So in this case... what do I do? Please help

saimabhaidani

Hi, so I need a little help here please.... I am not sure whether to increase or decrease calories furthermore. Please help, I would really appreciate it. Here is a little info:

I started (restarted) exercising on March 5th. I jog/powerwalk 5 days a week 50-60 mins and take a one hour strenth class twice a week. (sometimes strength class and jog fall in the same day so I take the class first then jog later in the evening or sometime after the class)

According to Harris-Benedict formula, my BMR is 1324 and my avg. TDEE is 1820. Plus I burn about extra 400 cals by exersising. Which allows me to have 2240 cals/day maintainance. then minus 20% deficit = 1776 cals/per day.

So I am eating around 1750 cals a day and exercising as described above (about 7 hours/week).

After first four days, I was up 3lbs. then by sunday I lost 2lbs. then following week, I lost 2lbs more. Third week, I lost nothing, and this is the fourth week and still lost nothing. my total weightloss this month was 1lb.!!!! Why would weightloss stop only after two weeks? What am I doing wrong? Working out this much and watching cals is really hard and I would love results EVERY DAMN SINGLE WEEK. what do I do??? increase or decrease my cals? or change my exercise? I waited patiently two weeks but if I dont see any results i am not sure how long I can hold on......... sob sob

I have restarted many times before but I pretty much always go back and forth in the same five pounds then give up.... this time I dont want to give up.......... I WANT continous results!

saimabhaidani

need help please

violetsue

You are probaly retaining water. This is normal for the first few weeks you start exercising.
Do you notice your clothes fitting any better?

gvnyc

If I were in your shoes I would probably try dropping my (net) calories a little bit, no more than 200, for a few weeks - just in case any of your calculations for BMR/calorie intake/calories burned, etc are a bit off.

saimabhaidani

thanks to both of you for advice/support. I didn't know that you can retain water for 4+ weeks once you start exercising. I thought it was only first few days....... I will hang in there.

And I already lowered my calories more starting today -its really hard though ...

thanks again.

honestlysweet

I didn't lose anything the whole first month! (Jan). But I was so determined not to fail, so I kept going and started taking strength and cardio classes at the gym and really pushed myself hard, for example, if I felt like I couldn't do one more rep, I did 10 more. You have to really work up a sweat and push yourself hard. If you can have a conversation while you are exercising, you need to push harder. It's hard, but it will get you results. If you can't hold a conversation, you are doing great!

Also, I watch more than just calories. If most of your calories are carbs and fat, it will take longer to lose. For me, that is the case, anyway. By eating as much clean food, lean meats, fruits veggies and low fat drinks, including protein shakes twice a day, I finally started to lose, and I have lost ten pounds. It takes a lot of work and time, but if you give up now, you will be so depressed. So keep it up and I am sure you will succeed!

LReneeWalker

What about your measurements?

spendsitwell

I would track your measurements as well. I wasnt loosing weight but I was loosing inches and that is a good sign and was good enough to keep me going. Also track your sodium intake. If you are consuming to much sodium you will retain water and not lose weight. I cant see your diary so I dont know for sure what you are eating. Make your calories count. It took me a good month before I started to see weight lose. Dont give up. It will start to come off.

kyt1206

When you jog/powerwalk for an hour - how fast exactly are you going?

(You can use endomondo on a smart phone to use GPS tracking to measure your speed if you're outside.)

To get an effective calorie workout without some bad miscalculations by whatever gym machine you're on, you will only start to burn fat after walking 15 mins at 3.5 mph at an 8 degree incline. THEN you will lose weight. So how you're doing it counts.

BTW you don't retain water for weeks at a time. You retain water whenever you have too much sodium and the kidney has to balance it out. In other words, diet soda don't have sugar, yes, but it has LOTS of 'empty' sodium. So does many other 'diet' type foods that use synthetic sweeteners. Your sodium intake should accompany nutrition, otherwise I call it 'empty' sodium just like 'empty' calories without nutrition.

kdiamond

If I could see your diary, I could critique your eating habits...I think a 40/30/30 ratio works wonderfully. Most people eat many more carbs than they do protein. I'm an advocate of eating a lot of protein.

Also, I commend you on your healthy approach, and truthfully, you sound like you're on the right track.

Are you measuring everything with a food scale?

I would recommend perhaps slashing 100 calories a day for a while, and see if that helps. No more than that.

saimabhaidani

yes I've been taking measurements every two weeks....... the first biweekly measurement I lost a little bit(1/2 inch at each body part) but at four weeks, nada

For jogging, I started at 3.6 mph average and after first week averaging at 4.8, I alternate between running at 6mph and walking at 3.5 for a minute or so....

for macros.... I average (try to) for 40/30/30 but dont use a food scale... its just already sooo much, I dont want to get burned out and quit by measuring everything on a scale but whats the point if I quit because of not seeing results... I better get a food scale then lol

thanks to everyone for helping... means lots!

kdiamond you have always been an inspiration! thanks

saimabhaidani

oh yeah... all my workouts are hard.... I sweat like he** and am all out after my workout, I cant carry a conv during at all!

SteveHunt113

There are many factors at play here. If you recently started lifting, then you are gaining muscle. With loss of fat and gain of muscle, you will lose inches but not pounds. This is good.

When do you weight yourself? Best time is first thing when you wake up, after you go to the bathroom. Use the same scale.

Drink lots of water. Getting plenty of water helps prevent water retention. Lowering your sodium intake also help (so I've read).

Remember that calculating BMR is really a best guess, so don't count on it being 100% accurate.

I like the idea of cutting back on calories (about 100) for a week or so to see what affect that has.

Masterdo

Well, it is known that the Harris Formula has a very low accuracy for people that are not already fit.

Check :

www.fat2fitradio.com/tools

Use the military tool to check your body fat %, then check the BMR with the Katch-McArdle formula on the result page. This should give you a nice estimate. EDIT : To give you an idea, my result page shows 500 cal difference between the formulas... quite a difference.

Next step, if you want/can invest a little, check for a heart rate monitor. Maybe you over/under estimate the calories you burn with the exercise you do, leading to this plateau.

Good luck!

Lolli1986

sounds like you're doing everything right to me.

Do you mind me asking what your current and goal weight are?

personally, I do not believe i have ever eaten that many calories... when i 'eat what i want' then track it (which i did for the first month to get a baseline of what i do) i only hit from 1300-1600. i was maintaining/gaining at these cals.

supposedly, i should be able to eat more. i have read that the way to 'fix' this 'poor metabolism' is to eat at maintenance (which is net 1800 for me) for a couple of weeks. If you don't mind gaining a bit of weight for a few weeks, supposedly if you try this, you should then be able to apply the equations you mentioned and they should work.

personally, i find it difficult and uncomfortable to eat that much, so i don't really use the equations. the only rules I stick to are to try to net 1200-1400cals, eat roughly 1400-1600 every day, and exercise 6/7 days, burning about 300cals.

Tami113

I totally unrstand that you are bummed, i would be too. I think for us to help we need more information. As a previous member stated, allowing us to see your food and exercise diary would allow us to critique with more detail. Also, what are your goals and measurements? If you are overweight and you start with a calorie deficit you should see weight drop the first few weeks. If you are close to your goal it is more difficult to lose the last few pounds.
Without looking at your diary heree are some tips that i think will help.
Steer away from soda, it is loaded with sugars and calories and will make you retain water even more
Increase frutis and vegetables. These sugars are natural and easily digested as opposed to junk food sugars
Drink lots of water
Limit sodium, this will make you retain water as well
Make sure you get plenty of protein

I am no saint when it comes to my eating but i have made some lifestyle changes that have seem to be working. You can check out my diary if you would like. I am only on 1200 calories and havesteadily lost about 2 lbs per week since i started MFP in february.

I hope this helps, do't give up. Regret is a far greater pain than adjusting your lifestyle! Good luck!!

amberjean30

drink lots and lots of water and remember that if you are building muscle, it weighs too! Don't give up keep on working and it will pay off.....i promise

Lolli1986

Well, it is known that the Harris Formula has a very low accuracy for people that are not already fit.

Check :

www.fat2fitradio.com/tools

Use the military tool to check your body fat %, then check the BMR with the Katch-McArdle formula on the result page. This should give you a nice estimate. EDIT : To give you an idea, my result page shows 500 cal difference between the formulas... quite a difference.

Next step, if you want/can invest a little, check for a heart rate monitor. Maybe you over/under estimate the calories you burn with the exercise you do, leading to this plateau.

Good luck!

This is really useful advice, btw... I tried it and the calculations came out 100cals lower.

This is still not enough to explain why I gain/maintain below 1700 calories, though.

kristinL16

When you jog/powerwalk for an hour - how fast exactly are you going?

(You can use endomondo on a smart phone to use GPS tracking to measure your speed if you're outside.)

To get an effective calorie workout without some bad miscalculations by whatever gym machine you're on, you will only start to burn fat after walking 15 mins at 3.5 mph at an 8 degree incline. THEN you will lose weight. So how you're doing it counts.

BTW you don't retain water for weeks at a time. You retain water whenever you have too much sodium and the kidney has to balance it out. In other words, diet soda don't have sugar, yes, but it has LOTS of 'empty' sodium. So does many other 'diet' type foods that use synthetic sweeteners. Your sodium intake should accompany nutrition, otherwise I call it 'empty' sodium just like 'empty' calories without nutrition.

Diet soda is NOT a high sodium food. Look at the nutrition info.

DIVINEDIVACEO

I don't know if this is much help but my friend's doctor told her to decrease her calories 500 from your required calorie intake given.

kyt1206

I was wrong. Diet soda has 35 mg of sodium. It isn't a lot.

I think I always think of it as a lot because there's no nutrition to balance it out. It's just too much to me without some kind of nutritional benefit.