Why didn't I lose?

Amianne
Amianne Posts: 76 Member
edited November 10 in Health and Weight Loss
I have been eating fewer than 2000 calories for this last week (which MFP says I should eat to lose 1.5lbs per week), averaging about 1800. Although I have not posted meals everyday I have kept it under this. I have really tried hard. I have also been doing FocusT25. At weigh in today I gained .4 lbs. I have not eaten back my exercise calories. With everything that MFP says when I am done posting for my day, I should have lost weight. Any suggestions?
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Replies

  • luvbwfc
    luvbwfc Posts: 107 Member
    Stick with it, give it more time :)
  • mattyc772014
    mattyc772014 Posts: 3,543 Member
    ^100% CORRECT Give it more time. At least 3 weeks.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    Amianne wrote: »
    I have been eating fewer than 2000 calories for this last week (which MFP says I should eat to lose 1.5lbs per week), averaging about 1800. Although I have not posted meals everyday I have kept it under this. I have really tried hard. I have also been doing FocusT25. At weigh in today I gained .4 lbs. I have not eaten back my exercise calories. With everything that MFP says when I am done posting for my day, I should have lost weight. Any suggestions?

    You are most likely holding water because you started a new exercise program and your muscles are adapting. This is completely normal and should subside in a few weeks. Hang in there. You got this.

  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    edited January 2015
    Amianne wrote: »
    I have been eating fewer than 2000 calories for this last week (which MFP says I should eat to lose 1.5lbs per week), averaging about 1800. Although I have not posted meals everyday I have kept it under this. I have really tried hard. I have also been doing FocusT25. At weigh in today I gained .4 lbs. I have not eaten back my exercise calories. With everything that MFP says when I am done posting for my day, I should have lost weight. Any suggestions?

    You ate too much. You ate at maintenance levels or above.

    Try harder, and eat less.
    Track everything you eat, otherwise you really have no clue what your intake was.

    OR: Mild water retention.

    I would correct your logging inaccuracies and hope it is water retention.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    If you're new to your exercise, you are going to retain fluids that can easily mask any fat loss you may have had. Not to mention, you have natural weight fluctuations that can mask scale losses...most people will fluctuate 3-5 Lbs from day to day. This is why a mere week or whatever is pretty much worthless in figuring out what's going on...this stuff takes time...you need time to accumulate data points for any kind of meaningful analysis.

    Give it time and track the trends.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    Unless you have an underlying medical issue, if you aren't losing weight, you aren't in a caloric deficit. This is especially true at the beginning when it's easiest to lose weight because it's mostly water.

    When you say that you "have not posted meals everyday" does that mean you aren't logging your food? If so, how do you really know you've stayed under 1800 calories?
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    It's most likely water retention, which could be caused by a number of reasons, e.g. from starting a new exercise regime, hormonal fluctuation, maybe you ate more salt than usual yesterday, etc. etc.

    Give it a couple more weeks. If you still haven't lost any weight after that, then it may be time to check the accuracy of your logging.
  • Zuidz
    Zuidz Posts: 15
    One week isn't long enough.
  • Amianne
    Amianne Posts: 76 Member
    You are most likely holding water because you started a new exercise program and your muscles are adapting. This is completely normal and should subside in a few weeks. Hang in there. You got this.

    [/quote]

    So is it possible to be drinking too much water?
  • fizzleh
    fizzleh Posts: 71 Member
    Have you just started FocusT25? Are you getting enough protein? When you start a new regime it'll take your body time to adjust. The weight you gained will probably be muscle that you have gained in order to deal with FocusT25. Don't worry as it will settle and then your weight will start dropping again in a few weeks.
  • Amianne
    Amianne Posts: 76 Member
    You ate too much. You ate at maintenance levels or above.

    Try harder, and eat less.
    Track everything you eat, otherwise you really have no clue what your intake was.

    OR: Mild water retention.

    I would correct your logging inaccuracies and hope it is water retention.[/quote]

    If I am eating at maintenance levels then why does MFP tell me to eat 2200 to lose 1 pound a week?
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
    Because you weren't in a Caloric Deficit ... even if you think you were.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited January 2015
    Amianne wrote: »
    You ate too much. You ate at maintenance levels or above.

    Try harder, and eat less.
    Track everything you eat, otherwise you really have no clue what your intake was.

    OR: Mild water retention.

    I would correct your logging inaccuracies and hope it is water retention.
    If I am eating at maintenance levels then why does MFP tell me to eat 2200 to lose 1 pound a week?
    MFP tells you if you eat 2200 calories per day you'll lose one pound per week. If you aren't really eating 2200 calories or less you won't lose weight, you'll maintain or gain instead. If you aren't accurately weighing and measuring your food, and logging everything you eat, you might be actually eating more than that.
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  • pittjenn
    pittjenn Posts: 247 Member
    MFP's estimates can be off.

    Have you followed the nutrition program that comes with T25? If I recall correctly, it recommends about 1500 cals/day for most women. Or at least that's what it recommended for me. Since I'm really tall, I'd assume most other women fall between 1200 and 1500 cal/day on that program.

  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
    MFP tells you that you can have 2200 calories a day and you'll still lose a pound a week? How tall are you and what do you currently weigh? What did you select for your activity level? How much do you ultimately want to lose?

    If you didn't lose, chances are that you are still taking in too many calories than you are expending... If you didn't track, how do you *know* that you were under? You need to be honest with yourself, because it's YOUR weight loss--you are not going to fool your own body.

    I would suggest cutting your calorie intake (to what? Can't say without some idea of your current weight/age/height) and being more diligent about tracking every single day.
  • Amianne
    Amianne Posts: 76 Member
    Thank you for your comments. I will keep trying and be extra sure that I am tracking correctly. I am just confused why it says if I eat a certain amount of calories that I should lose and I didn't lose.
  • gramarye
    gramarye Posts: 586 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    If you're new to your exercise, you are going to retain fluids that can easily mask any fat loss you may have had. Not to mention, you have natural weight fluctuations that can mask scale losses...most people will fluctuate 3-5 Lbs from day to day. This is why a mere week or whatever is pretty much worthless in figuring out what's going on...this stuff takes time...you need time to accumulate data points for any kind of meaningful analysis.

    Give it time and track the trends.

    This. I used to weigh daily when I first started, and it was really brutal -- though I eventually began to recognize that while I fluctuated up and down a lot, it did trend downward. Now I only weigh-in every two weeks. It's long enough that I'm watching the trend rather than the day-to-day fluctuation, but not so long that things get away from me if I get a bit lax in my eating habits.
  • clambert1273
    clambert1273 Posts: 840 Member
    Amianne wrote: »
    Thank you for your comments. I will keep trying and be extra sure that I am tracking correctly. I am just confused why it says if I eat a certain amount of calories that I should lose and I didn't lose.

    because you didn't track those calories or weigh them so you have no idea what amount you ate....
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
    Amianne wrote: »
    Thank you for your comments. I will keep trying and be extra sure that I am tracking correctly. I am just confused why it says if I eat a certain amount of calories that I should lose and I didn't lose.

    Because you aren't eating the calories you think you are.

  • Local_Atlantis
    Local_Atlantis Posts: 262 Member
    Amianne wrote: »
    You are most likely holding water because you started a new exercise program and your muscles are adapting. This is completely normal and should subside in a few weeks. Hang in there. You got this.

    So is it possible to be drinking too much water?[/quote]

    No. Water retention is normal. It happens when muscles adapt to being used more than they're used to, and if you eat too much salt. Keep drinking loads of water. It would only be too much if you were drinking gallons in one day!!
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    Are you weighing or measuring all of your food? To be reasonably accurate you need to do this and log everything you eat otherwise it's just guesswork and research has pretty clearly established that when self-reporting we have a tendency to underestimate our caloric intake (inaccurate portion sizes).

    Like others have also suggested, give it a little more time too. Weight loss is not linear.
  • Archerychickge
    Archerychickge Posts: 606 Member
    Weigh and measure your food!!! That's the ONLY way you can be sure that what you are logging is accurate. Buy a food scale if you don't already have one.

    AND LOG EVERYTHING YOU EAT. I would be willing to bet your food intake was a lot higher than you think it was.
  • Amianne
    Amianne Posts: 76 Member
    mitch16 wrote: »
    MFP tells you that you can have 2200 calories a day and you'll still lose a pound a week? How tall are you and what do you currently weigh? What did you select for your activity level? How much do you ultimately want to lose?

    If you didn't lose, chances are that you are still taking in too many calories than you are expending... If you didn't track, how do you *know* that you were under? You need to be honest with yourself, because it's YOUR weight loss--you are not going to fool your own body.

    I would suggest cutting your calorie intake (to what? Can't say without some idea of your current weight/age/height) and being more diligent about tracking every single day.

    I am 5'10" and weigh 280. When I didn't track I pretty much the same things as the other days. I do understand that I need to track everyday to keep it right. I am trying to better with that.
  • Amianne
    Amianne Posts: 76 Member
    gramarye wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    If you're new to your exercise, you are going to retain fluids that can easily mask any fat loss you may have had. Not to mention, you have natural weight fluctuations that can mask scale losses...most people will fluctuate 3-5 Lbs from day to day. This is why a mere week or whatever is pretty much worthless in figuring out what's going on...this stuff takes time...you need time to accumulate data points for any kind of meaningful analysis.

    Give it time and track the trends.

    This. I used to weigh daily when I first started, and it was really brutal -- though I eventually began to recognize that while I fluctuated up and down a lot, it did trend downward. Now I only weigh-in every two weeks. It's long enough that I'm watching the trend rather than the day-to-day fluctuation, but not so long that things get away from me if I get a bit lax in my eating habits.

    I weigh in once a week. I used to do it every day but that was discouraging so now I am only doing it once a week
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    Amianne wrote: »
    mitch16 wrote: »
    MFP tells you that you can have 2200 calories a day and you'll still lose a pound a week? How tall are you and what do you currently weigh? What did you select for your activity level? How much do you ultimately want to lose?

    If you didn't lose, chances are that you are still taking in too many calories than you are expending... If you didn't track, how do you *know* that you were under? You need to be honest with yourself, because it's YOUR weight loss--you are not going to fool your own body.

    I would suggest cutting your calorie intake (to what? Can't say without some idea of your current weight/age/height) and being more diligent about tracking every single day.

    I am 5'10" and weigh 280. When I didn't track I pretty much the same things as the other days. I do understand that I need to track everyday to keep it right. I am trying to better with that.
    That's a good start. Are you also weighing your food? I can't see your diary to be sure, but it's hard to be accurate if you're using the entries like "medium banana" or using someone else's entry for a meal that may be made using different ingredients than your meal.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Amianne wrote: »
    Thank you for your comments. I will keep trying and be extra sure that I am tracking correctly. I am just confused why it says if I eat a certain amount of calories that I should lose and I didn't lose.

    Because weight loss isn't linear. I ate under my goal every day this week and yet this morning I'm up three pounds from last Wednesday. There are a number of factors that can make it look like you aren't losing. If you tighten up your logging and stick with everything, you'll see it start to come off.
  • aakaakaak
    aakaakaak Posts: 1,240 Member
    1. To get a true calculation of weight don't just weigh once a day. We can fluctuate by a pound or more on a daily basis. Weigh in every day and average your weight at the end of the week. It provides a much more accurate scale than a once a week deal. Also weigh yourself right after your morning pee and before you eat/drink anything. You're at your lightest then.

    2. A single week is never an accurate measurement of weight gain or loss. Your body goes through various changes all the time. Women more so than men (partly due to women stuff, but you fluctuate more without "women stuff" as well), but we all do. It takes about 30 days to really gauge what direction you're headed.

    3. Are you really tracking accurately? Are you measuring all your food? Bro, do you even food scale? Probably not and it probably shows in your tracking. Get 100% accurate.

    4. Don't change anything yet and don't give up. Weight loss and/or muscle gain is a long process. Stick with it.
  • Abby2205
    Abby2205 Posts: 253 Member
    edited January 2015
    You say you gained ".4" pounds. Is that really 0.4 lbs? As in 6 ounces?
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    Amianne wrote: »
    mitch16 wrote: »
    MFP tells you that you can have 2200 calories a day and you'll still lose a pound a week? How tall are you and what do you currently weigh? What did you select for your activity level? How much do you ultimately want to lose?

    If you didn't lose, chances are that you are still taking in too many calories than you are expending... If you didn't track, how do you *know* that you were under? You need to be honest with yourself, because it's YOUR weight loss--you are not going to fool your own body.

    I would suggest cutting your calorie intake (to what? Can't say without some idea of your current weight/age/height) and being more diligent about tracking every single day.

    I am 5'10" and weigh 280. When I didn't track I pretty much the same things as the other days. I do understand that I need to track everyday to keep it right. I am trying to better with that.

    That's only about 12 lbs more than what I started at. I have my daily calorie goal set at 1600, which is supposed to let me lose at two lbs a week. I would recommend setting your goal lower.
This discussion has been closed.