Minimal weight loss. Am I doing something wrong?
ido426
Posts: 14 Member
I started mfp 2 weeks ago. I lost 2 pounds the first week but only half a pound the second week. Just last night I changed my settings to 0 workouts a week. This changed my caloric need from 1350 to 1330. I use the sedentary setting because my job is at night in a hospital. Some nights I have nothing to do and it turns into a desk job. I do workout and enter this in to adjust my net calories. What am I doing wrong? Why would I only lose half a pound the second week? Can I plateau this soon? Also, I'm not sure if this may effect any advice you can give me but I have been fighting a cold this past week. I was hoping that may be what is effecting my progress.
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Replies
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you are on track, stick with it.0
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I think I am in the same boat. I keep hearing to not be discouraged! I lost right off the bat when I shocked my system and started mfp but now I am stuck and even gained a pinch. I can easlily see where I make mistakes and am trying to correct them. I am weak but trying! Slow and steady is the healthy way and I just need to resolve myself to not expecting instant results... slow and steady and it will happen! Chin up, right?!0
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I would wait and see what you get this week. In the past I have lost 3lb one week and then 1lb the next but then on the 3rd Ive gone back to 3lb again, so my weight lose averaged over 2 weeks would be 2lb per week which is good.
I wouldn't stress or worry about it at the moment you have lost so just keep doing what your doing:00 -
It is discouraging. I guess it's better than gaining weight. Thanx.0
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Amy, what mistakes have you learned from?0
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You're averaging a pound a week. That's what you're supposed to be doing.
It is slow. But it really does add up.0 -
It would help if you didnt punch through your metrics on a daily basis.. over all your eating seems to be fairly clean but you are really up there on your carbs.. Try changing your diet around and lower your carbs and up your protein in stead...
All of what your body is using for fuel is the larger amount of carbs you are putting in your system. Lower those amounts and your body will work on burning more body fat first.
That being said, I know this is a learning process, so research all you can and stay with in your daily mfp goals and you should begin to see good loss again.0 -
It's tought to say if you're doing something wrong, because you didn't say what you're doing to lose weight.
Sorry if I'm just not using the site correctly & missing obvious info about your diet and exercise somewhere.
Good luck.0 -
Punch through my metrics? What does that mean? Mfp was a reality check on my carb intake. Crazy high I know. I do try to make it whole grains, though0
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You are going over your daily allowed goals on some things.. You CAN adjust these manually to your liking and it usually is recommended as MFP usually estimates your proteins lower than should.0
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Cougar, I'm not sure how but you can see my diary since my settings r set as public.0
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Thanx, I will keep a closer eye on carbs and proteins instead of only checking total calories.0
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I'm watching your replies with interest as I am in the same boat. I've been doing this diligently for 3 weeks now and no weight loss at all. Granted, I've been on my cycle for a week and I gain, but I'm truly recording every bite and I'm getting discouraged. I'll stick with it because I know of no other way, but it is tough. I too work in a medical setting and will some days be very busy, and others stuck at a desk. I Plug On! :flowerforyou:0
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I agree that you're on track. I've lost my 40lbs 1 pound at a time. It takes hard work and time to acheive a fit body. there are no shortcuts or magic pills that will get you healthy.
Don't get discouraged and keep plugging away at it.0 -
Be patient. A lot of people don't lose the same amount every single week. Some people will not lose at all for a couple of weeks and then a big chunk will be lost. Just make sure the overall trend is down and you'll be fine.0
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Do what you do for three weeks and THEN determine if you are making progress or not. If not, readjust and go for your next three weeks. Eventually, you will get to where you want to be. Just don't ever give up. Like anything else, it gets easier as you go along. Just stay on here on a daily basis and pay close attention to how your successful friends on here are doing it. It will happen. Just stay in it.0
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Loss is loss, and this is a life-long committment not a race. Two weeks is hardly enough time to gather information about how you are doing. Until you are comfortable with seeing the numbers on the scale as JUST data, I might recommend that you weigh yourself once a month. Keep doing what you are doing, pay attention to how your body feels after you eat certain things, be good to yourself. You've got this!0
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As PP said, it may help to adjust your carb/protein ratio. I have a really hard time with that. I started just trying to reduce my sugar intake and then lowering carbs in general is the next step.
I also notice on most days you have most of your foods grouped into two meals (lunch and dinner). I'm not sure if that is just the way you are logging or if it is actually the way you are eating. It might help to eat 5-6 small meals instead of two large meals.
Building on that, most days your breakfasts are the smallest and your dinners are the largest. It has helped me to try to flip that. Breakfast is the biggest (and highest carb) and then the meals get smaller from there. I'm not perfect at it (because it takes a lot more willpower to eat less at night!) but it does help with my weightloss.0 -
Add the sodium tab to your diet so you can track that. Sodium will stop or slow your weightloss down if you eating to much.0
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Rome was not built in a day. It took you years to gain weight.
Expect it to take a little time to lose the weight.
All those shows on TV (i.e. Extreme Makeover, Biggest Loser) are not focused on the average person in their average environment ( I mean really... who has three months and several hours a day to work out with a personal trainer? )
Seriously. If you lose weight too quickly it isn't helpful as a portion of that weight loss will include muscle. Lose too much muscle and you lose the engine that burns fat (which in turn makes it harder to lose weight) This is part of reason behind the ideal of one pound of loss per week.
Ideally the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn.
You are on the right track. Just remember its a marathon not a sprint.0 -
Here's something to keep in mind. Did you gain the weight you're now trying to lose in 2 weeks? A month? A few months? A few years? No? More than likely it gradually crept on over weeks, months, years even. During that time there were weeks where you ate more than other weeks, weeks where you ate less than other weeks, where you moved more, where you moved less. Did you continue to gain a steady 2 lbs a week? Doubtful because while there's a lot of science involved in this process, i.e. thermodynamics, biological processes etc., weight loss is *not* a science and as such, you cannot expect that much consistency.
You can create consistency which would eventually net you the result you want. That is, consistent caloric deficit created by consuming fewer calories than you burn, consistent exercise to change the physical composition of your body (fat to muscle ratios etc.), consistent logging to monitor intake, and consistent positive outlook to help with the doldrums that go along with this process (they're inevitable).
Best of luck to you.0 -
Believe I started MFP in late April 2012, and am down 8 lbs. That is slow but that is the way I want it. If I lose fast, I have backlash hunger and gain it all back right away. That has not happened since I started MFP and I keep slowly going in the right direction.0
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keep in mind things like water weight, monthly cycles and all that good stuff. One week I lost 4 lbs just because I started drinking all of my water and was able to flush my system a bit. Don't get discouraged. You can do this. I have been doing this since May. I've lost about 10 lbs and have been able to keep it off even though I don't always stay on track. I still have another 20 lbs to go and I know that I am in the right place with the right group of people to see me through.
Keep up the good work. I hope you start feeling better soon. You will be "back on track" before you know it.0 -
I started mfp 2 weeks ago. I lost 2 pounds the first week but only half a pound the second week. Just last night I changed my settings to 0 workouts a week. This changed my caloric need from 1350 to 1330. I use the sedentary setting because my job is at night in a hospital. Some nights I have nothing to do and it turns into a desk job. I do workout and enter this in to adjust my net calories. What am I doing wrong? Why would I only lose half a pound the second week? Can I plateau this soon? Also, I'm not sure if this may effect any advice you can give me but I have been fighting a cold this past week. I was hoping that may be what is effecting my progress.
The cold actually could be hindering the process as well. If you're not feeling well, you're not going to put all the effort into exercise that you should.
Edit:
Also, I'm looking at your food diary. I noticed there are several days in there where the majority of your calories are eaten at dinner. What you could try is eating more calories at breakfast, and less at night- that way your body can burn them off through daily activity throughout the day.
And just a thought, you could also edit your food diary to track sodium and sugar intake as well. A lot of sodium can cause you to retain water, which is what you lose primarily at first.0 -
I know it takes a long time to lose the weight properly. My fear was that I was wasting weeks by doing something wrong that I could have adjusted if I had only knew. I am in two weeks and I don't fully trust mfp yet.0
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Hi! First of all, if you're doing MFP right, the weight should come off slowly - but since you're changing eating habits, it should also stay off. I find once I lose a couple pounds, my weight will fluctuate back up or stay the same for a week or more before I lose again. My clothes have gotten looser - in fact I'm down two pant sizes, so even if the scale doesn't always show the effects, I know I'm losing. Secondly, I looked at the past few days of your food diary. You eat a lot of cheese! That may be something you need to cut back on. I'm sure you love it, and you can certainly keep eating cheese, but maybe make an effort to cut that intake by half. I also see wine quite often. For me, I really limit the alcohol - a lot of calories for almost no nutritional value. Once you start exercizing regularly, which I recommend, you can add some of those things back in - in moderation. But if you want to lose without a lot of exercise, you really need to cut back calories, and I would start with those high in sugars, fat, and things that are processed (ready-made foods.) Good luck!0
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do not get discouraged!!! there have been weeks where i either a. lost nothing. or b. gained a pound or 2....slow and steady wins the race....get the numbers out of your head...its only going to frustrate you. there have been many times where i just felt like giving up and i didnt....i kept going....and i am much happier and healthier for it..... focus on getting healthy....make that your main goal...and start taking measurements instead of tracking your weight on the scale....0
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Track your sodium. It has a bigger impact than you might expect. Also, if (and only if) it won't make you crazy, weigh yourself once a day but only log your weight once a week - that way you'll know if you just happen to be bloated. I've had days where I'm 2lbs heavier on my weigh-in day than I've been the rest of the week just because I overate/had too much sodium/didn't hydrate enough the day before.
Most importantly, it's a slow process. You won't lose 2lbs every week, you might not lose 1lb every week - but it's not a plateau unless you don't see anything moving at all for a month or two. Be patient and keep eating right.0 -
Be patient and keep moving pushing forward. I have been working since September and have only lost about 26 lbs...average of only about 1/2 lb a week but, I am pushing. It will happen, slow and steady wins the race. I am hoping kicking myself in gear with my workouts recently will help that out but, I am still gonna keep moving!!
GOOD LUCK and give your body some time...dont re-adjust too quickly. You must give your body time to adjust to the schedule you give it. Do something for a month then, if you dont see many results, then change it up a bit.
"A huge part of losing weight is believing you can do it and realizing it's not going to happen overnight."
GOOD LUCK!!!!0 -
Great tips! I'm glad I looked at this post. Now I can incorporate this into my game plan! Thanks!0
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