When did you start seeing the weight come off?

rjdunn87

So I've been consistently logging calories (except for, I think, one missed day) for close to two weeks now and I haven't seen much change in my weight. I started at 185 and have been anywhere from 182 to back to 185 over the course of the two weeks. I know that this will be a slow process and I'm not feeling too discouraged yet, although it would be nice to start seeing some scale movement. I'm pretty good about sticking to my calorie goal although there has been a few times that I've gone a bit over. I also have been going back and forth between logging my exercise (currently finishing up the 30DS) as I don't yet have a HRM and I know that MFP tends to overestimate calorie burns.

Anyway, I guess my point is, have any of you experienced a slow start like this, and was there anything you did that made the difference for you? You hear so much about folks losing more rapidly at first and then the loss slowing after a few weeks, and I'm kind of having the opposite experience. On my list of things to get after Christmas are a HRM and a food scale, so hopefully those two things will really help, but I do feel like I've been doing pretty well with the tools currently at my disposal.

My diary is public if anyone's interested in checking it out.

rjdunn87

Anyone?

jennegan1

im looking now hold on a min. But sounds like your starting out where I did. I was about 186, shot up to 192 but I didnt see any lost til after a month or so

rjdunn87

Yeah, that sounds like about where I'm at. I started at 185ish, and didn't shoot up quite that high but did gain a few pounds when I first started doing the 30DS that I just attributed to water.

trickduffin

It's likely this:
http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/

pay special attention to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY&feature=youtu.be

jennegan1

Im not sure what mine was from but I cut out wine alot......

From what I see is that you are doing good at logging, but are you sure that your servings are correct like is one tbs really one tbs or if your having the 0.5 cup of pineapple is it that 0.5 cup? Are you watching your other servings like are you really eating 5 crackers? Also watch your sodium in take sodium will hold onto water and are you drinking enough water? I know it seems tedious to log it but it does help or are you drinking other drinks like coffee or all natural juice? and how often are you doing exercises? It took me about 2 months to get below 180 but Im being meticulous about logging everything. Even measuring my creamer in the morning. If you want you can look at my diary to get ideas

editorgrrl

I definitely had a slow start. I had to work on logging everything I ate or drank, measuring my food accurately, and being 100% honest. (My diary was locked, so the only person I was lying to was myself, but it still took a while.)

Only then could I work on making changes, which took a lot of trial & error: moving more, eating less, upping my protein, taking a multivitamin & calcium, etc.

Edited to add two things I found really helpful: drinking lots of plain water (I drank way too many calories), and getting an activity tracker (like Fitbit or Jawbone UP) or HRM. Don't eat back all your exercise calories; it takes trial & error to find a steady, sustainable defecit.

jennegan1

I definitely had a slow start. I had to work on logging everything I ate or drank, measuring my food accurately, and being 100% honest. (My diary was locked, so the only person I was lying to was myself, but it still took a while.)

Only then could I work on making changes, which took a lot of trial & error: moving more, eating less, upping my protein, taking a multivitamin & calcium, etc.

Thats for sure alot of trial and error to see what works and what doesnt. Cutting back on my servings also cuz what I think was a serving truly wasnt lol. But yea seems like upping my protein as well is helping alot

missylectro

I saw it right away. It's not just about the number of calories you eat, it's what you eat as well. I've cut off pasta and bread from my diet and that worked for me. Good luck!

TheyCallMeMISTERChace

There's a quote out there, “It takes 4 weeks for you to notice your body changing, 8 weeks for your friends to notice, and 12 weeks for the rest of the world to notice. Give it 12 weeks. Don’t QUIT!”

That's been pretty accurate for my experience, although mine was a bit faster because I lost it faster than most.

jennegan1

There's a quote out there, “It takes 4 weeks for you to notice your body changing, 8 weeks for your friends to notice, and 12 weeks for the rest of the world to notice. Give it 12 weeks. Don’t QUIT!”

That's been pretty accurate for my experience, although mine was a bit faster because I lost it faster than most.

I have that pic saved on my computer. I lost about 10 lbs in a month after I cut out the wine and got up to 192. I stalled for a while but now loosing again

Fishshtick

I had the fast immediate loss lost about 5 lbs a week in my first two weeks and then things slowed down. My wife was the slower start. One difference between us was how we logged things. When you search many foods you get multiple entries that often differ in estimated calories. I tended to pick the exact entries for my food or higher calorie versions and she almost always picked the lower calorie entries. The difference can be a few hundred calories at the end of the day for two people eating essentially the same meals. Another difference was our exercise. I didn't do any, but she did and she probably put on more muscle than me when we started.

skinnybythanksgiving

Well, from your diary I see that your protein is low on most days and very low on others.

Your sodium is high. You are eating soup a lot and it's easy for those calories to be off, and they are very high in sodium.

I don't lose when I don't exercise, and I mean 6 -7 days a week.

My weight came off from the start. It stopped when I didn't eat enough pure protein or I started loading up on processed food, high carb food or eating out. Yes, when I eat out pretty much anywhere my weight loss completely stops. That includes take-out.

You can do this, just tweak your food and exercise.

gmthisfeller

I started at 209. It was weeks (4 maybe?) before I saw a difference.

Looking over your log, there two suggestions I would make.

1) Vary your breakfast more, if you can. Not only are you on a diet, but you are changing the way you eat for the rest of your life. As much as you like what you have for breakfast now, will you like it in (pick a number here, OK, 10) 10 days/months/years?

2) As hard as it is in grad school (been there, done that) to find time to exercise, find it. Up your exercise times. I started by walking. I walked 15 minutes out from the house, and 15 minutes back. From there it went walk a mile, to walk a mile, but finish off the last 20 yards with a jog, to now --7 months later-- running 4 to 5 miles every day. I am working hard to ditch these last 9 lbs. to reach my goal weight of 135 lbs.

If running does not appeal to you, as it doesn't to many, get yourself into the gym, and lift. Lift hard, lift heavy, lift often --four or five times a week. You might lose weight more slowly this way, since you will be trading increased muscle mass for decreased fat mass; but you get increasingly fit.

You can do this!

GingerJenX3

I noticed when I started moving my body............treadmill speed walking 30 min ..................the weight started dropping , I lost 10 pounds in 5 weeks, now week 7 no change. I think just staying focused and continue to push through the hard weeks will produce results!! Keep up the good work!

Tykk

I don't see any big red flags in your diary. I even got some good ideas from it - black bean burgers, mmm!

Like the others have said, maybe look at how carefully you're measuring. It's easy to be 25% over what you think you're eating.

bwogilvie

There's a quote out there, “It takes 4 weeks for you to notice your body changing, 8 weeks for your friends to notice, and 12 weeks for the rest of the world to notice. Give it 12 weeks. Don’t QUIT!”

Good advice, but it applies to visible results. OP is talking about measured weight. In my case, I saw results from the beginning. I appear to have started on a day when I had a lot of retained water, so I dropped 2 pounds in the first 2 days, but since then, I've had fairly consistent progress for eleven months. I weigh myself daily and use an exponentially smoothed weighted average to identify the trend beneath daily fluctuations.

I very quickly decided that I needed a food scale, and I've been using it consistently, not only to weigh individual servings, but also to weigh all the ingredients in the food I cook. I also use a measuring cup for liquids (other than water). Accurate portion measurement is one key to maintaining a consistent calorie deficit. The other is accurately estimating calories expended; a lot of databases, including MFP's, overestimate calorie burns.

HeatherSpencerStoltz

Wow! Thank you so much for posting this. I lost 3 lbs the first week and gained 2 lbs the second week. Had a big "I quit" temper tantrum and then got back on track today ... My partner in this adventure (my son) reminded me that we don't quit! But it's very helpful to see others have experienced the same thing ... Thank you! Just knowing that helps me get my mojo back.

rjdunn87

Thanks, everyone.

To answer a few things that have come up so far: I'm vegan, so do need to work a bit harder to get the right amount of protein. When I wasn't working out consistently, I didn't notice it as a problem, but now that I am, I think you're right that I do need to be more conscious and make sure I'm hitting that goal.

As for exercise: I do exercise daily. I don't always log it, because I don't currently have a HRM and I'm wary of the calories that MFP estimates. And just for me personally, I know that if I see those "extra calories" in my diary, I'm very tempted to eat them. So it's often easier if I just don't log them. When I do get a HRM I plan on logging my exercise consistently and playing around with how many of those calories to eat back, but for now, I'm just aiming to hit the 1360 calorie goal but knowing that I have a bit of leeway since I am working out. Oh, I've been doing the 30DS (finished day 28 this morning) and over the past two weeks have been doing either another Jillian DVD or in the past few days, T25 workouts.

As far as food goes, like I said, I don't yet have a food scale and I definitely plan on getting one. I don't eat (or very very rarely eat) processed food, we cook just about every night. All of the soups in my diary are homemade and not incredibly sodium-heavy, though I agree that's something I should work on. I've inputted my recipes into the recipe function on here, and do measure my ingredients, but without the scale just yet, it's hard to know if I'm being exactly accurate. I do the best I can, and usually overestimate to be safe.

I really appreciate you all taking a look for me and your advice! Like I said, I don't feel discouraged, I'm just new to this and wasn't sure if there was anything I was blatantly doing wrong. I want to go home for the holidays with the best habits possible, especially since I won't be working out much for a week, and get back on track when I get back to Seattle with T25.

You guys are great!

rjdunn87

Wow! Thank you so much for posting this. I lost 3 lbs the first week and gained 2 lbs the second week. Had a big "I quit" temper tantrum and then got back on track today ... My partner in this adventure (my son) reminded me that we don't quit! But it's very helpful to see others have experienced the same thing ... Thank you! Just knowing that helps me get my mojo back.

Oh I'm glad! It always helps to know that you aren't alone, that was one of the reasons I posted this! Good job for getting back on the horse today.

blueham5

You can notice it the day after in your face.