Been a month, haven't lost in the last 1 1/2 weeks

melissadsims
melissadsims Posts: 59 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've just started my health kick on April 1st. I joined the gym and made eating changes. Here's what my week looks like:

Monday- dance aerobics for 30-45 mins; followed by a 30 min core class (the activities vary each class but OWW it hurts/feels good)
Tuesday- 1/2 way through the month I added 30 mins of weights on this day. Typically focusing on arms
Wednesday- dance aerobics 30-45 mins; followed by 30 min core class (same as Monday)
Thursday- SHOULD do weights...but haven't gone those days yet
Friday- 30-45 min dance aerobics, 30 mins weights (arms, and legs)
Sat-sun off

Eating: egg, slice of cheese, slice of meat, English muffin (breakfast), kale/fruit/coconut milk smoothie (lunch), dinner varies

I make all meals from scratch usually. We almost never have boxed or frozen premade food. We do eat out twice a month. And I'll admit that I love a good locally brewed beer. But I have no more than 2 a week. I try and cut out sweets, though I let myself have some here or there (like work birthdays, or just a great relaxing evening)

I lost weight quickly the first 2 weeks. Now I feel stuck. I just upped my weights reps by 2 per set.
What do I do? I'm completely new at working out and have no idea what I'm doing! (Hence the two classes haha) I want to be down by October! Ahhhh

Replies

  • rebelate
    rebelate Posts: 218 Member
    Eat more. It doesn't sound like you're eating enough to even break 1,000 calories a day, unless you're eating an extremely large dinner.

    How many calories do you eat? How many calories do you typically burn in your classes?
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Weight loss doesn't happen at a steady rate.

    Example:

    Week A: 4lb loss
    Week B: 2lb loss
    Week C: 3.5lb loss
    Week D: 1.2lb loss
    Week E: 2lb loss
    Week F: 0.8lb loss

    I'm all over the place. I still have quite a bit to lose and have thus lost every week, but for those closer to their goal it is entirely possible to go a week or 2 without losing.

    Also, I agree with the other poster. How much are you eating a day?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    Well the first few weeks you lose a lot of water weight. So that isn't uncommon. Second with only 20 lbs ish to lose, you should be aiming for 1 lb per week (are you?) and that means you should be eating back at least 50% of your exercise calories. So how many calories are you eating?
  • servilia
    servilia Posts: 3,452 Member
    Relax. I can go without losing for 2 weeks and suddenly lose 2 lbs overnight (and keep it off). Weight loss isn't really linear.
  • melissadsims
    melissadsims Posts: 59 Member
    I try really hard to log all my food intake. Some days I forget if I'm busy at work. But dinners completely vary.
    Example for this week:
    Monday- tomato soup and a grilled cheese (my lazy cooking evening due to the evening at the gym)
    Tuesday: 3 small homemade turkey meatballs with some chopped onion and garlic, 1/4 cup marinara sauce, on a French roll with a little bit of mozerella and a beer
    Wednesday: shredded chicken (maybe equal to one chicken tender) that cooked all day in the crockpot with some BBQ sauce (maybe 2 tbs) with a slice do cheddar on a whole wheat bun.
    Thursday: (embarrassingly) half of a California pizza kitchen frozen signature pepperoni pizza. Later had 1/2 cup ice cream
    Tonight: 3 tacos (maybe 1 cup ground beef total, 3 4inch corn tortillas, 1/4 cup non fat refrained beans, 1/4 cup chopped onion, 1/4 cup cheddar and 2 tbs light sour cream) and I may have a beer.

    As a whole in general I really try and make every meal from scratch so I know what's in it (plus I love cooking) but am I getting enough cardio? Should I up my vegetable intake? (I'm not big on veggies which is why I focus on kale in my smoothies!)
  • melissadsims
    melissadsims Posts: 59 Member
    Also- I aim for 1200 calories a day (if I work out I make sure I eat what I burned)
    Then I have my goal as 1lb a week but wouldn't complain if it was more ;)
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Your workout schedule looks fine to me. It really comes down to being patient, eating some of your exercise calories back*, and making sure you're eating enough calories (not too many and at the same time, not too little).

    *The exception to this rule is if you're doing the TDEE -20%. In which case exercise should be figured into your goal already.
  • melissadsims
    melissadsims Posts: 59 Member
    What is TDEE?
  • wendybird5
    wendybird5 Posts: 577 Member
    This is normal. Weight loss isn't going to be consistent each week, especially given how much closer you are to your goal weight versus someone who has to lose 50 or 60 pounds. Some weeks you lose a lot, some you lose a little and some you may not lose any weight at all though often you may find that you have lost inches. It's only been 10 days. I wouldn't stress about it.
  • tierre1
    tierre1 Posts: 24 Member
    It seems like the same thing happened to me. I started out on the South Beach diet (absolutely no sugar) and the first 2 weeks I lost like crazy. Then my weight came to a stand still, heck I even gained a couple of the pounds back. With Myfitness being able to log everything I eat really helps. I've cut back on the sugar again, increased my cardio especially in the am prior to breakfast and the past week I was able to see a few lost pounds. I recently began doing 'intermittent fasting' and it seems to be working. Good luck with your weight loss journey.
  • nannukka
    nannukka Posts: 52
    Like the other wise people above me have said: make sure you fuel your body and be super patient. Your weight will go up and down, but there will be steady downward trend. You have to tolerate the ups or non-movements and just breath and trust that it will be ok. Because it will. You work out a lot so make sure you eat to give your body energy/nutrients. It looks like from your photo that you might not have that much to loose. It gets harder when you are close to your goal weight. It will go down, but slower. Again that pesky patience. There really isn't any shortcuts if you want to loose weight healthy and keep it off. I am attaching here too threads that are what I call "Lifestyle Change" systems inside the MFP. First one is from haybales and second one is from PU. Both guys know what they are doing. It is both the same system (eat more to loose weight), they are just little differently explained etc. I love this method since you can do this rest of your life (hence the lifestyle change compared to diet). It is healthy way to loose weight and keep it off. I am big fan of this, so just wanted to share.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/750920-spreadsheet-for-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/943139-weight-loss-cheat-sheet-ipoarm
  • diliveslife
    diliveslife Posts: 42 Member
    It could be the beer. For me the math doesn't always make sense. I work out like a beast. I love it so that is never an issue- but for example this past week I had a total of 8-9? beers I want to say- perhaps more. I don't normally drink beer. I am up one pound. I was well within my calorie counts if not under due to exercise. I don't know if it's temporary or just retention- but every time I drink a significant amount of beer I gain for the week then it comes off in later weeks when I don't drink. So I don't know if its a "real" pound or not.

    I also have weeks where this happens even if I don't drink. It can be very frustrating but you have to remember the whole overused phrase of "it's a marathon not a race" to achieve your long term goals. It's hard for me because I am impatient and very detail oriented, so to me if I ate x may calories combines with y many burned calories it should = __ weight loss. Well although that equation is true for a large span of time, it doesn't always add up on a week to week.

    Not to helpful but just sharing my experience. Even I sometimes wonder if I could do something different or didn't count something right, but we just have to relax and know that it will come off as long as we stick to the plan as much as possible.
  • melissadsims
    melissadsims Posts: 59 Member
    Thank you! Glad to know this is normal. I too am obviously impatient. I want this to be a lifestyle change (though the only real change has been adding the gym. Since for the most part besides lunch my meals are the same.) I hope it lasts and so far overall I'm loving seeing the results- even if they are small. ( I took before pictures, then new ones at the end of each week and compare.) it's not a lot but I can see it.
    I thought about giving up beer entirely, but I love a good gourmet beer SO much. I'd have a really hard time. Even one a week makes me so happy haha. SO good!
    Alright, well thanks everyone!

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