Frustration on week 2!

ekaplan1020

I am 6' and 210 lbs. I have been exercising for about a month and started MFP about 10 days ago. I have been tracking my food accurately and have been right at my calorie goal, including eating back my exercise calories. My goal for 2 pounds a week is 1410 calories a day and I have been right there. I am also using the fitbit ultra and drinking plenty of water.

I started MFP at 210.4 and I was doing well getting down to 209.2 after the first 3 days. Then for some reason I weighed myself 2 days later and I was at 209.4. I weighed myself today and I am still at 209.4. At this rate it doesn't look like I am on track for 2 pounds a week.

Any thoughts or advice?

theartichoke

I'm 5'6 and I net 1500 cals a day! My suggestion is to find your BMR and TDEE. Search the forums for helloitsdan's "In Place of a Road Map". Eating enough to properly fuel your body is a great place to start. It's much easier to determine where problems are coming from when eating too little isn't one of them!

Jfrerichs

Quit weighing yourself so much. It's a hard temptation to not give in to-I know. I weigh myself once a week - usually Thursday and always in the morning before I shower.

SairahRose

Could be water retention, or it could be that you need to not eat back the exercise cals.

I'd try drinking more water for a couple of days to see if that works, and if it doesn't, then try only eating back half of the exercise cals. Or a combination of both.

Good luck

SuperSexyDork

You are not eating enough. Period. I'm pretty sure that as a male on 1400 calories your body thinks you are starving it and attempting to hold onto as much as possible. As a man you should be eating at LEAST 1800 calories a day and at your height it is probably much more.

Also, what is your goal weight? It probably isn't too far away from what you weigh right now, is it? Unless you have a lot to lose it's more realistic to set your weight loss goal at .5-1 pound a week.

About your body holding onto weight- your weight can fluctuate up to 5 pounds a day just with food/fluid consumed, sodium levels, retaining water due to exercise, etc. I wouldn't be too worried about that, however, please reconsider your food intake and up your calories.

verptwerp

Already ?

Give yourself some slack ...... eat healthy ..... move ..... log every single thing ......

And step away from the scale !

You'll lose weight ...... it just takes time ...... enjoy the journey :drinker:

ccunningham33

keep at it and only weigh once a week. i was a diet counselor and I saw people lose and gain. our bodies react differently to food.
if you gain a little, don't get discouraged, it will come off. weigh at the same time of day, every time. good luck

Prahasaurus

You need to read up on variance. The idea of .x being an issue on the scale is ridiculous. You have variance on the scale itself, variance on how your weight fluctuates during the day, variance on water retention, etc., etc., etc.

If you are really logging everything, you need to stay off the scale for at least a week. And in the beginning, better to avoid the scale for even longer. Measure yourself and focus more on that if you need positive reinforcement.

Also, are you sure 1400 cal/day is what MFP calculated for you? That seems very low. I'm 6'2" and weighed around 230 when I started. I'm now at 187 or so, and I was eating 2000 cal per day for 1 pound a week of weight loss.

--P

mcarter99

That '2 lbs/week' thing is only really true as an average over many weeks, like at least 4. People lose in fits and starts, usually. Keep at it! Stay off the scale if it bugs you not to see weekly progress.

RealWomenLovePitbulls

just weigh urself weekly