Why am I not losing weight?

kirstinlee
kirstinlee Posts: 152 Member
edited September 23 in Health and Weight Loss
I've been eating healthy for over a week now. I've kept my calories at my goal, which is 1,200, I stay at least 10 under my carb goal and my fat goal, and I'm normally 500 under my sodium... really the only places I'm going over are my sugars and my fiber, but that's because I eat a decent amount of fruits and vegetables. If I end up with 29 sugars, it's because 20-25 are from natural sources like fruits and veggies.
I hardly eat anything that has additives... the most of what I eat is egg whites, whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, small amounts(1 tbsp at the most) of healthy fats like Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and low-fat dairy.
I've exercised 4 or 5 times this week, and each night has been anywhere between 45 and 75 minutes of cardio (dancing). When I do exercise, I make sure to eat at least 3/4 of my calories back. I drink at the very least 6 cups of water a day, but most of the time it's been 8 or 9.
After all of this, I've actually gained 2 pounds. And I know I'm not just building muscle and it's not coming off in inches, because my clothes aren't fitting any differently and all of my problem areas look exactly the same.
Could someone please clue me in as to why I'm not losing anything? It's frustrating, because before I decided to change my habits, I never got any exercise and my eating habits were horrendous -- Taco Bell, Cracker Barrel, big sodas... I was coming close to 2,500 calories a day and racking up probably 100 sugars -- all from processed food. In my head, going from that to eating healthy and exercising should produce some results. Right?
Thanks~

Replies

  • ashonace07
    ashonace07 Posts: 9
    It only been just over a week. I wouldnt get discouraged yet. Make sure you weigh yourself at the same time everytime you weigh in. Your weight can fluctuate as much as a couple pounds just within a day. from water, and everything else. I weigh in the mornings once a week. If i weigh in at night im usually 1-2 pounds heavier. Keep it up and you will see the results soon enough.
  • katbass
    katbass Posts: 351 Member
    You said it yourself :) Before you started this new lifestyle, you were eating junk and not moving nearly as much. Your body is likley surprised at the changes youre making. Without getting too technical, I would give it time. The weight didnt arrive overnight and its not going to fall off in a week. I, too, gained in the beginning, but once my body figured out that I wasnt trying to kill myself, I started losing inches and the scale started dropping.
    One week is a great start, but its just not enough to start worrying about results yet. Just keep doing what youre doing, make sure you are tracking calories appropriately and use a HRM to track calories burned appropraitely....and it will start falling off soon! :)
  • Katfrench
    Katfrench Posts: 27
    Keep your chin up. Its only been a week. You are doing everything you should . Just hang in there & I'm positive you will see a difference soon. I've been hanging in there for 6 weeks & I find myself getting frustrated all the time. Stick with it because you will see results I promise.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    I would give it more time. You have started a change that is not meant to be a short term thing, but a long term lifestyle change.

    With that, the goal for fiber should be seen as a minimum. You should shoot to go over it as fiber is one of the things that has many benefits to your health and losing weight. If you are eating a lot of fruit I would not worry about the sugar either. The important thing is calories. Another thing that may help, unless you are using a Heart Rate Monitor, assume the calories you burn while exercising are less that any of the estimates come up with. I would suggest assuming about 10-15 percent lower. Also for food eaten, unless you are weighing it on a scale, assume the estimates are low as they usually are. I did a quick test one day and actually weighed the two slices of whole grain bread I used for my sandwich. They came up about 20% higher in weight than the 2 slices serving size said they would/should be. That would add calories. Always remember that unless you are weighing, the calories are but and estimate. That is true also for fresh food as the calorie amounts are often an average which means, for example, some tomatoes might have more and some less calories even at the same weight.

    Having said all that, the estimates are fairly close, as I said 10-15% and your calories at 1200, if you stay at that level, will be close enough that you should lose weight, but it may take time. Keep at it.
  • reginafloyd
    reginafloyd Posts: 14 Member
    I agree with the others that you just have to give it more time. Sounds like you are doing all the right things. I would only recommend that you make sure you are eating enough. I am doing turbofire and when using the calculations recommend in the TurobFire book, it is more than 1500 calories recommended here at MFP. I did a whole round of P90X (2nd time) and didn't lose a pound (lost inches) because I wasn't eating enough. If you are doing some intense exercise and are a very active person, you may need a few more (good) calories.

    Are you eating several small meals (5 times a day compared to just 3 times a day)?

    Keep up the great work otherwise!

    Regina
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    I agree with the others that you just have to give it more time. Sounds like you are doing all the right things. I would only recommend that you make sure you are eating enough. I am doing turbofire and when using the calculations recommend in the TurobFire book, it is more than 1500 calories recommended here at MFP. I did a whole round of P90X (2nd time) and didn't lose a pound (lost inches) because I wasn't eating enough. If you are doing some intense exercise and are a very active person, you may need a few more (good) calories.

    Are you eating several small meals (5 times a day compared to just 3 times a day)?

    Keep up the great work otherwise!

    Regina

    If you lost inches and not weight, that would mean you lost what you want to fat, and probably put on muscle. Or did I misunderstand your "didn't lose a pound (lost inches)" statement?
  • BMBreed
    BMBreed Posts: 1
    I am having sort of the same problem and I'm losing patience. I'm not going to give up but it is very difficult not to see the results on the scale. I have been eating 1200-1500 calories/day and doing cardio and strength training for 1 hour a day about 5 days a week now for over 4 weeks. I have only lost 2 lbs. I would think that I would have lost more lbs by now. I'm 5'9" and I weight 171. Any ideas people?
  • A_New_Horizon
    A_New_Horizon Posts: 1,555 Member
    Make sure you are getting enough calories especially if you are doing an intense workout routine. Your body will go into starvation mode if you don't get enough calories. Just a thought. Don't give up!!! It has only been a week. Keep up the good work, and it will start to pay off.

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  • toots99
    toots99 Posts: 3,794 Member
    I've been eating healthy for over a week now. I've kept my calories at my goal, which is 1,200, I stay at least 10 under my carb goal and my fat goal, and I'm normally 500 under my sodium... really the only places I'm going over are my sugars and my fiber, but that's because I eat a decent amount of fruits and vegetables. If I end up with 29 sugars, it's because 20-25 are from natural sources like fruits and veggies.
    I hardly eat anything that has additives... the most of what I eat is egg whites, whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, small amounts(1 tbsp at the most) of healthy fats like Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and low-fat dairy.
    I've exercised 4 or 5 times this week, and each night has been anywhere between 45 and 75 minutes of cardio (dancing). When I do exercise, I make sure to eat at least 3/4 of my calories back. I drink at the very least 6 cups of water a day, but most of the time it's been 8 or 9.
    After all of this, I've actually gained 2 pounds. And I know I'm not just building muscle and it's not coming off in inches, because my clothes aren't fitting any differently and all of my problem areas look exactly the same.
    Could someone please clue me in as to why I'm not losing anything? It's frustrating, because before I decided to change my habits, I never got any exercise and my eating habits were horrendous -- Taco Bell, Cracker Barrel, big sodas... I was coming close to 2,500 calories a day and racking up probably 100 sugars -- all from processed food. In my head, going from that to eating healthy and exercising should produce some results. Right?
    Thanks~


    You need more than a week to see results, but it sounds like you're on the right track so far! Keep up those good habits and you'll start seeing results.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    I am having sort of the same problem and I'm losing patience. I'm not going to give up but it is very difficult not to see the results on the scale. I have been eating 1200-1500 calories/day and doing cardio and strength training for 1 hour a day about 5 days a week now for over 4 weeks. I have only lost 2 lbs. I would think that I would have lost more lbs by now. I'm 5'9" and I weight 171. Any ideas people?

    At 5'9" and 171 you will find losing weight a slow process as you are close to the upper end of a normal BMI for you height (when you hit 168 you will be there for BMI) This makes losing weight a slower process. Have you measured yourself? If not start using a measuring tape and keep track that way as well.
  • himymfan
    himymfan Posts: 5
    *
  • himymfan
    himymfan Posts: 5
    You said it yourself :) Before you started this new lifestyle, you were eating junk and not moving nearly as much. Your body is likley surprised at the changes youre making. Without getting too technical, I would give it time. The weight didnt arrive overnight and its not going to fall off in a week. I, too, gained in the beginning, but once my body figured out that I wasnt trying to kill myself, I started losing inches and the scale started dropping.
    One week is a great start, but its just not enough to start worrying about results yet. Just keep doing what youre doing, make sure you are tracking calories appropriately and use a HRM to track calories burned appropraitely....and it will start falling off soon! :)

    how long did it take you to start dropping? i've been on the wagon a month basically doing the same stuff as the starter of this thread and still nothing
  • willimh
    willimh Posts: 227 Member
    You maybe doing to much exercise and not enough eating. From my experience, I am very active so I had to cut my cardio workouts down to 3 days a week and those 3 days are the days I come home after work and have nothing to do. I still do strength training 5-6 days a week.
  • amccrazgrl
    amccrazgrl Posts: 315 Member
    Hey. I know exactly how you feel. I started the last week and Oct and up until 2 weeks ago I had lost only 3lbs. Then I found out by getting my HRM that where I workout way over estimated my calories burned. I even tried the whole binge one day and eat anything I wanted and nothing worked. Once I used that HRM for a week it lost 3lbs that 1st week.
    Also always make sure you at least eat those 1200 net calories. If your a 100 under and just can't eat anything else try to make sure your at least 100 over the next day.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    You said it yourself :) Before you started this new lifestyle, you were eating junk and not moving nearly as much. Your body is likley surprised at the changes youre making. Without getting too technical, I would give it time. The weight didnt arrive overnight and its not going to fall off in a week. I, too, gained in the beginning, but once my body figured out that I wasnt trying to kill myself, I started losing inches and the scale started dropping.
    One week is a great start, but its just not enough to start worrying about results yet. Just keep doing what youre doing, make sure you are tracking calories appropriately and use a HRM to track calories burned appropraitely....and it will start falling off soon! :)

    how long did it take you to start dropping? i've been on the wagon a month basically doing the same stuff as the starter of this thread and still nothing

    I started dropping from day 1, but I had 90 or so pounds to lose. It is actually harder now. When I started I did not use MFP, but simply did some reading found out a good number of calories for me to eat in a day and stuck to that along with exercise 5 days a week (usually Tae-bo since I enjoy that) If you are not using a heart rate monitor I would strongly advise getting one, or not eating all the calories you think you burned back because as I stated above the machines and the estimates on MFP will not be right and usually will be over estimating how much you are burning. If you eat all those calories back (especially if you are not measuring food with a scale) you may be netting much more calories than you think.

    Also, it is often harder to lose the last 10 pounds than it is the first 10. I'm not sure on the physiology behind that, or if it has to be and since I am not there I don't even know if that will be the situation for me. If I stick to my calories and exercise even if I don't lose weight, I lose fat.
  • katbass
    katbass Posts: 351 Member
    You said it yourself :) Before you started this new lifestyle, you were eating junk and not moving nearly as much. Your body is likley surprised at the changes youre making. Without getting too technical, I would give it time. The weight didnt arrive overnight and its not going to fall off in a week. I, too, gained in the beginning, but once my body figured out that I wasnt trying to kill myself, I started losing inches and the scale started dropping.
    One week is a great start, but its just not enough to start worrying about results yet. Just keep doing what youre doing, make sure you are tracking calories appropriately and use a HRM to track calories burned appropraitely....and it will start falling off soon! :)

    how long did it take you to start dropping? i've been on the wagon a month basically doing the same stuff as the starter of this thread and still nothing

    I iniitally gained a few pounds but ended up losing after the first full week of eating my BMR and half my exercise calories. When I was eating 1200 net cals, I was losing for a while and then completely stalled. I only really started losing consistently (1 lb per week, sometimes a lil more), when I started eating more. I also paid more attention to my heart rate while I was working out. I used to workout super hard, getting my HRM up out of my target range. Once I learned that I was burning muscle in that zone, I simmered down. Thats when I realized I could actually workout much longer when I wasnt close to death on my HRM :)
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