On paper, I'm doing everything right...so why aren't I losing weight?
Woman_on_Fire
Posts: 3 Member
I'm doing everything I should be doing but the scale isn't budging. I'm wondering if anyone else is or has experienced this...I'm religiously documenting every bit of food I eat, and am staying between 1400-1600 calories each day (my cal target is 1540). I rarely eat processed foods, eat plenty of veggies and fruit, and keep my sugar down. I am working out 5 days a week for an hour each day, and getting between 11,000-16,000 steps per day (including days I don't work out). I don't eat the calories earned from exercise ever. I am without a doubt in a calorie deficit. So what is going on here? I know not to expect miracles, but when I'm getting up at 5 every day to hit the gym before work, turning down the plentiful treats in the office in favor of veggies, and have been at this for 3 weeks, it's hugely frustrating to not see any results on the scale. Medically, there is nothing preventing me from losing weight that I know of (last physical I was completely healthy, no numbers out of whack- including thyroid). Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Have you been here before and overcome the issue? I'm at a loss (no pun intended 
) as to how to proceed to get the weight loss going.
) as to how to proceed to get the weight loss going. 0
Replies
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Are you weighing and measuring EVERYTHING that you eat and drink?0
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How tall are you? Are you weighing your solid foods and measuring your liquids? When you log, are you using good nutrition info?0
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Are you weighing and measuring your food?
Are you weighing yourself at the same time of day, on the same scale, in the same outfit?
Are you approaching your period?
Is your workout routine new?
Are you literally at the same weight or frustrated that the process is slow?0 -
If its been 3 weeks, you just may need to stick it out and be patient. TOM/hormones, sodium, muscle soreness/fatigue or a combination of those is causing water weight.0
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Height & weight ? 33 yo female.0
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Do you use a food scale to weigh your food?0
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I just peeked at your food diary real quick....I only went back a month, but in that time you have multiple weekends with nothing logged. What happened on those days? I wonder if that may have wiped out any calorie deficit you were in.
Depending on how much you have to lose, it wouldn't take much to eat back a deficit. MFP has me maintain at ~1650 calories, and in a small deficit at ~1430. All it takes for me to go from losing to maintaining is a Quest bar and a small apple on any single day.
My suggestion would be to take a very honest look at your logging, and be sure you are weighing all your food with a scale. Also, check the database entries you are using to be sure they are correct.
Good luck!0 -
I have been in the same boat as you. Remember that muscle weighs more than fat. Don't let the scale discourage you. If you feel better and your clothes are fitting looser, then you are doing everything right and you will start seeing the loss on the scale. Trust me, I know how frustrating this journey can be when this happens. Don't give up! You got this!
Please add me if you like.0 -
kimberlee_45 wrote: »I have been in the same boat as you. Remember that muscle weighs more than fat. Don't let the scale discourage you. If you feel better and your clothes are fitting looser, then you are doing everything right and you will start seeing the loss on the scale. Trust me, I know how frustrating this journey can be when this happens. Don't give up! You got this!
Please add me if you like.
Seriously, muscle does not weigh more than fat. A pound is a pound, whether it is fat, muscle, feathers, lead.
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Make sure you are drinking enough fluids. I hit a wall and my weight loss was stuck. My nutritionist told me to get a water app on my phone that sends reminders. Now that I'm drinking more, I'm starting to lose again. Best of luck to you and keep with it. Even on days that your eating sucks, make sure you log them. And weigh in on Wednesday's, allowing your body to recover from any crap on the weekends.0
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snowflake930 wrote: »kimberlee_45 wrote: »I have been in the same boat as you. Remember that muscle weighs more than fat. Don't let the scale discourage you. If you feel better and your clothes are fitting looser, then you are doing everything right and you will start seeing the loss on the scale. Trust me, I know how frustrating this journey can be when this happens. Don't give up! You got this!
Please add me if you like.
Seriously, muscle does not weigh more than fat. A pound is a pound, whether it is fat, muscle, feathers, lead.
And it is very hard to build muscle while eating in a deficit.0 -
While muscle is more dense than fat, if you are eating in a calorie deficit you will lose weight...eventually. Your body retains water for a million different reasons, which will do much more to mask initial weight loss than any possible muscle gain.0
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I would definitely keep an eye on Sodium levels. Could be water weight if it's too high. It'll be nice if you want a real big woosh though.0
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snowflake930 wrote: »Are you weighing and measuring EVERYTHING that you eat and drink?
Yes, I weigh and measure absolutely everything I eat. I prepare all of my meals for the week using a digital scale. I do not measure beverages as I only drink no-cal drinks (water, black coffee and unsweetened tea only).0 -
As others have said, keep and eye on sodium but make sure you weigh everything too. Try eating back some of those exercise calories. I used to thrive off eating under 1500, now because I'm so active I HAVE to eat 1800-2000 to even lose. I'm not saying all of them but an extra protein shake wouldn't hurt (or an extra 4oz. of chicken?)0
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Post on your own account, and open the diary. That could be the most valuable thing towards weight loss you could ever do on MFP...0
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I too am seeing missing and/or incomplete logging in just the last week or so. I get it, it's tough to be consistent every single day. But that's what you really have to do, especially in the very beginning, so you can get a handle on your eating habits.0
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Is the exercise new? Any time you add exercise (or significantly increase exercise), your body retains water for muscle repair. That water retention can mask weight loss in the short term. There's nothing you can do about it; you just have to wait it out.
Beyond that, three weeks isn't a long time at all. Some people take 4-6 weeks to see a change, especially if they have started exercising. Be patient, continue logging as accurately as possible, and give it some more time.0 -
To clarify a couple items- I measure all foods I eat using a digital scale. I don't log electronically on weekends because I have a "cell phone free" home on the weekends, but I do log on paper so I know that I am not exceeding my calories then. My weekends are exactly what you see during the week- I'm not going out and calorie-binging or drinking. I actually measure and prepare all of my meals for the entire week (Mon-Sun) each Sunday, so I know exactly what I am putting in my body. I do not drink soda, only water, black coffee and unsweetened tea. The water I drink well exceeds 8-8 oz servings. And it's not that the progress is slow- it's that the scale HAS NOT MOVED in 3 weeks. That is where the frustration is.0
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Your logging this past Monday seems to be incomplete, as well as Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. You have a few other weekend gaps and weekday gaps. Your apple is 231 grams every single time you eat one. Your cherry tomatoes are always 100 grams. When you say you're "doing everything right" that's not really the truth. I'm not trying to be harsh to you, but I've seen that phrase on this forum a multitude of times and in the end, their diary always reflects the opposite of their claims. Be honest with yourself, invest in a food scale, and weigh and record everything you eat. You will see progress that way.
Edit: I see that you're saying you weigh everything. I can understand weighing out cherry tomatoes to 100 grams, but how are your apples 231 grams every single time? What about your entries in cups, ounces, etc?0 -
Struggling with this exact same issue. Thanks for posting.
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My take is you aren't eating enough. If you are eating an average of 1500 calories a day and exercising for an hour, plus walking 12,000 steps. Your body may not be getting the fuel it needs. I'd try eating 1/2 my exercise calories back and see if that jump starts the weight loss. I know it sounds counter-intuitive but it works for many people.
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Woman_on_Fire wrote: »snowflake930 wrote: »Are you weighing and measuring EVERYTHING that you eat and drink?
Yes, I weigh and measure absolutely everything I eat. I prepare all of my meals for the week using a digital scale. I do not measure beverages as I only drink no-cal drinks (water, black coffee and unsweetened tea only).
Not to nit-pick, but you have a lot of entries for solid foods that list the units in cups (Knorr shells, beets, mango), and you also have a lot of things like 1 apple, 1.5 grapefruit, etc. Fruit calories add up quickly, so you really should be tracking these kinds of things in grams.0 -
My take is you aren't eating enough. If you are eating an average of 1500 calories a day and exercising for an hour, plus walking 12,000 steps. Your body may not be getting the fuel it needs. I'd try eating 1/2 my exercise calories back and see if that jump starts the weight loss. I know it sounds counter-intuitive but it works for many people.
If she wasn't eating enough she's lose weight0 -
My take is you aren't eating enough. If you are eating an average of 1500 calories a day and exercising for an hour, plus walking 12,000 steps. Your body may not be getting the fuel it needs. I'd try eating 1/2 my exercise calories back and see if that jump starts the weight loss. I know it sounds counter-intuitive but it works for many people.
No, sorry. If she's not losing on what she's eating now, eating more will not boost weight loss. This is a myth.0 -
In the 23 days since Feb 16 (not counting today) you have 7 days in your food diary that are blank or logged incompletely. Of the remaining days, most that are logged completely show a total in the 1500-1600 range. So yes, you are at or around goal on those days but, most likely, your non-logged days exceed those amounts. I fail to see why it is so much more difficult to log foods on the weekends if they are the same things you eat during the week. In all likelihood you are not logging because you know you are going over calories and you don't want to see the evidence written down. You're eating too much to lose.0
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What you just described is physically impossible. You must be logging your calories in/out incorrectly. For most people, this is due to not measuring your food properly (weight/volume) and just guessing at the portions you're eating, and/or neglecting to log condiments like salad dressings or the butter you grease the pan with, etc.
It's possible that you are retaining water weight for some reason, but if you've been on a large deficit for 3 weeks, water weight shouldn't be keeping you at zero weight lost.
I see other people saying the same thing is happening to them, and I see people say this a lot.
People, what you are thinking is happening to you is literally physically impossible according to the laws of physics. You know that energy cannot be created or destroyed? By claiming you are at a deficit every day and not losing weight, you are claiming that your body moves without expending energy, or creates energy from nothing in order to move. You might as well claim you can walk through walls. Aside from maybe some extremely rare medical conditions, the issue must be that you are logging your food and exercise incorrectly. There is literally no other explanation, other than your body breaking the laws of physics, and that is not it.0 -
kimberlee_45 wrote: »I have been in the same boat as you. Remember that muscle weighs more than fat. Don't let the scale discourage you. If you feel better and your clothes are fitting looser, then you are doing everything right and you will start seeing the loss on the scale. Trust me, I know how frustrating this journey can be when this happens. Don't give up! You got this!
Please add me if you like.
The most amount of muscle ever recorded by professionals was 18 1/4 lbs, the most possible they estimate is 23lbs. The limiting rate of turnover in the muscle cells it is impossible to grow more than an ounce of new muscle each day (16oz in lb), the more years you train the less muscle you can gain per year. So at absolute max she could gain 2lbs a month of muscle mass with proper training which required pretty serious weight training regimen. And the whole muscle weighs more than fat is complete b.s., they weight the same, a lb is lb. However because muscle is denser than fat it will look different on a human body thus muscle appearing leaner.0 -
See my response above; it's common for people to jump into a strenuous exercise regimen and experience a lot of water retention at first. Plus, she's probably not at a large deficit, so it's entirely possible for the water retention to mask any weight loss for her right now.It's possible that you are retaining water weight for some reason, but if you've been on a large deficit for 3 weeks, water weight shouldn't be keeping you at zero weight lost.
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Ready2Rock206 wrote: »snowflake930 wrote: »kimberlee_45 wrote: »I have been in the same boat as you. Remember that muscle weighs more than fat. Don't let the scale discourage you. If you feel better and your clothes are fitting looser, then you are doing everything right and you will start seeing the loss on the scale. Trust me, I know how frustrating this journey can be when this happens. Don't give up! You got this!
Please add me if you like.
Seriously, muscle does not weigh more than fat. A pound is a pound, whether it is fat, muscle, feathers, lead.
And it is very hard to build muscle while eating in a deficit.
^^ Yes very true, for beginners and people who are obese it is easier to gain some muscle, but after a certain point you start losing muscle mass if you are not weight training and eating ton of protein (which at most with maintain muscle mass and not gain (unless you are a beginner and obese).0
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