No significant weight loss in a MONTH

Sounds like your body is in starvation mode. If you are doing lots of exercising, but still eating under your eating goal daily, you are starving your body so it's holding on to the fat. You have to at least eat what was prescribed for you. You'll see more results if you did this.

I'm going CRAZY. I've lost very little weight in the past month. I'm significantly overweight and need to lose well over 100 pounds. I started buckling down with MyFitnessPal at the end of May after months of poor eating and little exercise. I stay under my limit of 1850 calories per day and I swim for an hour, do Zumba for an hour, and/or walk 3.5 miles between 5-6 days a week. What is up with me?! I'm 29, but that's hardly the age when it becomes brutal to get the weight off. I'm at my wit's end. Last week I GAINED 2 pounds. It makes no sense. Being that I'm so heavy and I'm just starting, it really shouldn't be this hard. I've only lost 3-4 pounds in the past month. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

You're losing 1 lb a week. No shame at all in that. I know it seems slow and miserable when you have over 100 lbs to lose, but just by losing 1 lb a week, you're doing much better than you were before. The only recommendation I might make is to not be afraid to eat back your exercise calories. Looking at your food diary, there seems to be a few days you netted negative, which is either bad or the worst thing on earth, depending on who you ask. There's a whole slew of opinions out there, but I'd recommend eating back at least some of them. Also, make sure you're measuring properly ... it is so easy to underestimate how many calories we're actually eating.

TL;DR version: Keep going!

Edit to add: the 2 lb "gain" was most certainly not fat, as it takes 3500 calories OVER your "calories out" to gain a lb of fat. Pretty sure you didn't eat 7000 calories over your goal Most likely water retention from eating too much sodium or your muscles retaining water from work-out stress. Drink a ton of water and your body will start to release it. Yes, drink water to get rid of water!

Congratulate yourself on your achievements! You have lost 4 lbs. You have watched your diet. You have worked out.

How much of that had you done prior to this month?

This is a lifestyle change! Change is good. Change takes time. Time takes patience. Patience is within you.

Congrats and good luck!

I've been there, I know facing a 100 pound loss is daunting. So you've acknowledged and and now you have to move on and think small goals. A healthy rate of weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week so be happy and proud that you've lost 4 pounds so far! You're on track! Stop setting such high goals for yourself because you're going to keep going through the cycle of being thrilled about a big loss and then beating yourself up about all the stalls, slight gains and plateaus that I guarantee will happen several times before you get to goal.

Ditto on eating back more of your exercise calories. Being obese means your body can handle more of a calorie deficit but only short term so it's not something you want to get used to. I would highly recommend calculating your BMR and making sure your consumed calories never goes below that number. This will ensure that you're at least getting enough calories in to support your body's basic functions. If you feel good doing that, you're good to go. If you start feeling low energy, try eating more. if you feel like you're too full to eat more, look into calorie dense foods - less filling but plenty of calories/nutrients.

Good luck to you!

Ditto on doubting the 2 pound gain was real. It's very likely water weight. You either had a hard workout so your muscles are retining water/glycogen (part of natural healing process) or you had a high sodium day recently or it's that time of the month - or maybe a combo of 2 or 3 of those. Happens to all of us! I had a very high sodium day yesterday and tried drinking a lot of water because I knew it was happeninig (planned on having hot dogs for dinner) but I was still up a pound this morning.

The good news? There are a lot of things you can do to jump start your weight loss. Personally, the first thing I would do is get rid of processed foods. A big commitment, true...so maybe start with that five days a week. If you do that, you most likely will reduce your daily intake of calories naturally. Whole foods are more nutritious, filling, and less calories. Another way you can think of it, is nothing "white" to eat. And if you must have bread - try something like Ezikel . It takes a bit to get used to if you like soft bread, but it is good and makes great toast.
The other thing you can do is mix it up. I believe and there is some science out there that our bodies adjust. And when they do our metabolism is not as efficient as it could be. There are several ways to do this. Calories, as in the 5:2 plan, food types - cycling carbs, protein, and fat. And even changing up your exercise routine.
Seriously, on your current diet you are losing, which is great. But with your diet, you have a lot of leeway to change things up and make even a bigger difference.

I took a quick look at your food diary from yesterday ...... FOR ME, bread & pasta are not my friends ...... perhaps they're not your friends either ...... I eat more protein & vegetables at each meal ..... and very little carbs (which FOR ME seems to immediately turn to sugar & creates cravings) ..... just saying ......

Best of luck to you :drinker:

First of all, congrats! this is the hardest thing we will ever do in our lives!! I have to agree with the above quote though. Carbs are my worst enemies. But the urge was so strong for them for years! I found that my cravings for them stopped when, believe it or not, I stopped drinking diet coke and added a meal replacement shake. Lean shakes from GNC seemed to help me curb the carb addiction. I also had to cut things like sour cream, dressings (ordered them on the side just to get a taste and never kept them at home) I also changed to skim milk (I know yucky at first) I found ways to replace these things with healthier choices and for a while relied on protein bars to help up the calorie intake. Increasing protein and decreasing carbs has really helped me. You are doing awesome! I hate it when I hit a month with no weight loss too! that's when I know I have to reevaluate what I am doing. Keep going my friend!

My weight never came off in a straight line. I work out 6 days a week, some days harder than others, and always stay just under my MFP calories (I use a fitbit and an HRM to monitor things...). When I was hovering between 25-29 pounds down, it took me about 40 days to cross the 30 lb mark. JUST STICK WITH IT. It sucks, but it is coming; some plateaus take longer to cross.

The secrets? Know that your body is somewhat fighting the weight loss; it thinks you need to store fat for times of scarcity. You know better than that. Keep fueling your body every few hours, keep working out. I found that I could jump start additional weight loss if I changed up my exercise routine. Don't further limit your food intake; it will likely further convince your body to hold onto fat.

So increase your workouts a bit, keep drinking water, and know that ALL of us go through this. You will get through it, and you'll be so happy you made it.

Another consideration is that all that working out is adding muscle. Check your clothes: still the same weight but they feel looser? You are doing exactly what you need to be doing. Just do it everyday.

Best of luck. A.

Any weight loss is significant.

When you lost the weight before, did it come back? Or are you starting from that point forward? If it did come back, then maybe this time you are being more effective with healthy lifestyle changes with a slow loss instead of a rapid weight loss that isn't maintained. Trust the math--if you are at a deficit with calories in, calories out, then it will happen.