What have I done wrong?

Remember that muscle weighs more than fat and in order to burn fat your have to gain muscle.

So what you are saying, is that by me doing exercise I may be converting the fat into muscle, and that is why I havent really lost anything this week?

yup. Just keep eating healthy foods and exercising and you'll keep losing weight.

loosing weight should be a slow loss, not too much too fast

When you first start working out your body can retain more water to help repair your muscles. And, workout or not, not every week is going to be the same. Weight fluctuates all the time. Make sure you are doing measurements as well.

Edited for typo

you cannot turn muscle into fat, and while you might have built muscle, you did not build enough to offset a loss.

you initial weight loss is typical for a person that starts a new way of eating. the shock to your system causes a quick loss of weight. your body will now even out. results are typically a loss of pound or so average a week. some weeks you might lose more, some will be less, some weeks you will lose none.

if you exercise regularly, your body will hold on to water to help repair muscles. i suggest that you eat back your exercise calories, however, eat them back in an efficient way. having a protein fruit smoothie within an hour or so of exercise helps replenish your body with the nutrients it needs to rebuild itself, while also helping to prevent the EAT ALL THE THINGS feeling we get 1hour+ after a work out.

There really is no way to know because you provide no information to make an informed decision.

What kind of information should I be giving?

There's a lot of knowledgeable people who can help you take a look at what your eating but you need to open your diary for that. Also what is your height, current weight, age...assuming your male because of your name.

If you're fueling your body sufficiently then it could be as Lmezz11 suggested, water retention from working out.

Weight loss doesn't necessarily happen consistently, because there are a lot of other factors (water, food, etc) that change your weight besides fat. For me, it seems to stay constant within 1 lb for a week or three and then drop off 4-5 lbs suddenly. But my schedule also varies a lot, so it could be environmental factors.

You can retain water after a workout, particularly after resistance training.

you cannot turn muscle into fat, and while you might have built muscle, you did not build enough to offset a loss.

you initial weight loss is typical for a person that starts a new way of eating. the shock to your system causes a quick loss of weight. your body will now even out. results are typically a loss of pound or so average a week. some weeks you might lose more, some will be less, some weeks you will lose none.

if you exercise regularly, your body will hold on to water to help repair muscles. i suggest that you eat back your exercise calories, however, eat them back in an efficient way. having a protein fruit smoothie within an hour or so of exercise helps replenish your body with the nutrients it needs to rebuild itself, while also helping to prevent the EAT ALL THE THINGS feeling we get 1hour+ after a work out.

This^. You cant build enough muscle in a calorie deficit to offset a loss of fat, your body needs surplus calories to build muscle. Its more likely that you just had a high loss first week. You also didnt say what kind of exercise you were doing, but unless its lifting, muscle gain is unlikely anyway, youre not going to 'build muscle' long distance running or doing zumba.
Weight loss isnt the same every week, it will go up and down. Dont focus on it too much, just keep at it and you'll get there

You'er doing nothing wrong - the human body is a complex thing and doesn't always behave as we anticipate!

I expect what you are experiencing is a little water retention, which is something that occurs naturally when you increaser your exercise. Exercise causes minute "damage" to muscles, which are then made stronger by the repair process, but for that repair process to take place, the body needs water and so will retain more. If you continue to include exercise in our normal routine, then you will continue to see losses - but do bear in mind that so many things affect the body, so it will not always be a consistent loss!

you cannot turn muscle into fat, and while you might have built muscle, you did not build enough to offset a loss.

you initial weight loss is typical for a person that starts a new way of eating. the shock to your system causes a quick loss of weight. your body will now even out. results are typically a loss of pound or so average a week. some weeks you might lose more, some will be less, some weeks you will lose none.

if you exercise regularly, your body will hold on to water to help repair muscles. i suggest that you eat back your exercise calories, however, eat them back in an efficient way. having a protein fruit smoothie within an hour or so of exercise helps replenish your body with the nutrients it needs to rebuild itself, while also helping to prevent the EAT ALL THE THINGS feeling we get 1hour+ after a work out.

This is very true!

this

If thats enough to make you give up, you should. You just dont have the chops for flying.

This.

Also, can we please stop acting like muscle sprouts out of nowhere like weeds in a garden? Gaining muscle is really, really hard and requires just as much - if not more - effort than losing fat. You will not have gained 4lbs of muscle from doing some exercise for a week. Your muscles may have retained water due to your new exercise regime, but no way have you gained muscle, especially not that much.

The first week of attempting to lose weight, you will often see a huge loss on the scale and most of it is water weight. You're probably drinking more water, eating less food and especially less sodium-rich food. You don't want to see a loss of 4.5lbs a week. That's way too much. 0.5lbs is a perfectly healthy loss for a normal week, especially if you're not drastically overweight. Don't panic and don't expect such huge numbers all the time. The closer you get to your goal, the slower your progress will be.

So what you are saying, is that by me doing exercise I may be converting the fat into muscle, and that is why I havent really lost anything this week?

yup. Just keep eating healthy foods and exercising and you'll keep losing weight.

No, just no!


Did you start exercising and eat back all your exercise calories? Or did you just eat the exact same way?