Week 1 and no weight loss

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13

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  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member
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    So I do have a polaris that tracks my calories while I'm walking. It's really too much on my joints to run at this point. I feel like I should start off running and then add on distance and intensity so I don't get hurt or burn out. Thanks for the advice!!

    yeah I hear you on the joints. That's why I don't run either.
  • epfahl
    epfahl Posts: 22 Member
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    if you don't really like the plain taste of water try drinking some lo calorie tea or drink mixes. they make soo many flavors and they barely have any calories or sugar.
  • AllOutof_Bubblegum
    AllOutof_Bubblegum Posts: 3,646 Member
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    You were expecting results in ONE week? :huh: Reset your expectations. It can take up to 3-4 weeks of consistent eating at a deficit and exercise to see scale/physical results. Hang in there.
  • FatEdwards2011
    FatEdwards2011 Posts: 15
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    Couple of things and not trying to be critical at all. 1200 calories is very low... Am I reading this correctly? You are over 200? Are you eating sufficiently? Where did you get the 1200 calories from and what is your weekly weight loss goal?

    I am 228 lbs (and a man) but my calories are set at about 2400 per day for a 1 pound weight loss/week. You are eating half that.

    While you will lose weight, I'd be concerned that you either would lose too quickly and do harm in the process. Healthy weight loss should be in the neighborhood of a 500 calorie per day deficit to have 1 pound per week.

    Please check your settings.

    I calculated using weight, height, and age. Then I looked at what I was burning and got a number. I subtracted 1000 from that to get to roughly 1200-1400 a day.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    Couple of things and not trying to be critical at all. 1200 calories is very low... Am I reading this correctly? You are over 200? Are you eating sufficiently? Where did you get the 1200 calories from and what is your weekly weight loss goal?

    I am 228 lbs (and a man) but my calories are set at about 2400 per day for a 1 pound weight loss/week. You are eating half that.

    While you will lose weight, I'd be concerned that you either would lose too quickly and do harm in the process. Healthy weight loss should be in the neighborhood of a 500 calorie per day deficit to have 1 pound per week.

    Please check your settings.

    I agree that reconsidering your settings would be valuable to keeping this sustainable for the long term. The thing that stands out most for me when looking at your diary, is that very few of your items are entered by weight. Peanut butter, for example is calorie dense, by having a tablespoon rather than however many grams, you could be greatly underestimating your calorie intake. This can easily wipe out your deficit. Ic you don't have one, pick up a kitchen scale and weigh ALL solid/semi-solid foods.

    ETA: There are many really helpful links 'stickied' to the top of the individual forums. Take a peek through them when you get a chance. I can't post links from here, but look for the one 'a guide to getting you on the path to sexypants'
  • FatEdwards2011
    FatEdwards2011 Posts: 15
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    Couple of things and not trying to be critical at all. 1200 calories is very low... Am I reading this correctly? You are over 200? Are you eating sufficiently? Where did you get the 1200 calories from and what is your weekly weight loss goal?

    I am 228 lbs (and a man) but my calories are set at about 2400 per day for a 1 pound weight loss/week. You are eating half that.

    While you will lose weight, I'd be concerned that you either would lose too quickly and do harm in the process. Healthy weight loss should be in the neighborhood of a 500 calorie per day deficit to have 1 pound per week.

    Please check your settings.

    I agree that reconsidering your settings would be valuable to keeping this sustainable for the long term. The thing that stands out most for me when looking at your diary, is that very few of your items are entered by weight. Peanut butter, for example is calorie dense, by having a tablespoon rather than however many grams, you could be greatly underestimating your calorie intake. This can easily wipe out your deficit. Ic you don't have one, pick up a kitchen scale and weigh ALL solid/semi-solid foods.

    I was doing it by serving size for almost everything. So if a serving is 1, 9 chips, or 2 tablespoons; that's how I was calculating. I do measure out the peanut butter
  • poohbah4
    poohbah4 Posts: 127
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    A couple of thoughts on this thread: First, are you weighing/measuring and logging your food so that you know for a fact that you are eating at a deficit? Second, from my experience it seems like the first week of a diet usually sees a big (i.e., 3 or 4 or 5 lbs) weight loss, which unfortunately is mostly due to water loss but is nevertheless greatly encouraging. With these considerations, hang in there. You will lose weight. Good luck. :flowerforyou:
  • skalkbrenn
    skalkbrenn Posts: 47 Member
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    Don't be discouraged. I've lost only 2lbs in 3 weeks and I have been working out twice per day. I know that one of the exercises I am doing is lifting though and that causes water retention to repair muscle. Also - salt, alcohol, and your period can cause your body to fluctuate qutie dramatically as far as lbs go. There are many factors that go into this. Instead of focusing on losing wweight, focus on gaining. Strength, speed, knowledge, and accountability. I used to not track my condiments and now I am. Feeling so much better this time around! If you are doing what you're supposed to and tracking religiously, The weight WILL come off. Have you ever heard the term "a watched pot never boils"? That's how I feel about the scale :-). Wishing you all the best!
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    Couple of things and not trying to be critical at all. 1200 calories is very low... Am I reading this correctly? You are over 200? Are you eating sufficiently? Where did you get the 1200 calories from and what is your weekly weight loss goal?

    I am 228 lbs (and a man) but my calories are set at about 2400 per day for a 1 pound weight loss/week. You are eating half that.

    While you will lose weight, I'd be concerned that you either would lose too quickly and do harm in the process. Healthy weight loss should be in the neighborhood of a 500 calorie per day deficit to have 1 pound per week.

    Please check your settings.

    I agree that reconsidering your settings would be valuable to keeping this sustainable for the long term. The thing that stands out most for me when looking at your diary, is that very few of your items are entered by weight. Peanut butter, for example is calorie dense, by having a tablespoon rather than however many grams, you could be greatly underestimating your calorie intake. This can easily wipe out your deficit. Ic you don't have one, pick up a kitchen scale and weigh ALL solid/semi-solid foods.

    I was doing it by serving size for almost everything. So if a serving is 1, 9 chips, or 2 tablespoons; that's how I was calculating. I do measure out the peanut butter

    If you are sure you are doing everything right, then some patience is what is needed (the toughest part of all of this, to be sure).
  • RunnersLament
    RunnersLament Posts: 140 Member
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    Couple of things and not trying to be critical at all. 1200 calories is very low... Am I reading this correctly? You are over 200? Are you eating sufficiently? Where did you get the 1200 calories from and what is your weekly weight loss goal?

    I am 228 lbs (and a man) but my calories are set at about 2400 per day for a 1 pound weight loss/week. You are eating half that.

    While you will lose weight, I'd be concerned that you either would lose too quickly and do harm in the process. Healthy weight loss should be in the neighborhood of a 500 calorie per day deficit to have 1 pound per week.

    Please check your settings.

    I calculated using weight, height, and age. Then I looked at what I was burning and got a number. I subtracted 1000 from that to get to roughly 1200-1400 a day.

    I'm not sure where the 1000 comes from? MFP calculates in a healthy number for weight loss based on how much you want to lose per week. If you are using MFP's numbers AND subtracting and extra 1000 that could be part of the problem.

    Without understanding where the 1000 comes from...Can you split the difference for a week and add back say 500 calories? Just would hate to see you get sick or lose muscle mass. When you lose muscle, you are giving up some of the same fat burning engine that helps promote weight loss. If after a week you haven't lost, I'd be surprised.

    By its nature, MFP calculates your Basal Metabolic Rate, it then accounts for your activity levels and spits out a healthy number of the calories you should be consuming. Those daily calories are then adjusted by your daily intake and exercise levels...

    1200 just seems way dangerously low for someone over 200 pounds.
  • GBrady43068
    GBrady43068 Posts: 1,256 Member
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    Hi Amber,
    Awesome last name (I'm an Edwards as well). Just because you did not see a weight loss this week doesn't mean you didn't lose fat, you may be retaining water. A week ago i weighed myself a day before the offical weigh in and I was 3.5lbs heavier than the offical weigh in the next day.

    MFP should work for anyone as long as you are doing it right. When you set up your accound what did you select for weekly weight loss and based on that what are your goal calories? Accurate logging is the most vital part of the process, are you weighing and measuring your foods, logging all liquids? If someone has a bag of chips and you eat one, then log it. Log everything you eat. I also eat back my exercise calories. If you do a lot of hiking or walking I would recommend "Map My Fitness" App, it will link automatically to your MFP when set up to do so.

    MFP has determined that I would burn 2750 calories in my daily activities, so therefore I am set at 1750 calories a day (1000 calorie a day defecit x 7 days in a week = 7000 calorie deficit a week divided by 3500 Cal/lb and we get 2lbs per week loss.....it has been a very consistant 2lbs a week loss.

    I promise you if you take the good advice from the biggest losers in here (no pun intended) in the community fourms and be honest about your logging and stay under your daily goals, then you will be successful.....honest. Also don't eat too little either, I believe the general agreement in here is that if you try to lose more than 2lbs a week your nutrition/health will suffer and you may be losing muscle mass and not just the fat.

    Feel free to add me as a friend if you would like.
    This^
  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member
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    Ok, looking at your diet, the things that would not work for me are:

    1200 calorie target.
    -my BMR at similar weight and height, but at age 50, is 1760 cals/day. Yours is probably higher because you are younger. Can you get your BMR measured? My mfp target is >1500 but I most often eat around 1800 cals-slightly more than my BMR--because I exercise.

    fake coffee creamer instead of real cream.
    -too many artificial chemicals
    -no fat (which is what makes me feel full)
    -fat in micelles (which is what cream is) has been found by researchers to be an appetite suppressant
    -real cream is only 50-60 calories/tablespoon
    -vanilla extract has almost no calories too.

    yogurt
    -for some people (and I'm one of them), yogurt causes an instant stall in weight loss. Which sucks because I like it. Maybe it stalls you, too.

    diet shakes
    -my hunger is never satisfied by these. Is yours?

    low-fat bias
    -I can't stick with a low fat diet because I'm always ravenous, but your body may be different. Cereal for breakfast makes me crash 2 hours later.
    -consider trying a protein-rich breakfast instead of carbs? High protein should be okay even if you're fat-restricting.
  • Amanda_Gx6
    Amanda_Gx6 Posts: 320 Member
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    Looking at your diary, you are eating a ton of sugar and your sodium is so high. IMHO if you adjust those you should begin to see progress.

    Also are you measuring everything? I just bought myself a food scale a couple weeks ago and it was crazy how much I was over/underestimating.
  • angdpowers
    angdpowers Posts: 311 Member
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    Like all the others, 1wk is not long enough although I understand it's beyond discouraging.

    I am not against 1200cal diets (to each their own), but if you were eating 2-3000 before and BAM! Now barely 1200, you are simply setting yourself up for failure. You are more likely to feel deprived and go on a raging binge and eat everything in sight. Also, are you eating back the calories you are earning from working out?

    If you give up, that's just what you did all the other times and look, you're in the same situation.
    So, you have to ask yourself, how's that working for me?
  • angieroo2
    angieroo2 Posts: 973 Member
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    I started out with very similar stats to you, and it took time to get the hang of things, but eventually the weight will come off. Keep working at it and don't give up!
  • FatEdwards2011
    FatEdwards2011 Posts: 15
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    Couple of things and not trying to be critical at all. 1200 calories is very low... Am I reading this correctly? You are over 200? Are you eating sufficiently? Where did you get the 1200 calories from and what is your weekly weight loss goal?

    I am 228 lbs (and a man) but my calories are set at about 2400 per day for a 1 pound weight loss/week. You are eating half that.

    While you will lose weight, I'd be concerned that you either would lose too quickly and do harm in the process. Healthy weight loss should be in the neighborhood of a 500 calorie per day deficit to have 1 pound per week.

    Please check your settings.

    I calculated using weight, height, and age. Then I looked at what I was burning and got a number. I subtracted 1000 from that to get to roughly 1200-1400 a day.

    I'm not sure where the 1000 comes from? MFP calculates in a healthy number for weight loss based on how much you want to lose per week. If you are using MFP's numbers AND subtracting and extra 1000 that could be part of the problem.

    Without understanding where the 1000 comes from...Can you split the difference for a week and add back say 500 calories? Just would hate to see you get sick or lose muscle mass. When you lose muscle, you are giving up some of the same fat burning engine that helps promote weight loss. If after a week you haven't lost, I'd be surprised.

    By its nature, MFP calculates your Basal Metabolic Rate, it then accounts for your activity levels and spits out a healthy number of the calories you should be consuming. Those daily calories are then adjusted by your daily intake and exercise levels...

    1200 just seems way dangerously low for someone over 200 pounds.

    I used this formula, which I found on several websites.
    BMR Women:
    655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

    •If you are sedentary : BMR x 1.4 += 2443 daily to maintain

    Then I subtracted 1000 per day. I know if I excersice MFP gives me credit for that.
  • tracymayo1
    tracymayo1 Posts: 445 Member
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    Couple of things and not trying to be critical at all. 1200 calories is very low... Am I reading this correctly? You are over 200? Are you eating sufficiently? Where did you get the 1200 calories from and what is your weekly weight loss goal?

    I am 228 lbs (and a man) but my calories are set at about 2400 per day for a 1 pound weight loss/week. You are eating half that.

    While you will lose weight, I'd be concerned that you either would lose too quickly and do harm in the process. Healthy weight loss should be in the neighborhood of a 500 calorie per day deficit to have 1 pound per week.

    Please check your settings.

    I agree that reconsidering your settings would be valuable to keeping this sustainable for the long term. The thing that stands out most for me when looking at your diary, is that very few of your items are entered by weight. Peanut butter, for example is calorie dense, by having a tablespoon rather than however many grams, you could be greatly underestimating your calorie intake. This can easily wipe out your deficit. Ic you don't have one, pick up a kitchen scale and weigh ALL solid/semi-solid foods.

    I was doing it by serving size for almost everything. So if a serving is 1, 9 chips, or 2 tablespoons; that's how I was calculating. I do measure out the peanut butter

    The thing with this is... how much in on the teaspoon? how heaping is it? how level? You can see how it isn't very accurate. If you put your spoon on the scale, turn it on, so it is set to 0 weight with the spoon, THEN spoon up your peanut butter and weigh it in oz/grams - you will get a much more accurate idea of how many calories you have. Actual weight will always trump serving size. 9 chips they say = 100 calories (for example) but not all the chips are identical... some are small, big, broken etc.. this is why weighing your food is the BEST way to be as accurate as possible...
  • RunnersLament
    RunnersLament Posts: 140 Member
    Options
    Couple of things and not trying to be critical at all. 1200 calories is very low... Am I reading this correctly? You are over 200? Are you eating sufficiently? Where did you get the 1200 calories from and what is your weekly weight loss goal?

    I am 228 lbs (and a man) but my calories are set at about 2400 per day for a 1 pound weight loss/week. You are eating half that.

    While you will lose weight, I'd be concerned that you either would lose too quickly and do harm in the process. Healthy weight loss should be in the neighborhood of a 500 calorie per day deficit to have 1 pound per week.

    Please check your settings.

    I calculated using weight, height, and age. Then I looked at what I was burning and got a number. I subtracted 1000 from that to get to roughly 1200-1400 a day.

    I'm not sure where the 1000 comes from? MFP calculates in a healthy number for weight loss based on how much you want to lose per week. If you are using MFP's numbers AND subtracting and extra 1000 that could be part of the problem.

    Without understanding where the 1000 comes from...Can you split the difference for a week and add back say 500 calories? Just would hate to see you get sick or lose muscle mass. When you lose muscle, you are giving up some of the same fat burning engine that helps promote weight loss. If after a week you haven't lost, I'd be surprised.

    By its nature, MFP calculates your Basal Metabolic Rate, it then accounts for your activity levels and spits out a healthy number of the calories you should be consuming. Those daily calories are then adjusted by your daily intake and exercise levels...

    1200 just seems way dangerously low for someone over 200 pounds.

    I used this formula, which I found on several websites.
    BMR Women:
    655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

    •If you are sedentary : BMR x 1.4 += 2443 daily to maintain

    Then I subtracted 1000 per day. I know if I excersice MFP gives me credit for that.

    Ok it is making a little more sense now. Your diary is set to 1200... You might want to aim for the 1443 which will give you a few more calories (2443 - 1000=1443).

    Because this is still a low number, I'd be sure to eat back some of your workout calories via lean protein after a workout. Lean protein will help you repair any muscle tissue affected by your workout and will work to keep you healthy.
  • louiseduckett81
    louiseduckett81 Posts: 5 Member
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    Oh my gosh, if I did this I would only be allowed 999 calories per day! I like my food WAYYYY to much (obviously, that's why I'm here!!)
    Keep at it but I really do think you need to up your calorie intake, when I started here I tried to keep to 1200 per day and failed miserably, then I read that I should aim for 0.5lb per week and my daily allowance now is 1400 and this is so much easier to keep to, very rarely do I even hit it but its that buffer so I dont feel as tho I have "failed". Try upping your allowance and keep at it :happy:

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