eating less and exercising...no results yet

Itscrunchtime

Ok, so it's been 3 weeks since I've weighed myself...and I just did it again yesterday. The same weight...only a slight difference in high waiste line (in a good way). Is this normal? I'm really not eating that much and exercising more than I plugged in goal chart. Maybe I need to wait a little longer.
Looking for intelligent, helpful, and somewhat professional advise.
Suzy

Itscrunchtime

Ok, so it's been 3 weeks since I've weighed myself...and I just did it again yesterday. The same weight...only a slight difference in high waiste line (in a good way). Is this normal? I'm really not eating that much and exercising more than I plugged in goal chart. Maybe I need to wait a little longer.
Looking for intelligent, helpful, and somewhat professional advise.
Suzy

artholecek

Muscle weighs more than fat. You may be converting some fat into muscle.
The more muscle you have, the more calories you naturally burn.
Stay with it, be patient! This is the right way to lose weight and be healthy.

Itscrunchtime

I thought that's what you'd say...I just wanted to make sure I'm doing it the right way...with direction. So, it's ok to not lose weight for a while?...I can tell that my calfs are getting slimmer and more musclular...I can somewhat see more definition in my thighs...but was looking for a pound or so gone. It's fine with me, as long as I'm on the right track...thank you artholecek.

mamatusa

Hey Suzanne,

I'm not a professional, but wanted to let you know what worked for me.

You may need to eat more calories per day. How many calories are you eating daily? If you don't eat enough calories your body goes into starvation mode and everything just kind of stops.

I went through the same thing you did a few months back. I was eating about 1450-1500 calories a day and on the eliptical almost every day for at least 30 minutes. I was struggling, going up and down with my weight with the same 3-4 pounds. I started adding about 50-100 calories more every other day until I was up to 1700/day, and VOILA, the weight is finally coming off. I lost 8 pounds in the month of May!

GTOgirl1969

If you aren't eating enough, with all the exercise you are doing, you could be in "starvation mode" and your body will hold onto the calories you do take in...making weight loss slow or nonexistent.

Eat some, if not all of your calories earned through exercise and see if that helps.

Itscrunchtime

Quote: You may need to eat more calories per day. How many calories are you eating daily? If you don't eat enough calories your body goes into starvation mode and everything just kind of stops.



I'm eating less than 2000 calories...usually between 1,500 and 1,700 like you said about yourself. I should add more? It sounds kinda strange, but I have heard of the body going into starvation mode before..I didn't consider myself starving. I just don't need to eat that much...today I had a light breakfast, hamsteak and mashed potatoes and veggies for lunch and for dinner..oops, I had brownies...and for a snack I had whole wheat crackers and monterey jack cheese

greeneyes490

I am not a professional but the first time I lost a large amount of weight I had to adjust my eating because I wasn't losing even though I was working out 5 days a week.....I was eating low calories and once I increased my calories and balanced it out through out the day the pounds started coming off. Also I weigh myself once a week (same day and time ) and once a month I take my measurements....just because you didn't see something on the scale doesn't mean you didn't lose inches.......I know how frustrating it can be but so use this time to tweek anything you think might be the reason and if you are doing all the right things it might just need a little time. The less weight you have to lose the harder it can be......so keep it up and it will pay off eventually .

greeneyes490

I just read this post and it might be sodium that is keeping you back....ham is chalk full of sodium and if you check the nutrition label on the crackers,cheese, brownie etc you might find a fair amount in those to.....sodium can be a diet sabatour.......if your eating between 1,500-1700 calories I can't see your body going into starvation mode...from what i have read that usually happens in the under 1000 a day diets......so mabey track your sodium, sugar etc and see if that might be holding off your weight loss......

FitJoani

are you eating enough, you have to be able to feed your body mainly that muscle everyone talks about. It takes 3500 calories burned to equal a pound, and that had to be burned as well as ate my dear, cardio burns fat litterally, so give a run a try...and make sure u eat those exercise calories!!!!!

sweetpea03b

I use MFP in addition to consulting with a certified nutritionist. My nutritionist told me to be sure I use very near my calorie allotment per day, due to the fact that if you "barely eat anything" you're not getting what your body needs to burn fat and lose weight. So... try to eat those calories/carbs/protein etc... just stay very near your allotment each day.... if you do this along with daily exercise... you should see results. Also, try to find access to a different kind of scale... one that measures percentage of body fat. This will tell you true weightloss. I weighed in a month ago w/ my nutritionist and when I weighed again this month I was the same weight (by my scale). Using hers (the doctor scale) I had lost 3 lbs... and when they measured body fat.... those three lbs were from Body fat. Hope this helps... keep with it... the number isn't what matters... its being healthy and going down in dress size! Good luck!


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

Itscrunchtime

I agree with that the dress size is all that matters. THanks for all the advise.

gummo

You might want to try eating more calories at breakast. That will do more to boost your metabolism for the day.

dskyer

...and don't forget that all-important water!!!

kerrilucko

I'm certainly not a professional, but something you should keep in mind is that you don''t have a ton to lose. A lot of people start on here with 10-20 lbs to lose and its very slow going. You've probably seen posts by others reading "I've lost 8lbs in my first week!" which can be really frustrating for someone who is sstruggling to lose their first pound or 2, but what we aren't thinking about is that those 8 pound losses in 1 week are most likely people who have serious amounts to lose, like over 100. I started with 60 to go and lost NOTHING for 2 weeks. Then I suddenly dropped 2 pounds... then another gruelling 2 weeks of nothing. I've evened out now and things are going well. But honestly, when you have very little to lose, a few oz a week, which wont be all that noticeable until you've been here a couple months or so, really is great.
I wouldn't worry, it sounds to me like you're doing everything right... and your profile says you've lost 3 pounds and thats FABULOUS!
Good luck and keep it up! :drinker: