My net cals and stats for one week. Why no weight loss?

I am in the same situation. I actually gained weight and am beyond frustrated. I am eating well, under target, not starving, exercising daily yet I am up 3 lbs.

Is this one weigh in?........the scale lies.

If you had a high sodium day.........you will weigh more. If it's that time of the month.........you will weigh more. I like to weigh for 3 straight days........does the scale still reflect the higher weight? Then you have a problem.

Weight loss will not be linear. I can weigh the same for 2-3 weeks & then drop 2 pounds the next. 2 pounds is great....for 3 weeks time.

It is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard and it really set me back when I followed that advice. Funny, it's something I usually hear from lifters.

Then you were obviously doing it wrong. Eat More to Weigh Less is just a more sustainable method of weight loss. You still eat at a calorie deficit, just a more modest one that is easier to stick with, that will fuel your workouts. It results in a slower loss, but you aren't starving yourself or cutting out foods you love. If you gained, that's your own fault for eating over your TDEE, not weighing your food, over estimating your calorie burns, etc.


To the OP......why would you not log your fruits and veggies if you're logging everything else? They have calories, if you're counting calories you need to log them.

This!^

SUSTAINABLE weight loss......that's what "eat more, weigh less" is all about. Yes, I can knock myself out by eating below my BMR.....but the weight loss will come in fits and starts. Finding the right ZONE is efficient weight loss.

Eating below your BMR will help you lose "weight." Large calorie deficits will have you losing fat+muscle. Don't bother to strength train either....because you won't maintain muscle mass anyway. Personally, because I am older (52) and have been inactive for years.....I know I can't afford any more muscle loss. Slow weight loss is for me.

I work in a health food store and people are setting their NY resolutions, etc...
they ask me for advice on weight loss, they tell me they want to buy lots of green tea/green coffee bean/raspberry ketones to help them lose weight on their strict low cal diet.... I want to just shake them.... it frustrates me and i just have to bite my tongue and meet my sales targets...
education is key! get with it people...

Background first..... I'm 56 and trying to lose weight that has refused to do anything but go up since menopause a few years back. Nothing worked, not even weight watchers (which I believe in). About 6 weeks ago I got sick from an allergic reaction to a medication and couldn't eat. Lost some weight and got excited about. Decided to keep it going. Also decided that since the 1200-1400 calories (or more) that weight watchers thot I should eat didn't work for me, that I would *pretend* I had had gastric bypass and eat more low cal like they do, along with lotsa vitamin supplements. I aim for 1000 cals a day, but sometimes a little under and sometimes a little over (max has been about 1200). I started working out 30 minutes/once a week with a trainer and that made me feel better, so then I expanded. Now I usually (not always) go 4-5 days a week for 30-40 minutes of cardio; sometimes I trade cardio for a class that combines low impact aerobics and light weights. On Saturday mornings I do weight training for an hour with a trainer. I try to mix it up at least one day during the week, to keep my body from getting used to a rutt.

SO..... at first I was ecstatic. I lost 17 pounds pretty quickly (remember tho - part of that was the week I was very sick). Then several weeks ago BOOM! Nothing. I kept up the calorie counting, portion control, and workouts and for almost 3 weeks lost about half a pound per week at most. VERY disappointing considering I have 150 lbs total to lose. WHY, I thot, doesn't my body work right? I should be losing a TON with my eating and working plan.

But guess what? Today I got on the scale and in the past FIVE days I have lost almost SEVEN pounds! If you average all the weeks I've been working, that's about 4 pounds a week. Nothing to cry about.

I dont buy the - you eat too little - concept. Every body is different. Some need less calories. Some need more. I'm thinking mine was so overwhelmed by the initial weight loss in 3.5 weeks that it grabbed hold of every water molecule it could until today. THEN I could see what I have really been losing these past few weeks (cuz you KNOW I didn't really lose 7 lbs in 5 days).

Point is... be patient. Keep following the plan. If you work out, dont eat those calories back. Say goodbye to them. And be sure you are truthfully logging/tracking everything you eat so you can analyze any differences on the weeks things do slow down.

Dont worry.... even tho I may need reminding of this again in the future, fact is, if you eat less than you burn, you will eventually get smaller. It just doesn't always work at the rate we would like. (Or the places... my HANDS are skinnier so the skin is wrinkly, but my arms and my butt? ugh). LOL

Cheer up girlfriend!!!

Your weight loss may be masked by the natural weight fluctuations due to water we all incur every day. You may be "making up" for eating over maintenance last week. There are lots of reasons you're not seeing the scale move, it's been one week.

Unrelated, when people say "eat more to weigh less," literally no one means to eat more than your TDEE to lose weight. That's a straw man argument by people who, for some reason, are offended by this concept. It means you can eat a lot more than you think and still lose weight at approximately the same rate (there's a 500 calorie wiggle room there). It means eating below your BMR for a long period of time will cause you body to resist using your energy stores and slow (but not stop or reverse) your loss. It means using the water in food to help with the bloating that was holding that extra water for you and not showing your real progress (and by you I mean me in this sentence).

According to recent research, eating more often just makes you want to eat all day long. Your body never gets a rest and you never get to tap into those fat stores. Dr. Michael Mosley mentioned this in his research. You body needs downtime to do repairs and to rebuild. Think about our ancestors. Do you think cavemen ate every 3 hours? Nope. They may have gone for days and not eaten a thing. Our bodies were made to tap into those fat stores when there is no food available.

Here are some links that may be helpful:

Documentary from Michael Mosley
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvdbtt_eat-fast-live-longer-hd_shortfilms#.UOOjXKz47XS


Link to Mosley's Website
http://thefastdiet.co.uk/


The Fast Guide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Aj6hRYg4A&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DW9Aj6hRYg4A&app=desktop


http://www.shape.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-strategies/10-unbelievable-diet-rules-backed-science

Bottom line, you have to find what works for you. Check with your doctor because everyone is different and one person's lifestyle may not be good for someone with health issues. Be safe.

I can post links as well

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/debunking-the-52-diet.html

http://dietitiandebbie.com/2013/10/23/fad-diets-debunked-the-intermittent-fasting-diet/

http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/04/how-to-deal-with-friends-on-this-new-fast-diet.html

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/01January/Pages/Does-the-5-2-intermittent-fasting-diet-work.aspx

http://www.sheknows.ca/health-and-wellness/articles/956451/fast-diet-myths-debunked

Your right,starving yourself and not taking into account energy level, or food cravings or the fact that people might want to be healthy and not so skinny they almost die. You should really rewrite the nasm, and issa certification texts. If I am not credible then neither are they.

Reading the OP is precisely why I believe that weighing yourself every week can be detrimental in the short run for some folks. Notice I said "can be". If a person is given to having to see some measurable number (downward) on the scale every single week to judge whether they are successfully losing weight, that person could be is setting themselves up for failure. There are just too many variables that are in play when a person steps on a scale every week. Not to mention, some people do it every day which is crazy in my opinion.

You're off to a good start! Patience! You can't expect results in 7 days. Hunker down to the long haul. Forget 'diet'. Think lifestyle change!

This is the best thing I think you can do is try to eat healthy nutritious foods and drink enough water. Maybe try something like this:

Breakfast:
lemon water
green smoothie (Mine is 1 cup water, 2 cups baby spinach and baby kale or other greens, 1/2 banana, 1/3 cup blueberries, I also add 1/3 cup fage yogurt or 1 tbl peanutbutter for protein-I don't like protein powders, a few mint leaves, cilantro leaves, a tiny bit of ginger)
2 boiled eggs with salt, pepper, paprika, and a little extra virgin olive oil

Snack:
1/4 cup raw unsalted almonds or other nuts

Lunch:
lean chicken or fish
lots of veggies (especially green)

Snack
1 gala apple or other fruits/veggies

Dinner
lean chicken of fish
lots of veggies (especially green)
sweet potato

LOTS of water, add lemon, cucumber, mint if you want

After dinner "tea":
1/4 lemon juice
few mint leaves
few cilantro leaves
tiny bit of fresh ginger
add boiling hot water, drink after a few minutes

Some form of activity as often as possible every day. (cardio 3x, strength 3x, walking whenever possible)

Medjool dates could replace the m&ms for any sweet cravings. Mix up the fruit and veggies and it can have tons of variety. A high quality multi-vitamin might be worth adding as well. The idea here is to work towards a healthier lifestyle that involves foods that nourish the body with vitamins and minerals, not just empty calories. I really hope this helps.

Here is a quote from a study

"During the first six to twenty-four hours of avoiding food, your body will use stored sugar called glycogen (gl-eye-co-gin). This fuel does not last forever, and once it is gone the body will spend the next two to ten days using amino acids from your muscle tissue as well as fat to make more sugar for the body. This is not a lucky thing since a loss of muscle means a less efficient metabolism overtime.

This may be surprising to some who think fat is the primary fuel during times of fasting. While some fat is being burned, muscle loss can still be significant (as much as 20 to 50%). Fat becomes the primary fuel after a fast has lasted greater than seven to ten days.

This is an ancient survival mechanism of our ancestors that served them well. However, for us it is a liability since long before 10 days have gone by, you will have likely already broken the fast by inhaling large amounts of sweets and/or fatty foods (this is what the body craves after it is deprived). This can set up a fasting and binging cycle where small amounts of muscle are lost each time and fat is gained or stays the same.

So, rather than fasts that lasts days or weeks, it is far better to engage in short fasts. Remember within one day of a fast you can begin stripping muscle off of your body, which is something you will regret overtime as your body begins to sag (weight training reverses this). A soft skinny body “skinny fat” is a sure sign of chronic low calorie diets and/or fasting without exercise."

So I guess the question is, do you want to lose weight or do you want to lose fat while increasing lean body mass. Fasting will make you lose weight but there are healthier ways to achieve this.

According to recent research, eating more often just makes you want to eat all day long. Your body never gets a rest and you never get to tap into those fat stores. Dr. Michael Mosley mentioned this in his research. You body needs downtime to do repairs and to rebuild. Think about our ancestors. Do you think cavemen ate every 3 hours? Nope. They may have gone for days and not eaten a thing. Our bodies were made to tap into those fat stores when there is no food available.

Here are some links that may be helpful:

Documentary from Michael Mosley
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvdbtt_eat-fast-live-longer-hd_shortfilms#.UOOjXKz47XS


Link to Mosley's Website
http://thefastdiet.co.uk/


The Fast Guide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Aj6hRYg4A&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DW9Aj6hRYg4A&app=desktop


http://www.shape.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-strategies/10-unbelievable-diet-rules-backed-science

Bottom line, you have to find what works for you. Check with your doctor because everyone is different and one person's lifestyle may not be good for someone with health issues. Be safe.

I can post links as well

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/debunking-the-52-diet.html

http://dietitiandebbie.com/2013/10/23/fad-diets-debunked-the-intermittent-fasting-diet/

http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/04/how-to-deal-with-friends-on-this-new-fast-diet.html

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/01January/Pages/Does-the-5-2-intermittent-fasting-diet-work.aspx

http://www.sheknows.ca/health-and-wellness/articles/956451/fast-diet-myths-debunked

I couldn't be bothered reading all of your links, but the first 2 certainly don't do anything for an anti-fasting argument.

And no I don't fast.