Only lost 1.5 pounds this week

phildawson75
phildawson75 Posts: 205 Member
edited December 28 in Health and Weight Loss
Iv been losing between 2.5 and 3.5 pounds for the last 5 weeks and now it's dropped to just 1.5. It's not a complaint as I'm glad it's still going down, but not at the rate I expected.

I don't think iv eaten particularly well this week (and I know iv have loads of eggs and bacon :p) but I would have thought it would have been fairly consistent with the other weeks. I have started in the last week doing a large amount of push ups and crunches every day which might account for some change.

What is strange is a NSV where I can start to see the outline of my abs in the mirror (even at what my scales tell me is 20% fat!), seems like the biggest improvement this week but not showing on the scales. :(

Should I change my diet, does my diary look okish? (I don't track water but I have ~10 glasses/day) Or should i keep going like I have been, and see if it picks up? Is it just natural to slow down towards your goal? 

I'm trying to go from 12 stone to 10 stone in 12 weeks. I'm on week 5 at 11.1 stone atm.

Cheers, Phil 

Replies

  • gidgeclev
    gidgeclev Posts: 103 Member
    1.5 is good, wait another week before you change anything. Extra exercise can cause you to retain water in your muscles. If it stalls completely for 2 weeks and you are not cheating(!) then that is the time to reassess your diet. Don't panic, just go back to what you were doing in the previous 2 weeks.
  • JaneUK
    JaneUK Posts: 102
    Bacon is very salty. I always gain about 2 lbs when I eat even 1 rasher and then it takes about 36 hours for the water weight to drop off.
    Jane
  • GypsysBloodRose26
    GypsysBloodRose26 Posts: 341 Member
    1.5 is still a healthy loss and your body can't keep up a large weightloss every week indefinitely. I wouldn't worry about it yet. Give it another week or two.
  • heddy90
    heddy90 Posts: 144 Member
    Life is not The Biggest Loser show, you can't get big numbers every week. You SHOULDN'T get big numbers every week, it's not really healthy. It's normal to lose more in the start, and then it goes a bit more slowly, but as long as it's going the right way, why complain (I know, you're not complaining) ;) )? As long as you're losing, you're obviously doing something right, so I wouldn't worry about changing things yet.

    Just relax, take it easy and be glad you're losing. You'll get there quickly enough, and chances are you'll find it easier to stick with a weight loss going at this rate, and not just a quick fix diet. Studies show that people who lose slowly, but steadily, are more likely to stay in their healthy lifestyle and weight, while people who lose to quickly often gain it back.
  • donna_glasgow
    donna_glasgow Posts: 869 Member
    the less weight you have the slower it will come off, in saying that 1.5lbs is a great loss. as jane said bacon is salty and does cause you to retain water, which will flush through in time, also if you have sore muscles with your crunches your muscles will also be retaining water.

    stick with your current program its obviously working well :)
  • IronManDan007
    IronManDan007 Posts: 2
    1.5 pounds lost in a week is great! When my weight loss hit a standstill, I incorporated exercise and lost 3.5 pounds in a week.
  • phildawson75
    phildawson75 Posts: 205 Member
    Cheers for all the advice :) I'll give it another week or two before I change anything. If it keeps at 1.5 loss/week it's not so bad, I guess I'm being a little impatient too. It could well be the retain of water as mentioned given the starting of exercise and salty foods. This is the first exercise I've done for a good 10 years or so! I'm going to try and ease into them over the next few weeks so I don't knacker myself up.

    I'm so glad my friend recommended MFP to me, being techie I love filling in the app and it's certainly helped plan my food and cooking too. It seems like such a positive community too!

    I've just taken a couple of photos of today, when I get to 10 stone I'll do some more for comparison. Looking forward to posting in Success Stories forum ^_^ !

    8xcUi.jpg
    8dG0r.jpg
  • ricky_j_b
    ricky_j_b Posts: 64 Member
    1.5 is good,congrats.Maybe track your sugar intake for a week or 2??
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,333 Member
    i'd love to cry you a river..but really? :sad:
  • onyxgirl17
    onyxgirl17 Posts: 1,722 Member
    You should still be proud of it. The way my weight loss works there is like only one-two weeks in the month I actually lose weight (Maybe the whoosh effect, maybe my menstrual cycle). I would be so happy to see weight lost each week.
  • phildawson75
    phildawson75 Posts: 205 Member
    Well it's a week later and iv done my weekly scales this morning.

    It's showing a 3.2lbs loss this week! 

    I've also dropped 1% in body fat!

    I just kept my same routine but had a less salty diet this week. I'm guess it was just increased water last week which masked the actual amount lost.

    I've just started adding flutter kicks, bicycle crunches and reverse crushes to my home exercises so hopefully I can keep ~2lbs loss for the next few weeks to reach my 10st target. I'm also goin to start having more veg and fish from now on to really improve my intake. Ditching those horrible Tesco light ready meals for fresh cooking too.
  • onyxgirl17
    onyxgirl17 Posts: 1,722 Member
    If I lost 1.5 pounds in a week I'd be ecstatic...
  • ox45
    ox45 Posts: 90 Member
    Looking at your photos, I would almost say 1.5, let alone 3, per week is too much. I don't know what your goals are so I can only speculate, but I would think you are on a fast track to losing too much lean mass at that rate.
  • phildawson75
    phildawson75 Posts: 205 Member
    Looking at your photos, I would almost say 1.5, let alone 3, per week is too much. I don't know what your goals are so I can only speculate, but I would think you are on a fast track to losing too much lean mass at that rate.

    Well my initial goal is to get to 10st from 12st and get more healthy (with a bmi of ~22) and to generally learn to make better eating choices.

    I've given myself a target of 12 wks to do that in, but there's no significant reason of the timeframe other than focus myself. I'm exactly half way through with 16lbs out of the 28lbs lost so roughly on track.

    Iv roughy worked out that when I reach 10st I should have ~15% body fat* (according to my scales)

    Once I hit my target my aim then is to go back to a maintaining calorie intake ~2200 to stay ~10st.

    The secondary goal is then to focus on further on very slowly reducing the 15% body fat down to an athletic ~10% replacing with muscle to keep ~10st.
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