When did you first start seeing changes in your body?

onehappypickle
onehappypickle Posts: 74 Member
edited November 16 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello all! I've been utilizing MFP for three weeks now, and have learned much about my eating habits and nutrition, in general. I know I should definitely not expect to see huge results yet, but was just wondering at what point has everyone else here started noticing their body change?

I gained two pounds my first week with MFP, but since my second week, I am back to my starting weight, and can't seem to lose anything at all. (Which has been an issue for awhile - I can't seem to really budge the scale in either direction.) I've got about 40 total lbs. to lose, but I'm more concerned with inches than pounds. Just looking for a general time frame that you would think that a change in diet and a huge change in activity level would grant a result of the most miniscule kind. Lol

Replies

  • ruggedshutter
    ruggedshutter Posts: 389 Member
    I didn't notice any difference for quite a while, at least until my pants started feeling loose. Then I was tightening my belt until I needed a new one :dizzy:

    Re: weight loss, are you weighing your food? That is the most common area where people make mistakes and end up eating more than they think. If you aren't, I would start weighing your food. Scales are relatively cheap (~$20) and will save you a headache in the long run.
  • titania_one
    titania_one Posts: 26 Member
    I've lost maybe 10 lbs and noticed my hands are thinner! Ha ha I want a waist, not knuckles LOL. I guess the waist will come eventually :)
  • kmcampbell893
    kmcampbell893 Posts: 13 Member
    I saw changes after 2-3 weeks of being consistent, but the trick is being consistent!
    Ultimately MFP only estimates the calories you need to lose a certain amount of weight, with individual differences you may find this is still too high for you. It depends on your activity level and what you eat as well.
    You need to be really consistent with food logging and drinks logging...that coke you might have had, contained calories too! It's a bit time consuming at first but after a while you will have built up a database of food that you regularly eat. It is really important to weigh food and not eyeball them...you know the saying your eyes are bigger than your stomach, well that really applies here!
    It also depends how low you have set your calorie goal...if its only a little bit, it is really easy to accidentally over eat and then you have no deficit...if you set it down by about 500 and are consistent with your logging then it is less easy to do so.
    Exercising also helps, the more active you are the more energy you use up. It also gives you some extra food if you are feeling the hunger from the calorie deficit. It's up to you how many of those calories you eat back but bear in mind we tend to overestimate how much we burn and underestimate how much we eat. I tend to eat back 1/2 to 3/4 but not from walking, just from actual cardio or strength!
    Include strength in your workouts and that really helps burn the fat, and a good fat burner is interval training. That really gets the fat going!
  • saralynrice
    saralynrice Posts: 29
    I noticed at about 3 weeks of working out hard everyday, and eating great. After 5-6 weeks the changes were amazing. Since then I haven't noticed much more...
  • maillemaker
    maillemaker Posts: 1,253 Member
    edited April 2015
    I gained two pounds my first week with MFP, but since my second week, I am back to my starting weight, and can't seem to lose anything at all. (Which has been an issue for awhile - I can't seem to really budge the scale in either direction.) I've got about 40 total lbs. to lose, but I'm more concerned with inches than pounds. Just looking for a general time frame that you would think that a change in diet and a huge change in activity level would grant a result of the most miniscule kind. Lol

    If you are not losing weight, the usual culprit is you are eating too much food. Your diary is not open so we can't see what you are logging.

    It is critical to log your food intake accurately. As ruggedshutter said, you can buy a digital food scale for less than $20.

    It is trivial to under-estimate food. See these videos that show how easy it is to under-estimate food:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU#t=260
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
  • _mr_b
    _mr_b Posts: 302 Member
    I found that other people noticed way before I did. Guess the big trigger point for me was when I was buying a polo shirt and I got the medium rather than large :)
  • shamcd
    shamcd Posts: 178 Member
    It was a good 4 weeks for me at 1200 calories per day, with one cheat day per week before the weight loss started becoming apparent. I'm now a bit more lenient with my diet and hover around 1400-1500 daily, but I've been steadily losing and haven't hit a plateau yet. It took another 4 - 5 weeks before I lost enough for my co-workers to notice, and I'm about 14 weeks in, total. Don't get discouraged, it takes time.
  • LovelyIvy466
    LovelyIvy466 Posts: 387 Member
    I saw a difference immediately, although it was mostly a result of losing water weight. It was a nice boost to my efforts though!
  • Leana088
    Leana088 Posts: 581 Member
    I didn't unfortunately. Still don't. My clothes just got too big. But I'm now busy with body recomp
  • onehappypickle
    onehappypickle Posts: 74 Member
    I've calculated my TDEE and my BMR, and have my calorie total for a 400 calorie deficit. It's probably going to be harder for me to start with, because I'm relatively short - 5'5". I log everything religiously, every drink, every bit of food. I normally come in within 100 calories under my calorie goal each day, but I do not weigh my food. I'm just starting back into heavy exercise, I either will do a Jillian Michaels workout video, or a belly dance routine; and on my days where I "rest", I go on a walk that's usually about 3 miles.

    I guess I will just have to be patient! :-)
  • onehappypickle
    onehappypickle Posts: 74 Member
    Oh, also forgot to mention - I have my goals set as 45% carbs, 30% protein, and 25% fat.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    It took 2-3 months for me. I didn't get a food scale until I was about 7 months into losing. I have lost more slowly since getting a food scale, but I don't think it has anything to do with weighing vs. not weighing food. But more accurate measurements do help most people trying to lose weight.

    *I have had type 1 diabetes for 20 years and have therefore had to measure/estimate net carbs in order to properly dose insulin. Because of that experience, I can "eyeball" food amounts quite accurately.
  • alicaramik2
    alicaramik2 Posts: 71 Member
    I still don't see a difference, but other people have said they can tell I've lost weight. My clothes are getting loose and the scale is moving, so I guess it's working.
  • beamer0821
    beamer0821 Posts: 488 Member
    edited April 2015
    do you mean changes in appearance I'm assuming?
    it depends on how much you have to lose and where you lose your weight.
    "people" noticed my weightloss right around 20lbs loss, I had 100 to lose.
  • MuddyEquestrian
    MuddyEquestrian Posts: 366 Member
    I've lost 15 lbs in about three months and didn't notice a change until this week. It just kind of seemed to happen all of a sudden. My clothes were much looser and I looked a lot more slim in the mirror. Just stick with it!
  • futuremanda
    futuremanda Posts: 816 Member
    onehappypickle wrote: »
    I've calculated my TDEE and my BMR, and have my calorie total for a 400 calorie deficit. It's probably going to be harder for me to start with, because I'm relatively short - 5'5". I log everything religiously, every drink, every bit of food. I normally come in within 100 calories under my calorie goal each day, but I do not weigh my food. I'm just starting back into heavy exercise, I either will do a Jillian Michaels workout video, or a belly dance routine; and on my days where I "rest", I go on a walk that's usually about 3 miles.

    I guess I will just have to be patient! :-)

    Your plan sounds great on paper! A 400 calorie deficit off TDEE is nice, not too aggressive.

    If the JM is new, you may be retaining some water. The 2 lbs up was definitely water, but you could still be holding on to a bit.

    That said, mathematically, if you're aiming for a 400 deficit, and you often get 500 (coming in 100 under your target), and don't start to average a loss of about 0.75-1 lb a week (give it maybe 5 weeks to see) then something is likely up. A great place to start, then, would be with a food scale. It would not be hard to have that 400-500 deficit actually be like 100, 200, from little errors that add up. Another option would be to double check your TDEE, try a few calculators, see what you get.

    If this turns out to be the case, and you have to make changes, don't get disheartened! You're learning a lot, you're adding a fitness routine, and so on, it will NOT be no progress, just no/little SCALE progress. Which you can correct for, as you test things, learn, adjust. :)

    In terms of noticing body changes, I notice often pretty quick in how I feel. How I look, that'll vary. Try to compare to how you have been, not to where you're trying to go, if that makes sense. You may also want to try taking photos and/or measurements, as sometimes we see progress there that we don't see right away on the scale. Just yesterday, I noticed that I think my face is beginning to thin some, which is like, way cooler than losing 1 lb, actually, as I'm getting closer to "my face" (I have weights where I am more comfortable with my face, the shape just sort of looks off to me beyond a certain weight, less angular maybe, but just "wrong"). And make a list of non-scale, non-aesthetics goals/victories. Fitness goals, for example, can be really fun!
  • onehappypickle
    onehappypickle Posts: 74 Member
    futuremanda wrote: »
    Your plan sounds great on paper! A 400 calorie deficit off TDEE is nice, not too aggressive.

    If the JM is new, you may be retaining some water. The 2 lbs up was definitely water, but you could still be holding on to a bit.

    That said, mathematically, if you're aiming for a 400 deficit, and you often get 500 (coming in 100 under your target), and don't start to average a loss of about 0.75-1 lb a week (give it maybe 5 weeks to see) then something is likely up. A great place to start, then, would be with a food scale. It would not be hard to have that 400-500 deficit actually be like 100, 200, from little errors that add up. Another option would be to double check your TDEE, try a few calculators, see what you get.

    If this turns out to be the case, and you have to make changes, don't get disheartened! You're learning a lot, you're adding a fitness routine, and so on, it will NOT be no progress, just no/little SCALE progress. Which you can correct for, as you test things, learn, adjust. :)

    In terms of noticing body changes, I notice often pretty quick in how I feel. How I look, that'll vary. Try to compare to how you have been, not to where you're trying to go, if that makes sense. You may also want to try taking photos and/or measurements, as sometimes we see progress there that we don't see right away on the scale. Just yesterday, I noticed that I think my face is beginning to thin some, which is like, way cooler than losing 1 lb, actually, as I'm getting closer to "my face" (I have weights where I am more comfortable with my face, the shape just sort of looks off to me beyond a certain weight, less angular maybe, but just "wrong"). And make a list of non-scale, non-aesthetics goals/victories. Fitness goals, for example, can be really fun!

    Yes, the Jillian Michaels is new.
  • onehappypickle
    onehappypickle Posts: 74 Member
    The rest of my reply got cut off... Boo. But thanks to all who replied to the thread here.
  • Gska17
    Gska17 Posts: 752 Member
    alicaramik2 wrote: »
    I still don't see a difference, but other people have said they can tell I've lost weight. My clothes are getting loose and the scale is moving, so I guess it's working.

    Same here. People say then can tell, my clothing is looser, but when I look in the mirror I think I look the same. I've lost nearly 15 pounds and am almost to maintenance.
  • peachyfuzzle
    peachyfuzzle Posts: 1,122 Member
    I can only see changes when I compare before, and after pictures. My mind is still trying to catch up, I think.

    I'm down nearly 50lbs, and I'm finally just starting to notice a little bit of change even though the before/after pictures are almost night, and day. Oddly enough the only change I really notice is that my moobs are much smaller.
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