Frustrated

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lisafield
lisafield Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok, today marks day 21 of using MFP and I've been following it to the letter. I've been exercising daily and tracking every single calorie, probably even erring on the high side so as not to cheat myself. I started at 134.7 lbs., and this morning I was 135.0. On the good side, it feels great to exercise every day and to end each day with a good feeling about my diet and exercise, but the point was really to shed a few pounds, and assumed I definitely would have at this point. VERY frustrated. I mean really, isn't it a matter of calories in vs. calories burned, etc.? Why isn't it working correctly??

Replies

  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    Perhaps opening your diary would be helpful. We don't know what kind of calorie intake you have or what your goals are, so we can't give you constructive advice.
  • lisafield
    lisafield Posts: 5
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    Thanks, I didn't know to do that! :)
  • lavaughan69
    lavaughan69 Posts: 459 Member
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    Yes, please open your diary so we can take a peak at your eating habits. How tall are you? How much are you trying to lose? The slower the progress. I sometimes find that I don't lose weight for a two weeks and then suddenly I'll drop weight. It comes in waves rather than a consistent weekly loss.

    Did you up your exercise at the same time as starting your diet? Perhaps your muscles are in repair mode so you're retaining water which is throwing off the accuracy of the scale. You'd be surprised how much water you can retain!
  • cdahl383
    cdahl383 Posts: 726 Member
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    I know how frustrating that can be. For the first two weeks or so when I first got back with the program I didn't lose any weight either, just stuck at 211 lbs staring at me in the face haha! But then suddenly the following week I dropped 2 lbs and I've been losing a steady 1-2 lbs since then, not having changed a thing from those first couple of weeks.

    Make sure your TDEE numbers are accurate and that you are logging what you're actually taking in each day as its easy to slip in 100-200 calories more per day. I've usually stuck with a 20% calorie deficit from my TDEE to make sure I dont get too hungry.

    Give us some numbers and maybe we can figure it out.
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    A few thoughs
    1. When you first start working out your body retains water as part of muscle recovery, you are probably coming up on a drop off from that soon.
    2. When I start deiting I see no results for at least 2 weeks, it sucks but your body has to get on the same page as your brain.
    3. You are in the right mindset of logging accurately and maybe even overestimating, just double check and make sure you are really logging every single little thing. Also most of the exercise on here is overestimated, alot of people only log 3/4 of their exercise because of this. This is where most people get tripped up.
    4. start measuring yourself, sometimes the evil scale doesn't drop but you are still losing inches, hows your clothes feeling these days?
  • Erica6130
    Erica6130 Posts: 34 Member
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    Ok, today marks day 21 of using MFP and I've been following it to the letter. I've been exercising daily and tracking every single calorie, probably even erring on the high side so as not to cheat myself. I started at 134.7 lbs., and this morning I was 135.0. On the good side, it feels great to exercise every day and to end each day with a good feeling about my diet and exercise, but the point was really to shed a few pounds, and assumed I definitely would have at this point. VERY frustrated. I mean really, isn't it a matter of calories in vs. calories burned, etc.? Why isn't it working correctly??

    :flowerforyou: Time for some tough love and a reality check.......Please note that with weight loss you have to have a great deal of patience.....you didn't put the weight on in 21days so why are your expectations so high when it comes to losing it? And please don't be fooled as to what you see on TV and in Magazines if you start believing what you read and see you are really setting yourself up for disappointment...give it time and GET OFF THE SCALE!!!! If will mess you up everytime take pictures/measurements take note of how your clothes are fitting...just give it time....tell yourself that daily and your world will be a better place while traveling through this weight loss journey.....:heart:
  • MissStatement
    MissStatement Posts: 92 Member
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    1. How tall are you? If you are near to ideal weight for your height and frame, the pounds will come off slower than if you had a lot to lose.
    2. You are 44 - I am 40. I have found that the weight is coming off much slower than it did in my 20s and 30s. IT is taking more patience than it ever has before.
    3. What is your monthly cycle? Are you near to your TOM? That alone can cause gain and "hide" any actual weight loss you may have achieved.

    Otherwise, continue on - you have to give it more than 21 days to give it a fair shake.
  • lisafield
    lisafield Posts: 5
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    Oh my gosh I was hoping to get a reply but I didn't expect so much feedback... thank you!!!! What a super cool forum this is, and thank you so much for giving me your thoughts.

    I do believe I've changed my settings to show my diary so hopefully that helps to see what I've been up to. If I didn't please let me know!:smile:
  • lisafield
    lisafield Posts: 5
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    Ok, today marks day 21 of using MFP and I've been following it to the letter. I've been exercising daily and tracking every single calorie, probably even erring on the high side so as not to cheat myself. I started at 134.7 lbs., and this morning I was 135.0. On the good side, it feels great to exercise every day and to end each day with a good feeling about my diet and exercise, but the point was really to shed a few pounds, and assumed I definitely would have at this point. VERY frustrated. I mean really, isn't it a matter of calories in vs. calories burned, etc.? Why isn't it working correctly??

    Thank you so much for the quick feedback! I think I've changed my settings correctly. Can someone take a second and look at my food diary? I'd really love to see if there are any glaring issues that I could fix!
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    You appear to have your calories set to 1200, which implies to me that you have your activity level set to sedentary and you want to lose 2 pounds per week. If you only have a few pounds to lose, I'd change your goal to half a pound a week. As someone else said, it takes a long time to put it on, it takes a long time to get it off.

    Also keep in mind that if you are just using MFP to estimate your calorie burns, it might be overestimating. Also, some of your diary entries seem kind of generic. Keep in mind that things labled generic or 1 medium fruit are usually just guesses. For fruit, I weigh them and then use the USDA entries that give calories per 100g. Hopefully some of the stuff that sounds like prepared dishes are entries you created with the recipe builder.

    Here's a good read (and a great video on why measuring cups lie):
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think
  • tjl2329
    tjl2329 Posts: 169 Member
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    I don't understand it completely. But how do ypur clothes fit. I am at same weight as last month but I wear a smaller size. Not sure how or why but my stomache and legs are getting smaller. Look at the big picture. Keep it up. Fit of clothes is also helpful in your weight loss. My husband swears gaining muscle Can account for your weight staying the same. He also says you can burn fat. Not sure just know my experience. As long as I'm shrinking I don't care if its lbs or inches.
  • nancybuss
    nancybuss Posts: 1,461 Member
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    I agree with the above.

    HANG IN THERE! THIS is the reason that so many people quit in week 3! We want instant results, things feel like they are not changing (agree, it takes time) and its not so 'fun' anymore. Then the idea kicks in with "If I didn't lose weight then why bother" and boom, back to bad habits.

    Push Through, especially this week! changes may start next week.

    Also, pictures and measure yourself for sure... the scale is Not the only thing that shows changes.

    Good luck!

    feel free to friend me if you'd like

    Nancy
  • lisafield
    lisafield Posts: 5
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    Yes, and isn't it the tracking that's such a black hole anyway?

    For calories burned I use a combination of MFP, RunKeeper, and Self.com... and when there's a big discrepancy I err on the lower side. For calories eaten, I admit I try to save time by choosing items already in the MFP library so I'm subject to (potentially wrong) #'s others have submitted. Most seem spot on, which is great. But maybe that's the problem?

    Yes, I only have 5-8 to lose. I will admit that the idea of losing .5 lbs a week seems like a long time, but maybe patience is what I need. But if I'm doing something wrong I'd much rather know now that in several more weeks!:sad:
  • Hildy_J
    Hildy_J Posts: 1,050 Member
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    You're doing great - try to weigh every little morsel you eat on your kitchen scales.

    Good luck to you :flowerforyou:

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