Question about weight loss and this site

It's hard to say. Maybe you had a bigger calorie burn last year and maybe your input on your food diary was not as accurate? In any case, 8 lbs is fantastic but don't be discouraged with your 3 lbs either. You're on the right track for a healhty sustainable weight loss. That's what's important. Try not to obsess with the scale too much because since you are also working out, you're building muscle and it takes a bit for the scale to take notice of the differences. Sorry I'm not much help to your original question ;-)

Water weight. Most people lose quite a bit at first but then it slows down.

Yeah, I lost 4 lbs. per week the first two weeks. Evens out after that. But it gives you a nice mental boost to see that number change when you start trying to do things better.

water weight...also, if you're not eating back exercise calories like you're supposed to then you are creating a bigger deficit...this can be ok if you have a lot to lose, but could be a bad thing if you are relatively lean depending on your existing dietary deficit.

water weight...also, if you're not eating back exercise calories like you're supposed to then you are creating a bigger deficit...this can be ok if you have a lot to lose, but could be a bad thing if you are relatively lean depending on your existing dietary deficit.

this has been a thing for me, I've TRIED to eat back excersize calories but somsetimes I can't im just not that hungry lol especially after running for like 5 miles. and also it seems counter productive a little bit.

It's not counterproductive in the least...the benefits of exercise go far beyond just burning calories. It's just math...your MFP calorie goal is already a deficit from your NON EXERCISE maintenance...your activity level should not include exercise, just your day to day stuff...here's what the very simple math looks like using my numbers.

To maintain my weight with NO deliberate exercise I need roughly 2,350 calories...so to lose 1 Lb per week, MFP gives me a goal of 1,850 calories (a 500 calorie deficit). At that level of intake I will lose roughly 1 Lb per week with absolutely no deliberate exercise.

Now, I realize that exercise is very good for me and is absolutely essential to my overall health and well being...so I go and burn lets say 400 calories per day in exercise. I log that EXTRA activity that hasn't been included in my activity level and MFP gives me a new calorie goal of 1850 + 400 = 2,250 calories. I still have a 500 calorie deficit though because my NON EXERCISE maintenance calories have now increased by those same 400 calories...so my new maintenance number would now be 2,750 calories (2350 + 400 = 2,750) and 2,750 - 2,250 = 500 calorie deficit still.

so....how exactly is that defeating the purpose if you have exactly the same calorie deficit that you started with? Also, you trust MFP to give you these calorie goals and whatnot...but then suddenly you think it's trying to trick you into eating more when you work out? Have you ever read the stickies you're supposed to read when you sign up for this site? They're basically the users manual for this tool.

The whole point of that is to learn to use your diet for weight control and exercise for the pure sake of fitness. Also, you have to be careful not to overestimate burn...most people do and they think they have 1000 calories to eat back or whatever when in reality it's about 300 - 500 tops....which is a couple handfuls of nuts and pretty darned easy to accomplish.