Following MFP recommendations to a tee & should be at 3lb weight loss, but only 2??

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  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,112 Member
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    If you are not weighing your food you are pretty much guessing how many calories you are consuming. Even weighing your food only gets you to a rough estimate. I have found that when most people use guessing as a means to count calories they tend to state their calorie intake at what they want it to be rather then what they ate. After weighing food for months on end even the best and most disciplined calorie counters start to underestimate calories after a few weeks of guessing.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    edited January 2015
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    kyta32 wrote: »
    deksgrl wrote: »
    kyta32 wrote: »
    How long have you been losing for? Changing your exercise regime or how you eat can cause you to hold onto water, which can mask weight loss. Hormones may also cause you to hold onto water (if you don't like what the scale says, sometimes you just need to wait a week). Not drinking enough water can cause you to hold onto water as well.

    You look amazing, by the way. If you are gaining muscle mass at the gym, that can also mask fat loss to some extent. Are you keeping track of your inches?

    +1 to the eating more veggies. You can also try more home-made meals. Eating all packaged food can lead to water gain from the sodium content. Good luck :)

    She is not gaining muscle mass eating only 1200-1300 calories a day.

    According to the online calculators, my strength gains, and my mirror, I've gained muscle mass eating less than 1300 calories a day. People gain more on a bulk, sure, but as long as the muscles are challenged and there is adequate quality protein intake, lower (but healthy range) total calories does not stop protein synthesis. OP may well have built some muscle, and as she is losing weight slowly, even gaining a few ounces of muscle in a month might mask fat loss.

    Um .... no. Building muscle mass is difficult for women when on a serious progressive overload exercise program and surplus caloric intake. Beyond "newbie gains", a woman eating that little will not gain appreciable muscle mass.

    +1

    Unless she's obese and new to lifting or obese and a returning experienced lifter. Under the right conditions she might gain a very little.

    @kyta32, you're right. Protein synthesis does not stop. You'd be dead if it did, every cell in your body requires it to function. But protein synthesis is not muscle mass synthesis. Synthesizing new muscle, as opposed to muscle repair, does not happen to any significant degree in a deficit.

    Getting stronger != muscle mass increase (though it can be an indicator)

    Getting more ripped != muscle mass increase (though it can be an indicator)

    Online calculators of %BF are really inaccurate. And even a decrease in %BF != muscle mass increase (though it can be an indicator). Even in your %BF calculations are correct, don't forget that lean body mass includes water and bone as well as muscle. No way to separate those out without something like a DEXA scan.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I've lost 24lbs pretty easily in the last few months. I'm nearly at my goal weight., and now I'm losing roughly 2lbs a Month! I'll get there eventually, just slower than I would like. You're at such a low weight to begin with, so IMO it's not going to go quickly.
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    kyta32 wrote: »
    deksgrl wrote: »
    kyta32 wrote: »
    How long have you been losing for? Changing your exercise regime or how you eat can cause you to hold onto water, which can mask weight loss. Hormones may also cause you to hold onto water (if you don't like what the scale says, sometimes you just need to wait a week). Not drinking enough water can cause you to hold onto water as well.

    You look amazing, by the way. If you are gaining muscle mass at the gym, that can also mask fat loss to some extent. Are you keeping track of your inches?

    +1 to the eating more veggies. You can also try more home-made meals. Eating all packaged food can lead to water gain from the sodium content. Good luck :)

    She is not gaining muscle mass eating only 1200-1300 calories a day.

    According to the online calculators, my strength gains, and my mirror, I've gained muscle mass eating less than 1300 calories a day. People gain more on a bulk, sure, but as long as the muscles are challenged and there is adequate quality protein intake, lower (but healthy range) total calories does not stop protein synthesis. OP may well have built some muscle, and as she is losing weight slowly, even gaining a few ounces of muscle in a month might mask fat loss.


    LOL that ^^^ up there ^^^.

    Now that's a funny one.

    Ya almost had me goin' there for a minute.

    Almost ...
  • kyta32
    kyta32 Posts: 670 Member
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    kyta32 wrote: »
    deksgrl wrote: »
    kyta32 wrote: »
    How long have you been losing for? Changing your exercise regime or how you eat can cause you to hold onto water, which can mask weight loss. Hormones may also cause you to hold onto water (if you don't like what the scale says, sometimes you just need to wait a week). Not drinking enough water can cause you to hold onto water as well.

    You look amazing, by the way. If you are gaining muscle mass at the gym, that can also mask fat loss to some extent. Are you keeping track of your inches?

    +1 to the eating more veggies. You can also try more home-made meals. Eating all packaged food can lead to water gain from the sodium content. Good luck :)

    She is not gaining muscle mass eating only 1200-1300 calories a day.

    According to the online calculators, my strength gains, and my mirror, I've gained muscle mass eating less than 1300 calories a day. People gain more on a bulk, sure, but as long as the muscles are challenged and there is adequate quality protein intake, lower (but healthy range) total calories does not stop protein synthesis. OP may well have built some muscle, and as she is losing weight slowly, even gaining a few ounces of muscle in a month might mask fat loss.

    Um .... no. Building muscle mass is difficult for women when on a serious progressive overload exercise program and surplus caloric intake. Beyond "newbie gains", a woman eating that little will not gain appreciable muscle mass.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9309627
    A study where participants lost fat (were in a calorie deficit) and gained muscle at the same time. It has been scientifically established that it is possible to gain muscle in a calorie deficit.

    Clearly, OP is not obese. However, she may be new to lifting. If she is aiming to lose 0.5 lbs/wk, and has expected to lose 4 lbs by now, and has just started a new lifting program, she may very well be in the newbie period, and thus put on some muscle, which can mask fat loss. Women are capable of gaining muscle. I've met women who have a 20+ muscle pound weight advantage over other women their size. And, we are not talking about "appreciable" muscle mass (whatever that means). At a loss rate of 0.5 lbs week, a few ounces of muscle could look like slowed fat loss.
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
    edited January 2015
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    kyta32 wrote: »

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9309627
    A study where participants lost fat (were in a calorie deficit) and gained muscle at the same time. It has been scientifically established that it is possible to gain muscle in a calorie deficit.

    LOL-ing again.

    Did you actually, y'know, *read* that abstract before linking? 'Cause this " A study where participants lost fat (were in a calorie deficit) and gained muscle at the same time. " nor anything that could reasonably, logically, or rationally lead to such a statement ... none of it is there, Bro.

    Give up now.

    Quit while you're ahead... mmm-kay?




  • Jkj95
    Jkj95 Posts: 64 Member
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    Your weight being 1lb off is totally normal. That can be caused by a number of things such as how much water you drank, what kind of food you ate and whether it's your period, regardless of how much you're eating.
  • kyta32
    kyta32 Posts: 670 Member
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    kyta32 wrote: »

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9309627
    A study where participants lost fat (were in a calorie deficit) and gained muscle at the same time. It has been scientifically established that it is possible to gain muscle in a calorie deficit.

    LOL-ing again.

    Did you actually, y'know, *read* that abstract before linking? 'Cause this " A study where participants lost fat (were in a calorie deficit) and gained muscle at the same time. " nor anything that could reasonably, logically, or rationally lead to such a statement ... none of it is there, Bro.

    Give up now.

    Quit while you're ahead... mmm-kay?

    For my first one, this link summarizes how the men involved gained fat free mass while losing weight and body fat
    http://muscleevo.net/calorie-deficit/

    The full info is available on this one:
    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/58/4/561.abstract
    14 obese females eating 800 kcal/day lost an average of 16 kg over 90 days (eating in deficit). Muscle biopsies showed increases in FT and ST muscle fibers in the weight training group, and a 24% increase in strength in the WT group, while the control group showed no increase in muscle fibers, and a decrease in strength. Muscle hypertropy during caloric deficit.

    It has been scientifically established (repeatedly) that you can gain muscle while losing fat, and we all know that losing fat requires a calorie deficit. As long as someone is getting enough quality protein, and doing resistance exercise, building muscle and strength while in a calorie deficit is possible.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    meritage4 wrote: »
    No fruits or no veggies-gee you are being hard on your body Try replacing your 2 daily cokes with the same calories of fruits and veggies.
    That would be for health not for calories. A person can eat and drink what they want and still lose weight.
    I'm following the mfp recommendations to a tee and should have lost 3 lbs and going on my 4th. I've barely lost 2. I literally record everything I put in my mouth and never even eat back my exercise calories so really I should probably be going on losing the 5th pound. Is it safe to assume I have a slow metabolism? I've always figured that since it seems a lot harder. The past 3 weeks I've rarely gone over 1200 calories and on running days and gym days barely go over 1300. What gives??

    Charity, you don't have slow metabolism. Your goal is way too aggressive and you're low on patience. You do not need to lose weight.

    Besides this, why are you trying to lose weight when you are already close to underweight? Weight Chart 100 will put you into the underweight category.

    I would suggest eating at maintenance or a slight surplus and starting some heavy weight lifting.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    kyta32 wrote: »
    deksgrl wrote: »
    kyta32 wrote: »
    How long have you been losing for? Changing your exercise regime or how you eat can cause you to hold onto water, which can mask weight loss. Hormones may also cause you to hold onto water (if you don't like what the scale says, sometimes you just need to wait a week). Not drinking enough water can cause you to hold onto water as well.

    You look amazing, by the way. If you are gaining muscle mass at the gym, that can also mask fat loss to some extent. Are you keeping track of your inches?

    +1 to the eating more veggies. You can also try more home-made meals. Eating all packaged food can lead to water gain from the sodium content. Good luck :)

    She is not gaining muscle mass eating only 1200-1300 calories a day.

    According to the online calculators, my strength gains, and my mirror, I've gained muscle mass eating less than 1300 calories a day. People gain more on a bulk, sure, but as long as the muscles are challenged and there is adequate quality protein intake, lower (but healthy range) total calories does not stop protein synthesis. OP may well have built some muscle, and as she is losing weight slowly, even gaining a few ounces of muscle in a month might mask fat loss.

    No. Just no.