WHY??!

BeagleHQ
BeagleHQ Posts: 15
edited 9:55AM in Health and Weight Loss
Ok, I am hoping that this phenomenon is not unique to me and that someone else can explain it to me.

For 2 weeks I have had a calorie deficit amounting to .20/pound up to .30/pound every single day according to my food journal and my BodyBugg. I'm getting moderate exercise, nothing crazy, and drinking my water. I feel a slight difference in the fit of my pants but the scale shows not a single budge. This will likely continue for another 2 full weeks, when (hopefully) the scale will suddently drop 2 or 3 pounds. Then the same will happen all over again, no movement down whatsoever, no matter how slight, for at LEAST 3-4 weeks, then a sudden drop of 2-3 pounds. In the past, this lack of any positive result has led me to quit a number of times. WHY does this happen? Is there a reason it takes so blooming long for any loss to show up as scale progress? I am dying to know the answer, it is very frustrating to work so hard for so long to get nothing.

Thanks for any insight -
Julie

Replies

  • Last_15
    Last_15 Posts: 129
    I'm in the same boat, curious as to any answers:smile:
  • Rae9911
    Rae9911 Posts: 200 Member
    Me too been 6 weeks now and not lost anything.
  • mommiedawn
    mommiedawn Posts: 53 Member
    I think our bodies have to be sure we aren't in famine before they dub anything 'extra'.
  • sharonuk10
    sharonuk10 Posts: 277
    I find it takes my body time to adjust to the loss and show the loss in numbers. That is why I do not worry about that number on the scale.
  • BeagleHQ
    BeagleHQ Posts: 15
    I have always been this way - it take FOREVER for what I know I am losing to show up as a number on the scale. It makes no sense and makes me nuts. Is this a recent thing for you or does it happen always?
  • mommiedawn
    mommiedawn Posts: 53 Member
    whatever the answer to your question is, probably explains why calorie cycling is effective I think.....sorry i'm so vague, but i know it happens and i just keep on keeping on.....i raise my calories a day or two and then get back down, that's when I start losing.....i think the cycling works but i haven't had a real and controlled approach to it so i can't say for certain
  • TrainingWithTonya
    TrainingWithTonya Posts: 1,741 Member
    There are a lot of variables to weight loss. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as calories in vs. calories out like everyone promotes. First of all, the 3500 calorie a week for a pound of weight loss is only correct if you are only losing fat. Typically, we lose a combination of fat and muscle when we lose weight, so you have to tailor your workout to promoting muscle retention or even growth to lose just fat. Since muscle is only 600 calories per pound, people who aren't focusing their workouts to maintain muscle will lose faster on the scale because they are losing more muscle then body fat. Then you have to look at the various substrates being used by the workouts. Burning an extra 500 calories a day is great and theoretically will give that 1 pound a week loss, but if it is all from glycogen instead of body fat, then it won't result in much of a loss because glycogen is easily replaced. In addition to that, even if you are doing the right workouts and eating the right amount of calories to focus on burning body fat, then you have to understand that exercise naturally increases glycogen stores in the body. So, you may be burning body fat but storing more glycogen (which is stored in 3x as much water so it does show up on the scale) and you may actually gain weight on the scale. The true key to success is patience. Starting and stopping a program will basically reset the body each time you stop so that you are basically starting over with lower glycogen levels (because of not needing them for exercise) and then having to store more to fuel the workouts. So, every time you restart for a month, you're just seeing the glycogen added and not giving it time to max out so you can see the fat loss. Then when you've gone back to bad eating habits and not exercising you've lost a little muscle too so you don't burn all those calories and store more fat. Hence the yo-yo cycle of losing a little and gaining back more. Just keep up the good work of eating right and exercising for 3-4 months and see if you don't see better results with the consistency.
  • yanicka
    yanicka Posts: 1,004 Member
    There are a lot of variables to weight loss. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as calories in vs. calories out like everyone promotes. First of all, the 3500 calorie a week for a pound of weight loss is only correct if you are only losing fat. Typically, we lose a combination of fat and muscle when we lose weight, so you have to tailor your workout to promoting muscle retention or even growth to lose just fat. Since muscle is only 600 calories per pound, people who aren't focusing their workouts to maintain muscle will lose faster on the scale because they are losing more muscle then body fat. Then you have to look at the various substrates being used by the workouts. Burning an extra 500 calories a day is great and theoretically will give that 1 pound a week loss, but if it is all from glycogen instead of body fat, then it won't result in much of a loss because glycogen is easily replaced. In addition to that, even if you are doing the right workouts and eating the right amount of calories to focus on burning body fat, then you have to understand that exercise naturally increases glycogen stores in the body. So, you may be burning body fat but storing more glycogen (which is stored in 3x as much water so it does show up on the scale) and you may actually gain weight on the scale. The true key to success is patience. Starting and stopping a program will basically reset the body each time you stop so that you are basically starting over with lower glycogen levels (because of not needing them for exercise) and then having to store more to fuel the workouts. So, every time you restart for a month, you're just seeing the glycogen added and not giving it time to max out so you can see the fat loss. Then when you've gone back to bad eating habits and not exercising you've lost a little muscle too so you don't burn all those calories and store more fat. Hence the yo-yo cycle of losing a little and gaining back more. Just keep up the good work of eating right and exercising for 3-4 months and see if you don't see better results with the consistency.

    TY...always great information. I am the same way....my weight loss look like a staircase. I am at a point where I really do not care all that much about what the scale say but more about how I feel in my pants.
  • AlexandraLove
    AlexandraLove Posts: 35
    It really could just be the scale, too.

    My scale is electronic, so it can count in tenth increments. The last three weeks it kept sticking .8 on the end of my pounds, even though there must have been some sort of variation. This week, it is favoring .4 -- I was 177.4 on Monday, 176.4 on Wednesday, and 175.4 today. In the past, it has suddenly dropped me 1-3 pounds after a few weeks of no movement.
  • fsugirl26
    fsugirl26 Posts: 207
    I go through the same thing as well...I create a nice deficit through diet/exericise, and the scale won't budge for 1.5-2 weeks. I have noticed though that the weight only comes off after a day of doing NOTHING. If I don't workout and eat within my calories, the next day is usually when I'll see the loss show up on my scale. Sometimes our bodies truly need to rest and adjust in order to let go of the lbs we worked so hard at to lose.

    I know it's frustrating, but keep doing what you're doing, and you'll start seeing the results you're working so hard for :)
  • Hollycat
    Hollycat Posts: 372
    Best explanation I've ever read...thanks Tonya!

    Hollycat
    :flowerforyou:
  • JDMPWR
    JDMPWR Posts: 1,863 Member
    I think people also need to take into account other things like portions. People forget that portions vary unless weighed and also exercise cals burned. Most people points of reference for cals burned does not take into account height, weight, age, sex, muscle mass & fat mass. For instance I walk 30 minutes at lunch, my bodybugg said I lost 138 cals, MFP says 168 cals and my HRM says 127, this is the same with most machines at the gym.

    A lot of people see plateaus such as this because the # you think you are burning or the # you think you are eating isn't as such.
  • richiefixo
    richiefixo Posts: 104 Member
    happened to me and my answer is
    1.) INCREASE THE INTENSITY OF YOUR EXERCISE!......shock your body and it will drop the weight
    2.) INCREASE YOUR DAILY CALORIES TO MAINTENANCE (or slightly above) for 2 days and your body might relax and think yay the famine is over etc....
    3.) change your diet COMPLETELY! so cut out sugar and salt completely for a few weeks (keep your sodium under 1000mg) eat natural and nothing processed at all...like a caveman basically..
    4.) Go off the diet completely for a week...take a week off and eat healthily at maintenance calories and return back..
    5.) try intermittent fasting...( eat in a 4-6 hour window) and nothing else after till the same time next day....its healthy and actually works.


    try these in the order the last one being the final option if nothing works...but 1.) should do the trick.

    Good luck
  • ImperfektAngel
    ImperfektAngel Posts: 811 Member
    Ever since I went below 200lbs, something is going on with my body that it does not want to lose? I may lose a pound here and there but get stuck at that weight for a while before I see another drop? I started to eat back exercise calories which I wasnt doing before and saw a drop but then nothing again? I still have a lot of weight to lose, not sure what to do next? *sigh*
  • BeagleHQ
    BeagleHQ Posts: 15
    Excellent thoughts and replies you guys, thank you so much! Tonya - great stuff!
  • milaxx
    milaxx Posts: 1,122 Member
    This is why I live the scale alone. it is not your friend. Focus on eating correctly Review your diary regularly and make sure your eating well. Check out the micro-nutrients.look for spikes in salt and sugar and notice what foods they come from. Make sure you are getting enough fiber, limited to no processed foods and drinking enough water to process the food your are eating.

    If you are doing things right, the weight loss will come.
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