Exercise & weighing in

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laurajhen
laurajhen Posts: 22
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone,

I'm quite overweight and have been keeping to my 1,220 calorie limit. I'm getting exercise almost every day, swimming and I'm normally out during the day pushing my daughter in her push chair. I have only lost 2lbs since I started and don't understand why! I weigh myself in the morning but the scales don't seem to be moving! My stomach feels flatter and I ache from the exercise which is fine but feeling disheartened that I'm not loosing!

Can anyone give me any advice please?

Feel free to add me as a friend

Laura

Replies

  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    When you start exercise, you will retain a significant amount of water weight. The body will use this water to help repair muscles and such.

    Since you started eating less, this means you will lose water weight as water is key in digestion. Less food means less water needed to digest.

    Most likely, the exercise is causing more water retention than water loss from the diet, meaning you are losing fat at roughly the same amount you are gaining water weight for now.

    Keep it up and eventually the body will even out. Do not worry about water weight, as it is stored in muscles and intestines etc. not in your fat. We're after fat loss here.

    Make sure you eat back roughly half your exercise calories too. It is important to properly fuel the body if you are exercising.
  • laurajhen
    laurajhen Posts: 22
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    Thank you so much!

    I do feel like I'm retaining water a bit! This morning I feel like I've swelled up slightly! I haven't exercised before in the way I am doing now and I am enjoying it!

    Hopefully things will even themselves out soon!
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    Once your body is used to exercising at your current intensity, it will be easier to see fat loss on the scale, since your body will keep the same amount of water per day.

    Do be careful though. You will find you retain much more water after days with high sodium (I recently weighed 3 pounds heavier on the scale after 1 serving of sunflower seeds... sand sodium). But once processed the excess water gets flushed out anyway.

    Just trust in your numbers in give things time to settle.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    How long have you been watching your food and exercising?

    Read this please if you have not already:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • laurajhen
    laurajhen Posts: 22
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    Thank you, I really appreciate your advice! I guess I need to stop checking the scales constantly and be patient :-)
  • laurajhen
    laurajhen Posts: 22
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    Hi there, I have been doing it for almost 2 weeks. I'll take a look thank you!
  • allaroundcanadian
    allaroundcanadian Posts: 1 Member
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    I think you need to eat more calories! I wasn't losing any weight when I was eating 1200. It wasn't until I started eating 1600 calories a day that the weight started coming off. I have not been exercising either ! The more you exercise the more fuel (food) your body needs! So try eating a little bit more! Good luck!
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    FYI a 1 lb per week weight loss sounds plenty good to me! Keep it up!
  • laurajhen
    laurajhen Posts: 22
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    Ah right ok, I'll keep that in mind thank you :-)
  • laurajhen
    laurajhen Posts: 22
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    Thank you!
  • lariskeafval
    lariskeafval Posts: 18 Member
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    I was eating low calorie too and it's no good.. When I upped my calories the first week I didn't see major weight loss but the week after that I had lost 2,5 lbs.. it was amazing! Your body needs fuel
  • punkuate
    punkuate Posts: 127 Member
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    I'm trying to up my calorie intake too. I was also sticking to 1200-ish. (This seems to be pretty drummed into our heads in the UK) but trying to eat a bit more and focus on nutrition, which will hopefully make me feel better too.
  • JaneyB311
    JaneyB311 Posts: 80 Member
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    I think you need to eat more calories! I wasn't losing any weight when I was eating 1200. It wasn't until I started eating 1600 calories a day that the weight started coming off. I have not been exercising either ! The more you exercise the more fuel (food) your body needs! So try eating a little bit more! Good luck!

    This happened to me too, my weight stood still at 1200 calories however when I put it up to 1500 I saw a loss of the scales of 8lb in 10 days! I have since switched the the TDEE method rather than the MFP calorie goal and now eat around 1650 per day. I have been doing this for 4 weeks now and have lost 7lbs, which I am more than happy with.
  • powerpigeon
    powerpigeon Posts: 46
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    Are you taking measurements as well as weighing yourself? The scale can be deceiving, but you'd be surprised how often your losing inches when the scale doesn't seem to be shifting.

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