put in your mouth. Yes, it's a lot of work but after a few weeks/months you will start eating a lot of the same things over and over and the logging becomes much easier.

    Spaghetti was the thing that really opened my eyes to this. The back of the box generally states that a serving of spaghetti noodles is 200 calories, but when you actually weigh out one serving (which is generally 2 ounces) I saw that my "normal" serving of spaghetti noodles was like 4 times the serving size listed. YIKES! Hence why I needed to lose weight!

    Eyeballing, guestimating and estimating is the road to frustration in this game. Get a good scale and a few measuring cups/spoons and you will learn a lot (if you aren't doing this already).

    Plus, the above mentioned issues with starting a new workout plan. When you start exercising from scratch your body retains water for muscle repairs. Even if I start a new exercise that hits a set of muscles differently I know the scale is going to pop up a few pounds for a bit.

    It's more art than science, but if you play around with your numbers, watch your logging and calories, and stay consistent this does work I promise!

  • DiscusTank5
    DiscusTank5 Posts: 942 Member

    Yes to the above suggestions about measuring food, though I would add measuring cups aren't as accurate as a food scale set to grams. Weighing my ice cream by the gram really matters; weighing shredded lettuce (measuring it at all) does not.

    After several weeks this new habit of weighing food will become second nature and won't add much to your cognitive load. In other words, it gets easier. Don't quit. You can do this!!

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 10,232 Member

    Patience, patience and more patience.

    Listen to what you’ve posted.

    You’re basically asking why you haven’t lost inch(es) in 2.5 weeks. Seriously? Readjust your expectations.

    I’m not trying to be harsh, but…..golly.

    Having said that, I've lost (and maintained) ten sizes here. Being patient and doing what’s necessary, and not expecting quick fixes. We all start like that. It’s how we finish that matters, though.

  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 1,270 Member

    Congratulations on starting your healthy lifestyle journey!

    2.5 weeks is a nano second in weight loss terms. I’ve been tracking since Jan 6th and have lost 15lbs. It takes time. During this time there have been lots of ups and downs and learning

    What others said. Plus:

    1 meal at a time
    1 day at a time
    1 pound at a time

    My suggestions:

    1. Track your food as accurately as possible, but don't let perfection be the enemy of done. In other words, do your best and get this to be a solid habit. 
    2. After two weeks of tracking, look at the data. Is there one small change you can make to reduce your calories IN? Common examples: 
      1. you're eating out 5 days a week —> reduce that to 4 days a week
      2. you drink soda/pop/sugary drink —> swap this out for water
      3. you don't eat any fruits or vegetables —> start adding 1 or 2 servings per day
    3. Make that one small change. Continue to track. After another two weeks or once your small change feels like it is no longer a change, then review your data and identify another small change. 
    4. Rinse and repeat. 

    Additional thoughts: 

    Focus on what you can control (calories IN and OUT). 
    Give yourself time. Slow and steady progress.

    We are here for you if you have questions along the way. You got this!

Categories