Finding it IMPOSSIBLE to lose any weight- Please help🥺

moeshasinclair647

Hello, everyone- I just started a 6 week weight loss program- for context I haven't worked out in years and woke up just unhappy with what I've seen in the mirror. I'm 4 weeks in and I've yet to lose any weight- it tends to flutter between the same 3 measurements, I'm staying within my calorie count for the most part and have been going to the gym 3-4 times a week, for context I also have some issues with hormone balance and I'm EXTREMELY uncertain of how to count my foods🤔🤔🤔. I'd greatly appreciate any advice.

Thank you in advance for taking the time

PAV8888

New work-out will cause weight fluctuation. Hormones will cause weight fluctuations. Infrequently measuring your weight (insufficient data points) decrease the confidence that any particular data point that has been captured accurately reflects reality

You can double down on measurement accuracy (that's what I personally did and do)

Or you can continue doing what you're consistently doing. After another full monthly cycle re evaluate whether you're heading in the right direction

If you are, all is good

If not you may then have to change what you're aiming for in terms of weekly goals

tomcustombuilder

You first must learn to weigh and track food and drink consumption. One thing you have going for you is your weight is stable so count how many weekly calories you're taking in and deduct calories from there rather than starting from scratch and trying to figure out where you need to be via a calorie calculator.

Strudders67

You say you're staying within your calorie count (mostly), but how are you tracking your intake? Are you weighing everything solid (in grams) and measuring (in ml) everything you drink? In the Food Diary page, are you selecting entries from the database that match the nutritional info on the packaging of whatever you're consuming? If you're eating fruit and veg, are you selecting accurate database entries? Are you tracking and logging your exercise? Are you eating those calories back? (you should be eating at least some of them)

If you haven't worked out in a long time and have just started, there will be some element of your body retaining water to help with muscle repair. Equally, if you've just started reducing your food intake, you'd expect there to be some water loss. The two may be balancing each other out., but you'd expect your body to have started adjusting after a month.

Give it another couple of weeks. If there's still no movement, it's clear that you're currently eating / exercising such that you're at Maintenance, in which case you need to drop 250-500 hundred calories per day to start losing weight. Depending on how much you weigh, your height, age etc, half a pound a week may be perfectly sensible. If you're currently obese, then 500 calories to lose a pound a week would be OK.

AnnPT77

I agree with what they said. I do have more curiosity about what "staying within my calorie count for the most part" means.

If it means averaging right around goal calories when looking at a weekly average of 7 days, then that's fine. If it means - exaggerating a bit for effect here - eating at calorie goal during the week then having a weekend with 2 major "cheat days" . . . well, even one major over-goal day can wipe out a week's calorie deficit in some cases, if the starting calorie deficit isn't huge.

Weekly average matters. If you're logging on MFP, you can see the weekly-average day in the Nutrients page in the phone/tablet version of MFP.

briscogun

This is the line that concerns me:

"…and I'm EXTREMELY uncertain of how to count my foods"

To me this sounds like there is some opportunity to tighten up your food logging. If you are not weighing every solid food you put in your mouth and measuring the liquids, etc, then you really have no idea what your true calorie intake is. Eyeballing and guestimating will get you nowhere fast, except a oneway ticket to Frustrationville.

Get yourself a digital scale and start weighing all your foods. It's very tedioius in the beginning, but gets much easier after a month or so. You can use the recipe section to make your favorite food/recipes and once you do you can log them quickly.

As mentioned above the new exercise plan will increase water retention for a good 7-10 days but should drop off.

How are you currently doing your food logging?

age_is_just_a_number

These two statements cannot both be true:

1. "I'm staying within my calorie count"
2. I'm EXTREMELY uncertain of how to count my foods

First things first…. You have to figure out how to log your food. It is not difficult. I find we eat a lot of the same things on repeat, so once you have a few months of food tracking in, then your food diary will get easier and easier to complete. It is important to weigh things, especially at the beginning, because most of us have lost (or never had one) our sense of what a portion is.

If you don't like (or can't) weigh and measure, then I recommend using Precision Nutrition's hand portion guide. Portion Size Chart for Best Calorie Control | Precision Nutrition (I do not have any affiliation with Precision Nutrition, I just like their articles and infographics).

Second: 4 weeks is a nano-second in a healthy lifestyle journey. You need to give it more time, much much more time.

I've been logging my food consistently for 307 consecutive days. I've had lots of ups and downs, lots of days were I went way over on my IN target. I started the year 30lbs heavier than my pre-Covid weight. I'm slowing working on getting rid of those 30lbs. After 307days, I'm half way there, having lost 15lbs so far this year. For me, it is an especially slow process. They way I look at it, it took me four years to gain 30lbs, it could take me four years to lose it. I'm targeting/on track to losing it in 18 months. So, my next summer (if I stay consistent), then I'll have lost the second 15lbs and will have tracked my food for ~450 consecutive days.

jovitacarrillo2067

I've been using this app for about a month. Being honest, tracking foods was the most dreadful part for me. So I started cheating: cooking meals with simple ingredients (easy to track), eating out less (unless the place has food uploaded to the app), and eating simple, less-processed foods that are easy to measure. I used to overeat before starting my fitness journey, so tracking calories and sticking to my goal were essential to me and have already helped me achieve some results. I was also chronically not drinking enough water.

You mentioned measurements. Do you talk about weight or body measurements? I used to be extremely bloated all the time before I started consuming more fiber and eating healthier, less processed foods.

Don't expect things to change just because you're somewhat tracking calories. You should be more precise.

age_is_just_a_number

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48828887#Comment_48828887

I don't think that is "cheating". The approach you are taking is just smart.

orangewaterbottle

I second all the suggestions to track your food and (caloried) drink intake diligently for a few weeks. Every morsel and every sip. That will give you clarity on how much you are really consuming and if you're anything like me, it will improve your nutrition because sometimes the thought of having to log a spontanenous 500-calorie slice of cake is enough to make me reconsider😋

Also, just out of curiosity, what's supposed to happen after 6 weeks? What's the difference between how you're supposed to eat for those 6 weeks vs. for life?