2 weeks and only .6lbs lost. What am I doing wrong?

mmtschan

First, do you have a hrm? Because if y are going by what mfp says you burn don't. They grossly overestimate and you are probably eating back way to much!

Could be sodium as was mentioned as well. Or if it's close to your Tom then that also effects it greatly.

I'm not sure what hrm and tom means.... this is all new to me

cjwolfjen

cut back on sodium foods try to eat clean foods not fast food or pre packaged or processed foods. Drink plenty of water and I mean PLENTY. You should be drinking half your body weight in oz. of water each day. I drink roughly a gallon or 8+ bottles (16 cups) of water a day. Try switching up your meals and calorie intakes. Cut back on calories one day, then add more the next its called zig zagging calories and keeps your body guessing. The more you keep your body guessing, the better you lose weight. Don't always do the same exercises, switch it up. You could also be doing too much exercising, not likely but it is a possibility. Plus the smaller you are to begin with the slower it comes off. In the beginning I would lost like 5 lbs a week, well, that's because I was 260 lbs. Now that I'm 192 it is much much harder. Also, take your measurements because a lot of the time you'll lose inches but not pounds.

mikedhatz

Are you adding variety into your cardio? Or is it all just one type of exercise?

Have you added strength training into your exercise routine? Lifting elevates your metabolism and stimulates endorphins the same way as high intensity cardio. Not to mention that a pound of muscle burns almost twice as many calories than a pound of fat.

Here's a thought. Try this for a week or two, see what happens: Replace 10 minutes of your cardio every day with 20 minutes of low-medium weight and high rep weight training. Speaking from my experience I have the best short-term weight loss and fitness gains when I reduce cardio to 30 minutes a day and no more than 4 days a week (to prevent injuries from overtraining) and add in 30 minutes of weight training on non-running days.

And fear not, there won't be bulking with this kind of weight training. Using lower weights and higher repetitions you won't produce a lot of bulky muscle. You'll tone and tighten what you have, increase the density of your muscle tissue, and build a little more, all while stimulating your metabolism for hours after finishing your training.

mrshoneybear1014

You don't have a lot to lose. It takes MUCH LONGER to see results when that is the case. How do you FEEL? Do you feel like you need to change up your work out? Is it easy? Working out shouldn't be easy. Maybe you can increase the time or intensity. Also, my calorie intake varies a lot during the week because of my work outs. Maybe change that up - eat more one day then go back to eating "normal". Sometimes a spike day helps. It all depends on your body. Listen to it.

hubkal

I am at day 45 and had only lost 10 lbs. a 2lb a week goal is good~! you are doing fantastic. I do not eat any of my exercise calories though and stick to 1200 calories a day. Stay away from sodium and carbs. I recently went on vacation and ate horrible! if you want to look at my food diary look at the previous weeks.

cjwolfjen

First, do you have a hrm? Because if y are going by what mfp says you burn don't. They grossly overestimate and you are probably eating back way to much!

Could be sodium as was mentioned as well. Or if it's close to your Tom then that also effects it greatly.

I'm not sure what hrm and tom means.... this is all new to me

HRM is a heart rate monitor. Tells you how many calories you're burning so you're not just guessing then over eating or under eating

heybales

I do cardio 40mins 6 days a week and think I'm eating all my calories. What am I doing wrong?

Diet is for weight loss.
Exercise is for body shaping and heart health. It can make weight loss easier or harder.

Right now, with that workout routine, your primary focus is on benefits of exercise.
And good for you for feeding the workout, you are probably seeing good body response.

Except weight. If you want weight loss, take a week off the exercise and eat your daily goal and just walk gently.
After all, it is your daily activities that are fed mainly by fat that create your deficit anyway.

Naybelline

You're probably not eating the right foods and looking at your diary, there's a few I would take out.

foxbat2828

Double check things like portion size estimates and actual calories burned as opposed to things like the MFP database.

I started out the exact same way and, after about three weeks of working out and what I thought was eating healthier, I'd only lost one pound. I was really discouraged. I was eating healthier foods and eating smaller portions, but the problem is that I wasn't estimating the portion sizes nor the exercise calories burned accurately. A guy at cardiac rehab told me about MFP and I started using it to track what I was doing and I was surprised at just how much I was still eating even though I was supposedly eating healthier. Also, early on, I took the MFP exercise calories right out of the database. Two things made for my turnaround ... bought a digital scale and started weighing everything and got a heart rate monitor. I was amazed to find that when I thought I was eating a cup of cereal it was actually a cup and a half and when I was eating 3 oz. of meat I was actually eating 5 oz. Once I started getting more accurate measures, the pounds started coming off. Same thing with exercise calories. I was overestimating them with MFP, and since I eat back my calories, I was overeating. The HRM helped me come up with much more accurate calorie burn numbers and stopped the overeating.

In summary, the three weeks before I started MFP and measuring and using an HRM, I'd lost one pound in three weeks. Since using the scale and HRM and tracking the stuff accurately, I've dropped at least 43 lbs. in just 3 1/2 months.

grumpya

Firstly you will lose slowly becaue you are not heavy to start with. Looking at your diary I don't see very much fruit or veg, veg really helps fill you up & it helps you lose weight, when you quick add calories are you totally sure that is accurate? Sometimes we all estimate what we eat & are a little bit out but the effect is cumulative.
Try making some home made vegetable soup, easy & you can have that at lunch time, it will fill you up & it will be much healthier than processed or manufactured food.
Keep at it & you will get there in the end. Good luck

AthenaErr

sheesh am clearly asleep over here. You posted 0.6lbs. Maybe you are giving your exercise too many points. I often think the machines in gyms etc over estimate. Have you tried eating but not eating your exercise points? Make sure you dont eat too little though.
In any case you may find it all comes off in a rush next week!

DiannaMoorer

Good job on your .6 lb weight loss and cardio 6 days a week. You need to weight train though. Put some muscle in those arms. I run 6 to 7 days a week and weight train about 3. It's not a good idea to post those quick calories because you can't track your protein and carbs that way. I would advise you to cut back on carbohydrates like cereal and eat WAY more protein. It is good to try and eat at least 20 to 30 grams of protein at each meal. Eggs, yogurt, cheese,nuts and protein smoothies using protein powder. Feel free to look at my diary. It's not perfect but I am losing weight and inches. Feel free to send me a friend request also.

yogamama30

are you eating all your calories even the extra ones you get from working out? sometimes your body needs more calories even than is suggested when you're exercising...hope that helps!

natalie412

First, do you have a hrm? Because if y are going by what mfp says you burn don't. They grossly overestimate and you are probably eating back way to much!

Could be sodium as was mentioned as well. Or if it's close to your Tom then that also effects it greatly.

I'm not sure what hrm and tom means.... this is all new to me

hrm = heart rate monitor
tom = time of the month

Meloonie

Only 6 lbs in two weeks? Are you serious? Thats great! You should be proud, not beating yourself up. Have you weighed that out in measurement and picked it up? - bags of sugar or packs of butter in the supermarket?

Honestly, dont feel bad you're doing very well! Chin up!

xx

Gloria415

I don't know but I'm going thru the same thing. I've lost 6lbs. then gained 2 then lost 1 ughhh! and I'm exercising and I know for a fact that I am always under my calorie intake.

jenj1313

Not sure how tall you are, but since you're goal is 18 lbs to lose, it doesn't seem like you're extremely overweight. That's awesome, but you have to realize that it's going to come off more slowly than it will for someone who is 100 lbs overweight doing the same amount of exercise and eating the same number of calories.

MFP grossly over-estimates my calories burned vs my heart rate monitor. Yesterday, for example, I mountain biked for 3 hours. Heart rate monitor said1257 calories and I think MFP said 2100. That's a big difference if I ate it all back. I notice a lot of people on here put up what seem like really high calorie counts and I can only assume the same thing. Unless you're using a heart rate monitor, you don't really know what you're burning.

If I use MFP to estimate calories, I keep the time, but adjust the calories to half because that's about what it works out to with the heart rate monitor if I compare all the different types of exercise I do.

As for sodium, I personally find it doesn't make a huge difference in my weight numbers when I'm drinking a lot of water, but your body may be more sensitive to it than mine. I'd try changing one thing at a time until you figure out what works for you!

Hope that helps and good luck :-)

DiannaMoorer

Only 6 lbs in two weeks? Are you serious? Thats great! You should be proud, not beating yourself up. Have you weighed that out in measurement and picked it up? - bags of sugar or packs of butter in the supermarket?

Honestly, dont feel bad you're doing very well! Chin up!

xx

It was .6 lbs in 2 weeks not 6

jenj1313

Only 6 lbs in two weeks? Are you serious? Thats great! You should be proud, not beating yourself up. Have you weighed that out in measurement and picked it up? - bags of sugar or packs of butter in the supermarket?

Honestly, dont feel bad you're doing very well! Chin up!

xx

Apparently some people don't know what a decimal point is! at 0.6 lbs in 2 weeks, you'd still be at a pound a month, but I think we all want to progress faster than that, so keep adjusting until you get it!

Athijade

Honestly... you only have 18lbs to lose. You should be aiming for about .5 lbs a week.

You have also only been at this for 2 weeks. Sometimes changes do not start right away or you will see a delay. No reason to worry yet.