Question regarding sluggish weight-loss

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Kiwi94544
Kiwi94544 Posts: 23
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there - I'm new to this website so hopefully I'm posting my question in the right place. I am a 33-yr-old female, 5'5" and 257 lbs at the moment. For the past 5-6 years, I've been a bit of a yo-yo dieter, but mostly I didn't even try watching what I ate - fast food, a lot of processed foods, basically all the stuff that everyone knows you shouldn't eat, I ate - and I ate it regularly and in large portions. When I was at my most active in my mid-20s, jogging daily, dancing 3-4 times a week, and being careful with my food, I weighed 150 lbs. That is my "skinny" - technically puts me in the 'overweight' zone BMI wise, but that was honestly my "thin." I have a large frame... Anyway - so that's my back story.

MY QUESTION IS THIS: Since the start of the new year, I've downloaded the "Lose It!" app onto my phone, and have been religiously logging everything I eat. I use measuring cups with all food-related items, just to make sure I'm being accurate in doing my portions. The app is set to help me drop 2 lbs a week, and right now, it has me at 1,700 calories a day. I have been eating between 1450 - 1700 regularly, only going over once, and that was only by 400 calories. I don't eat anything sweet - no cookies, candies, sweet cereal, etc... I've essentially cut all sugar out of my diet since January 1st. I'm talking not even 1 m&m.... I also switched to sprouted bread instead of wheat or white, and eat oatmeal or Fiber One cereal for breakfast. I have also cut out all fast-food, and now prepare EVERY meal myself, mostly lean meats (chicken breast, salmon, cod, mahimahi fillets), sometimes homemade turkey meatballs, etc... Lunch is almost always a green salad with diced grilled chicken breast, dinners are usually a piece of gilled fish with vegetables. The only "processed" thing I really allow myself daily now is 1 serving of low-fat Pita Chips - and I mean 1 serving - I count those things out. I drink mostly Crystal Light, and sometimes water... No soda.

In short, I have really cleaned-up my diet. I also have been doing the Couch-to-5k training program, and I do that 5 times a week, along with walking my dog approx. 2 miles a day, plus a 3 mile walk/hike on the weekend.

MY ISSUE IS THAT despite feeling as though I have been doing everything right, I am only losing about 1 pound a week. I mean, I'm glad the weight is going DOWN, but what am I doing wrong? I'm morbidly obese - I feel like all the other mega-heavy people out there talk about dropping 5-10 pounds in a single WEEK sometimes, especially in the beginning... Yet here I am, only dropping a pound a week? Despite all my efforts to really do this properly? The app that counts my calories says I should be losing 2 lbs a week - and I don't even log my exercise! So it's not like I "eat back" the exercise calories that I've burned, ya know?

Just wondering if there's something wrong? Any input would be most welcome. I definitely log EVERYTHING I eat, and I have told you everything there is to tell about what I'm doing. Where am I going wrong here? I'm only 3 weeks in, but I was hoping I'd be down 6-10 lbs by now, given my morbid obesity - not only 3??

Replies

  • Love4fitnesslove4food2
    Love4fitnesslove4food2 Posts: 711 Member
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    Nothing is wrong. People will recommend a food scale which will make your logging more accurate but you're not off by enough that youd be losing a whole pound less than numbers predict. It's more likely that the exercise is causing water retention and offsetting some of your weight loss. That should go away within a few weeks. Keep it up. I do recommend learning to incorporate treats so that you don't binge at the first taste of them because you've been so restrictive,
  • Brandolin11
    Brandolin11 Posts: 492 Member
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    First of all congratulations on making all these amazing changes in your life! Wow, that is remarkable. BIG pat on the back and a WTG!

    Secondly, you say you've only been doing this since "the new year". That means 15 tiny little days. (wink) Guard yourself CAREFULLY against impatience like this during the weight loss process - it'll screw you over in the long run because it'll tempt you to give up. Tell that impatience to quiet down. Breathe, relax, and tell yourself you are in this for the long-haul, no matter how long it takes, okay?

    Now! According to online TDEE calculators (see mine below), you are eating way too little for the parameters you've given us here. To lose 2 lbs a week on average you need to be eating 1,970 a day. I know that probably doesn't make sense (eat more to lose more) but that number is based on YOUR specific BMR, not anyone else's, so I'd trust it.

    When I first started the weight loss process I was eating 1,875 and I'll never forget the crippling fear at the beginning thinking I was sabotaging myself by eating too much. I was one of those folks who had dieted since I was 12 years old and you were always told to eat "1,200 calories" to lose weight. But guess what? The weight fell off me. :)

    You already have so many good strategies in place - now just add this one: bump up your cals, enter them manually into MFP, exercise, but don't eat back those calories (they're already accounted for). Once you lose your first 10 lbs, re-calculated your TDEE and do it again, until you're done!

    Here's the calculator I used, if you'd like to double-check my work: http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/tools/Calculator-Daily-Calorie.html

    Good luck!!!!
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    You're off to a great start.

    I suggest buying a food scale and weighing your food, as measuring cups can be off quite a bit.

    And read these:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think
  • Brandolin11
    Brandolin11 Posts: 492 Member
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    Oh! And P.S. - when you hear the term "lose 2 lbs a week" that means on AVERAGE. In other words, some weeks you're gonna lose .5 lbs, some weeks 1.5 and so on. Very rarely will you *actually* see a 2 lb- loss on the scale. But you know what you'll see? A steady decline over a long period of time. Be sure to log your weight into MFP because it has a wonderful line graph that will show you that decline in black-and-white. The line will go up and down and up and down like a heart monitor - but you'll see that line OVERALL heading downward and that's what counts. At the end of your journey, you'll be able to divide your total weight loss by the number of weeks it took to lose it and odds are, it'll come close to 2 lbs a week. :)
  • LVCeltGirl
    LVCeltGirl Posts: 473
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    My 2 cents to add, are you drinking water religiously (or something that has no sodium although water itself works for me). I was in the same boat (2" taller, too many years older, and start weight 276 in June 2013). One of the habits I've not completely kicked to the curb is my soda intake. I still drink too much soda but it's extremely less than it was and I've greatly increased water.

    Strange trick, everyone on here knows it. Drinking water is the best way to stop water retention (there are a few exceptions but very few). I now drink at least 1 gallon a day of water (although I hear unsweetened tea works also as well but not for my body) plus then whatever other drinks I choose to have. With the couch to 5k, you should be drinking extra water to offset the water retention within your muscles.

    And don't get me wrong, some weeks you're still going to have sluggish weight loss. As others say, Weight Loss isn't linear and the average you're shooting for is 2 lbs a week and it won't always be 2 lbs. Also you might have gains every once in a while so take measurements. Find those NSV (non-scale victories). You can do this!!!!!
  • Kiwi94544
    Kiwi94544 Posts: 23
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    Thank you for the reply. I was actually thinking about a food scale - mainly just for the meat I eat (chicken breast, fish, etc) - to make sure I'm staying within 4-5 ounces. But I use the palm of my hand as a guide - I've read somewhere that that's a way to ensure it's the right size? But yeah, I don't think I'm super-off in my measurements/ calculations....?

    WATER... Thanks for mentioning that, cause that didn't even cross my mind. Drinking water - drinking in general, really - that IS one thing I don't do enough of... I drink when I'm thirsty, which is usually right after working out, and when I'm eating lunch & dinner. So that's probably only 24-32 ounces a day, and a gallon is what, 128 ounces? I'm gonna try to add in more over the next several weeks, so that I can be up to a gallon a day.

    Thank you so much for replying to my post. This website is so helpful, thanks to the people on it who are willing to reply!
  • Kiwi94544
    Kiwi94544 Posts: 23
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    Oh! And thank you to the poster who reminded me to be patient.

    I swear, my biggest struggle historically with weight loss has been

    a) Consistency, and
    b) Patience

    I think most people like myself know what they should and shouldn't be eating - even if they aren't abiding by that knowledge. For ME though, it's being consistent about putting that knowledge into action.... and then, being patient about what the scale says. I do FEEL much better, eating this way!! And the exercise is good too, although at 257 lb, jogging is hard, but I still do it.

    I just need to be patient, you're right. Thank you everyone for your responses to this post.
  • Brandolin11
    Brandolin11 Posts: 492 Member
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    Oh! And thank you to the poster who reminded me to be patient.

    I swear, my biggest struggle historically with weight loss has been

    a) Consistency, and
    b) Patience

    I think most people like myself know what they should and shouldn't be eating - even if they aren't abiding by that knowledge. For ME though, it's being consistent about putting that knowledge into action.... and then, being patient about what the scale says. I do FEEL much better, eating this way!! And the exercise is good too, although at 257 lb, jogging is hard, but I still do it.

    I just need to be patient, you're right. Thank you everyone for your responses to this post.

    You are so welcome! Please understand that you are in GOOD company when it comes to having a history of being inconsistent and impatient (raising my hand high)... :)

    I have done a lot of thinking about this over the past two years I've been on my journey and the conclusion I've come to is that the reason we are impatient is because most of us eat to soothe our feelings in some way or another - and feelings come on FAST and STRONG - thus we must react to them QUICKLY before they get too painful. We must quickly find a fistful of something to quell the oncoming storm of discomfort. We find it, we shove it in our mouths, we feel better for a moment. Then of course there's the secondary rush of guilt and shame for shoving the food in our mouths when we'd told ourselves we were on a diet...and uh oh - that's uncomfortable...NEED FOOD NOW. lol And the cycle drills on and on and on and......

    Obviously it's not as simple as that but I think that's the basic crux.

    I think this also explains why we are inconsistent. Our deepest held VALUE is to be healthy, thin, and controlled. But those darn emotions - they must be comforted and quieted - immediately! And the only solution (habit?) we know of, is to be uncontrolled (we must be "free" to eat whatever we want whenever we want in case something uncomfortable comes up). So we live a life of a ping pong ball - back and forth with "doing the right thing" and "screwing up". We want so BADLY to do what's right, but we cannot seem to do it - because we MUST quiet the discomfort. We can't pick which is more important and we flail. And in the moment of truth, we'll pick comfort every time.

    This is your time to let yourself feel some discomfort. I don't mean that if you're hungry you starve yourself. No! I mean......when you start to feel that old familiar feelings of, "This weight loss isn't going fast enough! This will never work! I already screwed up once today I might as well just throw in the towel and start over tomorrow! I'm so bored, I will just eat these chips and then work out harder later!" etc. etc. etc. and so on and on..... Then Stop. Listen to your inner self. What is it you REALLY need right now? Chips? Really?! Do you REALLY need to give up? Really?! Do you REALLY need to give into the boredom and discomfort and cravings? No. What you REALLY need is to take care of yourself and give yourself what you need most in the moment - self-love, patience, peace, deep breathing, realistic truth-telling - in a word: DEEP CHARACTER. You must start developing a strong inner world which can handle the emotional storms you will ALWAYS have in a healthy way. No more impatience, no more inconsistency.... It's time to grow up! And grow healthy.

    Good luck to you! If you ever have any questions, you can reach me by PM.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    one thing to also keep in mind is that the MFP databases aren't always 100% accurate. i regularly find things that are 100-200 calories less than what's listed on a package. i recently found something that was listed as being 600 calories less than what it actually is for the same listed serving size.
  • Kiwi94544
    Kiwi94544 Posts: 23
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    Thanks EVERYONE for your advice! Reading what everyone had to say, I've spent the last 3 days drinking a LOT more water (up to 2.5 liters a day now!), raised my daily calories by 100, just to see if that'd shake things up...

    Had my weekly weigh-in this morning - stepped on the scale 3 times, in 3 different locations, just to be sure I was seeing the right numbers... And all 3 were the same - down 5.2 lbs this week! After only seeing 1lb weekly losses for a few weeks, it's awesome to see a big dip in those numbers! Definitely not expecting that to happen every week, but grateful for this week just the same!

    Thanks again for your posts on this thread!! It really helped me get rid of the water retention & tweak my calories - which turned out to be exactly what I needed. Thank you!!
  • crickle3013
    crickle3013 Posts: 17 Member
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    Hi there! I'm new to mfp as well. I have been on my diet and exercise (turbo jam program) for 2 weeks now. I'm still finding it hard to believe the scale dropping by nearly a pound some days, then another day I had a gain and almost cried lol. I found that I was nowhere near my net calories some days and the next day would be very little difference on the scale. I started to eat back some of my exercise calories and finished my day closer to my net goal and it seemed to make a difference, and greater loss was achieved.. As of today I am down 6 lbs according to the scale.. a small drop in the bucket, but we all have to start somewhere right! So think of any loss as a victory .. we will get there :)

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