What am I doing wrong?
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khristiana wrote: »I'm realizing it's a great number thus far, my issue is: I haven't weighed myself for almost two weeks (had my special monthly time and didnt' want that to fluctuate my weight with the water retention it has) and after sticking to my eating right/work out plan, the scale said I lost two pounds (yay! I'm happy with that too!) but I double checked and weighed myself immediately again and it said I lost zero pounds.
Perhaps it's my scale? I'm really just trying to understand exactly what I'm doing so I'm successful long term. Thanks everyone!
I think you're stressing out over nothing. Personally I never step immediately back on the scale. If it immediately gives you a different number than there is probably something wrong with the scale. You obviously didn't gain back that two pound within a few moments. Relax and try to stay away from the scale. You're doing great but try only weighing yourself once a week (same day, same time) and take that first reading.0 -
15 seconds late on the scale should not have made a difference by that much but then again scales can be screwy. Ive had new ones do that
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OP you need to go to your settings and change your diary to "public". I can't see it0
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khristiana wrote: »I don't weigh my food yet, but I use my hand as a scale. Small portions, people. I'm NOT over eating. I'm making sure my foods are colorful, more vegetables. I do not eat bread, chips, pizza. Please do look at my diary! I need all the advice I can get.
if you are not weighing all your solids then you are underestimating calories consumed, period…
the average persons eyeballing is off by 20 to 40% on the low end….
get a food scale and weigh/log/measure everything.
if you are off 100 calories a day that is 700 calories a week which makes your two pound loss a 1.5 pound loss ..factor in water retention and there is your problem...0 -
khristiana wrote: »I don't weigh my food yet, but I use my hand as a scale. Small portions, people. I'm NOT over eating. I'm making sure my foods are colorful, more vegetables. I do not eat bread, chips, pizza. Please do look at my diary! I need all the advice I can get.
You need to open your diary for public view.
You can not for sure say you aren't over eating, as colourful and as vegified as your foods may be, without accurate measurement and tracking you have little grasp on actual calorie intake.0 -
Eating back calories means that if your baseline calorie goal for the day is 1200 and you burn off 300 you need to eat 1500 to break even. Estimates for burned calories tend to be high so it can be advised around here to try eating back half, in which case you'd eat 1350. This is very important. I doubt the 1000 estimate is correct, but even if it's close you're only netting something like 500 calories a day for your body to live on - that's waaaay too few and without medical supervision it really isn't advised to be below even 1200. Try eating back half the calories your apps tell you that you've burnt and track your progress.
So you're saying that my goal is 1200 eaten a day, and I burned 300 calories, I then need to eat 1500 that day and I'LL LOSE WEIGHT?
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khristiana wrote: »I don't weigh my food yet, but I use my hand as a scale. Small portions, people. I'm NOT over eating. I'm making sure my foods are colorful, more vegetables. I do not eat bread, chips, pizza. Please do look at my diary! I need all the advice I can get.
This isn't singling you out, but people are very very bad at guessing how much something is. I've been using scales for ages and even now when I try and guess I can be super off, and small differences can start piling up. Weight gain/loss isn't about the types of food you eat (although that's important for health reasons), you can gain weight eating nothing but fruit and meats and lose it from eating solely mcdonalds, it's the calories that matter and right now you have no way of knowing how accurate you're being. I'd very strongly suggest getting a food scale so you can actually monitor what you're eating, and once you have that eating back some of your work out calories so that you're not undereating by too much to be healthy.0 -
khristiana wrote: »I don't weigh my food yet, but I use my hand as a scale. Small portions, people. I'm NOT over eating. I'm making sure my foods are colorful, more vegetables. I do not eat bread, chips, pizza. Please do look at my diary! I need all the advice I can get.
If you're not weighing, then there is no way to know if you're overeating.0 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »eyeballing portions no matter how small they are can be way off. if you dont weigh food you have no idea how much is really there(learned that the hard way).
Very true. I weigh everything, unless I'm eating out. If I'm packing a lunch, I weigh everything before it goes in the container and pre-log it.
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I will get a food scale. It's in the plans.0
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khristiana wrote: »Eating back calories means that if your baseline calorie goal for the day is 1200 and you burn off 300 you need to eat 1500 to break even. Estimates for burned calories tend to be high so it can be advised around here to try eating back half, in which case you'd eat 1350. This is very important. I doubt the 1000 estimate is correct, but even if it's close you're only netting something like 500 calories a day for your body to live on - that's waaaay too few and without medical supervision it really isn't advised to be below even 1200. Try eating back half the calories your apps tell you that you've burnt and track your progress.
So you're saying that my goal is 1200 eaten a day, and I burned 300 calories, I then need to eat 1500 that day and I'LL LOSE WEIGHT?
Yup. 1200 is what you need to lose weight at a healthy (f somewhat restricted) rate, if you work out *on top* of it you need to fuel that with energy *on top* of what you need just for regular functioning (walking around a bit, heart beating, liver fixing what you gave to it last night at the pub etc). If your apps are saying you've burnt off 1000 calories add 500 and eat 1700 that day - you should lose the same amount as if you ate 1200 and were sedentary as the net total is exactly the same (assuming 500 is a good estimate for actual calories burnt).0 -
if you eat 1500 and burn 300 then that will net you 1200 calories(your caloric allowance which would be fine) if you eat 1200 and burn 1000 then you are only netting 200 and if you are then not eating anything after the workout then your weight can stall because you arent eating enoughkhristiana wrote: »Eating back calories means that if your baseline calorie goal for the day is 1200 and you burn off 300 you need to eat 1500 to break even. Estimates for burned calories tend to be high so it can be advised around here to try eating back half, in which case you'd eat 1350. This is very important. I doubt the 1000 estimate is correct, but even if it's close you're only netting something like 500 calories a day for your body to live on - that's waaaay too few and without medical supervision it really isn't advised to be below even 1200. Try eating back half the calories your apps tell you that you've burnt and track your progress.
So you're saying that my goal is 1200 eaten a day, and I burned 300 calories, I then need to eat 1500 that day and I'LL LOSE WEIGHT?0 -
khristiana wrote: »I should state that since mid-January I've lost 12 pounds.
You've lost 12 pounds since mid January, and you lost 2 pounds recently in 2 weeks. I don't really see a problem.
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Yes, you will still lose weight if you burn 300 calories and eat them back. You'd probably still lose weight if you were eating a flat 1500 calories.
The bigger issue that you seem to be having is stress and impatience with the process. You won't lose exactly 2 pounds every week. That just won't happen. You need to give the process time to work, you need to be patient and you need to accept that sometimes the scale won't do what it predictably should do. Some weeks you'll lose, some weeks you'll stay the same and some weeks the scale is going to go up. I can guarantee that all those things will happen. It doesn't mean that you're doing anything wrong. You need to look at the average results over time, or you will drive yourself insane.0 -
I agree with Dnarules. if you lost in the last 2 weeks then you are losing. I would still get a food scale to be more accurate.0
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4 lbs a week is too aggressive and isnt recommended by mfp or any other site for that matter. if you lose that much thats one thing but trying to lose that much on purpose is not a good way to go and it will slow down eventually. just give it time, take your measurements and see if you notice a change.0
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Umm, well ok! Thanks everyone for your input, I really do appreciate it.
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Stop worrying so much 12 pounds in six weeks is like BAM! For a little girl like you that is a bunch. Show us a picture? Where is your FAT. Your face is skin and bone!0
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I also tend to lose weight in wooshes. Nothing, nothing and then a decent drop.
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Haha my picture would scare people... Maybe after I lose more and feel more confident.0
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I just changed my picture to when I lost 50 pounds two years ago, but I have since gained it all back.0
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I like the woosh! I'll be more patient, buy a food scale, and just keep plugging along. This is a life long change, so I can't expect immediate success. 0
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khristiana wrote: »I'm fairly new to this yes, but I've lost weight before so I know what to do. I'm eating nutritious food and logging everything I eat on MyFitnessPal. I have a FitBit that helps me track my steps, and also I use Endamondo.
I have over 100 pounds to lose. I drink SO much water everyday, probably more than I should, and I sweat a lot of it out as well. MyFitnessPal said according to my workouts and my 1200 calories a day, I should be losing 4 pounds a week, but that's not the case.
I'll take your advice that I'm building muscle and it will soon even out. I just expected more weight to come off, seeing how I have so much to lose.
I was living a sedentary lifestyle (working, coming home, dinner, watching tv) now I walk at work twice a day with my 3 pound weights, go to the gym 4 days a week with an hour of cardio. I was using the weights at the gym, but I stopped a week ago in hopes that it would help with my weight loss.
Is it possible that you are logging your exercise twice? If you have your fitbit and your MFP account linked up they may both be adding to your calories.
Get a digital food scale. Don't stop doing the weights - when you lose weight rapidly you can lose a lot of muscle as well. Weight training is supposed to minimise this. It also helps tone the muscles underneath the fat, so that when the fat comes off you will reveal a lovely physique underneath, like shrugging off your big comfy dressing gown and having lacy lingerie underneath
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khristiana wrote: »I like the woosh! I'll be more patient, buy a food scale, and just keep plugging along. This is a life long change, so I can't expect immediate success.
yay. You'll get to where you want to be.
patience is a biggin' when losing weight. We all want consistent results, and we want it NOW.
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Update: Over the weekend I bought a digital food scale
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khristiana wrote: »Update: Over the weekend I bought a digital food scale
yay
Let us know how you go
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So far, it's been working great! I'm actually noticing differences in serving size, but in my favor. Example, I buy 6oz pieces of salmon from the seafood department, but weighing it this weekend it was only a 5 oz piece!
I have a feeling this will REALLY kick things in high gear for me. Thanks!0 -
khristiana wrote: »checked and weighed myself immediately again and it said I lost zero pounds.
Perhaps it's my scale? I'm really just trying to understand exactly what I'm doing so I'm successful long term. Thanks everyone!
Just a thought, but my house is coming up on 100 years old now and the floors aren't exactly level anymore. I do notice if the scale is not level it will show me to weigh more than when I make sure it's level before stepping on it. Maybe nothing, but double check the floor where your scale is.
On another note... Congratulations on your 12 lbs loss since mid-January!!! That's pretty fantastic. Losing weight isn't a constant. There are so many factors that go into your body losing weight that we will probably never know them all. Some are the water weight gains for TOM, water gains for repairing muscle when exercising, etc.
When the scale isn't moving, but you're doing everything right it's a great time to measure yourself to check for differences. It's also a time to be patient. Your body will catch up and start losing again.
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Well I'm definitely not quitting, so if I don't lose for a week or two, I'll keep on plugging along until I see something!
My house was built in 1994, but it's not a bad idea to check my floor and make sure it's level.
Thanks!!0 -
Use a food scale. You're not gaining muscle. 1 pound a week is still great loss.0
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