2 weeks on here and not lost any :(

meowiyer
meowiyer Posts: 19 Member
edited October 2014 in Motivation and Support
Hey!

I started with MFP about 2 weeks ago because I did a BMI test and it said I was obese! I have never felt like I was obese -- I have always been over weight, but healthily so :) I did my first 5k last year and my second this year and was quite comfortable.

I do Jillian's 30 day shred sometimes (maybe 2 times a week) and walk around 5km (3 miles a day) everyday since I live in Germany and don't have a car (and don't need one) -- there's a lot of walking.

Since the obese scare, I've upped this to 10 km everyday. I have a pedometer and tracker on the iPhone and Polar Loop and if I don't finish up with my 10 km during the day, I walk at home for an hour after dinner.

I've been tracking my food and since MFP says my BMR is around 1550, and I walk around 2 hours (approx 500 calories), MFP says I should calculate around 1880 for daily activity + 500 for exercise, so that's around 2380 (which is also what my polar loop tells me for daily burn), I eat around 1700 a day to keep above BMR but still maintain a calorie deficit of around 700 calories.

Thing is though, is this the way to go? Should I bring my calories down to 1550 (I am not comfortable eating below BMR -- I've done this before, lost heaps of weight in the beginning, and put it all back on with a vengeance!)

I haven't lost any yet! My husband says its been too soon, or that the walking around so much has built a little muscle mass. I just think he doesn't want me to go crazy. But obese! That's definitely not me -- It worries me health-wise.

Replies

  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
    I think you are sub consciously making things up. If you are walking 10km per day, this means you are burning around 700 calories per day, so lets say 4,500 per week. I burn this through exercise also a week and to maintain my weight I have to eat large meals of pasta, rice, potatoes, meat, chicken, flapjacks, cakes, peanuts, milk, fruit, veg...... so to some extent you must be eating similar to this.

    You will probably get comments on here saying 'dont worry, it's only been two weeks' but then you have mentioned that you walk this every day so I assume that you have been doing this longer than the 2 weeks on MFP...
  • meowiyer
    meowiyer Posts: 19 Member
    edited October 2014
    Subconsciously making things up? :) is 10km around 700 calories? According to my polar loop and MFP, its only barely above 500 calories for my weight+height.

    I also forgot to mention, I only eat chicken and fish (no meat), I do of course eat eggs, veges, fruits, etc; and yes, I eat some junk, but include that into my calorie count.

    I like how you have assumed that "i must be eating similar to this, or that I must burn 700 calories a day" -- both of these are untrue.

    I have been walking 5km on average a day before MFP, have moved this up to 10km in the last 2 weeks.

    Thanks for taking the time to reply, though, eldamiano.
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
    Well there is no other explanation I am afraid. Ok so you are burning 500 calories per 10k walk (MFP always underestimates btw so possibly this could be around 550-600). 3,500 per week is still comparable to what I lose in exercise.

    Even before with the 5k walks.... the moral of the story is that your figures do not stack up and you are consuming more than you are making yourself believe.
  • meowiyer
    meowiyer Posts: 19 Member
    With the 5k walks, it's totally possible that I was consuming enough to keep my weight the same. I never tracked calories then, so its very possible.

    Now, though, eating with at-least a 500 calorie deficit, the scale hasn't budged.
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
    Well then if this continues, there is no other explanation other than the above. You are overestimating calories out/underestimating calories in....
  • SpockAdventures
    SpockAdventures Posts: 103 Member
    I have had a similar experience for the last couple of months. I went from non-active to jogging four days a week, and I thought I was eating really really well, except that I hadn't lost any weight at all. Ultimately, when I look back, I realize that I probably was missing some calories in my calculations, not accounting for enough - I wasn't measuring out food - and eating calorically dense, albeit relatively healthy, snacks. I finally got really fed up with it this last week, not losing enough, and decided to buckle down and do something now about it. In order to retrain my brain on what is proper portions, to relearn how to be hungry once in a while, and also shrink my stomach, I have put myself on a very very strict and structured diet and while it may seem extreme, I realize that I was just thinking about food TOO much, healthy or unhealthy. Food is fuel, not friends!

    My retraining brain diet is...
    Breakfast: Bowl of shredded wheat with coffee
    Lunch: Hearty all veg. salad with lite caesar dressing and meal replacement shake.
    Tea: Hot drink in the afternoon with a very very small snack, like a couple of shredded wheat squares - no fruit, no sugar, just enough to let the tea settle okay in my empty stomach.
    Dinner: Lean Cuisine microwaveable dinner.

    Of course I don't want to live on this forever, but taking away the choice in food allows me to relax a bit, and start seeing food as just necessity and not anything else.

    Last bit of advice I'd give, is no matter if it's breakfast, dinner or a snack...Take at least 20 minutes to eat whatever it is! It makes the food so much more filling. To take that up another notch, drink a full glass of water throughout your meal - taking a sip after every bite. If you are like me, you'll find you need a lot less food than you realize.

    Good luck, and I hope that this was helpful at all!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    do you weigh everything you eat with scales?
  • meowiyer
    meowiyer Posts: 19 Member
    @Tavistock: Yes. As much as I can. I have scales at home, and I also have a salad weighing thingie at work, which I use to weigh whatever I get at the office cafeteria.

    Perhaps I should reduce my daily cals to just at BMR and not eat back some of my workout calories?
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
    Something isn't adding up. Either your the activity is counting way more calories burned than actually burned, or your portion sizes are off, or logging has been a bit off or maybe even all of the above.

    If the scale isn't moving, then one of those is off track somehow...unless you're the one case in the world that has logged everything perfectly perfect and by some unknown force, the scale is literally working against you.

    When the scale isn't moving the way I want it to, I make sure to log everything - absolutely every bite - everything down to the condiments. Ever have chicken nuggets, but don't count the dipping sauce? What about having a salad and marking down less salad dressing than you really used or not counting the sprinkle of cheese on top? All of it gets counted.

    Now, that being said, I've also found that MFP tends to err on the low side of calories. A dietician I worked with wanted me to get in 1500 calories or less. I was having a lot of trouble with that because I was hungry a lot. I combined efforts with WW, and their plan had me at a about 1700 calories. That turned out to be enough for me to not be hungry and allow me to lose weight.

    I've also increased my fiber intake to help with the hunger pangs.

    Don't eat back the calories burned....unless you're a construction worker, Olympic athlete or The Flash. Anything you burn is bonus.

    Just some things that have helped me - for what it's worth....
  • mamafazz
    mamafazz Posts: 92 Member
    Maybe you are going to have a whoosh, it's where the fat cells fill with water as you lose fat and then it whooshes out all at once. So on the scale it looks like no weight loss and then all of the sudden you lose a couple pounds over night. Lots of articles on it if you google, there has also been some posts on MFP about it.
  • meowiyer
    meowiyer Posts: 19 Member
    After reading up a lot here, and in retrospect, if I have to lose 1 lb per week, and should have lost 2lbs already, I don't think that is a significant loss as water weight probably fluctuates that much anyway.

    I'll wait another week or so and see how it works out. Anything less than 1550 a day, and I don't think I'll be able to manage. I have a pretty high stress management job, and I can't afford to be cranky, tired at work :) So I guess the weight loss is going to be slower.

    I must say, though, the exercise has me feeling great :)

    Thanks everyone for the help! I should probably pay more attention to what I'm eating.
  • ellie0213
    ellie0213 Posts: 516 Member
    How do you have your macros set? Add me or PM.
  • meowiyer
    meowiyer Posts: 19 Member
    I would agree with Mamafazz perhaps:) hahaha! I peed like 20 times already today, and feel lighter. I will go home and weigh myself. Let's see what the scales say.
  • meowiyer
    meowiyer Posts: 19 Member
    Update! I guess the scale will only move when it wants to :)

    I also changed up my macros a bit. Added more protein and moved carbs down to 100 gm a day (I go above this sometimes). With PCOS, this is probably a good move. I have added some jogging (just 20 mins 2 times a week) and Jillian's 30 Day Shred (4 days a week) to the mix as well, and the weight is coming off steadily.

    In the past 4 weeks, have lost 2.5 kgs (5.5) pounds, which for the calorie limit I've set is quite acceptable :)

    Thanks for all the help on here!

    Cheers!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Once again, patience pays off!
  • kenkohnen
    kenkohnen Posts: 1 Member
    Interesting conversation
  • digitalcanuck
    digitalcanuck Posts: 60 Member
    I would be quite suspect if a scale says there is no difference in weight, especially over a period of two weeks. It is impossible to not see weight changes daily, up and down. For women who still have menstrual cycles weight fluctuations can be 5 lbs at a time. If someone sees the scale refuse to budge, I would have to wonder if the scale is working properly.

    Also, I would suggest that medical issues may be at play. I was eating healthy but still gaining weight and it turned out that my thyroid was not working properly. It took about 3 months to sort that out and my weight started to stabilize.

    Patience is definitely the key. For me, my focus is on feeding my body what it needs to be strong and able to do what it needs to do. Good health is the goal.
  • meowiyer
    meowiyer Posts: 19 Member
    edited November 2014
    "Also, I would suggest that medical issues may be at play. I was eating healthy but still gaining weight and it turned out that my thyroid was not working properly. It took about 3 months to sort that out and my weight started to stabilize."

    I do mention that I have PCOS - It's always a pain to lose weight, but I have mine pretty much in control since I've been very active.

    I was a little irritated by the lack of loss, but its all working out now :) I feel the motivation!

  • Aemely
    Aemely Posts: 694 Member
    edited November 2014
    What's your activity level set to? You might wish to consider setting it to Sedentary so that MFP doesn't budget in calories for activity into your baseline. Then, enter in your exercise separately and conservatively.

    Click Goals > Change Goals > Guided, Continue, enter in your accurate information and realistic goal weight, and click Update Profile. MFP will give you good information on how many calories you should eat each day to safely lose weight.

    Good luck! You can do it! :)

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  • Steellotus
    Steellotus Posts: 25 Member
    I thought I'd chime in. PCOS here as well, and I was experiencing much of the same frustrations- for more then a month I was running 3x a week, counting calories ect with no losses. However I just started working with a personal trainer and lost 4 lbs in a week- it seems (at least for me) the key is lifting, and lifting heavy. Walking/running just wasn't working for me.

    Glad you're losing now!
  • meowiyer
    meowiyer Posts: 19 Member
    Aemely wrote: »

    Click Goals > Change Goals > Guided, Continue, enter in your accurate information and realistic goal weight, and click Update Profile. MFP will give you good information on how many calories you should eat each day to safely lose weight.

    Hey! Thanks for this - I burn a lot of calories in a day just moving around -- like I mentioned, I don't have a car, and with walking around, even without "intending" to walk, I cover at least 5 km (around 3 miles a day) -- If I don't take this into account, I know I would be extremely tired.

    It's working wonderfully for me now with running, Jillian and setting my calories to "lightly active". I don't add in extra calories from the exercise, though. Maybe sometimes if I'm really really hungry :)

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