Week one and no pounds lost

krflurry2016 · May 2016

Hello, I'm new to my fitness pal.
I'm supposed to be eating 1800 calories a day, which I am.
I'm also exercising on the treadmill at my local gym for 30 minutes at 3.0 miles an hour with an incline
I cut out sodas and junk.
After one week being a heavier person, I expected to lose a few pounds, but stepped on the scale and I was still the same weight.
I'm very discouraged. Please help

TxTiffani · May 2016

Are you weighing food on a food scale to make sure portions logged are correct? If exercise is new you can hold onto water weight...I do when starting a new exercise. There's people that know more than me that will chime in but I think you should stick with it. It takes a long time to lose weight and I think the sooner we make peace with that the better:)

hiyomi · May 2016

One week is nowhere near enough time to see a difference, especially since you just started. Give it at least a month of time and keep working at it! As long as you are true to your logging and eating, and exercising, the pounds WILL come off.

janicemushalupo · May 2016

Are you putting in your exercise? If you are, stop. Don't eat your hard work. Pick up some weights while at the gym. Watch the macros not calories.

hiyomi · May 2016

janicemushalupo wrote: »

Are you putting in your exercise? If you are, stop. Don't eat your hard work. Pick up some weights while at the gym. Watch the macros not calories.

Macros will not be the thing that causes her to lose weight, it may help, but losing weight is a matter of calories in versus calories out! It is vital to watch calories.

dmariet116 · May 2016

Try cutting your carbs. That is usually helpful not only to flush out excess water weight but to jump start the fat burning process also. And definitely drink your water! Good luck!

misskarne · May 2016

Really? One week and you're already discouraged?

Weight loss takes PATIENCE.

diannethegeek · May 2016

You're going to get a lot of conflicting advice, but here's mine: it's too soon to worry. The first week means your body is experiencing a lot of changes and it may still be adjusting to them. It's not a bad idea to double-check that everything is right, but I would wait it out for just a little longer and see what happens.

Also, if you haven't had a chance to read the stickied "must read" posts, they have a ton of good information. Like these:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10196160/scale-stress-syndrome/p1

godlikepoetyes · May 2016

You must be patient. Some people lose a lot at first, some do not. But I will give you the standard response to this question.

Are you logging your food, EVERY SINGLE BITE, every single day? Are you being honest with yourself? Often there are multiple entries for one food--you must be diligent and do some research so you know, absolutely know to the best of your ability how to log food accurately. It takes time to get the hang of this. Create your own foods and meals and build recipes when you cook at home. Do you measure your food? Many people here find they must buy a scale and weigh their food. Are you eating back your exercise calories? Again this works for some people and it doesn't for others. Are you weighing every day? This works for some people. Others, like myself, find weighing once a week less stressful. Some don't use a scale at all and depend on how their clothes fit. Lots of people keep track of their measurements and gauge their progress in this way. And are you eating all of your calories, or trying to restrict yourself? I strongly advise you not to do this. If MFP gives you 1,800 calories then eat 1,800 calories.

Poke around here and read posts. Some of them are very helpful. But be careful. A lot of people will give advice when they really shouldn't and this can be very confusing. And be sure you're not on a fad diet like low-carb or gluten-free. Such diets are not sustainable (for most people) for the long haul. And if you don't know much about nutrition, educate yourself so you don't fall prey to bad, sometimes harmful advice, both here and from friends and family. And do NOT pay much attention to every bit of food news and nutrition that comes out, daily (hourly) in media "news" outlets. It just makes everything more confusing.

Don't think of this as a "diet" that will be over as soon as you lose weight. This must be a new way of life, one that will change your life forever.

Good luck and hang in there. This program works for almost everybody.

ncfitbit · May 2016

If you set your diary to public, people may be able to help you a little better. Sometimes when people first start logging their food they may mistakenly use bad entries or make some other logging errors. And depending on what you have your weight loss goal set to, the margin of error may be smaller than you think.

I'm with you though, usually the first week you cut your calories you would expect to lose something in water weight alone. It's worth figuring out now where you might be a little off track.

Rocknut53 · May 2016

diannethegeek wrote: »

You're going to get a lot of conflicting advice, but here's mine: it's too soon to worry. The first week means your body is experiencing a lot of changes and it may still be adjusting to them. It's not a bad idea to double-check that everything is right, but I would wait it out for just a little longer and see what happens.

Also, if you haven't had a chance to read the stickied "must read" posts, they have a ton of good information. Like these:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10196160/scale-stress-syndrome/p1

^^This^^ I see there is already some advice that isn't helpful for your weight loss. diannethegeek always has some good pointers and links to threads that can help you figure this out.

MissusMoon · May 2016

janicemushalupo wrote: »

Are you putting in your exercise? If you are, stop. Don't eat your hard work. Pick up some weights while at the gym. Watch the macros not calories.

1. MFP is set for you to eat back at least some of your exercise calories.
2. Weights, sure, why not if you want to.
3. NO NO NO. Also no. Calories in/calories out is ALL OF THIS.

OP-You might be retaining water. You might not have a food scale and weigh all your foods. Did you gain all of your extra weight in one week? No. Be patient, check your logging and do this right.

MissusMoon · May 2016

dmariet116 wrote: »

Try cutting your carbs. That is usually helpful not only to flush out excess water weight but to jump start the fat burning process also. And definitely drink your water! Good luck!

Also no. This is fad diet talk and has no scientific basis. The water advice is fine, though.

dmariet116 · May 2016

Actually, it is a medically proven fact that if you have a carbohydrate intolerance, your body cannot metabolize the offending food (gluten, lactose, glucose). I for one suffer from celiac disease. Usually carbohydrate intolerance crosses over to more than just gluten sensitivity. Lowering the total carbs consumed is not a fad diet. I did not say no carb diet. Just suggested that cutting the amount of carbs might be helpful. Many people have metabolic problems that are related to carbohydrate sensitivities so it is always worth looking into.

houtzashleyg · May 2016

Good luck to you. Hang tight on the journey. Is easier for some than others. Week 1 down..the initial hard parts over but have to keep being focused and determined to meet your personal goals

MissusMoon · May 2016

dmariet116 wrote: »

Actually, it is a medically proven fact that if you have a carbohydrate intolerance, your body cannot metabolize the offending food (gluten, lactose, glucose). I for one suffer from celiac disease. Usually carbohydrate intolerance crosses over to more than just gluten sensitivity. Lowering the total carbs consumed is not a fad diet. I did not say no carb diet. Just suggested that cutting the amount of carbs might be helpful. Many people have metabolic problems that are related to carbohydrate sensitivities so it is always worth looking into.

Let's not derail the OP's thread, which did not mention any such health issues.

Excess calories cause weight gain. Those can be from steak or cake, it's all the same unless there is a very specific and properly diagnosed health issue. We are trying to help the OP get on track, not debate. The first place to go with that is proper logging of intake.

ElizabethOakes2 · May 2016

I didn't see anyone else ask this so I will...
Are you weighing at the same time of day? Weight fluctuates by as much as two pounds over the course of the day, accounting for water weight, food in digestion, poo, etc. Weigh yourself at the same time on the same day of the week wearing the same thing. (I opt for first thing in the morning in my birthday suit).

krflurry2016 · May 2016

Thanks for all the responses!
I am weighing and portioning my food.
I am not eating over my 1800 calories. Usually I'm under my calories.
I am also weighing my self on Sunday's first thing in the morning undressed and the scale didn't move. I'll give it a few weeks and see if I lose a couple of pounds. Maybe it takes a awhile for my body to register that I'm trying to lose weight!
Yes I know I need to be more patient but I figured being over weight and starting a diet that I would get on the scale and see 3 or 4 pounds gone in the first week but that's probably just wishful thinking!

lynn_glenmont · May 2016

dmariet116 wrote: »

Actually, it is a medically proven fact that if you have a carbohydrate intolerance, your body cannot metabolize the offending food (gluten, lactose, glucose). I for one suffer from celiac disease. Usually carbohydrate intolerance crosses over to more than just gluten sensitivity. Lowering the total carbs consumed is not a fad diet. I did not say no carb diet. Just suggested that cutting the amount of carbs might be helpful. Many people have metabolic problems that are related to carbohydrate sensitivities so it is always worth looking into.

This makes no sense.
If your body couldn't metabolize a certain type of food, it couldn't store it as fat. So you could eat as much as you like of it without affecting your weight.

Suffering from celiac disease is a good reason to avoid gluten. "Jump starting the fat burning process" (as your earlier post said) is a silly reason--or, really, no reason at all--to cut carbs.

OP, barring some medical condition you haven't told us about, or satiety effects of different macros on you personally, focus on the calories. Get a food scale and use it for everything (or at least all solids). Choose your database entries with care, comparing the nutrient information on the entry to the package label or the USDA database (https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods).

ETA: OP, if you're female, you could just have happened to start this at a time in your cycle when you were beginning to retain water, and that's masking fat loss. If that's the case, when the hormone-related water retention goes away, you could see two weeks' worth of fat loss suddenly show up on the scale.

williammuney · May 2016

1800 is too high

You should net 1400 and eat back your exercise calories

Thank me later

Marshachia · May 2016

I started losing weight on the 16th day of my new exercise routine and lower calories intake.

Week one and no pounds lost

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