First week progress- not so good...

hello all! I started this program a week ago and have been under my allowed daily calorie and have excersied....and not one lb lost...why?

Replies

  • lindsaymarcin
    lindsaymarcin Posts: 81 Member
    I am still learning the ropes after 8 weeks but I have read on here that you do not want to be under your calorie allowance or your body goes into starvation mode making weight loss impossible. I'm not sure what your allowance is, but mine is only 1200. If you are exercising too then you need to make sure you are eating back those calories as well. It's only been a week though so give it some time. I was losing 2 lbs a week for the first 3 weeks, but lately it's only been .5 lb. It will take time!
  • Lozzer135
    Lozzer135 Posts: 12 Member
    It's probably too soon for you to see any results yet. I know it seems unfair - I've been there - but trust me, stick with it - be patient and it will happen.

    I will say though that you should try not to eat less than your allowed calorie intake, all that happens is that your body slows everything right down making things even harder.

    Keep on keeping on........
  • lsorci919
    lsorci919 Posts: 772 Member
    Keep at it. Make sure you are logging/measuring/weighing all you food properly. This takes time. It has taken me almost 6 months to get where I am now. Some weeks I have a great loss and some weeks not so much. Also take pictures and measurements every couple weeks. sometimes your loss isn't in pounds but you can see and feel a difference.
  • bajoyba
    bajoyba Posts: 1,153 Member
    Keep at it. Make sure you are logging/measuring/weighing all you food properly. This takes time. It has taken me almost 6 months to get where I am now. Some weeks I have a great loss and some weeks not so much. Also take pictures and measurements every couple weeks. sometimes your loss isn't in pounds but you can see and feel a difference.

    Good advice.
    And your profile shows that you only have 15 pounds to lose, so you're unlikely to see large or fast drops like you might if you had a lot of extra weight.
    Just stick with it and be patient. :smile:
  • D_squareG
    D_squareG Posts: 361 Member
    Your food diary isn't open so it is hard to tell. The most important thing in my opinion is to accurately log your food. You may be eating more than you think if you are not weighing and measuring your food. I use a food scale and weigh everything that goes into my mouth, especially high calorie items like fat or alcohol.

    Second is to be brutally honest in logging everything. I even log a Lifesaver candy. Everything. Don't let those little bites gang up on you and ruin your efforts.

    Good luck and keep trying. It took me 2 weeks to get the logging part down and I didn't lose anything really until I did.
  • I've only lost a pound in my first week back. I'm glad to have got the first week out the way though as it definitely gets easier as you become used to eating 1200/1300 calories a day
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    hello all! I started this program a week ago and have been under my allowed daily calorie and have excersied....and not one lb lost...why?
    Because it's only been a week since you've changed your eating habits and it takes awhile to see change. Be patient.

    Some pointers:
    -Make sure you weigh all solid food and measure all liquid foods. Our eyeballs are usually smaller than the actual portions.
    -:Log every single thing you put into your mouth no matter how insignificant it seems.
    -If you exercise, make sure you eat a portion of your exercise calories back. Keep in mind that MFP and gym machine estimations of calories burned are overestimated, so I'd at only about half back. I have found my heart rate monitor to be fairly accurate for my cardio.

    Good luck!
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    Every day you eat and drink about 11 lbs. of food and drink (including water), and you eliminate roughly the same. But it's not balanced every day; there are fluctuations based on sodium levels, exercise, etc. Even if you're sticking to your calorie goal religiously, and you're measuring accurately, the small loss in fat will be swamped by daily variations in food and water weight.

    Some people suggest weighing yourself only once a week, or even just twice a month, to avoid seeing daily fluctuations. I recommend daily weigh-ins, with a huge caveat: you need to do some math to find the difference between your actual weight loss and the daily fluctuations, which are much larger.

    Using an exponentially weighted average can help you filter out the noise and focus on the trend, as John Walker explains in "The Hacker's Diet" (http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/). The chapter on "The Rubber Bag" explains, briefly, the source of these fluctuations. The chapter on "Signal and Noise" explains how some simple math can filter them out. Walker explains how to do the math, but you can also set up a free account on his server to do it for you, or use a service like Beeminder or TrendWeight.com.
  • Thank you to everyone! I will start to weigh my food....as this is something I have not been doing. I will not be discouraged....even though those pants "still" do not have some slack in them...lol.

    Good luck to all...we need to motivate to accelerate!
  • Brandolin11
    Brandolin11 Posts: 492 Member
    Thank you to everyone! I will start to weigh my food....as this is something I have not been doing. I will not be discouraged....even though those pants "still" do not have some slack in them...lol.

    Not sure why you would expect that they "would" have slack in them since it's only been one week?? lol

    It sounds to me like something that would be beneficial to you, as you work on physical aspects of the weight loss, would be to work on building your inner *character*, especially in the areas of patience, faithfulness, and loyalty.

    Changing your life will not happen overnight. Suddenly changing the way you *perceive* life will not change overnight, either. For some reason, you seem to believe that you should instantly lose weight and your pants should instantly start falling off of you. This, to me, suggests you might have some problems with impulsivity, impatience, and unrealistic expectations. These are character flaws that will not benefit you, and you should shed them as best you can.

    One way to do that is to conduct some brain exercises. Take some time to sit still, concentrate, breathe deeply, and use your mind to try to let go of these false expectations. Tell yourself that even if this doesn't happen quickly you will do whatever it takes to reach your goal. Tell yourself that this will take time and you will wait patiently as the process unfolds. Tell yourself that even if you don't see results right away, you will eventually. Tell yourself that what matters is the ULTIMATE goal of reaching your desired weight, not the teeny fluctuations that will take place each week, day in and day out.

    As you do this, you will start of have a better perspective on reality. And reality is the key for overeaters. Reality, honesty, and patience. Work on those three things and you'll do fine.
  • susanrechter
    susanrechter Posts: 386 Member
    I wish I could "eat and drink 11 lbs of food and liquid and eliminate it in roughly the same". Can you imagine? 11 pounds! No way, Jose. I eat 11 pounds of food and liquid, it stays put, in my belly. I may poop 10 ounces, and that's a good day, if I'm lucky. :cry: