Frustrated

htarasuik15

Hello...I just finished my third week and have lost 14 lbs. But this last week I did 2 kickboxing classes and was below my calorie intake every day and only lost 0.6 lbs. What is the deal? I thought you should be rewarded for working out, but that did not relfect in the scale. Any ideas or is this normal after 3 weeks for the weight loss to slow down?

KellyEdwards85

Hey, its possible you could be gaining muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat . Take your measurements every week that way you will know if you're losing inches

CMmrsfloyd

If you don't normally workout at that intensity, my understanding is that your muscles might hold onto some water for recovery or something to that effect. When I started doing more than just walking on the treadmill (30 day shred), my weight went up for several days before it came back down lower than it was before. A lot of people seem to experience an odd fluctuation like that when they are upping the intensity of their exercise.

Also, it is my understanding that even if you do build a little bit of muscle from your new workout, you'd still be burning off fat since you're eating at a deficit so the scale would still go down if there is not something else like water retention making it stay higher. Building muscle should not make you gain pounds on the scale unless you are eating more than your maintenance calories.

Also, a lot of women notice weightgain around TOM due to water retention. Just another exciting factor to consider. LOL

kissoffools

When I first started losing weight, I remember I lost EIGHT POUNDS in my first two weeks... and then one in the next two. It was frustrating, absolutely, but the weight never comes off quickly. Half a pound a week is definitely not a bad thing! Hey, it could have gone up, right? :P Stick with it - it's worth it, I promise.

HopeHahn

14 lbs in the 3 weeks is amazing!! You will most likely start to see a decrease in the amount you're losing, but you're right to think that you're gaining muscle. The GREAT thing about that is you'll STILL feel and see the difference in your body and clothing. Keep rockin' the boxin', Heidi!!

htarasuik15

Thank you all! I am trying to stay positive. @ CMmrsFloyd, I definitely went from just walking a couple times a week to a super intense kickboxing class, so i am hoping that my muscles are still trying to recover from all those darn push-ups we had to do!

erinlundgren

You may be gaining muscle and muscle does way more than fat. Also many people plateau after a period of time. The key is to keep going, alternate your routine and visualize the body you want. Maybe ignore the scale and focus on how you feel and how your clothes feel on you

echandle12

I know the feeling, my first 3 weeks of dieting I lost 15 pounds and then it slowed down. I attribute it to not eating as much sodium therefore the first few weeks was a lot of losing water weight and things. I am not pretty consistant with 2 pounds a week. Which some people say it still to high, but 1-2 pounds a week is what it should be so you can be healthy and keep the weight off.

CMmrsfloyd

Thank you all! I am trying to stay positive. @ CMmrsFloyd, I definitely went from just walking a couple times a week to a super intense kickboxing class, so i am hoping that my muscles are still trying to recover from all those darn push-ups we had to do!

Try taking measurements at various points on your body (first thing in the morning) and when you're having an off-week on the scale, take new measurements and compare. Sometimes you can see results in your measurements getting smaller that might not show up right away as pounds lost on the scale. :-)

WallyGirl358

Don't forget you do NOT want to eat less on the days of intense workouts. You actually should eat 100 more of protein. Working out with high intensity and eating less will put the body in starvation mode.

jlr_12

Don't forget you do NOT want to eat less on the days of intense workouts. You actually should eat 100 more of protein. Working out with high intensity and eating less will put the body in starvation mode.

This is what I was thinking too. You said you are under your calorie goal every day. How far under? Do you eat enough to fill the extra deficit you create when you exercise?

htarasuik15

Yesterday I had negative net calories....is that bad? I thought that is how you lose weight, putting more calories out than in.

aims78

Don't worry so much about what the pounds on the scale say.. your body is changing, you could be gaining muscle etc. Try not to let it both you too much!....

emily2975

That's technically the way it works, but I totally agree with the others - muscle weighs more than fat and it is also very common for weight to come off more quickly at the beginning. We need to feed our muscles (especially after we work out!) and keep our metabolisms high!

CMmrsfloyd

Yesterday I had negative net calories....is that bad? I thought that is how you lose weight, putting more calories out than in.

If you told MFP you want to lose weight when you set up your profile/goals, then the net calorie goal that MFP gave you is already designed to help you lose weight even if you don't exercise at all. Going a little over or a little under every now and then won't hurt, it averages out over time. But some people find that consistently going too far over or under may cause them problems. It's kind of trial and error and everyone has an opinion. ;-). But your body burns a certain number of calories every day even if you were to just lay in bed (base metabolic rate), MFP uses that estimation and then an estimation of your total daily energy expenditure (what you burn during a day of normal activities, I.e. your activity level) when it calculates your net calorie goal for weightloss.

kissoffools

Yesterday I had negative net calories....is that bad? I thought that is how you lose weight, putting more calories out than in.

Do you mean that you ate less net calories than were recommended for you? (ie MFP recommends you eat 1400 cals and you only eat 1200?) Or do you mean that on your home page, your net cals was literally a negative number?

If it's the former, it's not a big deal. If it's the latter, though, then your body likely isn't getting enough food to sustain itself and is holding onto every little bit it does get. It isn't a huge deal if it happens once, but I wouldn't let it become a regular thing. You don't want to starve yourself!

Is your food diary unlocked? That might help people see how things are going and offer suggestions.

SeanIsMyHomeboy

A good rule of thumb for me, personally, is to always try to balance out to where, even with exercise, your net calories are above 1200. It seems to be the general concensus that under 1200 calories can essentially put your bod in starvation mode, causing you to lose much more slowly. But you've done a great job for only 3 weeks in! Keep that chin up!

htarasuik15

thanks again...i am still a little confused about the net calorie thing. For instance, my calorie goal was 1500 cal, i consumed 1150 and then my exercise was 1198, so i was negative for my net calories. are you saying that even after you exercise you should have an average of 1200 net calories? I understand that your body needs food to survive and going under 1200 cal isn't good. I just want to find that balance where I eat the food I need to in order to continue to lose weight. Thank you all for your input, it is very helpful!

jlr_12

On days that you're not exercising, you should MEET the goal MFP has given you. They gave you that goal for a reason...because that's the amount of calories you need to healthily lose 1-2 lbs a week (whatever you chose). When you exercise you need to eat more, because MFP didn't account for exercise when making your goal. So if you burn 500 calories working out, that could make your deficit TOO big if you don't eat some of, or all of that back. If your deficit is too big, your body will think it's not getting enough fuel (because it's not..) and so it will try to hold on to whatever it can...and your weight loss will slow down.

jlr_12

thanks again...i am still a little confused about the net calorie thing. For instance, my calorie goal was 1500 cal, i consumed 1150 and then my exercise was 1198, so i was negative for my net calories. are you saying that even after you exercise you should have an average of 1200 net calories? I understand that your body needs food to survive and going under 1200 cal isn't good. I just want to find that balance where I eat the food I need to in order to continue to lose weight. Thank you all for your input, it is very helpful!

You are burning more than you eat? That is definitely bad....that means essentially your body got NO fuel that day. NONE. More than none! Please eat more and you're weight loss will improve!

RyanDanielle5101

Hey, its possible you could be gaining muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat . Take your measurements every week that way you will know if you're losing inches

Just to clarify muscle does not weigh more than fat. While 5lbs of muscle is smaller in volume than 5lbs of fat, 5lbs of muscle = 5lbs of fat.

Example

htarasuik15

@jrushton12. thanks for the info, i will definitely eat more next time i exercise. i was wondering why i feel so tired and crappy today....

RyanDanielle5101

double post

akaMrsmojo

My mom did the same thing and lost her hair. You need 1200 calories with exercise. Remember weight loss is marathon not a sprint. Losing a pound a week is great, the slower you lose it, the easier it is to keep it off.

Your body will fight you, you won't want to eat your calories but you have to. Train your body to listen to you.

Good luck.

CMmrsfloyd

Yes, it is confusing b/c there's that saying 'you have to burn more than you eat', but if you are literally exercising off more calories than you take in, that is too much. You need positive calories showing at the end of the day b/c that's what your body runs on. (keeping organs functioning and healthy, etc). The old 'burn more than you eat' is right to an extent, but what a lot of people may not realize is that your body is burning calories constantly throughout the day just staying alive. That's what your BMR number is - its the amount your body uses on a daily basis even if you don't exercise or even if you don't roll out of bed that day. That's the amount a hospital would have to feed you to keep you alive and keep your weight stable even if you were in a coma. That BMR number is different for everyone - for me, being 5'4" and just under 140 lbs, my BMR number is right around 1340 caloris that my body will burn each and every day whether I actually do anything to purposely burn extra calories or not. Regular daily activities takes that number higher - for example even with my profile set at 'sedentary' MFP estimates that my normal daily activities mean that I burn an average of something like 1670 even without adding any exercise to my day. When I exercise, that is additional calories burned. Since 1670-ish is what my body burns just through the course of the day, if I eat less than that and don't exercise, I will lose weight. Or if I eat exactly that but then exercise off some calories, I will lose weight.

You do not literally have to exercise off more than what you eat, since your body is burning calories all the time on its own. Exercise helps, eating less than you did before helps, but too much exercise combined with too little food can actually be too much stress n your body if you do it on a regular basis. It all seems very complicated with all the various numbers, but basically MFP makes it easy and figures out all that stuff for you, so that if you just stick close to the goal MFP gives you, you should see results. So if your goal is 1500 net calories, it's a good idea to try and be pretty close to that net goal most days. Keep in mind that if you are a lot more active now than you were before, your body may actually really benefit from the extra nutrition you could get by eating more and being closer to your goal. Protein, vitamins, etc, all that stuff helps keep your body happy while you work on losing weig and getting in shape. Having a day under or a day a little over your calorie goal every now and then should not be a big deal as long as it kind of balances out. But you don't want to go way under all the time.

Hope that helps. ;-)

Russellb97

It's not a big deal and extremely normal.

Good chance you didn't lose 13lbs of fat in 3 weeks. An good example maybe you lost 9 pounds of fat and 4 pounds of water. This week you could have still lost 3lbs of fat but gained back 2.5 pounds of the water weight.

A good rule of thumb for weekly weight loss is:
1-3lbs lost FAT
3-5lbs water
5+ Lean muscle mass

So anytime you are over 3lbs of weight loss for a week, there is a good chance you will have a week where some of that water weight comes back. It does NOT mean you stopped burning fat.

htarasuik15

@CMmrsfloyd, yes that makes it more clear for me. So I know if I am going to have a hard workout then i will need to eat more. I will try to implement this from now on and will hopefully see the results I am looking for

kvns83

It is very difficult not to let it get you down. I know!!!! When I finally got back into gear (after reaching my highest weight ever) I lost nearly 8 lbs in the first week, and since then almost 2 months I've maintained, but I haven't stopped. DON"T STOP. While I am not losing, I am not gaining and mentally I feel good because I am doing the right thing. For myself I have really screwed my body up, it doesn't know what the heck I want it to do. I am a serial yo-yo dieter. If this has been the case for you give your body time. Like my trainer/ nutritionist says, your body sees weeks and months not days.

YOU CAN AND WILL BE SUCCESSFUL!!!! Give it time.

MellyMartinson

That you for showing that picture. It is gross to look at but just motivated me so much more!!

kmbrooks15

Hey, its possible you could be gaining muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat . Take your measurements every week that way you will know if you're losing inches

Just to clarify muscle does not weigh more than fat. While 5lbs of muscle is smaller in volume than 5lbs of fat, 5lbs of muscle = 5lbs of fat.

Example

THIS^^^^

If you look at the picture, 5 lbs. of fat takes a LOT more space than the 5 lbs. of muscle. That's why you can have two men of the same height and weight, but one looks much smaller than the other. A 6 foot man that is 200 lbs. of fat will look much bigger than a 6 foot man that is 200 lbs. of muscle. This is why taking measurements or looking at how your clothes fit is so much more important than the number on the scale.

Keep at it...it does slow down the more you lose, but it will come off eventually.

H_Factor

lots of things going on in the OP and this thread that I want to address:

1. when you start and have a fair amount to lose, its not uncommon to dump a lot of weight quickly...understand, though, that a lot of the early weight loss is water loss and not fat loss. Its EXTREMELY DIFFICULT and NEAR IMPOSSIBLE to lose 14 pounds of fat in 3 weeks. In short, be very happy with the quick pop to start things off, but its EXTREMELY UNREALISTIC to expect an average of 4.7 pounds lost each week. Its just not going to happen.

2. You lost 0.6 pounds in week 4....be happy for the loss. On your journey, its going to be important to appreciate that you won't lose weight consistently and that there are many factors that affect weight loss on a week to week basis. Understand that if you do things properly, you will eventually reach your goal EVEN IF each week doesn't net the result you were hoping for.

3. When you start to exercise, sometimes your body retains a little more water for muscle repair. Unlike what several folks have said, you ARE NOT adding muscle fiber after only a few workouts (especially if the workouts do not involve lifting heavy weights, which kickboxing does not). So, as to those who suggested "muscle weighs more than fat", hog wash...that has nothing to do with what is going on with you right now.

4. exercise brings with it a lot of benefits unrelated to weight loss....exercise decreases the risk of several diseases as it improves your cardio system. Also, exercise burns calories....meaning that you can AND SHOULD eat more when you exercise. Your body needs those additional calories for repair and recovery. Exercise itself, however, does not lead to weight loss unless you are maintaining the PROPER caloric deficit. As alluded to in this thread, the proper caloric deficit is the NET number determined by MFP based on your desired weight loss each week. Its important to come close to your net number each day. Soooo, I think you said MFP calculated your daily intake at 1500 calories. On days you do not exercise, you should come close to 1500 calories. On days that you do exercise, you should come close to 1500 PLUS the additional calories you burned during exercise.

5. A word about exercise calories burnt. If you are relying on MFP estimates, understand that they can be overstated by between 30 and 50% because MFP has no way of evaluating your effort level throughout the exercise (likewise, sometimes MFP's estimates are understated). The best way to accurately gauge calories burned during exercise, especially aerobic exercise, is to get a heart rate monitor. However, if you don't have a HRM and until you get one, I would eat back only 50-75% of the MFP estimated calories burned during exercise. This means that if MFP says you burned 1,000 calories and your normal intake should be 1,500 calories, then you should eat 1,500 + (500-750) = 2,000 = 2,250 calories for that day.